Baseball: A Wave from Whitey

"Righteous living" was Edward Charles Ford's stock answer when people asked him the secret of his success. That, perhaps, plus a whistling fastball, a jug-handle curve, a slider, a change-up and a "sinker" that just may have been a spitter, as scores of frustrated batters complained.

Wet or dry, in 18 years with the New York Yankees, "Whitey" Ford ensured himself a place among the pitchers in baseball's Hall of Fame. He won 236 games and lost only 106 for a percentage of .690—the highest of any 200-game winner since 1900. In 1956...