Ryne Duren

Ryne Duren
Pitcher
Born: (1929-02-22)February 22, 1929 Cazenovia, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died: January 6, 2011(2011-01-06) (aged 81) Lake Wales, Florida, U.S.
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
Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
Baltimore Orioles (1954) Kansas City Athletics (1957) New York Yankees (1958–1961) Los Angeles Angels (1961–1962) Philadelphia Phillies (1963–1964) Cincinnati Reds (1964) Philadelphia Phillies (1965) Washington Senators (1965)
Career highlights and awards
4× All-Star (1958, 1959, 1959², 1961) World Series champion (1958)

Rinold George "Ryne" Duren (February 22, 1929 – January 6, 2011) was an American professional baseball relief pitcher who played ten seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB).

He was known for the combination of his blazing fastball and his very poor vision. With his thick eyeglasses, 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."

Early life

Duren was born on February 22, 1929, in Cazenovia, Wisconsin. In 1945, he suffered an attack of rheumatic fever, which left him wearing thick eyeglasses for the rest of his life. He attended Cazenovia High School, but pitched only briefly for the school baseball team, as he injured a batter with one of his fastballs, and could not control his pitch location. He was moved to second base and would throw underhanded to the first baseman. He later pitched for the Cazenovia team in the amateur Sauk County League, averaging over 20 strikeouts per game; and once pitching 33 consecutive no-hit innings.

Career

Duren was originally signed by the St. Louis Browns (later becoming the Baltimore Orioles in 1954) as a free agent before the 1949 season.

Minor leagues

Other than playing one game for the Orioles in 1954, Duren played in the minor leagues from 1949 to 1957, before becoming a major league pitcher in the 1957 season. He pitched in 36 games for the Class-D Wausau Lumberjacks in 1949, going 85 innings. He had 145 strikeouts, averaging 15.4 strikeouts per nine innings; but also had 114 bases on balls, averaging 12.1 walks per nine innings. He hit over ten batters and had 18 wild pitches.

In 1950, he was promoted to the Class-C Pine Bluff Judges, where he had a 15–7 won–loss record, with a 3.17 earned run average (ERA). He had 157 bases on balls and 233 strikeouts in 190 innings pitched. The following year, he played Single-A baseball for the Dayton Indians, with a 17–8 record and 2.73 ERA. In 198 innings pitched, Duren had 238 strikeouts,194 bases on balls, 13 hit batsmen and 11 wild pitches. He played for the Double-A San Antonio Missions in 1953-54 and part of 1955, averaging at least 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings each year, and reducing his bases on balls per nine innings each year (7.1, 5.9, 5.4 respectively); though his ERA went up each year (2.63, 3.44, 3.98 respectively). He also pitched seven games in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) for the Seattle Rainiers in 1955, going 2–3 with a 3.71 ERA, and 38 strikeouts and 22 walks in 34 innings pitched.

In 1956, he played for the Orioles' PCL affiliate, the Vancouver Mounties, with an 11–11 record and 4.13 ERA. He strikeouts per nine innings remained high (8.0), but his bases on ball per nine innings were a career low (3.8). Baltimore manager Paul Richards was unimpressed by Duren in 1955, after suffering elbow inflammation, and kept him in minor league baseball.

Major leagues

His only game with the Browns/Orioles major league franchise came on September 25, 1954, by which time the Browns had become the Baltimore Orioles. On September 21, 1956, he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics with Jim Pisoni in exchange for Al Pilarcik and Art Ceccarelli. In 1957, Duren pitched in 14 games for the A's, starting six. He was 0–3 with a 5.27 ERA, with 37 strikeouts and 30 walks in 42.2 innings pitched, when the A's traded him.

The Athletics and New York Yankees were frequent trading partners in the late 1950s, after a business friend of Yankees' owner Dan Topping bought the A's from Connie Mack's family in 1954. On June 15, 1957, Duren, Pisoni, and Harry Simpson were sent to the Yankees for Billy Martin, Ralph Terry, Woodie Held, and Bob Martyn. He did not play for the Yankees in 1957, and was assigned to the team's Triple-A affiliate, the Denver Bears. Under Denver manager Ralph Houk, he learned how to be a better pitcher. Duren had a 13–2 record, 3.16 ERA, and struck out 116 batters in 114 innings. He only walked 33 batters (2.6 per nine innings, the lowest average of his career) and had only three hit batsmen and two wild pitches.

