Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 379

In May 1963, after pitching a shutout, Ford announced he had given up smoking. He said; "My doctor told me that whenever I think of smoking, I should think of a bus starting up and blowing the exhaust in my face."

Ford ended his career in declining health. In August 1966, he underwent surgery to correct a circulatory problem in his throwing shoulder. In May 1967, Ford lasted just one inning in what would be his final start, and he announced his retirement at the end of the month at age 38.

After retiring, Ford admitted in interviews to having occasionally doctored baseballs. Examples were the "mudball," used at home in Yankee Stadium. Yankee groundskeepers would wet down an area near the catcher's box where the Yankee catcher

Elston Howard was positioned. Pretending to lose balance, Howard would put down his hand with the ball and coat one side of the ball with mud and throw it to Ford. Ford also engaged in ball scuffing, sometimes used the diamond in his wedding ring to gouge the ball, but he was eventually caught by an umpire and warned to stop. Howard sharpened a buckle on his shin guard and used it to scuff the ball.

Ford described his illicit behavior as a concession to age, saying; “I didn't begin cheating until late in my career when I