1961 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR
QUALITY IN FLANNELS
Whitey Ford's Two Series Shutouts Spotlight High Percentage
"Edward Charles (Whitey) Ford is a quality pitcher, he was told by way of wet-handed congratulations, a guy who would be remembered not only because he won the big ones, but because he lost so few- big or little.
Ford, soaping his ruddy face in the shower of the visitors' clubhouse at Forbes Field after the sixth game of the most recent World Series, liked the evaluation. 'Yeah,' he said smiling, 'I'm proud of the percentage.'
Although he has pitched nine seasons in the majors, the stocky little blond who shut out the Pirates twice in two starts in the World Series has won an unimpressive total of 133 games. After all, in fewer than 20 seasons, Early Wynn has come close to the classic 300 and Warren Spahn has come even closer in just 15 years.
But Spahn has lost nearly 40 per cent of his games and Wynn almost 45. Ford? Beaten just 59 of 192 contests to which he has gone to a decision, the quality man of the Yankees has lost barely 30 per cent of the time.
A staff of Fords, to put the left-hander's excellence another way, would permit a ball club to win a pennant just about every time. Figure it out. Seventy per cent of 154 games is 107, a victory total that would have taken all except one league championship in the last generation.
'The gout, the misery in my elbow, has held me back from time to time in recent years,' said Ford, who never has been a 20-game winner, 'but mainly I didn't have the quantity seasons because we had too good a bench and- until lately- too good a bullpen.'
Ford grinned. 'I'd get down to the seventh or eighth, tied 1-1 or 2-2 and the Old Man (Casey Stengel) would pull me out for one of the guns or arms,' he said.
The 'Old Man,' off to the side, still was croaking hoarsely about the native New Yorker who just had scattered seven hits in the most one-sided shutout in World Series history.
'No,' Stengel was saying, 'the fella wasn't as good this year (12-9) and didn't do so good against Chicago, but I still thought enough of him to bring him back five times against 'em, didn't I?
'And when I'm hard up in August and my pitching is shot, just before I bring up Stafford, and I got to beat that fine young club at Baltimore, this fella pitches two 1-0 shutouts for me in four days.
'And,' said Stengel with a wink, a personal exclamation mark, 'his World Series record speaks for itself, doesn't it?'
It sure does, Case. It's 7-4 now and, better still, his earned run average for 95 innings in the blue-ribbon classic of prize and pressure is 2.27, even more brilliant than his career ERA, 2.70.
Always brash, but never unpleasant, the classic competitor has come a long way from his rookie season in 1950 when he overslept in St. Louis, showed up 47 minutes before the game and threw a three-hitter at the Browns.
The same season, Whitey, just 21, needled Dizzy Dean. 'You brag about winning 30 games in a season, Diz,' Ford cracked, 'but that was in the National League. They don't hit much in that league, do they?'
Dean blinked. Diz hadn't heard anyone with so much brass since, well, since Dean.
A licensed stock broker in New York, Ford is a typical young businessman-athlete, eager to make his first million so he can start work on the second, but still likes his fun. It's no secret that after shutting out Pittsburgh the first time on four hits in the third game of the Series, he passed up the fancy supper clubs he likes to frequent in the evenings and showed up at a small neighborhood saloon where his father has long been a bartender.
Word spread that Whitey was there. Tips must have been good for Pop Ford. Whitey alone spent $200, a friend said. His Irish father must be generous, too, though his Swedish mother probably would put her foot down if she knew that Ford Senior sets 'em up whenever his boy pitches.
'No,' Whitey emphasized, 'not just when I win. Pop is no frontrunner.'
Obviously the pitcher isn't, either. When he's got control, which is most of the time, he's the easiest pitcher to catch anywhere, Yogi Berra volunteered. Noted originally for a good enough fast ball and especially for his ability to throw two different curves at two different speeds, Ford said he had more recently developed a sinker and slider because, as he put it, the curve wasn't quite as good.
'Maybe not,' said Johnny Stevens, the American League umpire who worked behind the plate in Ford's 12-0 shutout, 'but it's still the best in our league.'
When Whitey does put aside his uniform, he'll be able to look back on records as one of the few men ever to pitch consecutive one-hit games, the only hurler ever to strike out six consecutive batters twice and, for the present anyway, the standard for most times having started a World Series game.
But he'd like to be remembered most- and will- as a quality guy who won the big ones and didn't lose many- either large or small."
-Bob Broeg, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Baseball Digest, January 1961)
WHY DIDN'T CASEY OPEN WITH FORD?
"So you wonder, as you did all during the World Series, why Casey Stengel didn't pick Whitey Ford for the opening game, thus having him available for a third appearance, if necessary. I suspect you will hear this debated heatedly through the winter.
