Yankees’ legend Ford dies at 91
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. Hewas 91.
A family member told AP on 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 wily left-hander who pitched from 1950-67 in the major leagues, all with the Yankees. He was among the most dependable pitchers in baseball history.
He won 236 games and lost just 106, a winning percentage of .690. He would help symbolize the almost machinelike efficiency of the Yankees in the mid-20th century, when only twice between Ford’s rookie year and 1964 did they fail to make the postseason.
“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, hewas a distinguished ambassador for our national pastime throughout his life.”
Ford’s death occurred in a month when he for so long soared on baseball’s biggest stage, and hours before his Yankees played the Rays 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 and World Series MVP Bobby Richardson told AP.
The World Series record book is crowded with Ford’s feats. His string of 33 consecutive scoreless innings from 1960-62 broke a record of 29 2⁄ innings set by Babe Ruth.
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Ford still holds records for World Series games and starts (22), innings pitched (146), wins (10) and strikeouts (94).
Ford’s best seasons came in 1961 and 1963, in the midst of a stretch of five straight AL pennants for the Yankees, when new manager Ralph Houk began using a four-man rotation instead of five. Ford led the league in victories with 25 in 1961, won the Cy Young Award and was the World Series MVP after winning two more games against Cincinnati. In 1963, he went 24-7, again leading the league in wins. Eight of his victories that season came in June.
“He was the best pitcher I ever saw and the greatest competitor,” longtime teammate Mickey Mantle said.