BOB TURLEY
"The 'Bullet' was 9-3 in 1960 but was inconsistent most of the year. Turley won 21 in '58 and was voted pitcher of the year.
Born in Troy, Illinois, Turley was heralded as the new speedball king in his 1953 rookie year with the St. Louis Browns. In '54 as an Oriole, he topped the circuit in strikeouts and walks.
Turley went to the Yanks in '55 and had a control problem, leading the AL in bases on balls. He now depends upon curves and change-ups, altering his pitching style after a disappointing 8-11 mark in '59."
-Don Schiffer, The Major League Baseball Handbook 1961
1960
June 8: Shuts out White Sox, 6-0, on three hits.
June 13: Beats A's, 8-4, on 6-hitter.
July 16: Downs Tigers, 11-2, on 4-hitter.
September 10: Stops Tigers, 5-1, on 4-hitter.
September 23: Goes seven in 5-1 win over Red Sox.
Comment: "Four complete games in 24 starts was shocking for a pitcher of his caliber. Turley has been off-beam for two seasons."
-Joe Sheehan, Dell Sports Magazine Baseball, April 1961
"It was 'Bullet Bob Turley,' winner of the Cy Young Award as the top pitcher in the majors and of the Hickok Belt as the professional athlete of the year in 1958. Bob had reached the pinnacle of success. Then, without warning or injury, he slipped from 21 to eight wins. Gradually last year he pushed himself through the transition from thrower to pitcher and hopes to be back near the top when the 1961 season becomes history.
This is not to imply that Bob can't throw the fast one anymore, for he can. But now he pitches with more variety. Year in and year out he is stingy with base hits as his 1111 hits in 1441 innings pitched would indicate. This is a league leading average of only 6.939 hits per game for his entire eight-year career.
Bob has won four of seven World Series decisions and hopes to add to that mark next fall."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
Robert Lee Turley (P) #19
Born September 19, 1930, in Troy, Illinois, resides in Lutherville, Maryland. Height- 6-2, weight - 212. Bats right, throws right.
Married and the father of two sons, Terry Lee (6) and Donald Lee (4).
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
"Bullet Bob Turley rebounded from a disappointing 1959 season and regained some of the form last season that earned him the Cy Young Award in 1958.
The 6'2", 214-pound righty came to the Yankees, along with Don Larsen, in November 1954 for nine players including Gus Triandos, Gene Woodling, Willie Miranda and Harry Byrd.
He won 17 for the Bombers in 1955 and had a fine 3.06 earned run average. After 'fair' seasons (8-4 and 13-6), Bob hit the jackpot. He won 21 of 28 decisions for a .750 percentage and added two victories in the 1958 World Series. In addition to being the best pitcher in the big leagues that season, the Lutherville, Maryland, resident copped the Hickok Belt, awarded annually to the top professional athlete.
Turley slipped to 8-11 in '59 but came back with a 9-3 mark last summer and lowered his ERA from 4.32 in 1959 to 3.28.
Originally the property of the old St. Louis Browns, Bob started his pro career in 1948 with Belleville of the Illinois State League. His 23-5 mark and league leading 205 strikeouts with Aberdeen of the Northern League in '49 moved him up to the Double-A Texas League in 1950.
After a trip down to Wichita, Bob came back to San Antonio in 1951 and posted 20 victories, fanned 200 and had a 2.96 ERA. He lost his lone appearance with the Browns and then went into the Army.
After his discharge, in late 1953, Bob rejoined the Brownies for 10 contests. He moved, with the franchise, to Baltimore and was 14-15, leading the American League in strikeouts (185) and bases on balls (181). On the strength of his hurling, Turley should have been a 20-game winner for the Orioles.
Bullet Bob has several business ventures in Baltimore. The native of Troy, Illinois, is married and has two children. He needs only eight victories this season to reach the century mark in American League competition."
-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
BEST "READER" IN THE MAJORS
Turley Top Man In Detecting Other Pitchers' Pitches
"Bob Turley earns $30,000 a year, not all of which is paid him for trying to throw the ball by batters in the American League.
Turley is also paid for what doesn't show in the box score alongside his name. He is baseball's most official unofficial undercover agent, a regular Agent X-9 of the dugout. What the Yankee right-hander doesn't know about 'reading' pitchers isn't worth mentioning.
'Bob's the best guy in the majors when it comes to reading what pitchers are going to throw,' said Art Ditmar, a pitcher who has profited from Turley's tips on how not to tip off batters on what pitch is coming next. 'He's made a science out of it. I know I go to him any time I'm hit harder than usual by guys leaning over the plate to swing at my breaking stuff.
'Turley's usually got the answer for me. Either I'm winding up different when I throw a curve or slider, or it may be some other mannerism I don't realize I'm doing.'
Turley is no Johnny-Come-Lately in this dugout detective stuff.
'Way back when I was with the St. Louis Browns I started studying pitchers,' Turley said. 'With the Browns, you had to do something extra to take your mind off the club or you'd go nuts. That's what I did. When I wasn't pitching I'd watch pitchers. It got so I could spot some of them pretty good.'
Take Bobby Shantz, for instance. When Shantz was with the Philadelphia Athletics and then with Kansas City, he was a soft touch for Turley. The Yankee right-hander could 'read Bobby like a book.'
'I'll tell you something funny about that,' Turley said recently. 'When Bobby was bought by the Washington Senators a few months ago in that player draft, one of the first things he did was call me on the phone. After we'd chatted a while he said: 'Toughest part about this deal is that you'll be reading your old patsy again.'
'We laughed about that,' Turley added. 'But a few days later the Senators turned Bobby loose and dealt him to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Don't you know, Shantzie called me on the phone again. This time he said: 'Hey, Bob, I got good and lucky this time. I've been traded to the Pirates and I know darn well you're not going to read me now unless lightning hits you and you're moved into this league.' '
Turley was understandably reluctant to name names of victims in the American League. There are a few.
