PITTSBURGH (AP) \u2014 Elroy Face, an All-Star reliever for the Pittsburgh Pirates who saved three games in the 1960 World Series to help them upset the New York Yankees, has died. He was 97.<\/p>\n
In a news release Thursday, the Pirates announced they confirmed Face\u2019s death. Team historian Jim Trdinich said the club was contacted by Face\u2019s son, Elroy Jr., and informed the former pitcher died earlier in the day at an independent senior living facility outside Pittsburgh in North Versailles, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
No cause of death was provided. Face was eight days shy of his 98th birthday. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we mourn the passing of Pirates Hall of Famer Elroy Face, a beloved member of the Pirates family,\u201d team chairman Bob Nutting said in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cElroy was a pioneer of the modern relief pitcher \u2014 the \u2018Baron of the Bullpen\u2019 \u2014 and he played a critical role in our 1960 World Series championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Selected to six All-Star teams, Face went 104-95 with a 3.48 ERA in 16 major league seasons with Pittsburgh (1953-68), Detroit (1968) and Montreal (1969). He pitched in 848 games, starting only 27, and compiled 191 career saves \u2014 although saves didn\u2019t become an official statistic until 1969.<\/p>\n
The 5-foot-8 right-hander holds the National League record for wins in relief with 96 and the major league mark for relief wins in one season after going 18-1 with a 2.70 ERA in 1959.<\/p>\n
He topped the National League with 68 appearances and 61 games finished in 1960, when the underdog Pirates stunned Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and the mighty Yankees on Bill Mazeroski\u2019s famous home run that won Game 7 of the World Series at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
Face made four relief appearances in the Series, posting a 5.23 ERA in 10 1\/3 innings. He closed out Pirates wins in Games 1, 4 and 5.<\/p>\n
Inducted into the Pirates Hall of Fame in 2023, he is the club\u2019s career leader in appearances with 802. And the team noted that if saves had been an official stat before 1969, he also would hold that franchise record with 188.<\/p>\n
Face was born in Stephentown, New York, on Feb. 20, 1928. He is survived by his three children, Michelle, Valerie and Elroy Jr., and his sister Jacqueline, the Pirates said.<\/p>\n
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