Roy Face obit

Pirates 1960 World Series Champion Dies at 97

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost an important member of their 1960 World Series team. 

He was not on the list.

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates have lost one of their better players in franchise history and a crucial member of a World Series winning squad.

Relief pitcher Elroy Face, a Pirates Hall of Famer, died at the age of 97 in nearby North Versailles, according to a press release from the team. He is survived by his three children, Michelle, Valerie and Elroy Jr. and his sister Jacqueline.

“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,” Pirates owner Bob Nutting said in the press release. “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..."

Face was one of the most important Pirates pitchers of all-time, earning the nickname, "Baron of the Bullpen" and a big reason why the Pirates won the 1960 World Series, the third in franchise history.

The Pirates now have just three living members remaining from that 1960 World Series Team in franchise Hall of Famer Vern Law (1950-51, 1954-67) and Roy Face (1953, 1955-68), outfielder Bob Skinner (1954, 1956-63) and Hall of Fame second baseman Bill Mazeroski (1956-72).

Face stood just 5-foot-8 and around 155 to 160 pounds, but there were weren't many more dominant relief pitchers in baseball in his prime.

He has the National League record for most games won in relief at 96 and has the franchise record for appearances (802) and for saves (188), but those all came prior to 1969 when saves became an official statistic.

The Pirates described Face as the, "pioneer of modern relief pitching," helping create the closer role, which he embodied for the franchise during his 15 seasons with the team from 1953, 1955-68.

 

Stats

Total

Record (Appearances)

100-93 (802)

ERA (Innings Pitched)

3.46 (1,314.2)

K/BB

842/346

WHIP

1.24

He was a three-time consecutive All-Star from 1959-61, but his 1959 season was the best of his career and maybe of any relief pitcher ever.

Face posted an 18-1 record, with his .947 winning percentage the best of any major league pitcher with at least 13 appearances. Only three pitchers since 1900 have posted at least a .900 winning percentage in a season since 1901, according to SABR.

The Pirates enshrined him into their Hall of Fame in 2023, giving the fans a chance to honor him for his efforts before his death.

Importance for 1960 World Series

Face pitched in all four World Series wins for the Pirates in 1960, taking on an all-time great lineup in the New York Yankees, including Hall of Famers like Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle.

He got the Pirates a 6-4 win over the Yankees in Game 1, giving up a two-run home run in the ninth inning to Elston Howard, but closing out the final two innings.

Face then pitched the final three innings in both Game 4, a 3-2 win, and Game 5, a 5-2 win, giving up no runs in both appearances at the old Yankees Stadium, putting the Pirates up 3-2 in the series heading back to Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

He struggled in Game 7, replacing Law with a 4-1 lead in the top of the sixth inning, but gave up a single to Mantle, scoring a run, and then a three-run home run to Berra, putting the Yankees up 5-4.

Face pitched a scoreless seventh inning and got the first two outs of the eighth inning, before giving up two more run, as the Yankees led 7-4.

The Pirates offense would come through, scoring five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, with a three-run home run by Hal Smith to put them up 9-7.

Fellow Pirates Hall of Famer Bob Friend gave up two runs to the Yankees in the top of the ninth inning to tie it back up at 9-9, but Mazeroski won the World Series on a walk-off solo home run in the bottom half.

Face finished his 1960 World Series with a 5.23 ERA over 10.1 innings pitched, but a 1.07 WHIP in in four appearances.

A pioneer of modern relief pitching, he was the archetype of what came to be known as the closer, and the National League's greatest reliever until the late 1960s, setting numerous league records during his career.

Face was the first major leaguer to save 20 games more than once, leading the league three times and finishing second three times; in 1959 he set the still-standing major league record for winning percentage with a minimum of 13 decisions (.947), and single-season wins in relief, with 18 wins against only one loss. He held the NL record for career games pitched (846) from 1967 until 1986, and the league record for career saves (193) from 1962 until 1982; he still holds the NL record for career wins in relief (96), and he held the league mark for career innings pitched in relief (1,211+1⁄3) until 1983. On his retirement, Face ranked third in major league history in pitching appearances, behind only Hoyt Wilhelm and Cy Young, and second in saves behind Wilhelm. He holds the Pirates franchise records for career games (802) and saves (188).

