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.
