Remembering Former Yankees P Atley "Swampy" Donald

October 19, 1992- Former Yankees P Atley “Swampy” Donald (1938-1945) passed away. (1910-1992)

Atley  “Swampy” Donald went 66-33 in 153 games with the New York Yankees. He  had 54 complete games with 6 shut outs as a Yankees starter. He led the  AL in WP with .813 in 1939, while posting a 13-3 record. Atley was 1-1  in 2 games in the 1941-1942 World Series for the Yankees. Atley Donald  was a key part of the New York Yankees from 1938-1945. He was never the #  1 starter, but his lifetime winning percentage of .663 shows that he  was an important winner for them practically every season. Also he was a  big winner on the great 1938-1939 Newark Bears teams, two of the minor  leagues' greatest teams. He led Binghamton Triplets (Eastern League) in  strikeouts in 1936. He was the leading pitcher for the  1937 Newark Bears (International League) with a record of 19-2. After getting into 2 games with the 1938 Yankees, he came back to Newark posting a 16-7 record. In 1939, he won  12 straight games, setting the American League record for most wins by a rookie hurler. He  ended the 1939 AL season with 13-3 record. Also he helped with his bat,  hitting .250. The 1939 New York Yankees won 106 games. He did not appear in the either  the 1938 or 1939 World Series. In 1939, the U. S. Army Corp of  Engineers speed gun clocked him throwing a pitch at a then-record 94.7 mph.  This record was later broken by Cleveland Indians P Bob Feller.

Except for 1944, he never got into more than 24 games in a  season. In 1940, he appeared in 24 games, posting a record of 8-3 with an ERA of  3.03. Unlike most of his seasons, in 1940, he appeared in slightly more  games as a reliever than as a starter. In 1941, he went 9-5 as the team  won the1941 AL pennant. In 1942, he went 13-3 as the team won the AL race again. He pitched  in both 1941-1942 World Series but he was not particularly effective. He was 6-5 in  1943, and then he improved to a 13-10 mark in 1944 as he appeared in the most games of his MLB  career in 1 season, 30 games. He did not appear in the 1943 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. In  1945, he went 5-4 with a 3.52 ERA, but his Yankees career was over due  to injuries. After retiring from MLB as an active player, he was a  long-time Yankees MLB scout.

Happy Birthday to Yankees "Chairman of the Board" Hall Of Fame Pitcher  Whitey Ford

October 21, 1928- Former Yankees Hall Of Fame P Edward “Whitey” Ford  (1950-1967) was born.
In  1947, the New York Yankees signed Whitey Ford as a MLB amateur free  agent. Whitey Ford pitched for the Yankees for 16 seasons. Ford missed  the 1951-1952 American League seasons, because of military service. He finished his New York  Yankees career with a 236-106 record, WP .690 with a 2.74 ERA in 498  games with 45 shutouts, 1,956 strikeouts in 3,171 innings pitched. In  1961, Whitey Ford was the AL Cy Young award winner after going 25-4. Also  that season, he won the Babe Ruth Award. Whitey was selected for AL All  Star team 8 times. He won 20 games only twice in his MLB career, in 1961  going 25-4 and 24-7 in 1963. In 1961, he broke Babe Ruth’s 29 2/3  scoreless innings pitched World Series record with a total of 33  innings. In the World Series with the Yankees, Whitey posted a 10-8  record in 22 World Series games.  He was elected in 1974 along with  long-time Yankees teammate Mickey Mantle to Baseball’s Hall of Fame.