Hall of Fame pitcher for the New York Yankees Whitey Ford turns 84 today. Whitey Ford won 236 and lost 106 in his career with an outstanding ERA of 2.75. He was a ten time All-Star and he won the Cy Young Award in 1961.  He was a great post season pitcher too, winning ten World Series games and his ERA in World Series games was about the same as his regular season ERA 2.71. He holds the World Series career records for wins, losses and games started.

Casey Stengel’s decision to not start Ford until Game 3 at Yankee Stadium against the Pirates probably cost them the World Series. Had Ford started Game 1 he would have been able to pitch games 1, 4 and 7. The Yankees probably would have won. Stengel lost his job as Yankee manager after the World Series was over.

Whitey was a notorious partier along with his buddy Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin. Ford was also famous for doctoring baseball’s. Sometimes he would use the diamond in his wedding ring to gouge the baseball. Sometimes his catcher Elston Howard used a sharp buckle on his shinguard to doctor the ball.

Whitey Ford was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.