Quote:
Originally Posted by UKCardGuy
I read it that Stengel had pitchers in the bullpen that could beat the easier opponents and didn't want to risk his best pitcher.
I mean, why play Ford against Kansas City when Bob Turley could do the job against the worst team in baseball at the time
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I've read this in many books, including by teammates. The claim is frequently made in the literature on the 50's Yankees. After taking a look at the statistics and his innings by opponent, lifetime and during the individual systems in the mid-late 50's when Ford was established, and Stengel was the manager, the claim is not really true.
He DID start inordinately against the White Sox, but there's not much else in the individual team matchups to support this.
He pitched 1,707 innings against teams greater than .500, 1,463 against teams under. The discrepancy actually mostly comes from the 60's, after Stengel had been fired. He did pitch better against successful teams than poor ones, 2.68 against winnings clubs, 2.83 against.
The specific claim, that Stengel's saved Ford to face the good teams, checks out as generally false (I would be shocked if this did not occasionally happen, as it does with many pitchers), BUT this does reflect well on Ford. He did pitch a bit more against good teams than bad, and, unusually, he performed better against winning teams over his career than bad ones.