Ryne Duren, a relief pitcher for the Yankees, was feared for his fastball. When he came into the game, he was allotted the customary warm-up pitches. He always threw a few to the backstop to intimidate the opposing batters. Allah the instructions of Yogi Berra, who would also station Ryne at the pitcher's mound. And point which way to throw. v.c.
P.S. SOME PEOPLE THOUGHT HE HAD a hard time seeing home plate. wether it was real or imagined, Ryne Duren's allegedly poor eyesight added to the mystique that made him one of the most feared pitchers in baseball history.
With a fastball rivaling that of Nolan Ryan's and Randy Johnson's, he was a three-time All-Star who helped the Yankees win a pair of world championships during his brief but glorious career in New York.
"In my opinion, he was the hardest thrower that I've ever watched pitch," said Bob Turley, a starter on great Yankee teams of the late 1950s and early '60s. "I don't think anybody threw the ball as hard as he did."
A Wisconsin native, Duren's fastball was so explosive that his coaches at Cazenovia High School made him play second base. "I was very strong and wild," he said. "Nobody wanted to be responsible for me hurting anyone. I did pitch batting practice one day, I hit this kid and broke two of his ribs. So that was the end of my pitching."
"They wouldn't let me play short or third, because I threw the ball so hard across the infield I might have hurt somebody in the stands. Even maybe hurt the first baseman," Duren explained.
"I couldn't play the outfield because my eyes weren't good enough to pick up the ball. So they had me play second base, where I could flip the ball underhand to first base."
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