'I can tell you one guy who used to profit from stuff relayed to him and that was Gil McDougald,' Turley said. 'He's not in baseball anymore and this doesn't in any way detract from his great career, but Gil sure liked to know what pitch was coming up next.
'Gil and another guy still on this club were the best I've ever seen in making the most out of tips on what was coming up next. A few years ago I can recall a dozen home runs that were hit on tip-off pitches. A lot of guys don't want you to tell them.
'Tell you about McDougald, though,' Turley added. 'He was a real pro at it. You'd tip him off, lets' say, that a curve was coming. Now, most guys would get too eager and swing at the pitch even if it was out of the strike zone. Not Gil. Old Gil would take that pitch just like any other pitch. He was patient. The next pitch would be just right and he'd clout the hell out of it.'
Ditmar, who was seated in front of a neighboring locker, listened intently.
'There's a lot of stuff going on in baseball,' Ditmar said. 'You can't tell me they don't tip off pitches from that scoreboard in Chicago.' "
-Til Ferdenzi, New York Journal-American (Baseball Digest, June 1961)
"Troubled days have befallen 'Bullet Bob' Turley. He was headed for a return to form this spring when he suffered arm trouble for the first time in his career. The game right-hander was on the disabled list a good part of the summer.
It was Turley who was the winner of the Cy Young Award as the top pitcher in the majors and the Hickok Belt as the professional athlete of the year in 1958. He has won four of seven World Series decisions and has pitched in an All-Star Game.
Bob had reached the pinnacle of success. Then without warning or injury, he slipped from 21 to eight wins in 1959. Gradually, in 1960, he pushed himself through the transition from thrower to pitcher. This is not to imply that Bob can't throw the fast one anymore, for he can. But now he pitches with more variety.
The 6-2, 212-pound, 31-year-old right-hander is married and lives in Lutherville, Maryland, and has two sons."
-1961 World Series Official Souvenir Program
ART DITMAR
CAN DITMAR BEAT SERIES RAP?
"Perhaps it only seems that way because of the unremitting spotlight focused on even their most trivial activities, but unusual things are always happening to Yankee ball players.
Art Ditmar is the latest in a long line of these. He was the Yankees' biggest winner in 1960 with a 15-9 mark, yet he'll soon be going to spring training in St. Pete in the role of a fellow who has to prove his right to a starting role once again, thanks to his awful flop in the World Series.
This role holds no terror, however, for the handsome New Englander. He's been on the bottom rung before. If it's a matter of proving himself again, at least it's with a championship ball club. For a long time, Ditmar had to fill a similar role with ball clubs destined to go nowhere.
Moreover, he's had periods when failure was followed by dazzling success, so he faces the future with attitude serene and plenty of trust in his new pitch, an Eddie Lopat-coached slider which proved so effective a weapon for him in the 1960 campaign.
No rehashing of Ditmar's manhandling by the Pirates in games No. 1 and 5 in the World Series is necessary, nor is any defense needed, or in order, for Casey Stengel's decision to use him. In 50 years in baseball Stengel always went with what he thought was his best man. Ditmar rated that distinction, even after his first-game Series lashing. Now it is up to Ditmar to prove he is once again entitled to that distinction, or something close to it.
The hard fact is that the Yankees had no 'stopper' in 1960. Ditmar was the closest to it, but in the last month of the campaign, someone else had to shoulder the load. He won only one game in September.
In the previous months, however, the right-hander was the hurler the Yankees relied on in a race where first the White Sox, then Baltimore, had a run at the American League flag. And in that segment he earned his spurs.
Actually, Ditmar's seventh season in the majors was divided into four segments- a good start after a couple of relief jobs, a slump, a seven-game spurt, then a slide in September. The seven-game spurt was of immense importance to the Yankees and it came in dramatic fashion after he had been kayoed in Cleveland in the getaway game of a May trip into that city.
On the train back to New York that night Stengel summoned Ditmar to his compartment for a short talk. 'Anything wrong?' asked the Yankees' since-departed boss.
'Nope,' answered Ditmar, 'but don't worry. I'll be able to get them out pretty soon. I feel it.'
Casey believed it and his trust was repaid in short order. It wasn't the first dutch-uncle talk between the two. An earlier one had paid off in even more dramatic fashion.
Ditmar came to the Yankees in a successful deal with Kansas City, which will be gone into in greater detail shortly. He was no particular great shakes and in 1958 the Yankees plucked Duke Maas and Virgil Trucks from the Kansas City roster. In payment someone had to accompany Harry Simpson on the shuttle bus the New Yorkers were running between Yankee Stadium and the American League's westernmost outpost.
It had to be a pitcher and the brains department boiled it down to Bob Grim, who had been a 20-game winner not too far back, and Ditmar, still to prove himself. Grim had a sore arm and so he got the traveling orders, but Ditmar got a fatherly talk from Stengel.
'You're letting them hitters take advantage of you. They're bending over to get a good look at your curve. Don't give it to them. Straighten them up.'
Ditmar followed that advice. Hungry-eyed sluggers were a little surprised and shocked when he busted one off their fists or took a little fuzz off the lettering on their shirts. It made a successful Yankee hurler of the big right-hander who had come to the club with the dubious mark of being the losingest performer in the league (12-22) the year before.
It took a lot of courage to deal for Ditmar because the Yankees had been stung really badly once before dealing for the biggest loser in the league. In 1948 George Weiss gave three players, including Sherm Lollar, plus $100,000, for the Brown's burly Fred Sanford.
Sanford was a 12-21 performer. Weiss figured that he could double his output of victories with a big club behind him. As it turned out he won only a dozen decisions in two and one-half seasons with the Yankees and ultimately went to Washington in a three-for-one deal for Bob Kuzava.
