Cy Young Profile: Bob Turley, 1958

Pitcher, New York Yankees

Age:  28 (Sept. 19)

4^th season with Yankees

Bats – Right, Throws – Right

Height: 6’2”    Weight: 215 

Prior to 1958:

An Illinois native, Turley was banned from his youth baseball league in East St. Louis at age 12 due to his size and strength relative to other boys his age. Pitching in a municipal league, he regularly faced adults as a teenager. Drawing the interest of the St. Louis Browns, just across the Mississippi River from his home city, Turley signed for $200 per month following his high school graduation in 1948. The 17-year-old hurler was first assigned to Belleville of the Class D Illinois State League where he posted a 9-3 record and a 4.45 ERA while walking 71 batters over 97 innings along with 53 strikeouts. Struggling to control his outstanding fastball, Turley moved on to Aberdeen of the Class C Northern League where he went 23-5 with a 2.31 ERA and 205 strikeouts, as well as 131 walks in 230 innings pitched. With teams at the Class A and AA levels in 1950 he produced a combined 11-16 tally and 4.58 ERA with 137 walks. In 1951 with San Antonio of the Class AA Texas League (the team he finished up with in 1950), Turley’s record was 20-8 with a 2.96 ERA, 200 strikeouts, and 142 walks over 268 innings. Receiving a September call-up to the Browns he lost an 8-3 decision to the Chicago White Sox. Turley spent 1952 in the Army, where he played service baseball. Joining the Browns in 1953 he appeared in 10 games (7 of them starts) and was 2-6 with a 3.28 ERA, 61 strikeouts and 44 walks in 60.1 innings of action. With the move of the Browns to Baltimore in 1954, where they were rechristened the Orioles, the hard-throwing Turley, who typically was outstanding for the first few innings before wearing down, compiled a 14-15 mark and a 3.46 ERA with a league-leading 185 strikeouts and 181 walks in 247.1 innings. An All-Star for the first time, he was traded to the Yankees in the offseason as part of a 17-player deal. Already named by The Sporting News as the hardest throwing pitcher in the major leagues with his live fastball, “Bullet Bob” started off well with his new club in 1955 and was an All-Star again on his way to a 17-13 tally with a 3.06 ERA and 210 strikeouts, while once more topping the AL in walks with 177. The Yankees won the pennant and lost to the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series as Turley lost his lone start. Starting only 21 games in 1956, Turley had a respectable 8-4 record along with a poor 5.05 ERA. Having lost his spot in the starting rotation in September due to having lost manager Casey Stengel’s confidence, he developed an innovative (for the time) no-windup delivery at the urging of pitching coach Jim Turner. In the World Series rematch with Brooklyn and following RHP Don Larsen’s perfect game utilizing a similar delivery, Turley started Game 6 and struck out 11 batters and pitched 9 shutout innings before losing in the tenth. A spot starter and reliever for much of 1957, he went 13-6 with a 2.71 ERA and 152 strikeouts while having better control of his fastball, slider, sinker, changeup, and curve.

1958 Season Summary

Appeared in 33 games

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Pitching

Games – 33

Games Started – 31 [10]

Complete Games – 19 [1, tied with Frank Lary & Billy Pierce]

Wins – 21 [1]

Losses – 7

PCT - .750 [1]

Saves – 1

Shutouts – 6 [2]

Innings Pitched – 245.1 [4]

Hits – 178 [17]

Runs – 82

Earned Runs – 81 [16]

Home Runs – 24 [8, tied with Ned Garver]

Bases on Balls – 128 [1]

Strikeouts – 168 [3]

ERA – 2.97 [5, tied with Billy O’Dell]

Hit Batters – 8 [4, tied with Tom Brewer & Billy Loes]

Balks – 0

Wild Pitches – 6 [5, tied with five others]

League-leading wins were +4 ahead of runner-up Billy Pierce

League-leading win percentage was +.083 ahead of runners-up Cal McLish & Whitey Ford

League-leading bases on balls surrendered were +24 ahead of runners-up Early Wynn & Jim Grant

