‘ Chairman’ helped Yankees capture 6 titles in ’ 50s, ’ 60s
NEWYORK — Whitey Ford, the streetsmart New Yorker who had the best winning percentage of any pitcher in the 20th century and helped the Yankees become baseball’s perennial champions in the 1950s and ’ 60s, has died. He was 91.
A family member said Friday that Ford died at his Long Island home Thursday night.
Ford had suffered from the effects of Alzheimer’s disease in recent years.
Nicknamed “The Chairman of the Board,” Ford was a lefthander who debuted in the major leagues in 1950. After two years of military service, Ford pitched from 1953 through 1967, all with the Yankees. He was among the most dependable pitchers in baseball history.
Ford was 236106 or his career, a winning percentage of .690. He would help symbolize the almost machinelike efficiency of the Yankees in the mid20th century, when only twice between Ford’s rookie year and 1964 did they fail to win the American League pennant.
“Whitey earned his status as the ace of some of the most memorable teams in our sport’s rich history,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “Beyond the Chairman of the Board’s excellence on the mound, he was a distinguished ambassador for our national pastime throughout his life.”
Ford’s death is the latest this year of a number of baseball greats, including Al Kaline, Tom Seaver, Lou Brock and Bob Gibson.
Ford’s death occurred in a month when he for so long soared on baseball’s biggest stage, and hours before his Yankees played Tampa Bay in a decisive Game 5 of the AL Division Series.
“He would have been the starting pitcher in this game for the Yankees in years past,” former teammate andWorld Series MVP Bobby Richardson said.
TheWorld Series record book is crowded with Ford’s accomplishments. His string of 33 scoreless innings from 1960 through ’ 62 broke a record of 292⁄ innings set by Babe Ruth.
3 Ford still holds records for World Series games and starts ( 22), innings pitched ( 146), wins ( 10) and strikeouts ( 94).