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Ryne Duren

Ryne Duren
Pitcher
Born: (1929-02-22)February 22, 1929
Cazenovia, Wisconsin
Died: January 6, 2011(2011-01-06) (aged 81)
Lake Wales, Florida
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 25, 1954, for the Baltimore Orioles
Last MLB appearance
August 18, 1965, for the Washington Senators
MLB statistics
Win–loss record 27–44
Earned run average 3.83
Strikeouts 630
Saves 57
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Rinold George "Ryne" Duren (February 22, 1929 – January 6, 2011) was an American relief pitcher in Major League Baseball.

He was known for the combination of his blazing fastball and his very poor vision. With his thick Coke bottle glasses, few batters dared to dig in against Duren. Casey Stengel said, "I would not admire hitting against Ryne Duren, because if he ever hit you in the head you might be in the past tense."

He was originally signed by the St. Louis Browns (now the Baltimore Orioles) as a free agent before the 1949 season. His first major league game was on September 25, 1954 (by which time the Browns had moved to Baltimore), but that was the only game he ever played for the Orioles. On September 21, 1956 he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics with Jim Pisoni in exchange for Al Pilarcik and Art Ceccarelli.

The Athletics and Yankees were frequent trading partners in that era, and on June 15, 1957 Duren, Pisoni, and Harry Simpson were sent to the Yankees for Billy Martin, Ralph Terry, Woodie Held, and Bob Martyn. Duren kept his A's uniform number of 26 with the Yankees. Duren received the first of his three All-Star selections in 1957. He has been retroactively credited with saving 20 games in 1958, the high mark in the American League that year. In 1959, his win–loss record was much poorer, but his earned run average of 1.88 was the best of his career.


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Wikipedia

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