1968 Profile: Mel Stottlemyre

1968 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR
"He's a guy who should have born to a previous Yankee era, Mel Stottlemyre is. Mel is cast in the image of the great Yankee hurlers of the past.
The only difficulty is that the present-day Yankees don't score enough runs for him. Mel's fate last season was a 15-15 record that easily could have been better if he'd had better support. His ERA was 2.96, he worked 255 innings, fanned 151 hitters and walked 88.
Mel generally walks a lot of men because he's primarily a low-ball pitcher, and umpires in the AL don't give you the low strike. His pet pitch is a table-dropping curve, to go with a fair fastball and a changeup that still needs improvement.
He was a 20-game winner in 1965 and a 20-game loser in '66."

-Jack Zanger, Major League Baseball 1968

"With the retirement of Whitey Ford last spring, Mel Stottlemyre has taken over the role of 'chief of staff' of Yankee pitching. For the past three seasons he has led the club in wins and innings pitched.
The big right-hander, who joined the Yankees in '64 and helped them win the pennant, has a fastball that starts high and sinks at the plate. When batters can get a piece of it, they ground to the infield. If the infield holds up, Stottlemyre and the Yanks are great. When the defense weakens, Mel loses close games in the infield - or because he has too few runs to work with.
The Bombers lost 29 games last year in which the opposition scored three or fewer runs, and 45 by one or two runs. But this is another year and Houk figures that with a little improvement in the offense there will be a big change in Mel's record. Last year it was 15-15. His ERA of only 2.96 shows he pitched much better than his W-L figure indicates. At 26, with four years of major league experience, he should have great years ahead.
Mel helps himself on the field and at bat. He had five hits in five times at bat in one game against Washington in '64. He hit an inside-the-park grand slam home run against Boston in '65.
Stottlemyre, an all-around athlete (he lettered in baseball, football and basketball in high school), makes his winter home in Grandview, Washington with his wife Sally Jean and their two little boys Mel, Jr. (4) and Todd (2). He played Little League, Babe Ruth and American Legion ball."

-The New York Yankees Official 1968 Yearbook

"With the retirement of Whitey Ford last spring, Stottlemyre has taken over the role of 'chief of staff' on the Yankees. For the past three years he has led the club in wins and innings pitched and is considered one of the best pitchers in baseball.
Mel jumped off to a great start in 1967 as he hurled two shutouts in his first two starts. He first came to the Yankees in August 1964 when he was called up from Richmond where he had a banner year ... he was 13-3, led the International League in ERA with a 1.42 mark and was named MVP; he also led pitchers in fielding with a percentage of 1.000. An all-around athlete, Mel lettered in baseball, football and basketball in high school.
He makes his winter home in Grandview, Washington with his wife Sally Jean and two boys. He spends the winter fishing and hunting.
With all the pitching feats he has realized, Mel lists his outstanding baseball experience as his five hits in five at-bats in Washington on September 26, 1964. Another hitting feat of Mel's was his inside-the-park grand slam home run against Boston on July 20, 1965- it was hit off Bill Monboquette. With three and a half years of major league experience and 56 wins under his belt at the young age of 26, Mel should have even greater years ahead."

-1968 New York Yankees Press-Radio-TV Guide

"Mel Stottlemyre, who broke into the major leagues in late 1964, has proved through three years of adversity that he is truly an outstanding pitcher.
Turn back the clock to September 1964. The Yankees, Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles were fighting for the American League pennant. Stottlemyre had a 13-3 record for the Yankees' Richmond club of the International League and was called up to aid the parent club's late drive for the flag. He won nine games and lost three during the stretch, then beat the St. Louis Cardinals in one game of the World Series.
Mel had every right to think of one those golden Yankee futures. You know, 20 victories almost every season ... a World Series check four out of five years ... TV appearances and testimonials ... fast-rising paychecks ... a new mink for the wife every couple of years ... living it up while the rest of the American Leaguers sweat out the tyranny of New York domination.
Well, as everybody knows, it didn't work out that way for Stottlemyre. The Yankees plunged to sixth place in 1965, dropped into the cellar in '66 and were ninth in '67.
Through those times of trouble, however, the quiet sinkerball specialist from Mabton, Washington has been a model, highly competitive pitcher. He survived the disaster of 1965 to post a 20-9 record with a 2.63 earned run average, had a 12-20 mark and 3.80 ERA for the 1966 cellar-dwellers, and checked in with a 15-15 record and a 2.96 earned run average in 1967. That's a 47-44 log over a three-year period during which the Yankees have been staggering around the league like drunken sailors.
'Mel's key pitch is the sinkerball,' explains Elston Howard, who caught Stottlemyre for the better part of three seasons before New York traded him to the Boston Red Sox. 'It's the key pitch because it's hard to hit into the air. Mel gets that double play grounder for you a lot. He's a seasoned pitcher and a real good competitor.'
The Yankees could easily trade Stottlemyre to one of the current pennant contenders and quite likely trade them into a pennant. But they are more likely to keep Mel for themselves against that day when the club will rise like a ghost from the tomb to rule the American League once again."

-Fred Down, Sports All Stars 1968 Baseball