"Straight-talking Bob Turley will be the first to admit that his 1959 performance helped contribute to the decline of the Bronx Bombers. Handsome Bob of the no-windup delivery unaccountably could win only eight games last season, far short of the 21 victories in 1958 which earned him the Cy Young Award as pitcher-of-the-year.
Bullet Bob started tossing small pills back in 1948 with Belleville. He also worked at Aberdeen, San Antonio and Wichita before the St. Louis Browns brought him up in 1951. Bob led the league in strikeouts in 1954 when an Oriole, and was traded to the Yankees the following season. Bob, who was born in Troy, Illinois, is 29."
-Don Schiffer, 1960 Mutual Baseball Annual
1959
April 12: Downs Red Sox, 3-2, on 9-hitter.
April 29: Turns back White Sox, 5-2, on 9-hitter.
May 31: Going route for first time in a month, shuts out Senators, 3-0, on two hits.
June 6: Holds Indians to six hits in 2-1 victory.
July 4: Pitches 1-hitter, Julio Becquer spoiling [no-hitter] with pop fly single in ninth, to beat Senators, 1-0.
July 11: Hurts shoulder in collision with Elston Howard in relief against Red Sox; out three weeks.
August 8: Shuts out A's, 3-0, on four hits, fans 10.
Comment: "His ineffectiveness after a great 1958 season was an enigma. His injury compounded matters. He'll have to re-establish himself."
-Joe Sheehan, Dell Sports Magazine Baseball, April 1960
"Last year's Yankee Yearbook featured a two-page spread on Bullet Bob Turley, 1958 Major League Pitcher of the Year, and winner of the coveted Cy Young Award and the $10,000 Hickok Belt as the Professional Athlete of the Year. From a lofty 21-7 record and Series stardom in 1958, Turley slumped almost inexplicably, to an 8-11 mark in '59.
Possessor of a strong arm and great pitching know-how, Turley is determined to rectify the bad year of 1959. He has discarded his famed no-windup delivery in order to get more zing on his fast ball and has worked hard this past spring with pitching coach Ed Lopat to make other adjustments in his pitching form. The end result- he hopes, and the Yankees and Yankee fans join in that wish- is a return to stardom of the Yankees' player representative ... Bob Turley."
-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook
Robert Lee Turley (P) #19
Born September 19, 1930 in Troy, Illinois, resides in Lutherville, Maryland. Height: 6-2, weight: 208. Bats right, throws right. Married and the father of two sons, Terry Lee (5) and Donald Lee (3).
-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook
"Bullet Bob Turley was somewhat of a disappointment to the Yankees last season.
The previous season Turley had been THE pitcher in the big leagues, winning only 21 games (and losing only seven for a league leading .750 percentage), adding two more in the World Series, winning the Cy Young Award as the top pitcher in baseball and copping the Hickok Belt as the Top Professional Athlete of the Year.
Turley broke into Organized Ball back in 1948 with Belleville of the Illinois State League. His 9-3 record moved him up to Aberdeen of the Northern League where he posted 23 wins and led the circuit with 205 strikeouts.
The St. Louis Browns, who owned him, moved the 6'2" right-handed fireballer up to San Antonio and Wichita in 1950 and, after winning 20 for San Antonio the following summer, he was in the American League.
Bob dropped his lone verdict in the Fall of '51 and then went into the service, returning in the late stages of the '53 campaign. He was 2-6 in the Browns' farewell season on the American League scene.
With the relocated Orioles, in Baltimore, Turley worked 247 innings and led the league in walks and strikeouts while posting a 14-15 mark. The woeful Oriole attack prevented him from being a twenty-game winner.
The Orioles dealt Bob and Don Larsen to the Yankees in November 1954 for Gus Triandos, Gene Woodling, Willy Miranda, Harry Byrd and five lesser lights.
Turley worked the same 247 innings in New York and came off with a 17-13 mark in 1955. But his control (a league high 177 walks) undoubtedly hurt his record. Bob upped his strikeout total in the process, fanning 210.
In 1956 he fell off to 8 and 4 and in '57 it was 13-6. Then, in 1958, everything clicked. But 1959 saw Bob drop from the heights.
Still young, 29, Turley could regain the form that made him the top hurler in baseball two years ago. If he does, the Troy, Illinois, hurler could make New York the top dog in the American League once more."
-New York Yankees 1960 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
NOW IT'S THE GUESS-WHAT WINDUP!
Bob Turley Comes Up With New Gimmick With Man On First
"This is the new Bob Turley, brother, and you can say that again. He is the only exclusively active no-windup pitcher in the major leagues ... the only dieting ball player who starts each meal with a rosy red apple instead of tomato juice.
Now the Yankee right-hander claims another distinction. He is the first pitcher in the rather gimmick-free history of the big leagues to come up with the 'guess-what windup.'
What's the 'guess-what?' According to Turley, Manager Casey Stengel, Coaches Ed Lopat and Ralph Houk and assorted ball players, the 'guess-what' is a refinement of the no-windup pitch patterned by Don Larsen and adopted by Turley. Its primary function is to keep base runners guessing, not to mention the batter.
It works this way:
On every pitch, Turley faces the batter, the way any pitcher does when the bases are empty. Now a batter reaches first base safely. Turley reaches down for the rosin bag, steps on the rubber and faces the next hitter just as though there was nobody on.
He doesn't take the conventional stretch with his back to the first baseman, then peer over his left shoulder, in the time-worn 'hold 'em on' fashion.
'I talked it over with Ed Hurley to ask the umpires' views on the legality of making the throw over to first from the same position I make my pitch when there is nobody on base,' Turley said. 'He defined to me very carefully what constitutes a balk. He said if I make my throw to first the same way I did this spring, I can continue this new way of holding men on.'
The way Turley holds base runners anchored to first is with the right foot toeing the rubber, left foot back.
'All he does then,' says Lopat the pitching coach, 'is fire the ball over to first. He's all right if he doesn't start any movement with his hands or feet which could be construed as the start of a motion to the batter. The advantage, of course, is that from his position of facing the batter he doesn't have to look back over his shoulder to keep an eye on the base runner.
'You've got to give him credit,' said Lopat. 'He came up with this idea by himself. You know they used to run on Bob pretty good, and this idea makes it easier for him to correct the fault. He has a better view of the runner, and the runner, of course, knows that and is not so apt to take that long lead.'
Gil McDougald's impressions added another advantage of the 'guess-what' style of keeping runners on first base honest.
'I give Bob credit for thinking it up,' the infielder said. 'It really gives him a terrific advantage now in holding men on. Not only can he see him them better, but he also can get the ball over to the first baseman with more stuff on it than he could the old way with his back to the runner.'
Houk, who does the coaching on first base for the Yankees, said Turley's new gimmick was all right, but only for no-windup pitchers.
'When Bob gets on the rubber and makes ready to pitch, he has the ball cradled in his glove. He makes no other preliminary movement, so if he throws to first instead of to the plate he is not guilty of committing a balk.'
Bobby Shantz, a veteran pitcher, thought it would make Turley 'twice as effective holding men on first.'
'At times,' said the left-hander, 'they would run on Bob because they had too much of a lead.' "
-Til Ferdenzi, New York Journal-America (Baseball Digest, June 1960)
"Bob Turley was a .700 percentage pitcher virtually all of 1960, but his performance was disappointing in comparison with his great '58 season when his 21 victories and World Series heroics brought him the Cy Young Award. Bob pitched some very effective ball, but had a long period of incomplete games. On the positive side of his '60 ledger is the fact that once again he yielded an average of only six hits per game."
-1960 World Series Official Souvenir Program
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