Weiss was a gambler, though, despite his mildness of mien and his soft way of speaking. A decade and a half earlier he had pulled off one of the biggest deals in baseball, one which was to have a profound effect upon the destiny of the Yankees for two decades. He dealt for a sore-kneed Joe DiMaggio, giving up five players from the strong Newark farm club list for the youthful Pacific Coast League slugger.
DiMag had popped the knee climbing out of a jitney cab and immediately he became less attractive to the major league clubs that had been inflamed by his close to .400 hitting. The Yankees, and Weiss, had their doctor examine DiMaggio's knee, then exercised their option.
Anyway, it was 20 years later and Weiss, following the dictum, 'You can always use more pitching,' eyed the reports on Ditmar. Twenty-two defeats, sure, but in 16 of them the opposition had scored less than three runs. Moreover, Ditmar, or rather his hapless mates, had been shut out seven times.
So the deal was made and it was reflected in a pennant three years later. The Yankees got far, far the best of it in that swap, picking up Bobby Shantz and Clete Boyer for pitchers Rip Coleman, Mickey McDermott and Tom Morgan, plus Billy Hunter, Milt Graff, an infield prospect, and Irv Noren.
Not everyone thought the Yankees had come out ahead on this one. Ditmar and Tom Morgan were considered the key players on both sides of the deal. As astute a talent evaluator as Al Lopez stated flatly, 'I'd have taken Morgan.'
Significantly, none of the players the Yankees gave up that historic afternoon in mid-February, 1957, were in the majors last September when the Yankees quaffed their pennant victory champagne.
Ditmar and Shantz got the news of the trade in an unusual fashion. Art was at Lake Wales playing in a golf tournament run by Herb Score when someone came out and to the eighth green to advise he had just heard about it in a radio broadcast. What did Ditmar do?
'I missed the putt,' grinned Art.
Shantz, who most observers were ready to consign to the junk heap, was in Columbus attending the wedding of his brother, Wilmer.
What did he do?
'I had my car all packed because I was driving to West Palm Peach where the Athletics were training. So I hopped in and headed to St. Pete instead.'
For Shantz the deal meant another shot at the big time after he had gained M.V.P. honors with the since-dead Philadelphia Athletics five years earlier. For Ditmar it was his first chance to pitch with a club that was capable of getting him some runs.
Ditmar had come up through the A's organization. He was signed out of high school in Pittsfield, Mass., and started way down in D. He jumped to A ball with Savannah, but military service apparently took some of the edge off his pitching because when he came back he was a dismal 2-13 with Ottawa, then the Triple-A club for the A's.
So he was sent down to Savannah again and it was a gloomy interlude because it meant that if he didn't make it his baseball career was over. He burgeoned with a 7-0 record and had a look with Philadelphia, and later came up to the big club to stay in 1955 after the franchise had been moved to Kansas City.
Ironically, his first major league victory was fashioned over the Yankees. It came in 1954, in the last game of the year. Stengel had promised 'my writers' something to write about, and proudly presented the heaviest hitting infield in baseball, with stuff like Mantle at short, Berra on third and Skowron on second. Ditmar didn't finish but got credit for the A's victory, with Marion Fricano holding off the Yankees in relief.
After his 1956 year in Kansas City, anything was bound to look good. He had started and relieved, pitched with one day of rest, gave up 30 homers and sometimes felt as though someone was sticking pins in a voodoo-doll replica of him.
Better days were ahead, and the next year he was togged out in the neat but not gaudy traditional pinstripe of the Yankees.
His last-place days were behind him, but he had brought his short temper, always difficult to control, with him. Every once in a while it has projected itself into the picture. He was the pitcher in the Yankees' really rousing field fight, after Chicago's Larry Doby accused him of throwing at him.
His kicking his glove ahead of him en route to the dugout even today would do justice to that master choreographer, Jerome Robbins. He is a mad pitcher, one who shouts at umpires to keep on their toes, and a glove pounder. It all doesn't go with his handsome looks and careful off-field appearance.
Nor does his off-season activity fit into that concept. His Army service gave him GI tenure for a college education and Art is using every last lick of it with a course leading to a B.S. in Business Administration at American International College in Springfield, Mass., which will stretch eventually over an eight-year period. He's in his last year, making it just in time, for the GI eligibility runs out soon.
Ditmar is a native New Englander and this is mentioned because that particular section doesn't produce too many major league ball players these days. He'd have been playing for the only New England major league club, too, except that the area scout for the Red Sox didn't want to 'look bad' twice in a row. He had given $20,000 to an earlier pitching prospect from Pittsfield, Ditmar's home town, and 'didn't want to make the same mistake twice.'
The best he could offer was another look after Ditmar had put in a year without pay in a fast local semipro league. Ditmar said 'no thanks' and signed with the A's.
That was 13 years ago. Last season Ditmar was the Yankees' best regular-season pitcher and their keenest Series disappointment. It would be ill-advised to write him off as a one-season phenomenon because he developed into a winner through applying sagacious advice from Eddie Lopat. Any pitcher who is still learning at 31 has no limit imposed on how high he can go.
Art was a winner because he came up with a variation on a slider, a pitch with which he had indifferent success in previous seasons. Lopat, in his only year as Yankee pitching coach, observed Art's slider was a slow mover and shifted Art's grip, causing him to press his middle finger against the seems instead of holding it across the seams.
Ditmar came out of a game in Cleveland with a blister, and though everyone looked worried Lopat could scarcely conceal his joy. The blister meant the seams were in the proper place in relation to his finger, plenty of good irritation. The healing would come later but meanwhile, he was throwing it correctly.
Ditmar has been singularly free of injury and arm trouble during his career. A sore foot prevented him from opening the 1960 season, as had been planned, and there was a near miss one night in Kansas City last summer when Jerry Lumpe caromed a glancing shot off his cap. ('I had a headache when the game started but after the ball knocked me down I noticed the headache was gone.') But by and large, Art Ditmar has been lucky. (Whenever I pitched to Mantle at least he never hit it back through the box.')
