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Elroy Leon Face (February 20, 1928 – February 12, 2026)

Wow. I remember him. Rest in peace.

I believe he won 18 games as a reliever in one season for the Pirates. Set a record at the time. Yep. Looked it up. 1959. Man I’m old.

When I was young, the 2 top firemen in baseball were Elroy Face and Lindy McDaniel. Elroy was throwing the forkball which like the knuckleball simply wasn't aerodynamic sound, and simply fell out of its flight.

My younger brother with a adult team was playing the Centralia, IL, American League team. The wind was blowing out, and my brother threw the forkball. Struck out Gaetti 2 times. Gaetti challenged him, saying, "You couldn't break glass!" My brother shot back, "But it struck out you!!"

I saw Roy Face pitch, all 5-8, 160 pounds of him. Tough guy, consistent, threw a funky pitch. He'd be hard-pressed to get a look these days.

Here's his SABR bio: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Roy-Face/

RIP Roy.

ScotchMIrish wrote: ↑12 Feb 2026 18:33 pm Wow. I remember him. Rest in peace.

I remember him as well.
RIP Elroy

Galatians221jb1 wrote: ↑12 Feb 2026 19:15 pm I believe he won 18 games as a reliever in one season for the Pirates. Set a record at the time. Yep. Looked it up. 1959. Man I’m old.

I remember him. Not physically big, but made a lot of hitters look silly.

I used to love that Pirate uniform with those dark long sleeves.