{"id":476819,"date":"2026-02-13T07:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T07:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/476819\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T07:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T07:07:09","slug":"who-was-elroy-face-pirates-legend-passes-away-just-days-shy-of-his-98th-birthday-mlb-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/476819\/","title":{"rendered":"Who was Elroy Face? Pirates legend passes away just days shy of his 98th birthday | MLB News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/elroy-face.jpg\" alt=\"Who was Elroy Face? Pirates legend passes away just days shy of his 98th birthday\" title=\"Elroy Face. Image via: Matt Freed\/ AP\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>Elroy Face. Image via: Matt Freed\/ AP The Pittsburgh Pirates confirmed Thursday that Elroy Face, one of the most important pitchers in franchise history, has died at 97. The Stephentown, New York native passed away in North Versailles, Pennsylvania, eight days before his 98th birthday. With his death, the Pirates lost a Hall of Famer who helped define the role of the modern relief pitcher and played a key part in the club\u2019s 1960 World Series title.Face built his name in high-pressure innings. Known as the \u201cBaron of the Bullpen,\u201d he became a trusted arm in tight games and a steady presence during one of the most memorable championship runs in baseball history. <\/p>\n<p>Elroy Face passes away at 97<\/p>\n<p>The Pirates shared the news in a statement from chairman Bob Nutting. \u201cIt is with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we mourn the passing of Pirates Hall of Famer Elroy Face, a beloved member of the Pirates family,\u201d Nutting said. \u201cI was fortunate to get to know Elroy personally, and I will always be proud that we had the chance to honor him with his induction into the Pirates Hall of Fame. \u2026 Our thoughts are with his three children \u2013 Michelle, Valerie and Elroy Jr. \u2013 and his sister Jacqueline.\u201dFace spent 15 seasons with the Pirates from 1953 to 1968 and later made brief stops with the Detroit Tigers and Montreal Expos. He finished his career with a 104-95 record, a 3.48 ERA and 191 saves across 1,375 innings. He struck out 877 batters and appeared in 848 games, starting only 27. At 5-foot-8 and 155 pounds, he relied on movement and control, most notably a forkball that became his signature pitch.<\/p>\n<p>Who was Elroy Face? Pirates legend\u2019s legacy and more<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Elroy Face\" msid=\"128288766\" width=\"\" title=\"Elroy Face. Image via: AP\/ File\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" imgsize=\"23456\" resizemode=\"4\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770966429_985_elroy-face.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Elroy Face. Image via: AP\/ File<\/p>\n<p>Face holds the National League record for wins in relief with 96 and owns the Pirates franchise record for appearances with 802. He led the league in saves three times and earned three straight All-Star selections from 1959 to 1961.His 1959 season stands among the best ever by a reliever. Face went 18-1 with a 2.70 ERA and a .947 winning percentage. The following year, he recorded 24 saves and three more in the World Series as the Pirates defeated the New York Yankees in seven games.In 2023, the Pirates inducted him into their Hall of Fame, honoring a pitcher who helped build the closer role long before the save became an official statistic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elroy Face. Image via: Matt Freed\/ AP The Pittsburgh Pirates confirmed Thursday that Elroy Face, one of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[242736,64,63,242738,47878,242734,591,242737,242739,5160,242735,85],"class_list":["post-476819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-1960-world-series","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-baron-of-the-bullpen","tag-baseball-hall-of-fame","tag-elroy-face","tag-mlb","tag-national-league-records","tag-pirates-hall-of-fame","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-relief-pitcher","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}