Billy Pierce - Yankees Rivalry

Yankees Rivalry

Pierce played a major role in keeping the White Sox competitive with the powerhouse Yankees through most of the 1950s, and after a rough period from June 1951 to July 1952 in which he dropped 10 of 11 decisions to New York (despite a respectable 3.69 ERA in those games), he held his own against the Yankees, posting a record of 21–21 from August 1952 through the 1960 season. Ironically, the turnaround in his fortunes against the Yankees followed one of Chicago's most crushing defeats to their rivals; on July 29, 1952 he left with a 7–3 lead and one out in the eighth inning, only to see the Yankees come back against the White Sox bullpen to win 10–7 on Mickey Mantle's grand slam in the ninth. Years later, Pierce still recalled the game as being one of his most frustrating outings. He faced Whitey Ford 15 times in his career (more than against any other pitcher), including a 1–0 loss on May 17, 1955, a 3–2 loss in 10 innings on June 5 later that year, a 2–1 loss on July 15, 1956, a 3–2 loss in 11 innings on September 18 of that year (in which the Yankees clinched the pennant on Mantle's 50th home run in the final frame), a 3–1 win on May 21, 1957, and a 4–3 win in 11 innings on April 30, 1959.

By the 1957 season, Shirley Povich of The Washington Post expressed a clear preference for Pierce over Ford, writing that anyone doubting Pierce's place as the league's top left-hander was "risking committal as an incurable psycho who can neither read the figures nor respond to reason." Pierce's 4–3 win over the Yankees on July 28, 1959 put the White Sox in first place, where they stayed for the remainder of the season to take their first pennant in 40 years; it was his 160th victory with Chicago, breaking Doc White's team record for wins by a left-hander (he broke White's club records for career games and innings by a left-hander the same year). In late 1958, sportswriter Edgar Munzel wrote, "The primary difference between Pierce and Ford, in their long-standing duel for southpaw supremacy in the American League, is that Pierce is pitching for a woefully weak hitting team, while Ford is backed by the league's most powerful offensive machine... An even greater boon to Whitey is the fact that he doesn't have to face the Yankees." Of Pierce, who he described as the top White Sox pitcher for the past decade, he added, "Normally, he's lucky if he's supported with as many as two runs when he faces the Yankees."

Yankee outfielder Bob Cerv recalled of the rivalry, "I always remember the games when Pierce and Ford would lock up. Those were great ballgames – 2–1, 3–2. Usually, if they'd get beat, Mantle would hit a home run." New York outfielder Hank Bauer noted, "The guy who gave me the most problem – I know he gave 'em to me, and I think he gave 'em to most of us – was Billy Pierce." Tommy Byrne, who pitched for the Yankees for most of his career from 1943 to 1957 but played for Chicago for the first half of the 1953 season, said, "Pierce was sneaky fast, a good breaking ball. He was tough. For several years there he was right up there on a par with Ford." Sportswriter Bill Madden recalled in 1982, "Always it was Pierce against Whitey Ford and always, to me, that seemed like an unfair matchup. They were your classic 'stylish' left-handers, equal in guile and guts, but Ford had those howitzers of Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Bill Skowron and Hank Bauer behind him, while Pierce came armed with popguns. Nellie Fox, Luis Aparicio and Minnie Minoso supported him with hustle and chink singles and I always marveled at the fact that Pierce could duel Ford on even terms despite those odds." Ironically, the Yankees tried to acquire Pierce in the early 1950s when Ford was in the military, but White Sox general manager Frank Lane proposed that New York give up Bauer, first baseman Joe Collins and second baseman Jerry Coleman in exchange for Pierce and outfielder Al Zarilla, and ended talks when Yankees GM George Weiss suggested the Yankees send minor leaguers instead.