OnlyBucs

The Original Nightmare, Elroy Face, The Baron of the Bullpen



You old-timers will love this article and you young-timers need to learn about a great guy in Pirates lore.  Enjoy.

What a great article. I remember listening on the radio to those games in 1959 (I was thinking his string started in 1958 but I'm probably wrong. I think at one point (years later) he said his success was attributable to Vern Law pitching eight good innings, Stuart letting a ball roll under his glove calling Face into the game, and then Stuart hitting a home run to get him the win. Funny explanation but understated his dominance. I thought he was baseball's first real relief pitcher -- he certainly was among the ones that made the reliever a role.

74766C6A7C190 wrote: What a great article. I remember listening on the radio to those games in 1959 (I was thinking his string started in 1958 but I'm probably wrong. I think at one point (years later) he said his success was attributable to Vern Law pitching eight good innings, Stuart letting a ball roll under his glove calling Face into the game, and then Stuart hitting a home run to get him the win. Funny explanation but understated his dominance. I thought he was baseball's first real relief pitcher -- he certainly was among the ones that made the reliever a role.


From June 7, 1958 through Sept 10, 1959 Elroy went 22-0.  He won his last 5 decisions in 1958 and his first 17 in 1959.  His winning streak was stopped in LA on Septemter 11, 1959 as he gave up 2 ninth-inning runs with the winning hit, a single by Charlie Neal who drove in Jim Gilliam from 3B.

Thank you. Interesting. I had it in mind that his wins went more than one season.

6A68727462070 wrote: What a great article. I remember listening on the radio to those games in 1959 (I was thinking his string started in 1958 but I'm probably wrong. I think at one point (years later) he said his success was attributable to Vern Law pitching eight good innings, Stuart letting a ball roll under his glove calling Face into the game, and then Stuart hitting a home run to get him the win. Funny explanation but understated his dominance. I thought he was baseball's first real relief pitcher -- he certainly was among the ones that made the reliever a role.


There were others prior to Face. One of which was Clem Labine, who joined the 1960 Bucs in August. But Face was one of the best.



Regarding his 18-1 record in 1959 (still the MLB record for winning pct of .947), Face is very modest about it. I met him several times and he said there were plenty of times when he let in the tie or go ahead runs and then got the win when the Pirates rallied to win. I researched it and that happened in 7 of those 18 wins.



And Face was more than a 9th inning closer. He pitched as needed when the game was on the line. In that 1959 season more than half of his appearances went more than 1 inning including seven 3-innings stints, a 4 and a 5 inning stint.



In 1960, 60% of his appearances lasted longer than 1 inning including a 4, seven 3 and five 2.2 inning stints.