Red Ruffing

Charles Herbert Ruffing

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1½", Weight 205 lb.

• Debut May 31, 1924
• Final Game September 15, 1947
• Born May 3, 1905 in Granville, IL USA
• Died February 17, 1986 in Mayfield Heights, OH USA

Inducted into Hall of Fame in 1967

BR page

Biographical Information

Red Ruffing was a Hall of Fame pitcher who spent most of his career with the New York Yankees. He never had a winning season in his first six seasons with the Boston Red Sox, who were a terrible team, but he was a big winner with the Yankees.

Ruffing broke a 7-year streak of strikeout titles by Lefty Grove in the American League.

He originally played outfield but switched to pitching after losing four toes as a teenager in a mining accident. With the New York Yankees, he was the winning pitcher in seven World Series games (for a 7-2 lifetime mark) and was a twenty game winner in four consecutive seasons. He was also known as a very good hitting pitcher, smashing 36 homers in his career.

The 37-year-old Ruffing was inducted into the Air Force in December 1942 and was discharged in June 1945.

After his playing days ended, he became a coach for the White Sox and the expansion New York Mets in 1962.

Ruffing quote: "I always figured World Series games the easiest to pitch. The other team didn't know you...and on the Yankees, we used to figure the National League champion only good enough to finish third or fourth in the American League."

He made the Hall of Fame despite an extremely rocky start to his career. Among all Hall of Famer pitchers we have the proper info for* and who lost at least 100 games, here were their Won-Loss records at the time of their 100th loss (please note how far back Ruffing is from even next-to-last):

• 1. 232-100 Whitey Ford
• 2. 228-100 Lefty Grove
• 3. 206-100 Juan Marichal
• 4. 185-100 Lefty Gomez
• 5. 184-100 Carl Hubbell
• 6. 182-100 Jim Palmer
• 7. 178-100 Bob Feller
• 8. 176-100 Bob Lemon
• 9. 173-100 Tom Seaver
• 10. 159-100 Robin Roberts
• 11. 155-100 Waite Hoyt
• 12t. 154-100 Dazzy Vance
• 12t. 154-100 Stan Coveleski
• 14. 153-100 Bob Gibson
• 15. 151-100 Red Faber
• 16. 148-100 Warren Spahn
• 17. 144-100 Fergie Jenkins
• 18. 142-100 Jim Bunning
• 19. 136-100 Don Drysdale
• 20. 133-100 Catfish Hunter
• 21. 132-100 Hal Newhouser
• 22. 131-100 Steve Carlton
• 23. 128-100 Herb Pennock
• 24t. 124-100 Gaylord Perry
• 24t. 124-100 Burleigh Grimes
• 26. 123-100 Ted Lyons
• 27. 120-100 Dennis Eckersley
• 28. 118-100 Jesse Haines
• 29. 118-100 Phil Niekro
• 30. 117-100 Rich Gossage
• 31. 116-100 Hoyt Wilhelm
• 32. 114-100 Don Sutton
• 33. 108-100 Nolan Ryan
• 34. 99-100 Rollie Fingers
• 35. 98-100 Early Wynn
• 36. 86-100 Eppa Rixey
• 37. 53-100 Red Ruffing

• This means those who lost their 100th game from 1920-onward, when reliable game logs are easily accessible.

Notable Achievements

• 6-time AL All-Star (1934, 1938-1942)
• AL Wins Leader (1938)
• AL Strikeouts Leader (1932)
• AL Complete Games Leader (1928)
• AL Shutouts Leader (1939)
• 15 Wins Seasons: 11 (1930-1932 & 1934-1941)
• 20 Wins Seasons: 4 (1936-1939)
• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 14 (1925 & 1928-1940)
• Won six World Series with the New York Yankees (1932, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939 & 1941)
• Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1967

Records Held

• Most runs allowed, AL, career, 2,115
• Most earned runs allowed, AL, career, 1,833

Related Sites

• Red Rufing at the SABR Bio Project
• Commemorating Ruffing on his death in 1986