Word: duren
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...field the Yanks were also in trouble. Pitcher Ryne Duren and Coach Ralph Houk brawled at a champagne party celebrating the Yanks' pennant won last week. The squabble was patched up after Duren admitted he had drunk too much, but the management felt obliged to keep a squad of private detectives on the players to make sure they stayed in shape for the World Series. In the ensuing comedy of errors, one gumshoe (he was actually wearing gum-soled shoes) shadowed Star Pitcher Bob Turley for three days and discovered Turley seldom drinks anything stronger than soda...
...customary, both sides denied malice aforethought. But putting Duren on the shelf would obviously be a major advantage to any rival team. Reliefer Duren has won 5, lost 3, saved 16 Yankee victories, boasts the majors' lowest earned-run average (1.50), has fanned 63 in 54 innings with his blazing speed...
Wild Man. Duren himself has been accused of deliberately throwing at batters and purposely firing wild warmup pitches to discourage batters from digging in at the plate. Duren denies both charges, explains: "The mound on the field is different-higher-than the warmup slab in the bullpen. I believe in getting adjusted to it by throwing as hard as I can, and sometimes it goes wild." The record shows that the brown-eyed fastballer is no scatter-arm pitcher. He has walked only 24 batters this season, hit only two. Says Detroit's Kaline: "Maybe he was wild once...
...Duren had to endure a long, painful safari through the minor leagues before he nailed down a job on the Yankees. For years he had trouble getting the ball down the middle. In 1949 a doctor, after examining his vision, advised him to quit baseball. But Ryne persisted, finally licked his wildness with the help of Manager Lefty O'Doul at Vancouver in 1956. "He taught me to aim at the catcher's knee, at his shoulder, at his belt," says Duren. "To move it around, one ball high and away, the next low and inside. I tried...
...Reliefers. Duren and his National League counterpart, the Phillies' 24-year-old Dick Farrell, are helping change long-established ideas about relief pitchers. Traditionally, reliefers are crafty veterans who can pitch only a couple of innings, rely on cunning to get out of tight spots. Today Duren and Farrell are the best in the business by powering the ball past the hitters. Farrell's earned-run average (2.59) is third best in the league, and the big (6 ft. 3 in., 192 lbs.) righthander has saved nine games for the seventh-place Phillies. But for sheer speed, Duren...