RIP - Whitey Ford

 

Yankees' great Whitey Ford passed away on October 8, 2020 at age 91.

 

 

 

Ford played for the Yankees from 1950 to 1967. This is his final baseball card. 

 

He retired on Memorial Day in 1967. Here is a newspaper photo I saved from the day he announced his retirement:

Ford still holds the record for most wins by a Yankees' pitcher (236). He also holds the major-league record for most World Series wins (10) and strikeouts (94).  

New York Post obituary  

ESPN obituary

1960s Blog Hall of Fame Results (#6)

Congratulations to veteran starting pitchers Whitey Ford and Warren Spahn on their induction into the 1960s Blog Hall of Fame. They join the 23 others shown below.

After receiving 66% of the vote last time, Ford leapfrogged over Spahn and 3rd baseman Eddie Mathews, and became the first inductee to receive 100% of the vote.

Only 6 people voted this time (down from 18 last time) with all voting occurring in the first 2 days of the voting period. (Have all the good players already been elected?)

After 4 votes, Mathews and outfielder Roger Maris were still in the running, but first Maris, and then Mathews, dropped below the 75% mark, each missing induction by 1 vote. Twins' 2nd baseman Rod Carew finished strong to match their 67%.


Complete results:

Four players received less that the minimum 15% to be retained for the next ballot.

1967 Scrapbook - Mantle, Ford, Mays

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Today I'm starting a new series called "1967 Scrapbook". A few months ago, I found a baseball scrapbook I had made in 1967, containing photos that I clipped from the Philadelphia sports pages that summer. Most of the photos are from the previous night's Phillies game, with the exception of the two photos in this first installment.


WHITEY FORD'S RETIREMENT - May 31



WILLIE MAYS - July 1



The back of the Willie Mays photo may be more interesting than the front. Here, not only do we see Mets' rookie pitcher Tom Seaver helping his wife with the grocery shopping, but on the far left, there's a picture of Phillies' farmhand Lowell Palmer, for once photographed without his trademark sunglasses.

Yankees' All-1960s Team (Pitchers)

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Last week I posted a column about the All-1960s Yankees' Batters. Here now is the pitching staff.



Pictured above are the top 6 pitchers (by innings pitched), plus #9 (Steve Hamilton) and #10 (Hal Reniff).

I don't have a card for #7 Bill Stafford, and I have bypassed 1968 Rookie of the Year Stan Bahnsen for 2 reasons: He only had 2 significant seasons with the Yankees in the 1960s (whereas all the other pitchers had at least 4), and I also wanted to have some relief pitchers represented (Hamilton, Reniff).

(Click to enlarge)

This chart shows innings pitched and games started for those pitchers who had 200 or more innings pitched for the Yankees in the decade. Next to their name is the number of years with the Yankees (in the 1960s), and the number of significant years (50 or more innings pitched in a season).

(see: Whitey Ford, Ralph Terry, Jim Bouton, Hal Reniff)

(If anyone wants the entire list of 62 players, send me an email through my profile page.)
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