In light of Ford's two shutouts and as being the only pitcher on either team to go the distance, it isn't hard to say Ole Case made a mistake. That's obviously second-guessing.
But before that, it seemed silly to consider anyone else, despite Art Ditmar's 15-9 record for the season, along with eight complete games and 65 strikeouts in 200 innings that set him up as the ace of the New York staff.
Through the years, and including the important four-game series with the Orioles that decided the American League pennant in September in Yankee Stadium, it was Ford that Stengel first turned to.
Yet with two weeks to get Whitey ready between the time the Yankees clinched the pennant and opened the Series, Ole Case, for reasons known only to himself, decided on Ditmar."
-Paul Menton, Baltimore Sun (Baseball Digest, January 1961)
"On past performances, his 1960 season was his poorest in nine. The active all-time leader in earned-run average and won-lost percentage, Ford tailed off last year with a 3.08 ERA and a 12-9 mark for .571, then came on strong in the Series to win twice, both by shutouts.
Ford now has 133 lifetime victories, starting with a 9-1 record as a 1950 rookie. He twice led the American League in ERA but has never had a 20-game campaign. Shoulder and elbow pains have curtailed his effectiveness in the last three years.
Born in New York, NY, Ford was signed from the city sandlots. Intelligent and competitive on the mound, he's rated among the best of all pitchers in baseball."
-Don Schiffer, The Major League Baseball Handbook 1961
1960
April 22: Goes seven in 5-0 win over Orioles.
May 3: Strains elbow in first against Tigers.
May 13: Goes six in 7-3 win over Senators.
May 26: Blanks Orioles, 2-0, on three hits.
July 6: Stops Orioles, 5-2, on 7-hitter; named to American League All-Star squad.
July 18: Checks Indians, 9-2, on 8-hitter.
July 28: Goes five in 4-0 win over Indians.
August 13: Shuts out Senators, 1-0, on three hits.
August 16: On two days rest, blanks Orioles, 1-0, on three hits.
September 13: Kayoed for fifth time in a row by A's.
September 16: Goes 8 2/3 in key 4-2 win over Orioles.
Comment: "Arm soreness again hampered him, but this cool, crafty operator is still the top 'money' pitcher."
-Joe Sheehan, Dell Sports Magazine Baseball, April 1961
"Though he's never won 20 games in a season, Edward Charles 'Whitey' Ford is one of the all-time great Yankee left-handers. He still leads all active major league pitchers in lifetime earned run average with a remarkable 2.70, and he's tops in won-lost percentage with .693.
Whitey slipped a bit last year but was the big man when a victory was needed against the challenge of the Baltimore Orioles. Then came the World Series and Ford's spectacular double shutout performance over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Now at the age of 32, some thought Whitey perhaps was slipping. But his spring training performances indicated that the left-handed ace of the Yankee staff may actually be approaching his major league peak. And Ralph Houk indicated this spring that his 'regulars' would work in regular rotation, which means more frequent assignments for Whitey, plus the eight added league games this year. All this may give Whitey a good shot at the coveted '20.' "
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
Edward Charles Ford (P) #16
Born October 21, 1928, in New York, N.Y., resides in Lake Success, N.Y. Height: 5-10, weight: 181. Bats left, throws left.
Married and the father of one girl, Sally Ann (9), and two boys, Eddie (8) and Tommy (7).
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
"This is Whitey Ford's tenth season with the Yankees and the 5'10" New Yorker enters the campaign with a remarkable 133-59 record. His lifetime won and lost record is the best among active pitchers in the majors, ditto his earned run average. Ford has never had a losing season, either in the minors or with the Yankees. In fact, his 12-9 (.571) mark last summer was his worst in Organized Ball.
The Yankees signed Whitey in 1947 and he was 13-4 with Butler. In 1948 the cocky southpaw was 16-8 with Norfolk and led the Piedmont League with 171 strikeouts. He was the Eastern League's strikeout king (151) in 1949 and posted the loop's best earned run average, 1.61, while winning 16 of 21 verdicts.
A 6-3 record with Kansas City of the American Association promoted him to the Bombers in mid-1950. With the Yanks, Ford ran off nine straight victories before dropping a relief assignment. And, he climaxed his sensational rookie season with the victory in the final game of the Series against the Phillies.
After a two-year hitch in the Army, Ford returned to New York. Among his honors are two ERA titles- 2.47 in 1956 and 2.01 in 1958- and the American League's top percentage- .760 in 1956.
The Sporting News named him the Junior Circuit's No. 1 hurler in 1955 when he posted a pair of back-to-back one-hitters in September. In 1956, he tied a league mark with six consecutive strikeouts against the Athletics. In 1959, he fanned 15 in a 14-inning 1-0 win over Washington.
