| Birthdate | 10/21/1928 |
| Death Date | 10/8/2020 |
| Debut Year | 1950 |
| Year of Induction | 1974 |
| Teams | Yankees |
| Position | Pitcher |
A ten-time All Star and six-time World Series champ, Whitey Ford was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1974, his second year on the writers’ ballot.
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Whitey Ford signed with the Yankees as an 18-year old in 1947 and remained with the club for the rest of his career. During his sixteen big league seasons Ford won 16 or more games in ten seasons. The left-hander led the AL in wins three times and in innings, shutouts, and ERA twice each.
Ford was also stellar in World Series play. In 22 starts in the Fall Classic he tallied a 2.71 ERA with 7 complete games and two shutouts. As 1961 World Series MVP, Ford broke Babe Ruth’s World Series mark for consecutive scoreless innings. He held the record until 2000 when fellow Yankee Mariano Rivera surpassed it.
By the time he retired in 1967, Ford won a Yankee franchise record 236 games. For his efforts, the 10-time All Star was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1974, his second year of eligibility on the writers’ ballot.
In the collection is this vintage government postcard signed by Whitey Ford in 1953, his second big league season.
Whitey Ford’s first big league season in 1950 was a good one. The 21-year old went 9-1 with a 2.81 ERA, seven complete games, two shutouts and one save. In the World Series he pitched a complete-game shutout in the sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies.
He then joined the US Army and served two years during the Korean conflict. When Ford returned in 1953, he was outstanding. Whitey went 18-6 and received consideration in the MVP vote. He also gained his second championship ring.
Shown here is the reverse of the government postcard signed by Ford. Notice the New York postmark of July 10, 1953.
The night before, Ford surrendered three runs in a complete-game effort against the Red Sox. Boston hurler Mel Parnell was even better, twirling a shutout against the eventual World Series champions.
The loss was just the fourth of Ford’s Hall of Fame career.
Billy Martin, Whitey Ford, and Mickey Mantle were inseparable during the early and mid-1950s. The three young professional athletes played for the New York Yankees and enjoyed everything the Big Apple had to offer.
Their late-night carousing often got them in trouble with the Yankee brass. In the middle of May in 1957, the trio, along with Hank Bauer and Yogi Berra, went out to celebrate Billy’s 29th birthday.
After plenty of drinks, the five Yankee players went to the Copacabana nightclub to see Sammy Davis Jr. perform.
A group of men, also drunk, were heckling the performer. Birthday boy Billy went over to their table and told them to stop or meet the Yankee players outside.
The men continued heckling, eventually leading to a confrontation. The altercation that ensued resulted in one of them Yankees giving a man a broken jaw.
The episode made the papers. Yankee executives had enough. Unwilling to trade established starts Ford, Mantle, Berra, or Bauer, the team decided to change the dynamic by sending Martin to Kansas City.
They believed Martin was the reason for all the trouble. It ends up he was not.
Mantle explained on on April 14, 1985 in a story he told on the Late Show with David Letterman.
The Yankee slugger came on stage to a rousing New York ovation. Letterman introduced the Hall of Fame outfielder.
“Between 1951 and 1968 my next guest played 2,401 games as a New York Yankee. He is the man who made the number 7 legendary and this is his new autobiography The Mick. My pleasure to welcome Mickey Mantle.”
The pair enjoyed some opening banter about the ’85 Yanks. Soon the conversation turned to early days of Mickey’s 18-year career and his drinking buddies Billy and Whitey.
“Billy was the first real roommate I had with the Yankees,” Mantle said. “My first seven years – I came up in 1951 – and he was my roommate through those first seven years. And we got along really good and Whitey kind of hung around with us too. We all kind of went to the same spots.”
Letterman interrupted and asked the man about the Yankee trio’s infamous night life escapades, “Who was the instigator of the three?”
“Well, we thought Billy was,” Mantle explained, tongue in cheek. “They traded him in 1957 because they said he was a bad influence on me and we found out about two or three years later it wasn’t Billy. It was Whitey.”
It seems Mantle found trouble no matter who he was with.
Shown here is a government postcard signed by Billy Martin in Mantle’s third year with the club. The back side of the postcard has a New York postmark from August 11, 1953 at 11:00pm. It can be seen by clicking here.
Yogi Berra had a way with words. Just ask his battery mate of 12 seasons Whitey Ford. One of the pitcher’s favorite tales to tell was “Yogi Berra and the four-ball story”.
Ford delivered it many times, always eliciting laughs from his audience.
“The White Sox came into Yankee Stadium in ’59 and I was pitching against them. I took my 8 warm up pitches, they played the national anthem. Up comes Louie Aparicio. First pitch I throw to him he bunts down third, beats it out. One pitch, man on first.
“Nellie Fox gets up. First pitch, double down the left field line. Two pitches, second and third. Minnie Minoso, I threw him a really good curveball but it hit him in the kneecap. So he walks down to first.
“Now I’ve thrown three pitches. Bases are loaded and up comes Ted Kluzsewski…First pitch high fastball, off the right centerfield wall. Three runs score. I’ve thrown four pitches.
“[Manager] Casey [Stengel] comes out to the mound. Yogi doesn’t want to miss that so he gets out there. And Casey says to Yogi, ‘Does Ford have anything tonight?’. And Yogi says, ‘How the hell do I know? I haven’t caught a pitch yet.'”
Like many of the best baseball stories, this one isn’t actually true.
An April 30 contest in ’59 is the closest the story comes to reality. That game did feature a first-inning leadoff infield single by Aparicio, a hit batter, and a bases loaded situation. But that’s where the similarities end.
That game was at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, not Yankee Stadium. After allowing the infield single to third to Aparicio, Ford got Nellie Fox to ground out. The next Chicago batter was indeed hit by a pitch. It wasn’t Minoso who played for Cleveland in ’59; it was Sox center fielder Jim Landis.
