1966 – Jim Gentile drills a homer off Elroy Face in the eleventh inning to drop Pittsburgh, 3-2. John Bateman had earlier gone deep off Vern Law to send the game into overtime. Claude Raymond picks up the win.
On September 11, 1959, ElRoy “Roy” Face’s 22-game winning streak comes to an end. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ relief ace allows two runs in the bottom of the ninth to lose a 5-4 decision to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Face had won 17 straight decisions in 1959. The reliever, who will end the season…
In the second of two games, the Pirates, down 5 – 0, tie the Phillies in the 9th inning, then win in the 10th, 7 – 6. The victory goes to Elroy Face, even though he gives up a home run to Ed Bouchee in the top of the 10th. Face is now 17-0 and the Pirates are just four games in back of the leading Giants.
The Pittsburgh Pirates draft relief pitcher Elroy Face from the Montreal Royals, the top minor league affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers. During a 15-year career with the Pirates, Face will lead the National League in saves three times. In 1959, he will win an incredible 18 of 19 decisions in relief.
1950 – The phrase “bullpen baron” — which will be applied much more famously to Pirates reliever ElRoy Face by beat writer Jack Hernon in 1959 — is coined by Joe Reichler of the Associated Press in his pre-season profile of the St. Louis Cardinals: “For relief they have Ted Wilks, the league’s bullpen baron with a 10-3 record for 59 assignments last year.”
Roy Face Position: PitcherBats: Right • Throws: Right5-8, 155lb (173cm, 70kg)Born: February 20, 1928 (Age: 92-298d) in Stephentown, NYHigh School: Averill Park HS (Averill Park, NY)Debut: April 16, 1953 (Age 25-055d, 8,586th in MLB history)vs. PHI 0.1 IP, 4 H, 0 SO, 1 BB, 3 ERLast Game: August 15, 1969 (Age 41-176d)vs. LAD 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 SO, 0 BB, 2 ERFull Name: Elroy Leon FaceView Player Bio from the SABR BioProject He was certainly an…
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