#325 Mel Stottlemyre

Ace of the Bronx Bombers at the time........On par with the best of his MLB contemporaries but under looked unfortunately because it was at the nadir of Yankee franchise....odd given that his base of operation was media New York....Mel’s Yankee story begins by being pressed into service to replace an ailing Whitey Ford in 1964....prior he was blowing away IL AAA competition with 13 wins and league best 1.42 ERA....continued to  roll with a 9-2 record and a WS start....Excellent follow up at 20-9 1965 the silver lining as the Yankee juggernaut was exiled to an unfamiliar second division.... record was nearly reversed in 1966 as Mel went 12-20 and the Yanks finished last...Mel eventually regained his touch, putting back to back 20 win seasons 1968-69....Mel gave way to other NYY hurlers in next 4 years but he remained a consistent force...end essentially came with a midseason 1974 torn rotator cuff injury, a devastating injury ...had two sons who reached the bigs....a career of highest standards....especially racking up an solid 154 complete games and 40 shutouts which still ranks in the top 50 of all time...one team career....long time coach after playing days over.