Legends of the Dugout Coming

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R.I.P. Bob Turley: Browns Pitcher With Blazing Fastball, Dies at 82

Former Brownie "Bullet Bob" Turley, a fireballing rightander who drew comparisons to Bob Feller when he first came up to the big leagues and won the AL Cy Young Award and World Series MVP with the Yankees in 1958, died Saturday of liver cancer in hospice care at Lenbrook, a retirement community in Atlanta. He was 82.  Turley attended and spoke at a St. Louis Browns Fan Club reunion of players and fans in June 2011.

Whitey Herzog, left, Bob Turley, center, and Ned Garver, right at 2011 St. Louis Browns Historical Society and Fun Club luncheon in St. Louis

Robert Lee Turley was born in Troy Illinois just across the river from St. Louis in Madison County, the youngest of two sons of Delbert and Henrietta Turley.  His parents both worked as bacon slicers at a packing house. When he was small his family moved to 1426 N. 52nd Street in the Rosemont area of East St. Louis.  Bob was prohibited from playing catch with the other neighborhood kids because he threw too hard.  He starred on the Central High School baseball squad.

The day before his high school graduation in 1948, he was asked to come to Sportsman's Park by Browns' general manager Bill Dewitt for a tryout. The Browns signed Turley the day after his graduation. He had also attended a New York Yankees tryout and the Yankees were very interested. However, when the New York club's procedure called for Turley to attend a so-called "advance camp" in Missouri, Turley demurred. "I wanted to play ball right away," he said.

Bob didn't have to travel far for his first pro assignment: it was the Belleville Staggs, the Browns' class D farm team that played at the old Belleville athletic field at ninth and Illinois Street. His Staggs teammates included Mike Blyzka and Frank Saucier and one of his Illinois State League opponents was St. Louisan Earl Weaver, a second baseman for the West Frankfurt Cardinals.

Bob had an extremely successful minor league career, winning 20 games twice and being called up to the Browns at the end of the 1951 season.   But it was Korean War Time, and Bob soon found himself wearing a different shade of brown: khaki.  The Korean War had ended on July 27, 1953 and Turley had saved about seven weeks leave time, so while he officially served two full years and was officially discharged on October 1, 1953, with his unused leave, he was actually able to get his release in mid-August '53. After working out for the Browns that August, it was obvious that the service had not hurt his fastball, and he found himself back in a major league game almost immediately, in a relief appearance August 18 against the White Sox. He relieved Satchel Paige, who took the loss 2-1 in a well-pitched, defensive battle. The next day Turley earned his first major league win in relief of Don Larsen as the Browns defeated Billy Pierce, who had been having one of his banner seasons.

It was on September 5, 1953, however, that Turley really displayed the Cy Young talent that he was to develop in the next few years. Turley got hooked up in an extreme pitchers' duel with the Tigers' Ralph Branca at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.  Neither team scored a run for 11 and one-half innings when Browns' Outfielder Dick Kokos homered into the right-field pavilion off Branca in the bottom of the 12th to win the game and break the scoreless duel. When Turley had finished with his

toils that Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, he had completed a 12-inning, 14-strikeout, three-hit, shutout masterpiece, for one of the final shining moments in Browns' franchise history.  (Branca also recorded eight strikeouts and the combined 22 Ks by both pitchers was an unusually high total for that era).

Turley's Army leave-time heroics, good enough for third in ERA on the Browns 1953 pitching staff, earned him the assignment of getting the opening day start the next season ... but not for the team in St. Louis, but for the team in Baltimore, where the Browns were to move in the '53-54 off-season.  Bob notched a win in Memorial Stadium Baltimore that day.  Earning the nickname "Bullet" by a Baltimore sportswriter, Bob would lead the league in strikeouts in ‘54.  The last Brownie to do so had been Urban Shocker in ‘22.  In fact, since the franchise began in 1901, Shocker and Turley are the only two Browns/Orioles pitchers to manage to lead the American League in strikeouts.