His luck ran out in two bad innings in the 1960 World Series. He drew the Series-opening assignment on merit, got only one man out. In his second start, the fifth game, Ditmar started as though he was going to burn down the barn in the first inning, getting the first three hitters in order.
Then the Pirates put the torch to him in the second, another three-run inning, again the call for help with only one man out.
Now Art is embarked on another climb. Stengel is gone. Ralph Houk is the man who will have to pass judgment on Ditmar as the curtain parts on 1961. The unquestionable pressure doesn't faze Ditmar. He's been involved in such proceedings before."
-Harold Rosenthal (Baseball Digest, February 1961)
"Ditmar paced the club in 1960 with 15 victories, many of them when the Yanks started on their September drive toward the flag. A fine control artist with varying speeds, he's seldom been able to get off to a fast start.
Born in Winthrop, Mass., Ditmar started in the Athletics chain in 1948, coming up in 1954 for a brief trial. He stayed with the A's in '55 and '56, dropping 22 games in the latter season. He was dealt to the Yanks in '57 and has had four winning seasons.
Ditmar had pitched 10 scoreless Series innings before the Pirates scuttled him in 1960, making him a two-game loser."
-Don Schiffer, The Major League Baseball Handbook 1961
1960
May 15: Downs Senators, 4-2, on 6-hitter.
June 5: Stops Red Sox, 8-3, on 6-hitter.
June 16: Checks Indians, 4-3, on 10-hitter.
June 17: Beats White Sox, 4-2, on 7-hitter.
July 3: Downs Tigers, 6-2, on 6-hitter.
July 26: Goes seven in 6-1 win over Indians.
July 31: Blanks A's, 6-0, on 7-hitter.
August 10: Goes 6 2/3 in 6-0 win over Chisox.
August 15: Halts Orioles, 4-3, on 5-hitter.
August 24: Goes 8 2/3 in 3-2 win over Chisox.
September 18: Goes 5 1/3 to beat Orioles, 7-3.
Comment: "Steadiest Yankee pitcher."
-Joe Sheehan, Dell Sports Magazine Baseball, April 1961
"Two good seasons in a row moved big Art Ditmar to the head of the class among Yankee right-handers. Last season the Springfield, Mass., 32-year-old achieved 15 victories and a 3.06 ERA to lead the staff in both departments. Experimenting frequently, Art did not have a good spring, but Manager Ralph Houk looks to Ditmar to have another consistent year as a winner.
In the off-season, Art is a major in personnel management at American International College. He will complete his last semester and qualify for a degree next winter.
This perseverance is an obvious Ditmar quality. This will be Art's fifth season in Yankee Pinstripes and in 1960 his lifetime mark edged over the .500 mark. He posted 3-0 and 4-1 records against Chicago and Detroit respectively, bringing his career records versus these clubs to 15-5 and 11-6."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
Arthur John Ditmar (P) #28
Born April 3, 1929, in Winthrop, Mass., resides in Springfield, Mass. Height: 6-2, weight: 197. Bats right, throws right. Married and the father of one girl Debra Lynne (3), and one boy Jon Scott (1).
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
"Art Ditmar was the Yankees' winningest pitcher last season when he turned in a 15-9 record. The 6'2" righty worked 200 innings and compiled a fine 3.06 earned run average, the third best mark in the American League.
This is Art's eighth season in the AL and fifth with New York. He came to the Yankees from Kansas City before the 1957 season, along with Bobby Shantz, in exchange for Billy Hunter, Irv Noren, Tom Morgan and several lesser lights. Last summer's work lifted Ditmar's lifetime mark over the .500 level, 70-67.
The strong-armed hurler broke into Organized Ball with Kewanee of the Central Association in 1948. After two seasons with Savannah, Ditmar went into the Army. In 1953, following his discharge, he split the season with Savannah and Ottawa, having a perfect 7-0 mark with the Sally Leaguers and a 2-13 mark in the Canadian capital.
Philadelphia brought him up for 14 games in 1954 before sending him back to Ottawa. With the Athletics, Art was 1-4. He returned to the A's (now located in Kansas City) in 1955 and has been in the Junior Circuit ever since.
Ditmar had the dubious honor of leading the loop in losses in 1956, dropping 22 verdicts while winning 12. He also gave up the most runs (141) and the most earned runs (125) in 254 innings.
The Yanks gambled on the Winthrop, Mass., native and it paid off. He was 8-3 in his first season with the Bombers and has upped his win total every year since. The 15 wins posted last season were Art's personal high, including his minor league days.
Ditmar, who now makes his home in Springfield, Mass. (where he attends American International College during the off-season), had his best ERA in 1959, with a 2.90 rating. His strikeout total is better than his bases on balls mark and he is a good fielder.
In addition, the Yankee star is a better than average hitting pitcher. He had 11 hits last summer, including a pair of doubles.
Art was tagged solidly by the Pirates in his two Series starts last fall. In two previous post season classics (1957-58) he was unscored on in 10 frames. A couple of winning starts in this year's World Series would more than make up for last year's disappointment."
-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
RYNE DUREN
"Duren has been promised a starter's role for 1961. A fireballer with control deficiencies for the last two seasons, he had spectacular strikeout records in the 1958 and '59 seasons, fanning more batters than innings pitched. His ERA in '59 was 1.88, but it ballooned to 4.96 in '60.
Born in Cazenovia, Wisconsin, Duren started at Wausau in 1949 and labored in the minors for six seasons before Baltimore brought him up in 1954. Back to the minors for two more years, the Athletics acquired him in '57 and the Yanks in '58. Duren was a strikeout leader for three years in the minors."
