Fast & Loose

The Yankees trailed Detroit 5-4 in the seventh inning one day last week, and to hold the Tigers in check until his pennant-bound New Yorkers could score some more runs, Manager Casey Stengel knew just the man he needed. In from the Briggs Stadium bullpen strode Rinold George Duren. the 29-year-old righthander who is baseball's hottest relief pitcher.

Husky (6 ft. 2 in., 195 lbs.) "Ryne" Duren peered at the plate through tinted glasses, promptly unloaded a high inside fast ball that sent Tiger Batter Al Kaline sprawling. The crowd booed. But Duren settled down, retired six straight batters over the next two innings, and threw only three more pitches out of the strike zone. By the time he came to bat in the ninth, the Yankees had given him a 6-5 lead. He squinted at Tiger Pitcher Paul Foytack (Duren's depth perception is poor and his left eye is rated 20/200). Foytack threw high and inside. The ball cracked against Duren's helmet. Duren crumpled, blood streaking his cheek. At the hospital, X-rays showed no fracture but a mild concussion that will sideline him for a week to ten days.

As is customary, both sides denied malice aforethought. But putting Duren on the shelf would obviously be a major advantage to any rival team. Reliefer Duren has won 5, lost 3, saved 16 Yankee victories, boasts the majors' lowest earned-run average (1.50), has fanned 63 in 54 innings with his blazing speed.

Wild Man. Duren himself has been accused of deliberately throwing at batters and purposely firing wild warmup pitches to discourage batters from digging in at the plate. Duren denies both charges, explains: "The mound on the field is different--higher--than the warmup slab in the bullpen. I believe in getting adjusted to it by throwing as hard as I can, and sometimes it goes wild." The record shows that the brown-eyed fastballer is no scatter-arm pitcher. He has walked only 24 batters this season, hit only two. Says Detroit's Kaline: "Maybe he was wild once, but when I saw him in spring training he was getting those corners any time he needed to, and I said, 'This guy's got it.' "

Duren had to endure a long, painful safari through the minor leagues before he nailed down a job on the Yankees. For years he had trouble getting the ball down the middle. In 1949 a doctor, after examining his vision, advised him to quit baseball. But Ryne persisted, finally licked his wildness with the help of Manager Lefty O'Doul at Vancouver in 1956. "He taught me to aim at the catcher's knee, at his shoulder, at his belt," says Duren. "To move it around, one ball high and away, the next low and inside. I tried and it worked." With Denver last year Duren pitched a no-hitter in his first start, had a 13-2 mark, walked only 33 men in 114 innings.

New Reliefers. Duren and his National League counterpart, the Phillies' 24-year-old Dick Farrell, are helping change long-established ideas about relief pitchers. Traditionally, reliefers are crafty veterans who can pitch only a couple of innings, rely on cunning to get out of tight spots. Today Duren and Farrell are the best in the business by powering the ball past the hitters. Farrell's earned-run average (2.59) is third best in the league, and the big (6 ft. 3 in., 192 lbs.) righthander has saved nine games for the seventh-place Phillies. But for sheer speed, Duren has the edge. Says Yankee Catcher Elston Howard: "They are talking about Farrell now, and I've hit against him too, but Duren's faster. He's got the fastest ball I ever caught or saw, and that includes Herb Score."

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