The veteran of seven World Series is one of the game's better hitting pitchers and a very capable bunter. Ford has a terrific pick-off motion and is a fine fielder.
His strikeouts have always surpassed his walks and he usually comes up with the 'big' win as he did last summer in a key game with the Orioles. And he certainly was at his best in the 1960 World Series.
A broker in the off-season, Whitey makes his home in Lake Success, New York. He is married and has three children.
The only disappointment for the 32-year-old hurler has been his failure to post 20 wins in a season. He came close with 19 in 1956 and 18 in 1953 and 1955.
New York's mound problems will be at a minimum as long as they have their bread and butter man, Whitey Ford."
-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
A DAY FOR WHITEY
"Whitey Ford, the brilliant Long Island left-hander who had the most sensational first half-season of his distinguished career, will be honored with a 'day' by friends and associates on Saturday, September 9. The Cleveland Indians will play at the Stadium that day. Details of the unusual event will be announced on TV and radio and in the daily press in late August. Whitey's friends plan to make his 'day' one that he will remember always."
-1961 New York Yankees Official Program and Scorecard
GALL AND GUILE
" 'The best left-handed pitcher for one big game in the business,' says Hank Bauer, manager of the Kansas City A's.
'No one is better in big ball games,' says Al Lopez, manager of the Chicago White Sox.
'He'll beat you; he'll never beat himself,' says Mike Higgins, manager of the Boston Red Sox.
'When he's got it, the ball game's over,' says Paul Richards, manager of the Baltimore Orioles.
The endorsements go on and on, but with Ford, a veteran of nine seasons with the Yankees, this is only the beginning.
At 33 years of age, Ford is currently embarked on his most productive year. By July 10th he won 16 and lost only two. Unless he breaks an arm or a leg, 1961 should be the left-hander's first year as a 20-game winner. He won 18 in 1953 and 1955. He won 19 in 1956. Then last year he won only 12.
'I've never felt so good or worked as hard. That's what comes from living a good, clean life,' the hurler quipped when asked to explain why life begins at 33.
There are other reasons, of course. One of the intangibles was explained by Jack Burns, a former first baseman with the St. Louis Browns and Detroit Tigers. Burns managed Scranton in the Eastern League in 1949, the year Ford began to attract attention in the Yankee front office by winning 16 games at Binghamton.
Everybody in baseball will tell you about Ford's poise and coolness under fire. He thinks this angle is overrated. You get the feeling he would like more credit for the poison in his left arm rather than for the ice water in his blood stream.
'I'll admit I never have lost any sleep the night before,' he said. 'I drop off to sleep the same way the night before a World Series start as I do any night in the winter after watching the late, late show on TV.'
This was easy to believe. It is Ford's capacity for completely separating business from leisure that makes him a $39,000-a-year pitcher for the most successful organization in baseball.
'I sleep before games,' he said, 'but I'm nervous when I get to the ball park. I start thinking when I put on my uniform. I don't mean that to sound cocky or anything like that but when I walk into the clubhouse of any ball park, my working day has started.'
This approach to the business at hand does not go unnoticed among Ford's teammates. His best friend, Mickey Mantle, gave his estimate of Ford's value.
'He works at what he's got going,' the center fielder said.
Elston Howard, a catcher, was just as brief but more succinct.
'Whitey? What kind of pitcher is he? He's the Chairman of the Board,' Howard said.
Yogi Berra, who has caught Ford more than any other catcher, made his mental genuflection with a Yogism commensurate with his status as elder statesman of the catchers' fraternity.
'You tell how good a pitcher is by the way he gets 'em out. Whitey gets 'em better than anybody,' Yogi says.
It is no secret Whitey is 'getting 'em out' with more dispatch and consistency this season than any other season since he was a New York Journal-American sandlot star pitching for the 34th Avenue Boys in Astoria, Queens.
The questions came easy. They were elementary.
Why should a 33-year-old pitcher suddenly find himself strolling into the ball park these days as baseball's top winner?
Why is it no longer necessary for him to four, five, six days' rest between starts as was the custom under the reign of Casey Stengel?
Why does he have even more strikeouts than ever before?
Why is he no longer bothered by chronic arm ailments?
The Yankee left-hander looked at the questions.
'You must be writing a book,' he observed.
'No. Just looking for answers.'
'O.K.,' he said. 'I'll just talk. You take down what you can use.
'In lots of ways I am not surprised I am off to my biggest year. I actually had that in mind when I left for spring training. I figured it this way. In the first place, I had to get myself in the best condition of my life. I am no longer a rookie. It takes longer and it's tougher to force yourself now, but I made up my mind and that was the starting point.
'At the end of two weeks in St. Petersburg, I was in shape to pitch. I ran a lot- more than I ever had before in Florida. I pitched every day off the mound. Not long, but a little bit longer every day. It was a good system. You've got to give Ralph Houk and Johnny Sain credit for that. They thought it up.
