Red Ruffing

Baseball Player

• Born: May 3, 1905
• Birthplace: Granville, Illinois
• Died: February 17, 1986
• Place of death: Mayfield Heights, Ohio

Sport: Baseball

Early Life

Charles Herbert Ruffing was born on May 3, 1905, in Granville, Illinois. He soon earned the nickname “Red” because of his bright red hair. He became interested in baseball at an early age. He followed the progress of the Chicago White Sox and the Cubs and played sandlot ball.

At the age of fifteen, Red dropped out of school to work with his father in the mines in Nokomis, Illinois. He also played first base for the company baseball team that his father managed. The powerful arms that he developed in the mines turned him into a great hitter.

In 1921, Red’s baseball career was almost cut short by a mining accident that nearly decapitated him. He survived but lost four toes on his left foot. Because he could no longer run, Red sat out from baseball for nearly a year. He thought that his baseball career was over because he could not run very fast.

The Road to Excellence

Red would probably have never played baseball again if the company’s pitcher had not injured his arm during a game in 1922. Red filled in and soon discovered that his handicap made running difficult but did not hinder his pitching ability in the least. Instead of coming down as most pitchers did in the follow-through, he learned to land on the side of his left foot. His pitching success soon caught the eye of the manager of a semiprofessional club near Nokomis, who lured Red away from his father’s mining team with the offer of fifteen dollars a game.

In 1923, Red began his professional career with the Danville Club of the Three-I League. In 1924, Red’s strong arm won him a contract with the Boston Red Sox, but he pitched in only eight games before he was farmed out to Dover of the Eastern Shore League. While he was with Dover, Red perfected his curveball. In fifteen games, he struck out 72 and walked only 23.

Because of his impressive record, Red was back with the Red Sox the next spring. Boston was looking for someone who could pitch 9 complete innings, and Red was willing and able to work double shifts if need be. Although Red pitched more games than anyone on the staff, he also lost more games than anyone in the league. In fact, during his last two seasons with the Red Sox, Red lost forty-seven of the seventy-seven games that he pitched, fueling rumors that he was not really putting his heart into his work because the Red Sox were such a poor team.

The Emerging Champion

In 1930, Red’s fortunes improved dramatically when he was traded to the New York Yankees. That year, he did well with a 15-8 record. Red fared less well the next year, when he was 16-14. In 1932, however, when the Yankees won the pennant, Red learned to throw a changeup. As a result, he was 18-7, second only to Lefty Gomez on the staff in victories. That year, Red also pitched in his first World Series and beat the Cubs in the opener.

The promise of 1932 was not fulfilled in 1933, however. Red’s record fell to 9-14. Still, he continued to pitch his 235 innings. His refusal to succumb to frustration boosted the pitching staff considerably.

Red did not reach his full potential until the late 1930’s. In 1936, he had his first twenty-victory year, but his triumph was soured by losing the opening game of the World Series. Red continued to improve as a pitcher through the remainder of the decade. In 1937, he not only had twenty victories but also beat the Giants in the World Series. In both 1938 and 1939, Red had twenty-one victories, the most of his career.

Red’s most memorable World Series performance was the 1942 series against the St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis, even though he did not finish the game. Red had a no-hitter going until the eighth inning, when Terry Moore hit a single. To preserve the Yankees’ lead, the manager replaced him with Spud Chandler.

In the years prior to World War II, Red established himself as a standout on a team that had produced some awesome talent. Between 1928 and 1940, Red pitched an average of 222 innings per season. He seldom missed a start and never served as a relief pitcher from 1936 until the end of his career. He also became one of the best hitting pitchers of all time. Red had a lifetime .269 average, including 36 home runs and 273 RBI.

Continuing the Story

The 1942 World Series was the scene of Red’s last official victory as a ballplayer. The responsibilities that he had assumed during this decade forced him to put baseball aside for a while. After he got married in 1942, he was inducted into the Army, despite the fact that he was missing four toes.

When Red rejoined the Yankees in 1945, he was not the same player that he had been before the war. Because the season was almost over when he was released from the Army, Red played only eleven games. Nevertheless, he continued to persevere. He got off to a good start in the 1946 season with a 5-1 record, but he was forced to sit out for the rest of the season when his kneecap was shattered by a line drive.

Red’s love of baseball was so great that he found other ways to stay involved in the sport when he could no longer play it. He managed two minor-league teams, Muskegon of the Central League in 1948, and Daytona Beach of the Florida State League in 1950. Red also scouted for the White Sox in 1948 and for the Cleveland Indians from 1951 until 1959. He finally retired from baseball after serving the Mets as a scout in 1961 and as a pitching coach in 1962. Red died on February 17, 1986, in Mayfield, Ohio.

Summary

Red Ruffing’s life is a classic example of “pluck and luck.” Despite the injury to his foot, he became the best pitcher that the Yankees had until Whitey Ford came along. In 1973, Red suffered a stroke that confined him to a wheelchair. Still, he managed to make his yearly visit from his Cleveland home to Cooperstown, New York, for the National Baseball Hall of Fame installation ceremonies, proving once more that he had the courage to overcome handicaps.

Bibliography

Klima, John. Pitched Battle: Thirty-five of Baseball’s Greatest Duels from the Mound. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2002.

McMillan, Ken, and Bob Jackson. Tales from the Yankee Dugout: Quips, Quotes and Anecdotes About the Bronx Bombers. Champaign, Ill.: Sports, 2001.

Shatzkin, Mike, Stephen Holtje, and Jane Charlton, eds. The Ballplayers: Baseball’s Ultimate Biographical Reference. New York: Ideal Logic Press, 1999.

Swaine, Rick. Beating the Breaks: Major League Ballplayers Who Overcame Disabilities. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2004.