Midseason Snapshot: 12-3, ERA - 2.41, SO – 90 in 127 IP

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Most strikeouts, game – 10 (in 9 IP) at Boston 6/1

10+ strikeout games – 1

Fewest hits allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 1 (in 9 IP) at Baltimore 4/26

Batting

PA – 99, AB – 88, R – 8, H – 12, 2B – 0, 3B – 0, HR – 2, RBI – 6, BB – 4, SO – 35, SB – 0, CS – 0, AVG - .136, GDP – 2, HBP – 0, SH – 6, SF – 0

Fielding

Chances – 43

Put Outs – 17

Assists – 26

Errors – 0

DP – 4

Pct. - 1.000

Postseason Pitching: G – 4 (World Series vs. Milwaukee Braves)

GS – 2, CG – 1, Record – 2-1, PCT – .667, SV – 1, ShO – 1, IP – 16.1, H – 10, R – 5, ER – 5, HR – 2, BB – 7, SO – 13, ERA – 2.76, HB – 0, BLK – 0, WP – 0  World Series MVP

Awards & Honors:

MLB Cy Young Award: BBWAA

MLB Player of the Year: Sporting News

AL Pitcher of the Year: Sporting News

All-Star (Started for AL)

2^nd in AL MVP voting (191 points, 7 first place votes, 57% share)

MLB Cy Young voting:

Bob Turley, NYY.: 5 of 15 votes, 31% share

Warren Spahn, Mil.: 4 votes, 25% share

Lew Burdette, Mil.: 3 votes, 19% share

Bob Friend, Pitt.: 3 votes, 19% share

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Yankees went 92-62 to win the AL pennant by 10 games over the Chicago White Sox. The pitching staff led the league in ERA (3.22), shutouts (21), saves (33), and fewest hits allowed (1201). The Yankees surged to a 17-game lead on August 2 before slumping, largely due to sore arms suffered by pitchers Whitey Ford and Don Larsen. Still winning the pennant handily, they won the World Series over the Milwaukee Braves, 4 games to 3. Trailing by 3 games to 1, Turley’s five-hit Game 5 shutout proved to be the turning point. Turley relieved and picked up the final out to save Game 6. Relieving Larsen in Game 7, he pitched 6.2 innings and picked up the decisive win as well as Series MVP recognition.

Aftermath of 1958:

1959 proved to be a rough year for both Turley and the Yankees. Turley was demoted to the bullpen at one point on his way to an 8-11 record with a 4.32 ERA and 111 strikeouts in 154.1 innings pitched. While the club returned to pennant-winning form in 1960, Turley, bothered by back and elbow injuries, started only 24 of 34 games he appeared in and posted a 9-3 mark with a 3.27 ERA and 87 strikeouts in 173.1 innings. Hindered by bone chips in his elbow in 1961, Turley dropped to 3-5 and a 5.75 ERA while managing only 72 innings. Following surgery to remove the bone chips in the offseason, he made it into only 24 games in 1962 with mediocre results. Sold to the Los Angeles Angels following the season, he lasted until July of 1963 when he was released with a 2-7 tally and finished the year with the Boston Red Sox. He retired after the ’63 season and became a pitching coach for Boston in 1964. An abortive attempt to catch on with Houston in 1965 never made it past spring training and he retired for good. For his major league career, Turley compiled a 101-85 record with a 3.64 ERA, 78 complete games, 24 shutouts, and 1265 strikeouts in 1712.2 innings. With the Yankees he was 82-52 with a 3.62 ERA, 58 complete games, 21 shutouts, and 909 strikeouts in 1269 innings pitched. Appearing in 15 World Series games, his record was 4-3 with a 3.19 ERA, one save, and 46 strikeouts in 53.2 innings. A three-time All-Star, he was at his best during his 1958 Cy Young-winning season, before arm woes set in. In retirement from baseball he became highly successful in the insurance industry and real estate until his death in 2013 at age 82.

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Cy Young Profiles feature pitchers who were recipients of the Cy Young Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (1956 to present). The award was presented to a single major league winner from its inception through 1966 and from 1967 on to one recipient from each major league.