But Baltimore management was in the middle of a major house-cleaning operation in which all ex-Brownies would leave the Orioles by mid-1955, to be replaced by fresh players.  Bob was no exception.  He was the key player in a mammoth 17-player deal between the Yankees and Baltimore that winter. The Yankees were desperate for a front-line starting line pitcher after their “Big Three” from their 1949-53 world championship teams — Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi and Eddie Lopat — had all moved on, and Turley more than filled the bill. He was 17-13 in 1955, his first year with the Bombers. Then in 1958 he won the Cy Young, leading the AL in wins with a 21-7 mark and 2.97 ERA. 

Turley went on to win two games against the Milwaukee Braves in the ’58 World Series, including

Game 7 when he hurled 6.2 innings in relief of Don Larsen, his “stablemate” who had come over from the Orioles in that same trade in ’54. The day before, manager Casey Stengel had brought Turley in to retire the Braves’ Frank Torre for the final out in the Yankees’ 4-3 victory. The Yankees, who came back from a 3-1 deficit to win that Series, were leading Game 7, 2-1, when the Braves put runners at first and second with one out in the third, and Stengel summoned Turley again to replace Larsen. Turley wound up pitching out of a bases-loaded jam and went on to hold the Braves to just a solo homer by catcher Del Crandall in the sixth inning that tied the game before the Yankees got four runs in the eighth inning off their nemesis, Lew Burdette, to win the game, 6-2, and the Series. Besides the Cy Young, Turley was also named the Hickok Belt professional athlete of the year after the ’58 season.

In the 1956 World Series against the Dodgers, the day after Larsen pitched a perfect game, Turley lost a 10-inning, 1-0 heartbreaker to Clem Labine despite striking out 11. Unfortunately for Turley, the ’58 season proved to be the high point of his career. He never won in double figures again. In the 1960 World Series against the Pirates, he suffered his first arm injury — a bone chip in his elbow that limited him to only 72 innings in 1961. That winter, when Turley was 32, the Yankees sold him to the Los Angeles Angels. In July of 1963, a month after pitching a one-hitter against the White Sox, he was released. He signed on with the Red Sox the rest of the year and retired with a 101-85 record and 3.64 ERA.

Through the years, Turley was always one of the most popular and engaging players at Yankees’ Old-Timers’ Day Games. “I can’t understand some of these players today,” he said. “Nothing ever bothered me, signing autographs, doing interviews. You have all the privacy you want when you get out of the game.”

Turley was quite successful in business after baseball, becoming a representative for Primerica Financial Services earning more than he did as a pro ball player. In the 1995 version of the Primerica Financial Independence Council, it states that he was paid $150,000 as a professional baseball player compared to his $2,000,000 that he earned through working with Primerica. He retired from the business and gave half of his business to his son and the other half to his secretary. He later resided in Georgia.

Turley had an uncle, Ralph Kress Turley, who dwelled in the minor leagues at around the same time as Turley, for whom Turley was often mistaken.  Briefly, the elder Turley came under the control of the New York Yankees.  "We signed the wrong Turley," a Yankee scout reportedly commented. 

~ Emmett McAuliffe

Browns DVD Video of 2011 Luncheon Now Available

The St. Louis Browns Video of the 2011 reunion luncheon is now available. This program will have you laughling out loud from baseball stories of yesteryear. The program features 8 guest speakers talking about baseball the way it used to be played.

Featured guests included Whitey Herzog, Ned Garver, Bob Turley, Don Lenhardt, Roy Sievers, Ed Mickelson, J.W. Porter and Bud Thomas. Women's professional baseball direct from the 1940s to baseball's Hall of Fame was represented by Erma Bergmann, a member of the Hall of Fame.

More than 286 fans were in attendance. It's thought this may have been the largest baseball oriented lunch in the history of St. Louis. (Can anyone prove us wrong?). Fans came from both east coast and west coast and from more than a half dozen states in between.

Order your DVD and a scorecard from a Browns game played on April 22, 1950 against Bob Feller and the Cleveland Indians. Click on the photo below, print out the order form and complete and mail with your check.

