#330 Whitey Ford - New York Yankees

Edward Charles Ford
New York Yankees
Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  5'10"  Weight:  178
Born:  October 21, 1928, New York, NY
Signed:  Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent before 1947 season
Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1950, 1953-1967
Died:  October 8, 2020, Lake Success, NY (age 91)
Hall of Fame Induction:  1974

A mainstay at the top of the Yankees' pitching rotation throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Whitey Ford, the Chairman of the Board, helped lead his team to six World Series titles in 11 World Series appearances.  He was the MVP of the 1961 World Series when he won Games 1 and 4, pitching a complete game shutout in Game 1 while holding the Reds to two hits.  He won the Cy Young Award that same season after going 25-4 with a 3.21 ERA.  Ford was a 10-time All-Star and led the league in ERA twice in 1956 (2.47) and 1958 (2.01).

One of the greatest left-handed pitchers in the history of the game, Ford retired in May 1967 with 236 wins, a career 2.75 ERA and 1,956 strikeouts.  He is the Yankees franchise leader in wins, shutouts (45), innings pitched (3,170 1/3) and games started by a pitcher (438, tied with Andy Pettitte).  His 11 World Series appearances allowed him to set several World Series records, including consecutive scoreless innings (33 2/3), wins (10), games started (22), innings pitched (146) and strikeouts (94).  He briefly served as a coach with the Yankees in 1964, 1968 and again for two more seasons in 1974 to 1975.  His #16 was retired in 1974, the same year he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Building the Set
October 16, 2020 from Las Vegas, NV - Card #174
By all accounts, and caused by a multitude of different events, 2020 has been a rough year.  The baseball world lost five iconic Hall of Famers in a span of about six weeks with the passing of Tom Seaver, Lou Brock (#540), Bob Gibson (#320), Ford and Joe Morgan (#16) between August 31st and October 11th.  The next three cards we added to our 1965 Topps set were the cards of Brock, Gibson and Ford as I wanted to selfishly cross them off our list but also to spend some time learning more about each of their careers.  (I've had a Morgan rookie card in my collection since around 1983, when he played with the Phillies as a member of the Wheeze Kids.)

I found our Ford card from eBay seller mmartin9 for $29.95.  The card arrived on October 16th, the day after a particularly rough patch at work for me and on a day I had taken a personal vacation day.  Earlier that week, with my wife home from school for Columbus Day, we had traveled to Citizens Bank Park to pick up the five cutouts we had ordered earlier in the summer.  It was my first and only trip to the ballpark in 2020, and it was somewhat fitting it was a blustery and rainy day.  I set up our cutouts in their new permanent home the same day this Ford card arrived.

Given the purchase of three star cards in September and October, I hit pause on adding any more cards to our set for the time being.  Unless an eBay bug grabs me between now and Christmas, the next cards added might not be until Santa makes an appearance this year, hopefully masked up.

The Card / Yankees Team Set
Ford was a 36-year-old veteran and nearing the end of his career when this card first appeared in packs.  His final World Series appearance came in Game 1 of the 1964 World Series and he makes a cameo appearance on the Game 1 card in the World Series subset (#132).  Ford could have received a "P-COACH" designation as the the position on this card, similar to Warren Spahn (#205), as new Yankees manager Yogi Berra (#470) had asked Ford to be his pitching coach in 1964.  Hip problems did in fact derail his season, as noted on the back of this card, as did the discovery he was doctoring baseballs with a rasp on his wedding ring.

1965 Season
As the Yankee dynasty slowly came to an end, this was to be Ford's last full season in their starting pitching rotation.  He made 37 appearances and went 16-13 with a 3.24 ERA over 244 1/3 inning pitched.  Mel Stottlemyre (#550) had assumed the ace of the staff role, winning 20 games to lead a shaky Yankees pitching staff.  Ford passed Red Ruffing for the all-time Yankees' record for wins (232) when he defeated the Red Sox on the last day of the season.

1951 Bowman #1

1956 Topps #240

1961 Topps #160

1962 Topps #315

1967 Topps #5

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1951 Bowman #1
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (14):  1953-1954, 1956-1967
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2020 Topps Allen & Ginter #62

1,484 - Ford non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/1/20.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #329 Hawk Taylor - New York Mets

Next Card:  #331 Dodgers Rookie Stars

#132 World Series Game 1 - Cards Take Opener

The 1964 World Series opened in St. Louis on October 7th with the Yankees Whitey Ford (#330) facing off against the Cardinals Ray Sadecki (#230).

It was the fifth time these two teams had faced each other in the World Series, with the Yankees winning in 1928 and 1943 and the Cardinals prevailing in 1926 and 1942.  This also marked the end of an era for the Yankees, as the club had appeared in 14 of 16 fall classics since 1949 and they wouldn't appear again until 1976.

Former Yankee catcher Yogi Berra (#470) was in his first year as the team's manager, and he'd be unceremoniously fired following the series loss and replaced with (ironically enough) the Cardinals' manager, Johnny Keane (#131).  Keane would only last with the Yankees until 20 games into the 1966 season.

Building the Set
December 26, 2019 from Cincinnati, OH - Card #35
My Mom did a little surrogate Christmas shopping for my Aunt Louise and Uncle Terry, both lifelong Yankees fans.  They were kind enough to give Doug four more cards for our set the day after Christmas - all related to the Yankees, and the first Yankees cards we've added.

Mom's baseball card dealer of choice is Dean's Cards, located in Cincinnati.  She came across Dean's through eBay purchases over the years.  Their website is easy to use and their sales people have always been helpful and friendly to her.  This card, along with the other five cards added on December 26th, were all purchased from Dean's Cards.

The Card / Cardinals Team Set / Yankees Team Set
With the Yankees holding a 4-2 lead heading to the bottom of the sixth, Ken Boyer (#100) reached on a single and Mike Shannon (#43) hit a game-tying two-run home run off Ford.  Catcher Elston Howard (#450), home plate umpire Frank Secory and second base umpire Ken Burkhart are shown watching the path of the ball as Ford walks off the mound dejected.  Those were Shannon's only two RBIs of the entire series and it was also Ford's final appearance in a World Series game.  Ford had appeared in 22 World Series games, compiling a record of 10-8 and throwing 33 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings across three different World Series in 1960, 1961 and 1962.

Tim McCarver (#294) doubled following Shannon's home run, and Al Downing (#598) came in to relieve Ford.  Downing gave up an RBI single to Carl Warwick (#357) followed by a triple to Curt Flood (#415) and the Cardinals had a 6-4 lead.  They'd go on to win by a score of 9-5.

The colorized photo shows the Cardinals with blue helmets, but they were actually wearing red helmets during this game.

Sources:
Baseball Reference

Prior Card:  #131 Johnny Keane MG - New York Yankees

Next Card:  #133 World Series Game 2