Cy Young Award Winner in 1958 Bullet Bob Turley looks back on his big league career - pitcher - Interview

Baseball Digest, August, 2002 by Norman L Macht

"Billy Pierce always wore a long, heavy sweatshirt, no matter how hot it was. When he went into his glove to grip a fastball, you would see the back of his wrist. When he was going to throw a curve, he would get deeper in there and you would not see his wrist.

"Early Wynn, when he pitched from the stretch, where were his hands before he threw? If he was going to throw a knuckleball, they were at his belt. For a fastball, he'd come up under his chin. Slider, around his nose. Curve, up at his forehead.

"Jim Bunning altered his windup a little depending on what he was going to throw."

Reading a pitcher was one thing; letting the hitter know without tipping off the opposition was something else.

"I whistled whenever a different pitch was coming from the last one. I had the hitters start every at bat thinking curve. If the first pitch was going to be a curve, no whistle. If it was a fastball, I'd whistle. Next pitch fastball, no whistle. Sometimes Mickey would forget where we were. When that happened, he'd put his hand on his cap. That meant start over with expecting a curve.

"Pitchers don't realize they're doing these things. The Yankees had me study our own pitchers to try to prevent their being read by other teams."

Whitey Ford called his own games, and was astounded when Turley told him what his signs were. In 1963, when Turley was traded to the Angels, he advised Ford to change his signals.

Between his pitching and pitcher-reading, Turley helped the Yankees go to seven World Series in his eight years with them. He was 4-3 in 15 Series appearances, including three decisions in 1958 against the Milwaukee Braves. Coming off a 21-7, Cy Young Award season, he started Game 2 and got only one man out in the Braves' seven-run first inning.

"I don't know why," he says. "My stuff was good. Some days you go out there feeling great, with extraordinary stuff, and they wear your butt out. I guess I was just throwing the ball where their bats were."

Four days later, with the Yankees down three games to one, he threw a five-hit shutout. He came in in the 10th inning of Game 6 to get Frank Torre for the last out with the tying run on third, and relieved Don Larsen in the third inning of Game 7, giving up two hits the rest of the way in the Yankees' 6-2 win.

Turley calls Game 5 of the 1956 World Series the best he ever pitched in the big leagues: a 10-inning 1-0 loss to Clem Labine at Ebbets Field. A game, he says, nobody remembers. The box score shows the Dodgers had four hits. Turley says he gave up one, an infield single. The other three he charges to left fielder Enos Slaughter.

"Slaughter lost a fly ball in the sun and it fell behind him. Labine got a double when Slaughter ran into the wall, fell on his butt, and the ball dropped beside him. In the tenth, with men on first and second and two outs, Jackie Robinson hit a line drive straight at him. All Slaughter had to do was stand there and catch it. He came charging in and the ball went over his head and the winning run scored."