Don Schiffer, The Major League Baseball Handbook 1961
"Controversy has surrounded bespectacled Ryne Duren. Frequently wild, but with great speed, Ryne needs regular work to keep sharp. It was for that primary reason that Manager Ralph Houk indicated during the winter that Duren may become a starter.
Admittedly his greatest asset to the Yankees is as a late-inning 'stopper.' He's been great at that in the past. Ryne was the league's relief ace in 1958, as a rookie veteran, saving 18 games and winning six while posting a 2.02 ERA. In 1959 he had 31 2/3 [consecutive] innings of scoreless relief pitching over a period of 17 appearances. But last year ... well, Ryne would rather write that one off (he worked only 49 innings).
All told he has pitched 247 innings in the American League up to this year and has yielded just 156 hits while striking out 289. What a relief he can be ... to Ralph Houk and the Yankees in 1961!"
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
Rinold George Duren (P) #26
Born February 22, 1929, in Cazenovia, Wisconsin, resides in San Antonio, Texas. Height: 6-1 1/2, weight: 198. Bats right, throws right. Married and the father of one boy, Stephen (11).
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
"Ryne Duren had an 'off-season' in 1960 after two terrific years with the Yankees. The hard-throwing righty had a 4.96 earned run average after posting marks of 2.02 and 1.88 the previous two summers.
The bespectacled hurler broke into Organized Ball in 1949 with Wausau of the Wisconsin State League. He advanced to Pine Bluff in 1950 and was the Cotton States League's strikeout king with 233. In 1951 he was the Central League's 'K' leader, whiffing 238, and posting a 17-8 record for Dayton.
Duren reached the American League in 1954, appearing in one game for Baltimore. En route, he had stops at San Antonio, Anderson, Scranton and San Antonio again. His 212 strikeouts were tops in the Texas League in 1953.
Ryne, who stands 6'1"1/2 and weighs 195, divided the 1955 season between Seattle and San Antonio. He was 11-11 with Vancouver of the Pacific Coast League in '56 and earned another big-league trial, this time with Kansas City. His early '57 mark with the A's was 0-3.
The Yankees acquired him in '57 (as part of the Billy Martin-Harry Simpson deal) and sent him to Denver of the American Association. Ralph Houk was then managing the Bears, and Duren posted a fine 13-2 record for the Major.
He came up to the Yanks in '58 and was 6-4 in 44 relief appearances. In '59, Ryne fanned 96 in 77 innings and last season he recorded 67 strikeouts in 49 frames.
The Wisconsin native, who now resides in San Antonio, is one of the poorest batsmen in the game. However, the Yankees aren't paying him for his hitting.
If Duren can rebound from his one poor campaign, the Yankees aren't going to have worries in the bullpen."
-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
THE HURLER WITH THE 'K' IN HIS EYES
Family Men Especially Don't Relish Ryne Duren
"When last tested, the left eye of Ryne Duren, uncorrected, checked at 20/200, hardly the vision you would expect, say, of a Wilshire Boulevard bus driver, unless, of course, he used a prescription windshield.
By comparison, the right eye of Duren is a marvel of perfection. It tests at 20/70, which would just about qualify him as an umpire.
A funny thing happened to Ryne in an eye examination against the Yankees the other night. Every thing he looked at read like a 'K.' He struck out 12, the most Yankees to bite the dust in a single game to that point this season.
He also allowed but three hits, and, in a stroke that set back radar 50 years, he groped in the darkness with his bat and lashed a single with the bases loaded, setting up the Yanks for calamity.
It was the first hit for Duren since July 13, 1958. He had gone hitless in 34 at-bats since then. It was only his third hit in 60 times at bat in the majors.
'I have trouble with my depth perception,' Ryne explains, as if the rest of his vision were flawless. 'It troubles me when I'm hitting and on comebackers to the mound. I know the ball is out there somewhere, but I can't always put my finger on it. I proceed mostly by instinct.'
When, with two out and two strikes in the sixth, Duren slapped a grounder to center to score two runs, Bob Turley, the Yankee pitcher, stood like a man transfixed.
He seemed only dimly conscious that the next batter was Albie Pearson, who smashed a home run. 'After Duren's hit,' says Albie, 'Turley was unstrung. He was like a guy who had missed a short putt.'
For several weeks before his consignment to the Los Angeles Angels, Duren says he expected the Yankees to trade him.
'There were rumors all over the place,' says Ryne. 'I had a feeling a trade would come, but I didn't know where.'
Returning to his quarters at 3 a.m. at spring training camp, Duren was inspired to have a talk with Manager Ralph Houk. The fact that Houk was sleeping at this hour shocked the pitcher, who, in good faith, had accepted the announcement that the manager's door was always open.
While anticipating a change of post, he never envisioned the Foreign Legion in Los Angeles where the conditions would be such that he would be used as a starting pitcher.
As a relief man in the service of Casey Stengel, he rarely went more than four innings, which, in truth, was too long in the view of opposing batters. To this day, the combination of Duren's speed and eyesight provokes a certain unappreciation among batters. As Casey said one day:
'Hitters don't like to see that fella- especially family men.'
Starting assignments are less than ideal for a pitcher like Duren, who expends so much energy that his endurance naturally falters.
Much of this is due to the uncommon number of fouls that are hit off him. Ryne throws with such velocity that batters don't dare watch too many pitches. Anything close and they'll flick their bats, often dispensing fouls.
The eight innings plus that he pitched against the Yankees amounted to his longest exercise in his five years in the majors."
-Melvin Durslag, Los Examiner (Baseball Digest, September 1961)
DUKE MAAS
"The forgotten man of the Yankees in 1960, Maas worked only 70 innings and had a 4.11 mark. He won 21 games and lost 11 in '58 and '59 for the Bombers but was free with hits and earned runs.
Born in Utica, Michigan, Maas was first a Tiger in 1955 and went to the Athletics in '58. He had a 0-7 record for Detroit in '56, then followed with a 3.29 ERA in '57.
