Bob Turley’s 1953-54 San Juan Senators Season Preceded his 1958 Cy Young Award

Bob Turley, born in Troy, Illinois, on September 19, 1930, was 23 when he joined the 1953-54 San Juan (SJ) Senators for their 80-game season in Puerto Rico’s Winter League (PRWL). Turley went 20-8 for San Antonio in the 1951 Texas League before his «cup of coffee» with the 1951 Browns. He made $350/month in San Antonio; missed 1952 due to Military Service; nearly reinforced 1950-51 Caguas for the post-season at 20, but was told he had to cover his airfare and other travel expenses before arriving there.

Teammate of Satchel Paige with the 1953 St. Louis Browns

Turley showed potential with the 1953 last-place St. Louis Browns (54-100) as a teammate of 47-year-old Satchel Paige. Turley fanned 14 with four walks in a 12-inning, 1-0 SHO against Detroit on September 5, 1953. He outpitched ex-Brooklyn Dodger Ralph Branca, who pitched 11 frames, before allowing a walk-off HR to LF Dick Kokos. Just 1,960 fans saw this two-hour-and-twenty-five-minute game. Table I compares Turley’s 1953 Browns’ stats with Paige’s.

Table I: Bob Turley/Satchel Paige 1953 SL Browns’ Statistics

Source: Baseball-Reference.

«Bullet Bob» Turley, 1953 Browns. Photo credit: www.autographwarehouse.com.

Splendid SJ Senators Season

When Turley fanned 17 Caguas hitters on January 3, 1954, PR scribes noted that he tied Guayama’s Satchel Paige’s 17 SO versus Mayagüez, on December 3, 1939—a nine-inning PRWL mark, later broken by SJ’s Pat Dobson against Arecibo with 21 SO, on December 10, 1967, with Johnny Bench behind the plate. Turley and lefty Jack Harshman were a solid 1-2 punch for SJ, who finished second, behind Caguas. Turley’s 143 SO led the loop, per Table II, the SJ Senators’ single-season record. Table III includes the PRWL team franchise mark for most strikeouts by a pitcher.  

Table II: PRWL 1953-54 Regular Season Standings and Most League SO

*Won playoffs. CAG: Caguas, MAY: Mayagüez, PON: Ponce, SJ: San Juan, SAN: Santurce. Sources: José Crescioni Benítez, El Béisbol Profesional Boricua, 1997; https://beisbol101.com/jugador/bill-greason/

Table III: PRWL All-Time Franchise Records for Most SO

!All-time single-season SO mark for Caribbean regular-season Winter League Baseball. Source:José Crescioni Benítez, El Béisbol Profesional Boricua, 1997.

Turley Enjoyed and Benefited from the 1953-54 PRWL

With SJ, Turley received a $1,000 monthly salary, $350 for living expenses, and $500 for endorsing a fruit drink (Punchy). His 1953 SL Browns rookie salary was $5,000 for six months, or $833.33/month. Turley enjoyed the PRWL experience, noting that the hospitality in SJ was outstanding. He lived over a grocery store and took a bus—for home games or «away» games versus arch-rival Santurce—to Sixto Escobar Stadium with his uniform on. Upon returning from Escobar, he’d be greeted by patrons at the nightclub beside his apartment building.

«That league had a lot of talent…top AAA players, American players who had been in the bigs for a year, top native talent,» recalled Turley. «You could tell [Caguas’s Hank] Aaron had a major league stroke, the way he sprayed the ball to right and right-center.»

Third-place Mayagüez swept the Senators in the semis (3 -0). Turley took one of the losses. Table IV includes some 1953-54 pitching stats for SJ.

Table IV: SJ Senators 1953-54 Basic Pitching Data

Source: Roberto Inclán, San Juan Senators Media Booklet.

Baltimore Detour and 17-Player Trade with the Yankees

Turley won Baltimore’s 1954 home opener, 3-1, over the White Sox, on April 15. Six days later, he came within two outs of pitching the first no-hitter in Orioles history, in a 2-1 loss versus Cleveland. Memorial Stadium was packed with 43,383 fans that Wednesday evening. Al Rosen’s ninth-inning hit and Larry Doby’s two-run HR spelled doom, but fans were impressed with Turley’s 14 SO. Bob Lemon got the win. (Bobo Holloman threw the franchise’s last no-hitter, May 6, 1953, for the Browns in Bobo’s first big-league start. He had won 15 games for 1952-53 Santurce plus two more in the 1953 Caribbean Series, in Havana, Cuba.)

