1955 Yankee of the Past: Allie Reynolds

A MOMENT THAT'S REYNOLD'S MONUMENT
It Was Only An Incident - But It Told A Lot
"It was only an incident in the fine pitching career of Allie Reynolds, although a very important incident at the time in that it concerned his no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox, Sept. 28,1951.
Yet somehow it overshadows the feats of this great competitor, in that it gave, in a few fleeting seconds, a glimpse of the unselfishness and solicitude hidden behind a stern, and some times awesome, exterior.
Maybe you recall the dark drama of the final inning of that epic game. We do, as we watched it unfold, along with some 39,000 other alternately hushed and raucous witnesses.
Two men were out, with Dom DiMaggio, who had walked, on first base when Ted Williams stepped up to the plate. Ted Williams, the most feared batter in the game, and long overdue, swishing his bat menacingly and every move the picture of determination, and eagerness.
Reynolds might have walked him. It would have put two men on base, but from a selfish standpoint it would have enhanced his chances of completing the no-hitter.
He chose to pitch to him, boldly. He cut the plate with a strike which Ted took. Then another, and the Boston slugger got a piece of the ball. It shot straight into the air, a towering shot which looked like an easy out.
Yogi Berra yanked off his mask and stood ready. Suddenly he began to circle and weave as a capricious breeze caught the ball and played tricks with it.
Yogi made a desperate, diving stab at it at the last moment, falling prone as the ball hit his glove and bounded away.
Reynolds had rushed from the mound as if to help Yogi make the catch, and his momentum carried him to, and over, the stocky receiver. He rushed back and bent over the catcher, made some remark.
We asked Berra later what Reynolds had said. 'He just asked me if I was all right,' he answered. 'He was afraid he'd stepped on me with his spikes.'
That is the incident we'll remember whenever we think of Reynolds. A lesser man might have blown his top, cursing the catcher for missing the ball. After all, the out would have made Allie the second major league pitcher in history to turn in two no-hitters during a season. As it turned out, Williams fouled out on the next pitch, with Berra making a much more difficult catch near the Yankee dugout.
Reynold's action shows the kind of man the Yankees are losing with the retirement of the big Oklahoman; a man who puts the welfare of others above his own quest for a cherished goal.
Plagued at various times by a miscellaneous assortment of injuries that included a torn leg muscle, an injured hip, a twisted knee, bone chips in his pitching elbow, a lacerated finger and a pulled back muscle, Reynolds now comes to the end of the road because of a back injury caused by a bus accident. That leaves the Yankees with only stolid Eddie Lopat of the 'big three' so important to the club's five straight pennant drives and five straight World Series triumphs.
Vic Raschi went to the St. Louis Cardinals last spring. Gene Woodling is gone. Joe DiMaggio is gone. Phil Rizzuto faded badly last year. Johnny Mize has retired.
And now the Big Chief, and with him goes one more link to the glory days."

-Whitney Martin, Associated Press (Baseball Digest, April 1955)