Maas started his career with Roanoke Rapids in 1949. He had his finest minor league season with Wilkes-Barre in '54 with 11-3 and a 1.10 ERA."
-Don Schiffer, Major League Baseball Handbook 1961
"Newest Yankee is also an old Yankee as we welcome back Duane Maas. The 'Duke' was sold to the new Los Angeles Angels in the winter expansion draft. He was reacquired late in the spring training season in a trade for Fritz Brickell.
In two-and-a-half seasons as a Yankee, Duke won 26 games, lost only 12, a mighty imposing record for a spot starter and reliever. Each spring, Maas has arm miseries, but he works his way out of the troubles to help his club in mid-season. Manager Ralph Houk, in approving of General Manager H. Roy Hamey's deal, looks for important mid and late-season help from the 30-year-old native of Michigan.
Maas won the pennant-clincher in 1958 from his old teammates, the Kansas City Athletics. He's won some other important games for the Yankees, too. Maas was 2-0 versus Boston last year, bringing his lifetime record against the Red Sox to 14-12. In 1959, Duke won five in a row over the Cleveland Indians."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
Duane Frederick Maas (P) #29
Born January 31, 1931, in Utica, Michigan, where he resides. Height: 5-10, weight: 176. Bats right, throws right. Married and father of two children.
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
"Maas, who was 29 in January, broke into Organized Ball in 1949. He spent the 1951 and 1952 seasons in military service and reported to Durham of the Carolina League following his discharge. After stops in Wilkes-Barre and Buffalo, the Detroit Tigers called Duke up to the American League in 1955. He was 5-6 when the Bengals sent him back to Buffalo.
After suffering seven reversals without a victory in 1956, Maas was again back in the minors, this time with Charleston of the American Association. His control was near perfect with the Senators as he walked only nine in 64 innings while winning six and losing three.
Detroit gave Maas another whirl in 1957. He worked 219 innings and had a 10-14 record. The A's acquired him in November of '57, along with Bill Tuttle and Frank House in a deal for Tom Morgan, Billy Martin, Lou Skikas and Gus Zernial.
Duke was 4-5 at Kansas City when he was dealt to New York in June of 1958 for Harry Simpson and Bob Grim. The change was a good one as Maas recorded seven wins in ten decisions for the Yankees."
-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
JOHNNY JAMES
L-R. Relieved 22 times, started none for 3-2 and 5.66 for Triple-A Richmond. Eight years in the Yankee chain, four with Richmond.
English-Irish. Married. Born in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, resides in Pacific Palisades, California.
Scouting Report: "Major league material. Good fastball, good curve and- most important- can get both over the plate. Knows how to spot the ball and always works hard. Was squeezed off the Yankee roster last year due to waiver problems. Will stick this time."
-Baseball Digest, March 1961
"Unanimous choice for the James P. Dawson Award (an engraved Longines-Wittnauer watch) as the outstanding rookie in the 1960 Yankee training camp, Johnny James posted a creditable 5-1 record in his first half-season with the Yankees. He was sent back to Richmond for more regular work when the Yankees purchased Luis Arroyo last summer. Now James is back in Yankee Stadium and he wants to stay.
A strong-armed little right-hander, he can work frequently in relief. At times he's had control problems, but basically, he gets the ball over with something on it.
In his first major league appearance, Johnny got Clint Courtney to hit into a triple play. That was in 1958. The following year he was the International League's All-Star reliever. This year he'd like to be the same for the Yankees."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
John Phillip James (P) #53
Born July 23, 1933, in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, resides in Pacific Palisades, California. Height: 5-10, weight: 163. Bats left, throws right.
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
"Johnny James impressed everyone in spring training last year and was the unanimous choice of the Yankee writers for the James P. Dawson Memorial Award as the best prospect in camp.
The former University of Southern California hurler joined the Yankee organization in 1953. He toiled for Boise, Modesto, Binghamton, Birmingham and Richmond before making the varsity last summer.
Johnny, who will be 28 in July, had 106 strikeouts in his first season in Organized Ball. His best won and lost record was 11-2 with Binghamton of the Eastern League in 1956. The 5'10" righty posted a brilliant 2.06 earned run average with the International League Virginians in 1959 and was a member of that Triple-A circuit's all-star team. James had a 5-1 record in 28 games with the Yankees last summer (all in relief) and was 3-2 with Richmond in 35 tilts.
One of the few bachelors on the Yankees, James was born in Bonners Ferry, Idaho but now makes his home in Pacific Palisades, California."
-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
BILL SHORT
"Billy Short appeared in ten games for the Yankees last summer and showed enough to merit a solid look-see this spring. The 5'9" southpaw, who hails from Kingston, New York, was the sensation of the International League in 1959 and may be ready to work his way into the Bombers' starting rotation.
Short, who is only 23, is a product of the Yankee organization. He began his pro career with Bristol of the Appalachian League in 1955. After stops at Monroe, Binghamton and Peoria, he was in the Triple-A International League and compiled a 17-6 record with a 2.46 ERA in 1959. Bill won the '59 IL All-Star Game.
Billy was 6-2 with the Virginians last summer and had a 2.28 ERA in 79 innings. His control was off during his Stadium hitch but the little lefty was always on the beam in his minor league days.
Short, who bears a slight resemblance to Bobby Shantz, is a pretty fair hitter. He's young, ambitious and heady and should have a fine career ahead of him with the Yankees."
-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
DANNY MCDEVITT
"Fate has played strange pranks on Danny McDevitt. The 5'10" lefty who replaces Bobby Shantz on the Yankee staff this year is a former Dodger who started in baseball as a Yankee. He turned down a Dodger contract as a youngster to sign with the Yankees; didn't it make and finally drifted into the Dodger organization. After reaching near stardom in Los Angeles in 1959, the little lefty was reduced to pitching only 53 innings last season and G.M. Roy Hamey was able to purchase him during the winter.