Photos From the 2011 Browns Reunion Luncheon

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Whitey Herzog greeting a fan.

Ned Garver

Whitey Herzog & Ned Garver

Don Lenhardt

Ed Mickelson

Roy Sievers

Herzog Entertains at Browns Reunion Along with Turley & Garver

American League Baseball came back to St. Louis for at least a day with the annual reunion of the St. Louis Browns Fan Club. Club president, Bill Rogers, said the luncheon may well be the largest baseball related luncheon in the history of St. Louis sports. Over 285 fans were on hand to welcome welcome Whitey Herzog, Bob Turley, Ned Garver, Roy Sievers, Don Lenhardt, J.W. Porter, Ed Mickelson and Bud Thomas.

From CBS St. Louis >>>
Whitey Herzog says having his jersey number retired by the St. Louis Cardinals is every bit as special as making it to the Hall of Fame.

The manager who produced three National League pennants and a World Series title in the 1980s with a go-go style known as “Whiteyball” said Wednesday it was humbling to realize that every game at Busch Stadium, fans will see his No. 24 alongside other franchise greats. (Click on Photos to Enlarge)

 Pictured is Whitey visiting with Ned Garver.

Whitey listens in while Bob Turley addresses the crowd.

Herzog is unique to that group because he’s the first to contend his playing career was nothing special.

“To go up there with Musial, Schoendienst, Gibson, Brock, Sutter and Ozzie (Smith), I think hit me the hardest,” Herzog said. “I appreciated that more than anything that’s every happened.”

Herzog also won three division titles with the Kansas City Royals. As an outfielder with four teams from 1956-63, he batted .257 with 25 home runs and 172 RBIs.

“I had a very mediocre career, I was a hanger-on,” Herzog said. “I never knew if I was going to have a locker when I got to the ballpark, sweated out every cutdown day, every training deadline for eight years.

“I worked hard, I hustled, but I couldn’t hit a slow curve with a paddle.”

Herzog, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s Committee last year, was the featured speaker at the annual St. Louis Browns reunion luncheon. His appearance at the podium followed a pretty spry group of former players pushing or past 80 recounting glory days with a franchise that left for Baltimore 58 years ago.

“There aren’t many Browns left, and next year there might be less,” said Don Lenhardt, who had career bests of 22 homers and 81 RBIs with the Browns in 1950. “So it’s good to see all of them.”

Catcher J.W. Porter joked that “really it took CPR to bring this group back.”

Pitcher Bob Turley, who debuted with the Browns and became a star with the New York Yankees later in the 1950s, made his first appearance at the luncheon. Taking note of the audience’s advanced age, the pitcher known as “Bullet Bob” said he would have thought he was speaking to a group of Florida retirees.

“All the gray hair,” Turley said.

Turley was a 21-game winner in 1958, taking the American League Cy Young award and then the World Series MVP. But during his playing career, he said he made more in the offseason working for Continental Baking than for the Yankees.

The 80-year-old Turley threw 19 complete games in ’58, and has trouble relating to the game’s obsession with pitch counts and coddling arms. He joked that Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg signed for “$500 million” and “third time out he blows out his arm.”

“One hundred pitches, I’m just getting warmed up,” Turley said. “No sore arm. Want to know why? I kept my arm in shape.”

Herzog recalled that the Browns wanted to sign him out of high school in New Athens, Ill., as a pitcher after a scout watched him throw a no-hitter and strike out all 21 hitters.

“I didn’t want to be a pitcher, I was wilder than hell,” Herzog said. “Finally, I said, ‘Now I know why you guys are last, because you want to sign me as a pitcher.’ That’s what a brash kid I was.”

Herzog believes this year’s Cardinals are postseason contenders even after losing 20-game winner Adam Wainwright to reconstructive elbow surgery in February.

“Now, they’re off to a good start and it looks like they might have a World Series in St. Louis this year,” Herzog said. “If they stay healthy, I think they’ve got a heck of a chance.”

