Roy Face

Minor leagues

In 1948 and 1949, Face played semipro baseball. Originally signed to play professional baseball by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1949, the 21-year-old was assigned to the Class D Bradford Blue Wings in the Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York (PONY) League. He posted a 14–2 record in his debut and was 18–5 with a 2.58 earned run average (ERA) in the next season. The Phillies left Face unprotected in the winter draft, however, and Branch Rickey and the Brooklyn Dodgers was quick to draft him in December.^[9][10][11]

In 1951, Face continued his upward trajectory in the Class A Western League with the Pueblo Dodgers (23–9 with a 2.78 ERA). He led the league in wins and was in the top-10 in ERA as well as bases on balls per nine innings pitched.^[12]

In 1952 with Fort Worth in the Double-A Texas League, Face had a 14–11 record with a 2.83 ERA. He averaged 3.1 bases on balls per nine innings and 5.8 strikeouts per nine innings pitched for Pueblo; and only 2.3 bases on balls per nine innings at Fort Worth (6th best in the Texas League among pitchers with at least 10 wins).^[13][11][14]

Face, a sidearm pitcher, was only 5 ft 7½ in (1.71 m) and 150 pounds (68 kg) during this time. He relied upon his control to excel as a pitcher, which he said came naturally but his teammates attributed to Face's hard work.^[10] In his first four minor league seasons he had a 69–27 record.^[11] In 1952 Rickey, now with the Pittsburgh Pirates, drafted Face again at the 1952 Winter Meetings.^[9]

Pittsburgh Pirates

Face made his major league debut in April, 1953. He started 13 games and relieved in 28 but struggled with a 6.58 ERA.^[15] At that point in his career, he only had a fastball and curveball.^[9] In 1954, he was sent to the Pirates minor league team, the New Orleans Pelicans of the Double-A Southern Association, to learn an off-speed pitch. It was during this time that Face developed his forkball. Face was managed by Danny Murtaugh (who would later manage Face on a world champion Pirates team in 1960). Murtaugh turned Face solely into a relief pitcher that year.^[9][16]

Face achieved his future success almost exclusively with the forkball, which he reportedly had learned directly from New York Yankees’ reliever Joe Page. It has also been reported that Face learned the forkball by observing Page during Page's time with the Pelicans in 1954, at a time when Page was trying to make a comeback after his days pitching for the Yankees had ended.^{[9][13][17][18]}

Face returned to the Pirates for the 1955 season, when he appeared in 42 games as both a starter and reliever. He had a 5–7 record and 3.58 ERA.^[9][13] In 1956, he set a modern Pirates record for games pitched (68), leading the league^[13] and breaking the club mark of 59 set by Bill Werle in 1951.^[19] Of those 68 games, only 3 were starts.^[9] He was 12–13 in 135.1 innings, pitching in 9 straight games in September 1956 to tie a big league record.^[13]

In 1957 he saved 10 games for the first time, finishing fifth in the NL; and started a game for the last time in his career.^[13] In 1958 the team finished in second place, the first time in his five years they had placed better than seventh.^[20] Face led the NL with 20 saves,^[9] and posted his best earned run average to date with a 2.89 mark, finishing 17th in NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) voting.^[13][21]

In 1959 Face posted an 18–1 record,^[22] including 17 victories in a row to begin the year, after ending 1958 with five in a row.^[23] The 22 game win streak went from June 7, 1958, to September 10, 1959, before he lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 11, 1959.^[13] This loss was Face's first in 99 appearances since 1958.^[9] Face did not surrender a run in the entire period from June 11 to July 12. He was named the Player of the Month for June after posting a 5–0 record with four saves and a 0.38 ERA. Face finished the year with an ERA of 2.70, and finished seventh in the MVP voting,^[13][24] although he did not receive any votes for the Cy Young Award that year. (At the time, only first-place votes were cast for the award.) His 18 relief wins remain the major league record, topping Jim Konstanty's previous mark of 16 set in 1950.^[25] Face's .947 winning percentage exceeded the previous record .938 (15–1), set by Johnny Allen in 1937.^[26] In each of the victories, Face pitched at least one inning out of the bullpen. Eight times he hurled three frames or more. His season-high came against the Cubs on June 18 in Chicago, where he pitched five scoreless innings to nail down a 4-2 triumph in 13 innings that extended his personal streak to 11 in a row.