Born in New York City, raised in Binghamton where the Yankees have a Class A farm club, he now resides in Greenwood, Miss. He had the distinction of pitching and winning the last game played in Ebbets Field, shutting out the Pirates, 2-0, in a night game. He still has the game ball.
He's had control troubles in the past, but he can really fire that ball when he's sharp. Danny failed to get into the 1959 World Series with the Dodgers, but hopes to taste post-season competition with the Yankees this coming fall."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
Daniel Eugene McDevitt (P) #24
Born November 18, 1932, in New York, N.Y., resides in Greenwood, Miss. Height: 5-10, weight: 175. Bats left, throws left.
Married.
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
"The Yankees purchased the native New Yorker from the Dodgers last winter and the 28-year-old southpaw hopes to take up some of the slack in the Bombers' secondary pitching ranks left by the drafting of Bobby Shantz, Eli Grba and Duke Maas by the American League's two new clubs.
McDevitt broke into Organized Ball in 1951 with the Yankee farm system. He was picked up by the Dodgers following the '52 season and joined their Fort Worth affiliate in the Texas League after a two-year hitch with Uncle Sam.
Danny's minor league record was far from impressive in the early years. But he found himself while hurling for St. Paul of the American Association in 1957- with a 1.86 earned run average and 73 strikeouts against only 29 walks in 87 innings- and was promoted to the varsity.
The baby-faced lefty posted a 7-4 mark with Brooklyn during the latter months of the '57 campaign. He was returned to St. Paul in '58 (and had a 9-4 mark) but joined the Dodgers in their Los Angeles home in mid-season.
The 5'10" 175-pounder had a 10-8 mark as the Dodgers took the 1959 National League title. He fanned 106 in 145 innings and permitted only 51 bases on balls in his finest big league showing to date.
Last season McDevitt had trouble getting untracked. He dropped four decisions without picking up a victory.
If Danny can toss for the Yanks the way he did for the '59 Dodgers, the money sent to the West Coast will be well spent."
-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
TED WIEAND
R-R. Seventh season in minors (first six for Cardinals) saw him on losing side of ledger for sixth time, 9-12 and 4.19 for AAA Seattle. Only big year was 16-9, 3.27 for AA Houston in '56.
Pronounced WEE-und. Dutch. Married. Born in Walnutport, Pa., resides in Slatington, Pa.
Scouting Report: "Has excellent fast ball. Presently sacrifices some velocity to improve control. Has good curve and occasionally throws slider."
-Baseball Digest, March 1959
R-R. International League's All-Star right-hander with 16-11 and 3.19 for AAA Havana. Eighth season in minors (first six for Cardinals) saw him on winning side of ledger for only second time and for best year.
Pronounced WEE-und. Dutch. Married. Born Walnutport, Pa., resides Slatington, Pa.
Scouting Report: "Might stick in '60 because of improvement in control. Breaking stuff improved steadily during past season."
-Baseball Digest, March 1960
R-R. Ninth season in minors (first six for Cardinals, next three for Reds) saw him on winning side of ledger for only third time, and then only 8-7, 3.63 for AAA Seattle.
Pronounced WEE-und. Dutch. Married. Born Walnutport, Pa., resides Slatington, Pa.
Scouting Report: "Control is good with average-plus fast ball. Throws overhand and tries to keep ball low and away. Only slim chance of making it."
-Baseball Digest, March 1961
"Battling for one of the positions on the Yankee pitching staff for 1961 is a newcomer to the Stadium, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Wieand, better known as 'Ted'. Born just a month after the late President's heralded inaugural, he was named for President Roosevelt because his father had been feeding a family of 10 children on a WPA salary and was grateful for small favors as an unemployed electrician. But the Yankee right-hander prefers the name Ted.
The Yankee camp this spring was Ted's fifth with a major league club- one with the Cardinals and three with Cincinnati. He's been on the fringe of the majors for some time and is working to make the Yankees this year. He has been a pupil of pitching coach Johnny Sain's. Wieand has the good fastball, conventional curve, overhand and sidearm delivery and good control essential to a relief pitcher."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Wiend (P) #21
Born April 4, 1933, in Walnutport, Pa., resides in Slatington, Pa. Height: 6-2, Weight: 195. Bats right, throws right.
Married and father of two boys, Jeffrey (5) and Joseph (3), and one girl, Catherine (4).
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
FRITZ BRICKELL
R-R. In Triple-A last four years. Hit .258 in 96 games for Richmond, 11 points from '59 with same club. One of game's shortest players [5'5"]. Dad, Fritz, hit .281 in 501 games for Phils and Pirates, '27-'33.
Married. Born and resides in Wichita, Kansas.
Scouting Report: "Seemed unhappy to be in minors. Hitting and fielding both off ... but could easily be improved. Could help some big league club and may stick with Yankees as utility infielder. Best position is shortstop."
Baseball Digest, March 1961
EARL TORGESON
TORGESON - THROWBACK TO THE PAST
All He Needs Is A Handlebar Mustache
" 'All that fellow Torgeson needs is a handle-bar mustache and he could pass himself off as one of the old-time Baltimore Orioles.'
That was a fan's comment recently about the Boston Braves' first baseman, and he was right. Earl is out of the roaring 1890s on the playing field and to a generation of spectators used to modern baseball of high batting averages and banjo singles and quiet, unobtrusive gestures on the field, the man looks out of date. Torgy belongs back in the era when batters could hit behind the runner and slide and steal bases and, if needed, throw a punch.
Did the general manager of the Braves, John Quinn, think Torgy was of the old-fashioned school?
'Definitely,' said the old man, 'he's not only old-fashioned but old school tie. And I think he has real spectator appeal. Even I get a charge out of watching him lift up his hat by the button after he hits a home run. All he has to do is get into a streak and he'll be a sensation.'
Torgy is perhaps the most underrated regular in the major leagues. With thousands of fans he hasn't lived down his first year in the league when his sole hope of catching a fly ball was to have his mouth opened wide at the correct time. The spectacles he wears also cut down on his glamour and his habit of wearing high-water pants on the field doesn't endear him to the fashion trades.
Outside of his own club, Torgy's greatest admirers are Leo Durocher and Ted McGrew, present head of the Boston Red Sox scouting staff. McGrew first saw him in Class B with Wenatchee, Wash., before World War II and finally urged the Braves to buy him in 1946 when Torgy returned from the war. Durocher won't talk about Torgy publicly for fear of being hit with a 'tampering' charge, but the New York Giants' bench has heard him mutter praises of the Braves' first baseman.
In an era of individual players, Torgy is a team player. Other left-handed hitters with a runner on first base slice a single to left field, sending the runner to second base only and getting themselves a safe hit for the averages. Torgy, being of the old school, tries to pull the ball behind the runner so he [the runner] can make third base if the ball goes through the infield. The attempt frequently fails. This hurts his own average but helps scored runs generally.
Few long ball hitters are willing to, or can, steal a base. They save themselves for the big inning. Torgy is no snob about the big inning. He gets on base any way he can because he thinks, just as Eddie Stanky thinks, that this is part of the game. Torgy, a .290 hitter, drew 119 bases on balls, only three less than Ralph Kiner, and because he was on the paths so often, scored 120 runs, highest in the league.
The man is always hustling. When physically able to play and the manager lets him, he's out there charging. Two years ago he played only twenty-five games. He ruined a shoulder by diving at, and missing, Jackie Robinson in trying to break up a double play. When the shoulder was healed, Torgy rejoined the Braves in time to throw a punch and not miss teammate Jim Russell in a fistic encounter during a celebration of Torgy's return to the team. The Braves' management refused to let him play first base with a broken hand in a cast.
In spring training last he felt he would never play again. His left arm was injured and he couldn't make the overhand throw. All he did was play 156 games and tied with Eddie Waitkus of the Phillies in accepting more chances than any first baseman in the majors. Made more errors, too, and more assists and more putouts.
General Manager Quinn, an ardent admirer of anyone who can hit curve ball pitching, chipped in this parting comment on Torgy:
'I was talking to Tommy Holmes about Torgy the other day. You know Tommy is a fine student of hitting. Tommy told me that Torgy's wrist action and hand action are the best they have ever been. I think Torgy might be ready for his biggest year.' "
-Gerry Hern, condensed from the Boston Post (Baseball Digest, May 1951)
FEATURED CAST
"Earl Torgeson, the recent White Sox acquisition who had been sort of a baseball nomad, was reminded of one of his adventures.
'Happened when I was with the Phillies,' he said. 'Terry Moore was managing the club and we're playing the Giants at the Polo Grounds.
'I'm out of the lineup. My right hand is broken and in a cast. Johnny Wyrostek is playing first base.
'We're getting beat by the eighth inning, but we got kind of a rally going. Situation seems to indicate a pinch hitter for Wyrostek, but Terry's handcuffed. No more first basemen but me, with a hand in a cast.
'I've given him an argument. We're beat anyhow. Maybe we can get back in the ball game if he uses a pinch hitter and the pinch hitter comes through. I tell him I can cut part of the cast off and make a stab at playing first the rest of the game. We can't be any worse off than we are now.
'Terry uses the pinch hitter. He makes good, and first thing you know we've knocked Johnny Antonelli out and we're leading.
'I manage to knock off enough of the cast so I can barely get my fingers in the glove far enough to keep it from dropping off. I got to first base. We get the Giants out, but I don't have a single chance.
'Now the situation gets more complicated. We had so many guys at bat in our eighth, my turn comes up in the ninth. I can't grip a bat, but I go up, anyhow. Darned if the pitcher doesn't walk me on four pitches, none of them anywhere near the plate.
'I still have to play in the Giants' half of the ninth. I don't get a single chance in that inning, either.' "
-Warren Brown in the Chicago American (Baseball Digest, September 1957)
"Earl Torgeson, who played in the 1948 World Series with the Boston Braves, now has an opportunity to participate in the Series with an American League club and embellish his .389 batting average for five games with the Braves. Torgy was a National Leaguer from 1947 to 1955 and has played with Detroit as well as Chicago in the American League.
Torgeson is rated one of the 'smart' hitters in baseball, the type who makes the opposing pitcher work the hardest. He draws a high number of bases on balls and his RBI percentage for his number of times at bat is usually among the highest in the league.
In addition to being a 'selective-type' hitter in that he compels the rival hurlers to work overtime, Torgy is rated one of the outstanding base runners in the business and a top hand defensively around first base."
-1959 Official World Series Program
Earl Torgeson, White Sox veteran, discussing trade rumors:
"First, you're an untouchable. Later, the boss is still saying you're untouchable, but you notice your name keeps popping up in the newspapers. Then you're traded. The next stage is when you're not mentioned in any trade rumors and that's when you start worrying."
-Baseball Digest, June 1960
"Veteran Earl Torgeson was signed in June as a defensive replacement for Bill Skowron at first base and as a spot starter and pinch hitter. This is Earl's 16th consecutive season as a major leaguer. He broke in with the old Boston Braves in 1947 and was in his first World Series in 1948.
The bespectacled left-hand hitter contacted the Yankees after his release by the White Sox and if the Bombers had not signed him, he intended to retire to his investment business in Chicago. But now Torgy is looking forward to helping the Yankees get into a World Series this fall. He hopes it will be his third fall classic. He served as a utility man for the White Sox in the '59 Series."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
Clifford Earl Torgeson (1B) #29
Born January 1, 1924 in Snohomish, Washington, resides in Chicago, Illinois. Height: 6-3, weight: 180. Bats left, throws left.
Father of Christine (14) and Andrew (12).
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
