Elroy Face, forkball relief pitcher

He had a long career with the Pittsurgh Pirates – was one of the very first specialist as a closer.

Older Yankee fans will unfortunately remember him from the 1960 World Series…

Face was one of the first major-league hurlers to make the closer job a specialty. Not an overpowering pitcher, he finagled outs with a tricky forkball.

ElRoy Face, a durable right-handed pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates who befuddled batters with his off-speed forkball and became one of baseball’s most prominent relief specialists, died on Thursday in North Versailles, Pa. He was 97.

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In the 1950s and ’60s, Face was a standout among relievers who were transforming bullpens from a habitat for pitchers who weren’t good enough to be starters. At 5-foot-8 and 150 pounds or so, he did not have the blazing fastball of modern-day pitchers, but he relied on a sneaky fastball and was among the first pitchers to develop the forkball as an effective weapon.

In the first half of the 20th century, some pitchers thrived as relievers, but specialists were relatively sparse. In the early 1950s, Face broke in when an increasing number of pitchers, like Hoyt Wilhelm of the New York Giants, Jim Konstanty of the Philadelphia Phillies and Joe Black of the Brooklyn Dodgers, were mastering the “closer” role.

Having become a bullpen ace in his own right, Face helped take the Pirates to a stunning defeat of the Yankees in a thrilling seven-game World Series in 1960, when he saved three of the team’s four victories.