Bob Turley
Turley threw the hardest fastball of his era, routinely hitting 100 mph when radar guns were still a novelty. That blazing heater carried him to baseball's first official Cy Young Award in 1958, though his best statistical season came a year earlier with that 2.71 ERA and 141 ERA+ for the Yankees.
The flame-throwing right-hander struck out 1,265 batters in just 1,712 innings — an impressive rate for the 1950s when strikeouts were far less common. His 101-85 record understates his value; that 102 ERA+ shows he was consistently above average despite pitching half his games in hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium.
Turley's career burned bright but brief, derailed by arm troubles that plagued hard-throwing pitchers of his generation. His Cy Young came during the Yankees' dynasty years, when his fastball helped anchor rotations that won multiple World Series titles.
Career · Hitting
12 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | SLA | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .000 | — | — |
| 1953 | SLA | 10 | 18 | 1 | 1 | .278 | — | — |
| 1954 | BAL | 35 | 81 | 0 | 5 | .136 | .317 | — |
| 1955 | NYY | 36 | 82 | 0 | 7 | .134 | .383 | — |
| 1956 | NYY | 27 | 46 | 0 | 3 | .174 | .442 | — |
| 1957 | NYY | 32 | 57 | 0 | 0 | .088 | .300 | — |
| 1958 | NYY | 33 | 88 | 2 | 6 | .136 | .378 | — |
| 1959 | NYY | 33 | 46 | 0 | 1 | .087 | .279 | — |
| 1960 | NYY | 34 | 55 | 0 | 1 | .073 | .196 | — |
| 1961 | NYY | 15 | 21 | 0 | 3 | .095 | .186 | — |
| 1962 | NYY | 24 | 12 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | — |
| 1963 | LAA | 30 | 39 | 1 | 5 | .179 | .462 | — |
| Career | 310 | 547 | 4 | 32 | .126 | — | — | |
Career · Pitching
12 seasons| Year | Team | G | IP | W | L | ERA | ERA+ | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | SLA | 1 | 7.3 | 0 | 1 | 7.36 | 55 | 5 | 1.909 |
| 1953 | SLA | 10 | 60.3 | 2 | 6 | 3.28 | 126 | 61 | 1.376 |
| 1954 | BAL | 35 | 247.3 | 14 | 15 | 3.46 | 113 | 185 | 1.451 |
| 1955 | NYY | 36 | 246.7 | 17 | 13 | 3.06 | 131 | 210 | 1.399 |
| 1956 | NYY | 27 | 132.0 | 8 | 4 | 5.05 | 79 | 91 | 1.826 |
| 1957 | NYY | 32 | 176.3 | 13 | 6 | 2.71 | 141 | 152 | 1.163 |
| 1958 | NYY | 33 | 245.3 | 21 | 7 | 2.97 | 130 | 168 | 1.247 |
| 1959 | NYY | 33 | 154.3 | 8 | 11 | 4.32 | 90 | 111 | 1.451 |
| 1960 | NYY | 34 | 173.3 | 9 | 3 | 3.27 | 117 | 87 | 1.298 |
| 1961 | NYY | 15 | 72.0 | 3 | 5 | 5.75 | 70 | 48 | 1.736 |
| 1962 | NYY | 24 | 69.0 | 3 | 3 | 4.57 | 86 | 42 | 1.667 |
| 1963 | LAA | 30 | 128.7 | 3 | 11 | 4.20 | 82 | 105 | 1.492 |
| Career | 310 | 1712.5 | 101 | 85 | — | — | 1265 | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.