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/05/26/white-rat-entertains-at-browns-reunion/

Whitey Herzog to Attend Browns Fan Club Lunch May 25, 2011; Ned Garver & Bob Turley also Attending

"Whitey" Herzog made his debut as a player in 1956 with the Washington Senators. He played for the Baltimore Orioles (formerly the St. Louis Browns) in 1961 and 1962. After his playing career ended in 1963, Herzog went on to perform a variety of roles in Major League Baseball. Most noted for his success as a manager, he led the Kansas City Royals to three consecutive playoff appearances from 1976 to 1978.

Hired by Gussie Busch in 1980 to helm the St. Louis Cardinals, the Cardinals won the 1982 World Series and made two other World Series appearances in 1985 and 1987 under Herzog's direction. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 25, 2010.

Bob Turley at 2011 St. Louis Browns Luncheon

Bob Turley (born September 19, 1930 in Troy, Illinois and grew up in East St. Louis) (known as "Bullet Bob") was signed by the St. Louis Browns in 1948

Turley played his first game on September 29, 1951 for the Browns and moved with them to Baltimore in 1954. He was traded to the New York Yankees after the 1954 season and played for the Yankees from 1955 to 1962. After beginning the year 1963 with the Los Angeles Angels, he finished the year, and his career, with the Boston Red Sox.

His best year was 1958, when he won 21 games and lost seven. As a result, he won the Hickok Belt as top pro-fessional athlete of the year, and the Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in Major League Baseball.

Turley started his 1958 World Series on a low note, giving up a leadoff home run and lasting just one-third of an inning as the Yankees fell behind the Milwaukee Braves two games to none. With the Yankees one game away from elimination, Turley threw a shutout in Game Five, then picked up a 10th-inning save in Game Six.

A day later in Game Seven, he relieved Don Larsen in the third inning and won his second game in three days, with 6 2/3 innings of two-hit relief. The Yankees became just the second team to recover from a 3-1 World Series deficit, and Turley was voted the World Series Most Valuable Player Award.

Mr. Turley is attending the Browns Fan Club for the first time.

Ned Garver at Browns Luncheon May 25

Ned Garver (born December 25, 1925) played from 1948 to 1961 winning 129 games in his major league career. Most of his career was spent playing for the St. Louis Browns and Kansas City Athletics.

In 1951, Garver fashioned an outstanding season. Pitching for the St. Louis Browns that season, Garver compiled a 20-12 record, which was noteworthy considering the Browns lost 102 games that year. Garver also posted a 3.73 ERA that season.

Out of the Browns' 52 total wins, Garver accounted for nearly 40 percent of them. Ned also led the American League in complete games with 24 in 1951, and when he pitched, he often batted sixth in the order rather than the customary ninth compiling a .305 batting average with one home run.

Garver remains the only pitcher in American League history and modern baseball history (post-1920) to win 20 or more games for a team which lost 100 or more games in the same season and the only pitcher in Major League history to do so with a winning record.

Garver was the starting pitcher for the American League in the 1951 All-Star Game held in Detroit.

Ted Williams, perhaps the greatest hitter in the history of baseball, said of Garver, "He could throw anything up there and get me out."

If The Browns had Stayed in STL, Herzog may Have Been a Brownie

The Hall of Fame induction weekend (7/23/10) is the busiest time of year, and hotel rooms and restaurant tables are booked well in advance. The Hall of Fame's exhibits honoring this year's inductees include a cap from Herzog's 1,000th managerial win, a uniform he wore when he managed the Cardinals, an Orioles uniform that he wore as a player and the scouting card he created on fellow inductee Andre Dawson when he played for Montreal.

"St. Louis baseball has had such a long and rich history that the number of artifacts we have from the teams who play(ed) there are staggering," said Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson.

Among his favorites are Bob Gibson's glove from 1968, 'since his dominance led to the change in the height of the mound"; the glove of one-armed Pete Gray of the St. Louis Browns, 'showing baseball is truly an equal-opportunity employer"; Cool Papa Bell's sunglasses and St. Louis Stars cap, "as they take us straight back to the Negro leagues and speak to James' coolness"; and Stan Musial's locker, 'since Stan is The Man."