Face was born on February 20, 1928, in Stephentown, New York. His parents were Joseph A. Face, Sr. and Bessie Rose (Williams) Face. Among other things, Joseph worked in a saw mill, as a farmer, started his own logging business, and was a teamster handling horses for the Stephentown highway department. Joseph was also a well-known square dance caller from the 1920s to the 1950s. As a child, Face would repeatedly find himself in trouble with his father for throwing stones through glass windows.

Face pitched for the baseball team at Averill Park High School, near Albany, New York. He pitched the team to a conference championship in 1945. He then served in the U.S. Army from February 1946 to July 1947, where he was on the base softball team.

Face played semipro baseball in 1948 and 1949. He was originally signed to play professional baseball by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1949. Face was assigned to the Class D Bradford Blue Wings in the Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York (PONY) League, where he was 14–2 his first year, and was 18–5 with a 2.58 earned run average (ERA) in his second year. The Phillies left Face open in the winter draft, and Branch Rickey and the Brooklyn Dodgers drafted him in December 1950.

In 1951, Face was successful in the Class A Western League with the Pueblo Dodgers (23–9 with a 2.78 ERA). He led the league in wins, and was in the top-10 in ERA and bases on balls per nine innings pitched. In 1952 with Fort Worth in the Double-A Texas League, he had a 14–11 record with a 2.83 ERA. He averaged 3.1 bases on balls per nine innings and 5.8 strikeouts per nine innings pitched for Pueblo; and only 2.3 bases on balls per nine innings at Fort Worth (6th best in the Texas League among pitchers with at least 10 wins).

Face made his major league debut in April 1953, and started in 13 games, relieved in 28, with a 6.58 ERA that year. At that point in his career he only had a fastball and curveball. In 1954, he was sent to the Pirates minor league team, the New Orleans Pelicans of the Double-A Southern Association, to learn an off-speed pitch. It was during this time that Face developed his forkball. Face was managed by Danny Murtaugh (who would later manage Face on a world champion Pirates team in 1960). Murtaugh turned Face solely into a relief pitcher that year.

Face achieved his success almost exclusively with the forkball, which he had learned from Yankees reliever Joe Page, though it has also been reported he learned the forkball by watching Page during Page's time with the Pelicans in 1954, when Page was trying to make a comeback after his days with the Yankees.

In 1959 Face posted an 18–1 record, including 17 victories in a row to begin the year, after ending 1958 with five in a row. The 22 game win streak went from June 7, 1958 to September 10, 1959, before he lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 11, 1959. This loss was Face's first in 99 appearances since 1958. Face did not surrender a run in the entire period from June 11 to July 12. He was named the Player of the Month for June after posting a 5–0 record with four saves and a 0.38 ERA. Face finished the year with an ERA of 2.70, and finished seventh in the MVP voting, although he did not receive any votes for the Cy Young Award that year. (At the time, only first-place votes were cast for the award.) His 18 relief wins remain the major league record, topping Jim Konstanty's previous mark of 16 set in 1950. Face's .947 winning percentage exceeded the previous record .938 (15–1), set by Johnny Allen in 1937.

In 1960 he had his second 20-save season, placing second in the league with 24, which equaled the previous NL record as Lindy McDaniel set a new mark with 26. With the Pirates winning their first pennant since 1927, he also led the league in games again, tying his own team record of 68; the mark would be broken when teammate Pete Mikkelsen appeared in 71 games in 1966.

Teams

Pittsburgh Pirates (1953, 1955–1968)

Detroit Tigers (1968)

Montreal Expos (1969)

Career highlights and awards

6× All-Star (1959–1961²)

World Series champion (1960)

Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame