Yankees History: The cagey and cunning Whitey Ford on the mound

Whitey Ford is arguably one of the best left-handed pitchers who ever graced the diamond. Lacking an overpowering fastball, he instead relied on breaking pitches thrown at different speeds and with pinpoint accuracy to consistently get opposing batters out.

Edward Charles “Whitey” Ford was born in Astoria, Queens in New York City, not far from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. He attended public schools in New York and graduated from the Manhattan High School of Aviation Trades. Ford was nicknamed “Whitey” while he was in the minor league because of his light blond hair.

Whitey was signed by the Yanks as an amateur free agent in 1947, and he played his entire 16-year career with them (1950 and 1953-1967). He served in the Army in the Korean War in 1951 and 1952.

Whitey will turn 92 years young this October. Today he travels back and forth between Glen Cove, Long Island, where he has lived for a long time with his wife and children, and sunny Florida.

When everything was on the line, Whitey always stepped up, elevated his game, and played a crucial role for the Bombers. Ford started Game One of the World Series in 1955-1958 and 1961-1964. He is the only pitcher to start four Game Ones in a row, which he did twice. He started 22 games overall and he won 10 World Series games, more than any other pitcher.

Whitey broke Babe Ruth’s record of 29 2/3 scoreless innings in World Series play by pitching 33 scoreless innings. He also holds the record for innings pitched in the World Series (146) and for strikeouts (94).

Stengel viewed Whitey as his top pitcher, and he saved him to throw against only the best opponents in the American League. Sometimes that meant that Whitey would pitch only on a fifth or six-day since his previous start. Hence, some of Ford’s totals were depressed by manager Stengel’s strategy.

Casey was fired following the Yanks heartbreaking loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1960 World Series. Even today, I still can’t bear to watch Mazeroski’s home run fly over the left-field fence in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7. A hard and painful punch in the gut for Yankees fans all over the planet.

The blame fell on Casey’s shoulders because he refused to start Ford, his ace, in Game One of the World Series. Instead, Ford pitched in Games 3 and 6, and he produced complete shutouts in both games. However, he was physically unable to appear in Game 7, the all-important clinching game, even as a reliever. Had Ford pitched in Game 1, he would have been able to pitch in three games of the Series rather than only two, including the deciding seventh game. Had Stengel done this, there is a very good chance that the Bombers would have taken the Series from the Pirates.

Ralph Houk succeeded Stengel in 1961, and he promised Ford that he would pitch every fourth day like other pitchers did on the team. How did Whitey respond? He went on to amass a 25-4 record and win the Cy Young Award in Houk’s first year as the Yankee skipper. Ford also was awarded the World Series MVP for his superb pitching in 1961.

Surprising to me and most Yankees fans, Whitey had to wait until his second appearance on the ballot before being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974 by the BBWAA (with 77.81 percent of the vote). The Yanks retired his uniform number 16 in his honor in August of the same year. Most fans would agree that he was a major reason why the club performed consistently well in the 1950s and 1960s. The Yanks were quite fortunate to have him on the mound.

Oddly, Harold Friend argues that Whitey was an overrated pitcher because he “never started an ‘ultimate’ game. He never started a Seventh Game of a World Series.” Of course, as already noted, Stengel refused to start him in a Game 7 in 1955-1958 and 1960 because he was using him, rightly or wrongly, for certain matchups that he deemed were critical during those series. (The Yanks won 2 and lost 3 World Series in those five years.)

In 1962 and 1964, skippers Houk and Yogi Berra, respectively, also decided not to start him in Game 7. Instead, they used Ford in other important matchups during those two World Series, both of which went seven games. (The Yanks beat the San Francisco Giants in 1962 but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1964.) Ford’s World Series performance speaks for itself, in particular, his record of 33 consecutive scoreless innings and his ten World Series game victories.

Why someone who is supposed to be knowledgeable about baseball would discount the role of a manager in strategizing who starts which games in a World Series and would criticize a player for never starting a Game 7, implying it was somehow the player’s fault, is inexplicable. At the same time, Friend ignores Whitey’s overall outstanding performance in World Series games, in general, and his regular-season record, in particular. Perhaps the writer has an ax to grind.

Whitey’s guile on the mound and his cagey and cunning pitching more than overcame his modest size and build. His success on the diamond demonstrates that one does not necessarily have to have a powerful arm to be an extremely effective pitcher in MLB.