Andy Pettitte is a retired American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB), mainly for the New York Yankees, for 18 seasons. He pitched for the Houston Astros as well.
With the Yankees, Pettitte won five World Series championships and was an All-Star three times. He lists 19 as the king of MLB’s all-time postseason wins.
The Yankees organization drafted Pettitte in 1990 and signed with them almost a year later.
In the 2000s, he captured the most games by any starter, and he was a four-seam, cut-and-cut fastball thrower. After the 2013 season, he retired and confessed to using human growth hormone in 2002 to recover from an elbow injury.
Andy had an outstanding first base pickoff move that helped him record 98 career pickoffs, and to his respect, his uniform with number 46 was retired by the Yankees.
Quick Facts
| Full Name | Andrew Eugene Pettitte |
| Birth Date | June 15, 1972 |
| Birth Place | Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Nick Name/Known As | Andy |
| Religion | Christain |
| Age | 50 years old |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | White |
| Education | Deer Park High School |
| Horoscope | Gemini |
| Father’s Name | Tommy Pettitte(French and Indian) |
| Mother’s Name | JoAnn Pettitte (Italian) |
| Siblings | 2 |
| Height | 6′ 4″ |
| Weight | 102 kg |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Eye Color | Dark Brown |
| Body Measurement | N/A |
| Figure | Athletic |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Wife | Laura Pettitte |
| Children | 4 |
| Profession | Ex-Baseball Player |
| Net Worth | $75 Million |
| Salary | Under Review |
| Currently Works At | Retired |
| Affiliations |
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| Active Since | 1995 |
| Social Media | N/A |
| Merch | Paperback, Artwork Poster |
| Last Update | July, 2022 |
Early Life of Andy Pettitte
On June 15, 1972, Pettitte was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is the younger of his two brothers and the son of Tommy and JoAnn Pettitte. He is of Italian and Cajun descent.
He moved to Texas while he was in the third grade. He attended Deer Park High School in Deer Park, Texas, where he played baseball as a pitcher.
He threw his fastball between 137 and 140 km/h (85 to 87 miles per hour). For the college football squad, Andy also played center and nose guard.
Work | Andy Pettitte
Pettitte pitched for the Gulf Coast Yankees and Oneonta Yankees in 1991 and 1992, respectively. He started 1992 with a win-loss record of 10-4 and an earned run average of 2.20.
In 1993, Derek Jeter was the first player to play with Pettitte and Jorge Posada. In 1994, the Yankees named him their minor league pitcher of the year. After Posada failed to catch it, Pettitte fired a knuckleball, which he later abandoned.
He also pitched for Albany-Colonie and Columbus Clippers in 1994 and 1995. He was named the Yankees’ minor league pitcher of the year in 1994. He has pitched in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, and New York Mets.
Pettitte twice recorded 20 victories in a season, going 21-8 in 1996 and 2003. He played on seven American League pennant-winning teams, one National League pennant-winning squad, and five World Series championship teams.
He holds the record for the most wins in playoff history at 19 years old. He became the only MLB pitcher since 1930 to complete his first nine seasons with at least 12 victories.
Major Leagues
He also didn’t have a losing season while playing in the major leagues. Pettitte is the top pitcher for the Yankees in terms of strikeouts (2,020), games played (438), and victories (219). The most win-save combinations in history, totaling 81, belong to Pettitte and Rivera (11 in the playoffs).
They were known as the “Core Four,” along with teammates Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter, who helped the Yankees win five World Series between 1996 and 2009.
From 1995 to 2010, Pettitte had the most regular-season victories of any pitcher in the major leagues. He won 148 races from 2000 to 2009, which made up the majority of the decade.
Pettitte had a 19-10 record, a 3.83 ERA, and 173 strikeouts throughout the postseason. In the same postseason, he became the second starting pitcher to triumph in three series-clinching games (ALDS, ALCS, and World Series) (2009).
Pettitte made his final postseason appearance on Saturday, October 13, 2012, during an ALCS game. He was not informed that the Yankees would lose the game in 12 innings.
Pettitte participated in 19 postseason series, including eight World Series (seven with the Yankees and one with the Astros).
