Red Ruffing was so highly regarded that his manager Joe McCarthy tabbed him as the Game One starter in six World Series. The record stood until fellow Yankee Whitey Ford started his seventh Game One in 1963. Ruffing posted four straight 20-wins seasons for the Yankees from 1936-1939 as New York was World Series champs each season.

Ruffing won 273 career games and quite easily could have surpassed the 300 mark if not for World War II. After competing in five straight All Star games, Ruffing left the game after the 1942 season.  He missed two full years of baseball and pitched in only 11 games in 1945. It seems likely he would have tallied 27 more wins if he had pitched in the three seasons he missed. In the collection is a nice piece related to Ruffing’s former teammate Babe Ruth. In 1977 Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson mailed current and former stars of the game requesting their consent to lend their name to the Babe Ruth Advisory Board. Ruffing agreed to this, typing in, “We were teammates for four seasons and I have to say the ‘Big Lug’ loved kids more than anyone I knew.” The pitcher’s signature “Charles ‘Red’ Ruffing” is at the bottom where he has also penned his home address.