Frank Strong Lary (April 10, 1930 – December 13, 2017) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher for the Detroit Tigers (1954–1964), New York Mets (1964, 1965), Milwaukee Braves (1964), and Chicago White Sox (1965).

Lary was selected to the American League All-Star team in 1960 and 1961 and won the Gold Glove Award in 1961.

[2] Lary attended Tuscaloosa County High School and then went on to play baseball for the University of Alabama.

[5][6] His older brother Al Lary was briefly a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, but spent most of his baseball career in the minor leagues.

Lary followed his older brothers to the University of Alabama,[7] where he had a 10–1 record in 1950 and won two more games in the College World Series.

[5] After his performance in the 1950 College World Series, Lary signed a $6,000 contract with the Toledo Mud Hens, the Detroit Tigers' American Association farm club.

After winning four consecutive games in Thomasville, he moved to Jamestown, New York, in the PONY League, where he compiled a 5–2 record.

[5][9] Lary was called up to the Tigers late in the 1954 season, making his Major League debut on September 14.

[13] Lary also led the American League in multiple statistical categories in 1956, including wins (21), games started (38), innings pitched (294), hits allowed (289), hit batsmen (12), and batters faced (1,269), and finished 17th in the voting for Most Valuable Player in the American League.

[3][15][16] In The Sporting News, Joe Falls wrote: "As far as Frank Lary is concerned, the war between the states never did end.

He is a throwback to the Cardinals of the 30s, a cotton pickin', gee-tar strummin', red clay Alabama farm boy, unspoiled by a little college or a lot of success.

[10] Lary was also selected for the American League All-Star team and won the Gold Glove Award in 1961.

[21] Lary compiled a 2–3 record for the Mets, and threw a two-hit shutout in his last game for the team during the 1964 season.

In August 1964, the Mets traded Lary to the Milwaukee Braves in exchange for Dennis Ribant and $25,000.

Defensively, he finished his career with a .962 fielding percentage[10] When Lary first came up, he relied on a hard fastball and a slider.

[27] Lary died on the night of December 13, 2017 at a hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, south of Northport from pneumonia at the age of 87.