Duren was called up to play for the Yankees in 1958, in what was deemed by the American League (AL) to be his rookie year. Duren kept his A's uniform number of 26 with the Yankees. He pitched in 44 games, only one as a starter. He had a 6–4 record, 2.02 ERA, 19 saves, and 87 strikeouts in 75.2 innings (10.3 per nine innings), with 43 walks (5.1 per nine innings). While saves did not become an official statistic until 1969, he was unofficially tied for the league lead in saves with Dick Hyde. He was selected to the AL All-Star team, even though a relief pitcher. He came in second to Albie Pearson in AL rookie-of-the-year voting, and 22nd in AL most valuable player voting. Unlike many other teams, the Yankees valued relief pitchers and paid them accordingly.

Duren pitched in three games of the 1958 World Series, the Yankees defeating the Milwaukee Braves four games to three. He had one win, one loss and one save, with a 1.93 ERA, 14 strikeouts and six walks in 9.1 innings pitched. He was the losing pitching in Game 1, pitching 2.2 innings and giving up one run in the bottom of the 10th inning in the 4–3 loss. Braves Hall of fame pitcher Warren Spahn pitched all ten innings for the Braves. He pitched two innings to gain a save for Don Larsen for a combined shutout in Game 3. He was the winning pitcher in Game 6, in relief of Whitey Ford and Art Ditmar, striking out eight Braves in 4.2 innings.

In 1959, his win–loss record was much poorer (3–6), but his 1.88 ERA was the best of his career, and he had 14 saves in 41 relief appearances. He had 96 strikeouts in 76.2 innings pitched (11.3 per nine innings), and 43 bases on balls. Duren was selected to pitch in both 1959 All-star games. He pitched three innings in the July 7 game, striking out four batters; including Hall of famers Willie Mays and Eddie Mathews. He did not pitch in the August 3 game.

"Big guy. Throws like hell. Hitter can't see it. But he can't see you either. He's practically blind. Can't hit, field or run. Curve not much. Neither is sinker. Just throws fast one. Unpredictable where it'll go. – minor league scouting report

Duren was a showman. In those days, the Yankee bullpen was a part of the short-porch right field and only a low chain link fence served as the boundary. When called upon by Casey Stengel to relieve, he would not use the gate, but preferred to hop the fence with one hand and begin a slow walk to the mound with his blue Yankee warm-up jacket covering his pitching arm; he followed this routine even on the hottest days. When he finally took the ball and began his warmups, the first pitch was sometimes a hard fastball 20 feet over the catcher's head. The succeeding warmup pitches would be thrown lower and lower (but not slower) until Duren would finally "find" the plate. He was so wild that he allegedly hit a player in the on-deck circle.

Duren stayed with the Yankees until May 8, 1961, when he was traded to the Los Angeles Angels with Johnny James and Lee Thomas in exchange for Tex Clevenger and Bob Cerv. Shortly after being traded to the Angels, he struck out seven successive Red Sox batters, then an American League record. He was sold to the Philadelphia Phillies before the 1963 season. Early in the 1964 season, he was shipped to the Cincinnati Reds. Released by Cincinnati in April 1965, he was signed by the Phillies; after being released two months later, he joined the Washington Senators, but was released again on August 24 to bring a close to his 10-year Major League career.

Personal life

In 1983, Duren was presented with the Yankee Family Award for his conquering alcoholism, and for service as an alcohol abuse educator. In 2003, Duren and author Tom Sabellico wrote the book, I Can See Clearly Now. Duren talks from the heart about life, baseball and alcohol. The foreword was written by Jim "Mudcat" Grant.

Duren is the uncle of singer Blackie Lawless from the heavy metal band W.A.S.P.

Baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg was named in honor of Duren.

Duren was the inspiration for the character Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn in the movie Major League, according to its author and director David S. Ward.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball annual saves leaders
• List of Major League Baseball single-inning strikeout leaders

External links

• Career statistics from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet, or Baseball Almanac
• Ryne Duren at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
• Ryne Duren at Baseball Almanac
• Ryne Duren at Find a Grave