Red Ruffing-From Failure to Success
Charles Herbert “Red” Ruffing came to Boston at the age of nineteen. The right-hander was originally an outfielder, but the loss of four toes on Red Ruffing’s left foot in a freak mine accident in Illinois forced his conversion to pitching. The lackluster Red Sox brought Red Ruffing aboard in 1924, and gave him little offensive support when he pitched. In Boston, Red Ruffing had some horrid seasons in regards to his won-loss record. From 1925 through 1929, Red Ruffing had years in which he lost 18, 15, 13, 25, and 22 games, while never winning more than 10. But Yankee manager Miller Huggins, who had one of the keenest eyes for talent of anyone ever associated with the game, saw the potential in Red Ruffing. The money strapped Red Sox sent Red Ruffing to the Bronx for a back-up outfielder and $50,000 after Ruffing began the 1930 season 0-3.
Red Ruffing took full advantage of now playing with the game’s two biggest stars, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. With plenty of runs to work with, Red Ruffing, who was still only 25 years old, went 15-5 despite an earned run average over 4.00. After going a mundane 16-14 in 1931, Red Ruffing sparkled in 1932, pitching to a 3.09 ERA as he went 18-7. The Yankees went to the World Series for the final time with Ruth on the roster, where Red Ruffing won Game One, getting plenty of offensive backing in a 12-6 triumph. The Yankees swept the Cubs in four, but Red Ruffing would have to wait until 1936 to return to the World Series.
A 9-14 campaign in 1933 would be the only losing season Red Ruffing would experience in New York, but he rebounded to win 19 in 1934 and 16 the next year. Then Red Ruffing, at the age of 31 in 1936, ran off four 20 win seasons in a row. The Yankees would win the World Series in each of those years, as Red Ruffing pitched Game One in three of the four. Red Ruffing was particularly tough on the Cubs in 1938, winning a pair of contests and allowing just three runs in two complete game efforts.
The string of 20 win seasons ended in 1940 with a mediocre 15-12 mark, but Red Ruffing had two more strong years left in his right arm. Going 29-13 over the next two seasons, Red Ruffing found himself in the World Series both years. In the 1941 World Series, Red Ruffing hurled the opener, and found himself clinging to a tenuous 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth at Yankee Stadium. With runners on first and second, Red Ruffing got catcher Herman Franks to ground into a game-ending double play. It would be the sixth of Red Ruffing’s seven World Series wins; the Yankees defeated the Dodgers in five games. In 1942, Red Ruffing would win the opener against the Cardinals, but lost Game Five as St. Louis downed the Yanks in five.
Red Ruffing was a very good hitting pitcher, one of the best of all-time. Red Ruffing batted .269 for his career, with 36 homers among his 521 base hits. Red Ruffing had double digit RBI in fifteen of his twenty two seasons, and hit over .300 eight different times.
Military service interrupted the end of Red Ruffing’s days in baseball. He returned from World War II in 1945 and wasn’t bad, even though he was 40. Red Ruffing pitched a handful of games for the White Sox in 1947 before retiring at the age of 42. In 1967 Red Ruffing was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He passed away at the age of 80 in 1986, a player who turned around what could have been one of baseball’s worst careers into one of its best.
