The joke around the Yankees back in 1961 went something like this, as Bobby Richardson recalls: “We used to kid that Whitey could only go so far and Luis would pick him up and finish.”
Yes, in a Yankee season dominated by the chase for baseball’s home run record by Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle and a World Series title, little Luis Arroyo, a relief pitcher, of all things, was one of the most important men to wear pinstripes. In fact, he saved 13 of Whitey Ford’s 25 victories.
And Arroyo, who died at age 88 last week in his native Puerto Rico, will always have a place in Yankee history for that remarkable season.