First baseman Ray Boone then legged out a dribbler to third to load the bases. Ford got out of the inning by striking out catcher Sherm Lollar and getting Lou Skizas to ground out to short.
The specifics don’t matter. There’s no reason to let the truth get in the way of a good story, especially when it involves Yogi Berra.
You can watch Whitey tell the story by clicking here.
A young Yogi Berra looks a bit hesitant as he shakes the hand of Babe Ruth in the photo above taken in 1947, the catcher’s third season in the Major Leagues.
The shot was taken at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis during the festivities of Babe Ruth Day on April 27, 1947. A less than robust Ruth was ailing and would die two months later of esophageal cancer.
Known as “The Chairman of the Board” for his ability to remain calm under pressure, Edward “Whitey” Ford was a Cy Young and MVP Award winning pitcher.
With a record 236 wins against just 106 losses, the left-hander’s .690 winning percentage is the highest in baseball history among hurlers with at least 200 decisions.
Ford is the Yankees all-time leader in wins, shutouts, innings pitched. He is tied for the top stop in starts with Andy Pettitte.
Ford was also one of the best big-game pitchers in postseason history. The left-hander sparkled when he broke Babe Ruth’s World Series record of 29 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings. In 146 innings in the Fall Classic Ford post a 2.71 ERA, .004 better than his regular season mark.
His 1974 induction to Cooperstown was a foregone conclusion.
In the collection is a vintage Sport Magazine photo depicting a young Ford looking wistfully into the distance. The lifetime New Yorker has signed his name boldly across the bottom.
Whitey Ford remained close to baseball after he stopped pitching in 1967. The following season he joined the Yankee coaching staff as first-base coach for skipper Ralph Houk.
He then left the game for a few years to pursue investment opportunities. New York owner George Steinbrenner along with General Manager Gabe Paul offered Ford the position of pitching coach in 1974. Whitey jumped at the chance.
It was a special season for Ford. The Yankees retired his jersey number 16. He became the 7th member of the franchise and the first pitcher so honored. The same year Ford was elected to Cooperstown along with friend Mickey Mantle.
Whitey returned as pitching coach in ’75. While pitching batting practice in May, Ford became dizzy and later collapsed. Though he was eventually given a clean bill of health, Ford left his coaching career for good.
Two years later in 1977, Ford tried his hand at announcing with a one-year stint the expansion Toronto Blue Jays.
In 1987 Ford and fellow Hall of Famer Lefty Gomez were honored with a plaque at Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park.
In the collection is this check signed by the the 1961 Cy Young and MVP. The check is made payable to Southern Bell.
At the bottom of the check, he writes the more legal, “Edward Ford” on the check drawn on July 6, 1989. After the passing of his battery mate Yogi Berra, Ford shouldered the title of “Greatest Living Yankee”. He passed away in 2020 at the age of 91.
Yankee teammates for 15 seasons, Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle combined for 30 All Star selections. Pitcher Ford left the game in 1967 after 17 seasons; Mantle in ’68 after 18 years.
In Ford’s first year on the Cooperstown ballot only Warren Spahn received more votes. However, Ford gained support on 67.1% of the, a bit below the 75% required for election.
The following year Mantle appeared on the writers’ ballot for the first time. Fittingly the teammates who shared Yankee Stadium for a decade and a half were both elected. Ford and Mantle were inducted in 1974.
In the collection is a notarized signature of Mickey Mantle. Signed on May 1, 1990, this sheet has a picture of the sweet-swinging 20-time All Star as well as his career stats.
Forged autographs have permeated the market. Many Yankee signatures such as Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, and Mantle are among the most forged in the hobby. The notarization guarantees this one’s authenticity.
Yogi Berra had a way with words. Just ask his battery mate of 12 seasons Whitey Ford.
One of the pitcher’s favorite tales to tell was “Yogi Berra and the four-ball story”. Ford delivered it many times.
Like many of the best baseball stories, this one is a mixture of truth and fantasy.
It’s a quick and easy read that’s sure to give you a chuckle.
Read More >"Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball…"
~Jacques Barzun, 1954
My favorite Whitey Ford story goes something like this: The first time Whitey was brought to Yankee Stadium shortly after being signed one of the coaches brought him over to introduce him to Yogi Berra. The coach said, Eddie Ford, I’d like to introduce you to Larry Berra. Whitey went on to say that was the last time either of us were ever called Eddie or Larry in Yankee Stadium.
Vistió la franela de los Venados de Mazatlán en la Liga de la Costa del Pacífico, antecedente invernal, de la hoy Liga Arco Mexicana del Pacífico. en la década de los años 50s. Dejando números impresionantes y quedando campeón con este equipo.
Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford were asked to come to Phoenix, Arizona to help open Fashion Square Mall that was being managed by former Yankee teammate
Johnny James. After the grand opening was over, Johnny took them to a fancy restaurant. After the meal, Mick and Greer Johnson were riding with Johnny and Whitey was riding with Johnny wife. Johnny asked the valet to bring his car. Another valet saw Mick and asked him “Are you Mickey Mantle ?” Mick said” yes” and showed the valet his 1961 World Series ring and got in the car and left. Next it was Johnny wife’s turn to get her car. The same valet that was star struck by talking to Mick was standing next to Whitey, but had no idea who he was. He then said to Whitey, “You won’t believe this, but I just talked to Mickey Mantle” Whitey, being the jokester said “What the F&^% would Mickey Mantle be doing in Phoenix? ” The valet then said “It was Mickey and he showed me his 1961 World Series Ring” Whitey then said ” Did it look like this ring ?” and then got in the car and left the valet with a very puzzled look on his face.