In 1960 he had his second 20-save season,^[21] placing second in the league with 24. This equaled the previous NL record, with St. Louis Cardinal reliever Lindy McDaniel setting a new save mark with 26.^[27] With the Pirates winning their first pennant since 1927, he also led the league in games again, tying his own team record of 68; the mark would be broken when teammate Pete Mikkelsen appeared in 71 games in 1966.^[28]

In 1960, Face led the NL in pitching appearances, pitched 114.2 innings, saved 24 games, and had a 2.90 ERA.^[9][29] In the 1960 World Series against the New York Yankees, Face became the first pitcher to save three games in a single Series (formally credited after saves became an official statistic in 1969).^[30] Face pitched 10.1 innings in the series, and saved Games 1, 4, and 5 for the Pirates.^[9]

Face entered Game 1 with runners on first and second and none out in the eighth inning, leading 6–2; he retired the side, striking out Mickey Mantle and Bill Skowron and getting Yogi Berra to fly out,^[31] before giving up a 2-run Elston Howard home run in the ninth but getting a game-ending double play for a 6–4 win. He came into Game 4 with two men on and one out in the seventh inning, leading 3–2, and retired all eight men he faced. In Game 5, he was again brought in with two men on and one out in the seventh, this time leading 4–2, and retired eight of the last nine batters, allowing only a walk to Mantle.^[31]

In the final Game 7 he was brought in with two on and none out in the sixth inning, with a 4–1 lead which he surrendered via an RBI single by Mantle and a three-run home run by Berra. He settled down, however, retiring seven of the next eight batters before allowing another two-run rally with two out in the eighth for a 7–4 Yankee lead.^[32] The Pirates came back to score five runs in the bottom of the inning after Face was pulled for a pinch-hitter, and won the game and the Series in the bottom of the ninth on Bill Mazeroski's home run.

Face was selected to play in the All-Star each year from 1959 to 1961, including both All-Star Games in 1959, the first of which was held in Pittsburgh. He pitched in each game that season.^[13][33] Face again led the NL with 17 saves in 1961. In 1962 he broke McDaniel's NL record with a career-high 28 saves (one short of Luis Arroyo's major league mark set the previous year), also posting a 1.88 ERA;^[9] Ted Abernathy would set a new record in 1965 with 31 saves.^[34]

Face now had three 20-save seasons at a time when no other pitcher had more than one. Also in 1962, Face passed Clem Labine to take over the NL record with 95 career saves, and then broke Johnny Murphy's major league mark of 107. In 1963 he earned 16 saves; he then suffered two difficult seasons, picking up only four saves in 1964 with an ERA over 5.00,^[21] and earning no saves in 1965, where he went on the disabled list for the first time (with a knee injury).^[13]

In 1964, Hoyt Wilhelm took over the major league career save record. But Face returned to save 18 games in 1966 and 17 in 1967,^[21] finishing second in the NL in both years.^[35][36] In 1967, he appeared in 61 games, going 7-5 with a 2.45 ERA.^[13] In 1967, he passed Warren Spahn's mark of 750 to become the NL's all-time leader in games pitched. Face ultimately pitched in 846 NL games, a record that would stand until 39-year old Kent Tekulve moved ahead of him in 1986.^[37] (Face pitched in 848 total games, including two with the American League Detroit Tigers, a total which Tekulve surpassed by over 200).^[38][39][40]

After 43 appearances, 13 saves, and a 2.60 ERA for the Pirates in 1968, Face's contract was sold to the Detroit Tigers on August 31.^[13][21] At the time he left the Pirates, Face held the NL records for games pitched (802), games in relief (775), games finished (547), and relief wins (92); and was second to Hoyt Wilhelm in all those categories for major league records.^[9]

Detroit Tigers and Montreal Expos

In 1968, Face made only two scoreless appearances for Detroit, pitching one inning in total.^[41] The Tigers went to the 1968 World Series, but Face was not included on the roster.^[42] He was released by the Tigers in early April 1969.^[21]

He signed as a free agent with the Montreal Expos in late April 1969,^[21] earning five saves in 44 games before ending his major league career.^[43] In 1970, he pitched 8 games in Triple A for the Hawaii Islanders.^[13][44]