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Hall of Fame Yankees Pitcher Ford Dies at 91

Associated Press

   NEW YORK - During an era when the Yankees won the World Series so
   routinely it was joked that rooting for them was like rooting for
   General Motors, their ace pitcher owned the most fitting nickname: "The
   Chairman of the Board."

   Whitey Ford, the street-smart 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, died
   Thursday night. He was 91.

   The team said Friday that the Hall of Famer died at his Long Island
   home in Lake Success, New York, while watching the Yankees in a playoff
   game. His wife of 69 years, Joan, and family members were with him.

   Ford had suffered from the effects of Alzheimer's disease in recent
   years. His death was the latest this year of a number of baseball
   greats -- Al Kaline, Tom Seaver, Lou Brock and Bob Gibson.

   On a franchise long defined by power hitters, Ford was considered its
   greatest starting pitcher. Not big and not overpowering, the wily
   left-hander played in the majors from 1950 to 1967, all with the
   Yankees, and teamed with the likes of Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and
   Yogi Berra to win six championships.

   "If you were a betting man, and if he was out there pitching for you,
   you'd figure it was your day," former teammate and World Series MVP
   Bobby Richardson told The Associated Press on Friday.

   Machinelike efficiency

   Ford 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 World Series.

   Edward Charles Ford was born on the East Side of Manhattan, about 100
   blocks south of Yankee Stadium. He was nicknamed "Whitey" while still
   in the minor leagues, and quickly reached the mound at Yankee Stadium.

   The World Series record book is crowded with Ford's accomplishments.
   His string of 33 consecutive scoreless innings from 1960 to 1962 broke
   a record of 29 2/3 innings set by Babe Ruth. Ford still holds records
   for World Series games and starts (22), innings pitched (146), wins
   (10) and strikeouts (94).

   Ford was in his mid-20s when he became the go-to guy in manager Casey
   Stengel's rotation, the pitcher Stengel said he would always turn to if
   he absolutely needed to win one game. Ford was Stengel's choice to
   pitch World Series openers eight times, another record.

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