The Pirates announced this evening that former All-Star reliever Elroy Face has passed away at 97. He pitched parts of 16 seasons in the big leagues, all but the final of which came in Pittsburgh.
“It is with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we mourn the passing of Pirates Hall of Famer Elroy Face, a beloved member of the Pirates family,” chairman Bob Nutting said in a statement. “I was fortunate to get to know Elroy personally, and I will always be proud that we had the chance to honor him with his induction into the Pirates Hall of Fame. Elroy was a pioneer of the modern relief pitcher — the ‘Baron of the Bullpen’ — and he played a critical role in our 1960 World Series championship, leading the league in appearances and recording three saves against the Yankees. Our thoughts are with his three children — Michelle, Valerie and Elroy Jr. — and his sister Jacqueline.”
An upstate New York native, Face began his career in the Phillies organization in 1949. The 5’8″ righty, a sidearmer whose specialty was the forkball, emerged as a favorite of Hall of Fame executive Branch Rickey, who acquired him when he was Dodgers’ GM over the 1950-51 offseason. Rickey took the same position with the Pirates the following year and added Face during the 1952-53 winter, at which point the pitcher was in Double-A.
Face pitched poorly as a rookie and was sent back to Double-A for the ’54 season. He returned to the majors the following year, working in a swing role before making a full-time bullpen conversion by 1956. Face would lead the majors with 68 appearances that season, tossing 135 1/3 innings of 3.52 ERA ball. The Pirates used him mostly at the back of games at a time when many teams didn’t have set closers. Face led the National League in games finished in four of five seasons between 1958-62.
The save statistic didn’t come into use until 1969. Face was retroactively credited as the NL saves leader in three of those seasons, including MLB high marks in 1958 (20) and ’62 (28). He posted a sub-3.00 earned run average in four of those years, including a career-low 1.88 mark over 91 innings during the ’62 campaign.
Even if saves weren’t around at the time, Face’s accomplishments were appreciated during his career. He appeared on MVP ballots each season between 1958-60. He was an All-Star every year between 1959-61 and technically was selected to six All-Star Games, as MLB had both a midseason and postseason All-Star Game for a brief stretch during Face’s peak.
The 1960 season is etched into baseball history. Face tossed 114 2/3 innings of 2.90 ERA ball with 61 games finished for a 95-59-1 team that won the pennant. The respective best regular season teams in each league went to the World Series in those days. Pittsburgh went up against a Yankees club that had Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Whitey Ford in their primes.
The Pirates would go on to win one of the most iconic series in league history. Face got the save in each of their first three victories: Games 1, 4, and 5. He pitched the sixth through eighth innings of Game 7. That wasn’t his sharpest outing, as he gave up a go-ahead home run to Yogi Berra, but Pittsburgh would come back to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth. After the Yankees tied it in the top of the ninth, Bill Mazeroski connected on what remains the only Game 7 walk-off home run in history.
That World Series was the only time that Face would pitch in the postseason, but he remained in Pittsburgh for most of the 60s. He added four sub-3.00 ERA seasons well into his 30s and had brief stops in Detroit and with the Expos to finish his career.
The Pirates have been around for more than 140 seasons. Face remains the franchise’s all-time leader in pitching appearances (802), games finished (547) and saves (186). He pitched nearly 1400 innings with a 3.48 ERA and recorded 877 strikeouts. Face topped 100 wins — including an astounding 18-1 record out of the bullpen in 1959 — and came up just shy of 200 saves overall, as he added five more during his final season in Montreal. Face was inducted into the Pirates Hall of Fame three years ago. MLBTR sends condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.
Jason Mackey of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported the news.
RIP. Condolences to loved ones.
Wow! What an amazing career. Does a 5’8” pitcher even get a shot at the big leagues anymore? Different times for sure, but still impressive numbers from a time when the Pirates were formidable NL champs.
He still would if his name was ElRoy Face.
What a great pitcher for the Pirates.He and Vernon Law and Harvey Haddix saved the Pirates in the 1960 World Series.
RIP Roy.You were a great Pirate and will be well remembered.
Marcus Stroman at 5’6 or so.
Rest in Paradise Elroy
He became a world series champion for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960. The for 33 years it was “the Shot heard ’round the World with Bill Mazeroski’s walk off homerun in game 7 of the world series against the Yankees.
A nice long life. I remember having several of his old baseball cards. Nice career. RIP. Condolences to his family and friends.
@fbf923
Tim Collins was 5’7″ He had a decent career as far as I remember but to An other than him not many pitchers under 5’10’ get a ton of chances.
This guy is a beast in the bullpen. 16 seasons? Insane. No relievers throw 16 seasons anymore. He died at 97, and had a long life. He enjoyed it, rest in peace, my friend. Forkball is real rare now.
Finished his career with the first ever Expos team.
One of the things that I have never understood, not just in baseball but in life, is how he went 18-1 in 1959, if you will forgive me for alluding to so low a thing as win-loss record….I believe Vern Law is the last Pirate alive from the great 1960 team.
Ah, of course, Mazeroski is still alive too. I am getting old.
Great career. RIP Elroy Face.
Never heard of him until now and he is now one of my favorite players of all time.
@Alan53 – At one point in 1959 he had a 17-0 W/L record and also 8 blown saves, 4 of the blown saves turned into wins for him. In 10 of his 18 wins, he entered the game when it was tied.
@Assumes: Interesting. That was one year before my time as a fan. The 1960 WS was my first, and as an avid 7-year-old, I followed it almost pitch by pitch–even though I was holding down a full-time job as a second-grader that fall. The game was so much closer then.
why did it take the pirates so long to induct him?
They just started this Pirates Hall of Fame a few years ago. Had to start with Pops and Clemente, etc.
The National League was sooooo good in the late ’50s and early ’60s, and great pitchers were everywhere. RIP, Elroy, from this Milwaukee Braves fan.
If you are a Braves fan why is your pen name that of a classy left hander from the Redlegs who used to start the MLB season for several years in a row?
Didn’t Joe Carter also hit a walk-off HR to win game 7 in the 1993 WS? (I might have the wrong year)
No, it was a walk off in game six
Bob Skinner is still with us. 94 years old.
RIP Elroy…..
Branch Rickey poached Roy Face from the Dodgers,and a few years later poached another pretty good player from them.
Clemente pretty good player.
RIP Elroy. Old enough to remember listening to games on the radio broadcasts with my dad hearing hearing Bob Prince saying his name. My dad would tell me how special Elroy was.