On February 16, 2015, the Yankees declared that they would retire Pettitte’s 46th jersey on August 23.
Pitch Technique
In addition to his four-seam fastball, Pettitte also employed a slider, a cutter, a curveball, a sinker, and a turn to right-handed hitters.
He struck out batters with a cutter that had a good inside break on right-handed batters between 84 and 88 mph, which produced a number of ground ball outs and double plays. Before his original retirement in 2011, his fastball was rated in the lower 90s and his curveball was clocked at 74–76 mph. As a left-handed pitcher, Pettitte possessed a remarkable pickoff switch to first base that enabled him to record 98 pickoffs in his career.
Controversies
Pettitte was one of the Yankees mentioned in the Mitchell Study. He admitted using HGH in 2002, although he said it was to treat a medical condition rather than to improve his performance. He refused to utilize HGH any further while he was serving.
He also opposed the use of any performance-enhancing drugs, including steroids. Pettitte stated that it was his duty to rejoin the team as soon as medically possible after suffering an injury. The New York Yankees traded him to the Boston Red Sox in 2007.
He was no longer under contract to the Red Sox when they cancelled it in June 2007. He got a one-year, $2.5 million contract deal with the Red Sox in July 2007. In July 2007, he was transferred to the New York Red Sox.
In 2004, Pettitte acknowledged utilizing HGH prescribed for his gravely ill father to take additional HGH injections twice in one day.
In an affidavit, Pettitte recalled that Clemens had recently acquired HGH when Clemens told him about it in 1999 or 2000. On February 18, 2008, Pettitte reported to the Yankees’ spring training camp and issued an apology to both Yankees’ and Astros’ supporters for his prior drug use.
His strong association with Clemens, a former teammate and buddy, has allegedly grown “strained” as a result of the scandal surrounding performance-enhancing drugs.
Andy Pettitte | Spouse & Kids
Pettitte and his longtime girlfriend Laura got married in 1992. Even though they both went to Deer Park High School, the couple first met when he was fifteen at Central Baptist Church.
The minister’s daughter Laura had given him a lot to think about when it came to biblical integrity. Additionally, Laura’s three elder brothers were great friends with Pettitte.
After a while, Laura and Andy Pettitte started dating; she was in the eighth grade and he was in the tenth. Andy and Laura made a pledge to wait until they were married to have sex because they both practice Christianity.
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“Especially with teens, I don’t think people appreciate what a significant commitment it is. You’ll concentrate on other aspects of your relationship if you promise not to do that.
Joshua Blake Pettitte was born to Andy and Laura on November 3, 1994. They welcomed their second son, Jared Pettitte, on May 28th, 2004—four years later.
On January 10, 2001, Lexy Grace Pettitte, their adorable first child, was born. The family grew to six members by the time their third son, Luke Jackson Pettitte, was born in 2005.
Joshua was the oldest of the four and was chosen by the Yankees in the 37th round of the 2013 MLB Draft.
Nevertheless, the rising talent decided against signing a professional deal and chose to attend Baylor University. He transferred from Baylor University to Rice University in April 2014, where he is now a player.
Andy Pettitte’s wealth and earnings
As of 2022, Pettitte has a stunning and magnificent net worth of $75 million, having spent his whole 18-year career only being called up as an MLB player.
On February 4, 2011, Pettitte announced his retirement from the game of baseball, but he came out of retirement on March 16, 2012, when he agreed to a $2.5 million, one-year deal with the New York Yankees.
On September 20, 2013, he gave New York a 12-million-dollar contract extension for the 2013 campaign and declared his permanent retirement.
He was given $3,981,000 in 2007 for a lavish property in Purchase, New York (NY). He also owns further properties in the US city of Deer Park, Texas (TX).
Andy Pettitte | Social Media
No official social media accounts related to Andy are found. So we can say that he stays away from social media. However, we can peek at his whereabouts through his wife’s Instagram account, which is under her name (@lpettitte).
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Andy Pettitte a grandfather?
Yes, Andy Pettitte became a grandfather at the age of 46. However, he still has yet to raise his younger children.
What does Andy Pettitte do now?
After retirement, Andy moved to Texas and became a pitching coach for a high school. Moreover, he coached his son’s team in Houston.