Turley finished 1954 at 14-15, 3.46 ERA, for the seventh-place 54-100 O’s, leading the majors in SO (185), walks (181), and fewest hits allowed per 9 innings (6.48). Baltimore’s 1.06 million home fans broke the franchise record of  712,918 in 1922, when the Browns won their first of two AL pennants. During the off-season, Turley was watching the ‘Tonight Show’ with Steve Allen on TV when he saw his picture flash on the screen. ‘Bob Turley traded to the New York Yankees.’ Turley, Don Larsen, and five other Orioles were traded to the Yankees for 10 players.

The author also found out that Harry Craft, Turley’s 1953-54 SJ skipper, «put in a good word» to Lee MacPhail—the Yankees’ 1949-1958 farm director—on Turley’s talent/future potential. MacPhail also sent Craft to PR to manage SJ in 1954-55, sending Bob Cerv, Woody Held, and Elston Howard to the Senators. In 1956-57, MacPhail arranged for Ralph Houk to manage SJ, and for catcher Johnny Blanchard to reinforce the Senators. In the 1960-61 PRWL season, he facilitated Baltimore prospects’ playing for SJ, per team owner Bob Leith. Boog Powell reinforced Mayagüez, 1962-64, when MacPhail was an Orioles executive.

New York Yankees, 1955-1962

Yankees pitching coach Jim Turner suggested that Turley, who was 6-2, 215 lb., use a no-windup delivery in 1956, one used by Don Larsen, author of the October 8, 1956 World Series (WS) perfect game versus Brooklyn. Turley threw three one-hitters for the Yanks. His shining moments were winning two 1958 WS games against Milwaukee, including Game 7; the Fall Classic MVP; going 21-7 for the 1958 Bronx Bombers; and winning the 1958 Cy Young Award by one vote over Milwaukee’s Warren Spahn. In five WS for New York, he was 4-3, 3.19 ERA, 46 SO-29 BB in 53.2 innings, one SHO, and one save. Table V lists 19 Cy Young Award winners who pitched in the PRWL. Turley was the first (1958); Zach Greinke, last in 2009.  

Johnny Podres (L), 1955 WS MVP, and Turley, 1958 WS MVP. Photo credit: www.pristineauctions.com.

Table V: Nineteen Cy Young Award Winners who pitched in the PRWL

#Turley/Koufax won it for both leagues. AR: Arecibo. BAY: Bayamón. Sources: PRWL books/publications; Baseball-Reference.

Final Thoughts

Turley returned to SJ for the 1962-63 season, when Hiram Bithorn Municipal Stadium opened for SJ and Santurce home games. After one early-season loss, the Los Angeles Angels acquired him from the Yankees, and he departed for the States. Turley went 8-11 for SJ in 162 innings. He fanned 145, walked 85, and posted a 2.78 ERA. He was 82-52, 3.62 ERA, for the Yankees in eight seasons, fanning 909 in 1,269 innings. Overall: 101-85, 3.64 ERA, in 12 AL seasons, including 1963 with Los Angeles and Boston. In four minor-league seasons: 63-32, 3.39 ERA in 817 innings, with two 20+ win seasons.

Turley’s highest Yankees salary was $35,000 for 1959, but he became a multi-millionaire many times over in the insurance, financial planning, and real estate world post-baseball. He bought and sold many homes on Marco Island, Florida. His 13,500-square-foot «Turley Mansion» was listed at $16.5 million in 2024, 11 years after «Bullet Bob» Turley passed away in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 30, 2013, from liver cancer at 82.

Special thanks to Bob Turley. Thanks to Jack Harshman, Roberto Inclán, Bob Leith, and Lee MacPhail. Jorge Colón Delgado did the editing and photo placements.  

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Tom Van Hyning

Tom Van Hyning se crió en Santurce, Puerto Rico. Su familia se mudó a esta preciosa Isla cuando tenía dos años. Tom es el autor de tres libros: “Puerto Rico’s Winter League”, “The Santurce Crabbers” y “The Caribbean Series: Latin America’s Annual Baseball Tournament 1949-2024, que fue publicado en 2025. Laboró como Economista de Turismo en el estado de Mississippi y es miembro de SABR, Capítulo Cool Papa Bell en Mississippi. Sus artículos han sido publicados por SABR en la revista National Pastime y Baseball Research Journal. Igualmente escribe para las páginas web negroleaguerspuertorico.com y safabpp.com.