Ryne Duren died at age 81.
See my previous posts about why Duren did not pitch in game 7 of the 1960 World Series:
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2010 Bob Costas sucks!
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2010 1960 World Series game 7: why didn't Stengel use Duren?
Also: 1960 World Series
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The January 7, 2011 New York Times obit repeats another item that may also be a mystery:
Duren would sometimes deliver at least one warm-up pitch high against the screen, presumably to intimidate the batter soon to face him
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I attended my first Yankee game on September 3,1958. I was ten. Duren won in relief when Yogi Berra broke a 5-5 tie with a three run homer in the bottom of the 9th. Mickey Mantle had homered in the 8th.
I do not recall seeing Duren throw a warm up pitch to the screen nor wild in any way. Nor do I recall ever seeing that on TV. I recall it being mentioned but that may have been at old timers day introductions, long after Duren had retired.
Does anyone have any references to actual incidents, not undocumented repetitions? I have long suspected that this may have happened once or twice but that it was not a regular occurrence.
For his career Duren had 392 walks and 630 strike outs in 589 innings. He was wild but overpowering, especially for his day when few pitchers approached a strike out per inning much less surpassed it. In 1958 Duren had 87 strike outs in 75 innings. In 1958 all Yankee pitchers had 557 walks and 796 strike outs in 1,379 innings.
1 comment:
Ken: I remember Duren hitting the backstop only a couple of times. I do not remember any specific game but I saw it a couple of times. On TV you would not see it as they would do commercials and then talk about it later. I do not believe it was a common occurence. Yogi would have the true story.
Uncle Bob
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