'You've also got to give Houk and Sain credit for cutting out the old system I had been pitching under. Before this year it was the belief that maybe I wasn't strong enough to pitch with just three days rest. They were wrong, though. When I was pitching with those long periods of rest in between, my arm wasn't getting stronger and I had to wear myself out in between starts with extra running. I don't think that was good for me as an individual.
'You asked me about the strikeouts. I'm prouder of that than anything else.'
He should be. He had 122 strikeouts at midseason. Far more than he has ever had in his career at a comparable stage of the season.
'My arm is stronger, for one thing.'
'Isn't it true you've learned to throw a slider without making your arm sore?'
'Yes,' he says. 'Up to this year I never threw many sliders in a ball game. Maybe four or five all day. It hurt my arm so much I didn't feel it was worth the effort.'
A slider is sometimes called a nickel curve. It breaks sharply, but not with the sweep of a conventional curve ball. It's a dangerous pitch for a pitcher to use under the following circumstances: if he throws it too high; if he doesn't throw in hard enough; if it doesn't break enough.
Ford's slider this year, along with a refurbished fast ball is behaving just the way it should.
'Sain (Yankee pitching coach) worked with me in spring training camp,' Ford says. 'We wanted to find out why throwing the slider should hurt me so much.
'We both understood I needed a slider. I've been around a few years now with the same stuff. I had a curve which I could throw with varying speeds. I had a fast ball and other junk I threw up there now and then. It was all working good for me, but those hitters were figuring me out.
'Hitters think, too,' baseball's thinkingest pitcher says with a smile. 'No matter how good your stuff is they'll catch up to you if you don't come up with something to make them start thinking again. I knew the slider was the answer, but there was the problem of throwing it and then walking around for six or seven days with a pain in my arm.'
This, then, was what was behind the many chats behind Sain and Ford.
'Johnny and I figured the slider hurt me because I was throwing it with a kind of herky-jerky motion. That put extra pressure on my arm- the extra pressure I couldn't take. Sain suggested I throw the pitch with a smooth, long motion. I worked on it. In fact, I am still working on it.'
There are certain big hitters in the league who will tell you no additional work is needed on Ford's slider. Norm Cash, the free-swinging first baseman of the Detroit Tigers, was struck out twice in Detroit as Ford was gaining his eleventh victory of the year.
'It was the slider,' Cash says. 'It came in there like a fast ball, but at the last minute it broke out. He never threw them like that before.'
Ford fanned 12 that day. His next time out, he struck out nine. Twenty-one strikeouts in back-to-back is evidence enough that something new has been added to the Ford repertoire.
It's seasons like this one that make Whitey, a dugout quipster without parallel, say, 'it's better than working.'
It's easy now for him to look back over his shoulder.
'Baseball has always been a fun job for me,' he says.
Truer words were never spoken. The ex-Astoria sandlotter is fun everywhere. His value to the Yankees can not be measured by his feats during working hours. He is a morale builder in the clubhouse. On trips. Anywhere.
When cabin fever clutches at the Yankees, and that's an occupational hazard when you see the same faces and live with the same pressures day after day, you'll find Ford there to sweeten the situation with a light quip, a happy word, a story about somebody which will entertain but never offend. He has an instinct for making the small talk you need on a ball club.
Whitey Ford is worth the money they pay him."
-Til Ferdenzi, New York Journal-American (Baseball Digest, September 1961)
"Edward Charles 'Whitey' Ford is one of the all-time great Yankee left-handers. He has the lowest earned run average and the highest winning percentage of any active pitcher and he has a fine chance to complete his career with the best ERA and percentage in history.
The 5-10, 181-pounder has pitched in seven World Series and in five All-Star Games. His total of seven World Series victories ties him for the lead in that department.
Ford was the big man in 1960 when the Yanks needed a victory against the challenge of the Baltimore Orioles. In the 1960 World Series against Pittsburgh, he hurled consecutive shutouts.
Now 32, some thought perhaps Whitey was slipping, but his remarkable pitching this season proved he is just reaching his prime. He had a standout 16-2 record at All-Star time in 1961. Posting the first 20-victory season of a distinguished career, Ford led all major leaguers in total victories and won-lost percentage. He had a 14-game winning streak, tying Jack Chesbro's 1904 Yankee mark. He struck out more batters this year than any southpaw in Yankee history and his victory total was the highest since Lefty Gomez's 26 in 1934.
Whitey was a recipient of a 'day' in his honor on September 9. But the entire 1961 year certainly was Whitey's year.
He is married and has one girl and two boys and lives in Lake Success, New York."
-1961 World Series Official Souvenir Program
No comments:
Post a Comment