Bob Purkey

by strawberryplains on Mar 18, 2008 8:31 PM EDT Comment 19 comments

It's being reported today that Bob Purkey died on Sunday at the age of 78.

I was in second grade and just starting to follow baseball when the Reds acquired Purkey from the Pirates in 1958. I remember my grandfather telling me that the Reds had an exciting young player named Pinson. I got confused, probably because Vada was sent back to AAA early that year, and began thinking that Purkey must be the exciting new player. So he became a favorite.

Bob was anything but exciting, a mild-mannered family man from the Pittsburgh suburb of Bethel Park who threw an assortment of junk - screwball, knuckleball, curveball, a fastball that may have looked fast only in comparison. But he had enough to instantly become the staff ace of the pitching-poor Redlegs.

Bob went 17-11 that year. (As did Billy Pierce of the White Sox. They seemed to always pitch on the same day with the same results. I became a box score addict early on.) After a 13-18 W-L in 1959, Purkey again went 17-11 in 1960, posting stats across the board that were remarkably similar to his 1958 season, including identical 3.60 ERAs.

I wrote him a letter. He sent me an autographed picture. It was postmarked "Tampa."

And then, after a season no one expected, there he was on a Saturday afternoon in October, nursing a 2-1 lead in the 8th inning of Game Three, in humble Crosley Field, against the mighty Yankees, on the verge of improbably putting the Reds ahead in the Series.

It didn't happen. Blanchard homered in the 8th, Maris found the Sun Deck in the 9th, and the wheels fell off the next two days.

Bob's best season was yet to come, a 23-5, 2.81 ERA masterpiece in 1962, before the onset of arm problems. I believe Bill James once opined that Purkey deserved the Cy Young over Drysdale that year, though he got only one vote.

So, yes, Pinson turned out to be the exciting guy. But Purkey was a guy we needed in those years. So thanks, Bob, for your good work with the Reds. And thanks for taking a minute out of Spring training to sign a picture for a kid who once confused you with Vada Pinson.

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great post

RIP Bob.

Hope Springs Eternal! Go Reds

by Caleb on Mar 18, 2008 9:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Dude threw some serious innings

First five years with the Reds: 250, 218, 252, 246, then 288 in the '62 season you mention. Fisbands is salivating. He was also in the top 10 in the NL in wins and ERA+ for 2 of those seasons. Pitched well in the '61 WS too.

Thanks for the post.

by ken on Mar 18, 2008 9:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Great post

Reminded me:

My father got to go to that game in the 1961 World Series because it was a Saturday.

My grandfather was a corporate lawyer who worked downtown. After the game, my grandfather took my father to a swank downtown restaurant where they saw Berra, Mantle and Tony Kubek eating. My father got their autographs on a single napkin.

My grandmother died while my father was in college and my grandfather--in a fit of grief-- threw a lot of my father's stuff away. Including that napkin.

Two Dunns enter, but only one Dunn leaves...unless neither do because they decide to hunt, play cards, drink and fish. -Slyde

by Man Mountain on Mar 19, 2008 11:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Messrs. Berra, Mantle, and Kubek

...must have known they dodged a bullet that day. The Reds' Big 3 had shut down the record-breaking Yankee offense up to that point.

I lucked into tickets for game 4 when some neighbors hit the lottery twice and gave their SRO tickets to two kids. Only WS game I've ever attended.

And yes, my Purkey picture is long gone.

by strawberryplains on Mar 19, 2008 9:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I was in middle school when Purkey

Pitched with the Reds. Too bad he couldn't have had his heydays with a better team. Although 1961 was a magical year. I was 11, wow time really does fly.

The most important fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit. Milton Friedman

by Madville on Mar 19, 2008 1:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I was in First Grade.

I remember running home to see the end of the WS games in '61. They were all day games then.

Gee, you're OLD Madville! :)

"I guess I picked a bad day to stop sniffing glue!"- Lloyd Bridges

by Lonesome George on Mar 19, 2008 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What, - I'm not bleeding in the ears...

The most important fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit. Milton Friedman

by Madville on Mar 19, 2008 5:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bell Labs

That's why transistor radios were invented. You put the radio inside your desk, then you ran the earphone cord through the inkwell.

I still remember that Rocky Bridges hit a home run in the first inning of Game 7 in 1960. Everyone knows bout Maz, true fans know about Hal Smith, I know about Rocky Bridges. Why? My mother found a note in my shirt pocket that I had passed and I caught hell.

by strawberryplains on Mar 19, 2008 9:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

This 70's baby/80's child thanks you for this post

Check out the pitching lines from this no decision of Bob's.

by Fat Vegas Alan on Mar 19, 2008 7:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Nice

I bet the 8,507 in attendance will never forget that game. Or maybe they will since there were 168 extra inning 1-0 games from 1960-1979. There have only been 126 since then.

Don't talk back to Darth Vader or he'll getcha!

by Slyde on Mar 19, 2008 8:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Or maybe they will..

..since these days they can't remember where they parked the car or where they left their coffee cup or if they left the oven on or if they take the little round one every day or just every other day or that the swelling pressure in their bladder means to get themselves to some indoor plumbing.

Hey Slyde, is there a way to find the games with the most combined innings pitched by the starters. There must be like a fourteen inning game that never went to the bullpens, right?

by Fat Vegas Alan on Mar 20, 2008 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

This is the longest game I found

since 1957: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN196307020.shtml

A couple of Hall of Famers made it to the 16th inning without giving up a run until another Hall of Famer decided that he had had enough and wanted to go home.

Don't talk back to Darth Vader or he'll getcha!

by Slyde on Mar 20, 2008 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's incredible!

Thanks.

(Got any runner-ups?)

by Fat Vegas Alan on Mar 20, 2008 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yep

I'm eyeballing a list on BR.com since I can't check the game for both starting pitchers at once.

Here was the runner up: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS1/WS1195806050.shtml

And the next longest, I believe: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE196307230.shtml

Don't talk back to Darth Vader or he'll getcha!

by Slyde on Mar 20, 2008 3:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

wow, thats a good game

warren spahn: 15.1 innings, 1 run, 2 strikeouts. how does one do that?

Marty may have a shirt on, but Billy Beane just ripped his off and is squeezing his nipples. - Brendan's ukkah

by boobs on Mar 20, 2008 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

And am I right..

..that there were no double plays in that game? None?

by Fat Vegas Alan on Mar 20, 2008 3:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sure looks like it

I'd love to see how many pitches each of those guys threw that game. Especially Marichal, who had 10 strikeouts.

Don't talk back to Darth Vader or he'll getcha!

by Slyde on Mar 20, 2008 3:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Johnny Klippstein!

I know I shouldn't second guess a successful move 42 years later, but why was Klippstein hitting? I know the bench was weak that year because of expansion and Gene Freese's injury, but Eddie Kasko was a regular and he was available. Pavletich could hit a little, too.

Looks like the answer is the Reds were coming off back-to-back doubleheaders with the Mets and the bullpen had gotten some work, especially in a 14 inning game.

Interestingly, Klippstein started two days earlier and was knocked out in the first inning.

by strawberryplains on Mar 19, 2008 9:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs