Роберт Турли: «Пулеметный Боб» - бейсболист и финансист.

American baseball player (1930–2013)

Robert Lee Turley (September 19, 1930 – March 30, 2013), known as "Bullet Bob", was an American professional baseball player and financial planner. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a pitcher from 1951 through 1963. After his retirement from baseball, he worked for Primerica Financial Services. Turley made his MLB debut with the St. Louis Browns in 1951, and stayed with the team through their first season in Baltimore, when he appeared in his first MLB All Star Game. After the 1954 season, he was traded to the New York Yankees. With the Yankees, Turley appeared in two more All Star Games. He led the American League in wins in 1958, and won the Cy Young Award, World Series Most Valuable Player Award, and Hickok Belt that year. He finished his playing career with the Los Angeles Angels and Boston Red Sox in 1963, and then coached the Red Sox in 1964. Turley began working in financial planning during the baseball offseason. In 1977, he cofounded with Arthur L. Williams Jr. the company that would become Primerica. He also invested in real estate, buying and selling 27 houses in Florida.

Turley was born in Troy, Illinois. He was raised in East St. Louis, Illinois. He attended East St. Louis Senior High School in East St. Louis, and played for the school's baseball squad for three years. He was used as both a starter and reliever, becoming the staff's ace pitcher by the end of his senior season, in 1948. Turley won the team's sportsmanship award that year. Bill DeWitt, the general manager of the St. Louis Browns, brought Turley to Sportsman's Park for a tryout. Turley also attended a workout camp for the New York Yankees, held in Maryville, Illinois. The day after he graduated from high school in 1948, Turley signed with the Browns as an amateur free agent. In 1951, he played for San Antonio. He appeared in the Texas League's All Star Game, and was named the league's most valuable player at the end of the season. He struck out 22 batters in one game for San Antonio. Turley played his first game in the major leagues on September 29, 1951. He lost to the Chicago White Sox. He did not pitch again in 1951, and after the season ended, he enlisted with the United States Army for two years. Turley returned to the Browns in August 1953, and caught attention for his high strikeout rate. Turley remained with the team after they moved to Baltimore, Maryland, to become the Baltimore Orioles in 1954. He earned $9,000 ($ in current dollar terms) for the 1954 season. He pitched the first game at Memorial Stadium, striking out nine in a complete game. For the 1954 season, he led the American League in strikeouts with 185, but also led the league with 181 walks. and finished in third place in balloting for the Hickok Belt, given to the professional athlete of the year. While playing for the Orioles, Turley obtained the nickname "Bullet Bob". The magazine Look wrote a story about Turley, and wanted to measure the velocity of his fastball. They used a bullet timer from the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, which recorded a speed of by the time it reached home plate. The Yankees received Turley, Billy Hunter, Don Larsen, and players to be named later, while the Orioles acquired Harry Byrd, Jim McDonald, Willy Miranda, Hal Smith, Gus Triandos, Gene Woodling, and players to be named later. To complete the trade, the Yankees sent Bill Miller, Kal Segrist, Don Leppert, and Ted Del Guercio to the Orioles, and the Orioles sent Mike Blyzka, Darrell Johnson, Jim Fridley and Dick Kryhoski to the Yankees. Comprising 17 players, this trade remains the largest in MLB history.

Turley played for the Yankees from 1955 to 1962. In the 1955 season, Turley won 17 games for the Yankees, The Yankees won the American League pennant, and advanced to the 1955 World Series, where they faced the Brooklyn Dodgers. He pitched in Game Three of the 1955 World Series, losing to Johnny Podres. He also made two relief appearances in the series, in Games Five and Seven, as the Dodgers defeated the Yankees four games to three. Turley had a disappointing season in 1956, with an 8–4 win–loss record and a 5.05 earned run average (ERA). However, the Yankees again won the American League pennant. Turley appeared in Games One and Two of the 1956 World Series against the Dodgers as a relief pitcher. Facing Clem Labine in Game Six, Turley pitched a complete game, but the Yankees lost the game by a 1–0 score. The Yankees defeated the Dodgers in Game Seven to win the series four games to three. In the 1957 season, Turley developed a curveball. He finished the season with a 2.71 ERA, good for fourth best in the American League. The Yankees won the pennant again. In the 1957 World Series against the Milwaukee Braves, Turley started Game Three, but was relieved by Larsen in the second inning. He won his first World Series game in Game Six, a complete game. The Yankees lost the series to the Braves, four games to three. By the 1958 season, Turley changed his delivery in an effort to improve his control, by using a no wind up pitching position. Turley started Game Two of the 1958 World Series by allowing up a leadoff home run and lasting just one third of an inning as the Yankees fell behind the Milwaukee Braves two games to none. He also won the Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in Major League Baseball, edging Warren Spahn of the Braves by one vote, and Lew Burdette of the Braves and Bob Friend of the Pittsburgh Pirates by two votes. Turley finished second in the American League Most Valuable Player Award voting, losing to Jackie Jensen of the Boston Red Sox. Additionally, he won The Sporting News Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year Awards. Turley earned a $35,000 salary for the 1959 season, his highest as a baseball player. The Yankees chose Turley to be their Opening Day starting pitcher for the 1959 season, opposing Tom Brewer of the Red Sox. The Yankees won the game by a 3–2 score. However, Turley's fastball began to lose its effectiveness. He increased the usage of his curveball to compensate. and his 3.27 ERA was the seventh best in the American League. He started Game Two of the 1960 World Series against the Pirates, earning the win. He also started the deciding Game Seven, which the Pirates won, taking the series. Turley suffered through discomfort in his right elbow during the 1961 season, which resulted in a 3–5 win–loss record and 5.75 ERA in only 15 games pitched. New manager Ralph Houk began to emphasize his younger pitchers, as he removed Turley from the starting rotation and used him as a relief pitcher. Though the Yankees reached the 1961 World Series, and defeated the Cincinnati Reds four games to one, Turley did not make an appearance. After seeking medical attention, Turley was diagnosed with bone chips in his elbow. He underwent surgery in the offseason to remove the bone chips, and returned to the Yankees confident his performance would improve in 1962. He agreed to a salary cut, from $28,000 to $25,000. However, the bone chips recurred during the 1962 season. As a result, his effectiveness was limited in 1962 as well. During the 1962 season, American League players elected Turley as their player representative, following Woodling's trade to the National League. Over the season, Turley pitched to a 4.57 ERA in only 69 innings. The Yankees defeated the San Francisco Giants four games to three in the 1962 World Series, but Turley was not an active participant.

After the 1962 season, the Yankees sold Turley to the Los Angeles Angels for cash, in the first move made by new Yankees' general manager Roy Hamey, who sought to rebuild the Yankees pitching staff. The move was conditional; the Angels could return Turley if they were not satisfied with him. The Angels chose to retain Turley at the start of the 1963 season. Turley struggled, winning two games while losing seven, and the Angels released him in July. A week later, he signed with the Boston Red Sox. Turley retired after the 1963 season, with a 101–85 win–loss record and a 3.64 ERA in 12 seasons. Turley spent one season as the Red Sox' pitching coach, and was released at the end of the year. He attempted to make a comeback as a pitcher with the Houston Colt .45s in 1965, but did not make the team. He then agreed to become the pitching coach for the Richmond Braves of the International League, a minor league team in the Atlanta Braves organization, in 1966, but resigned before the start of the 1966 season.

Turley got into the habit while on the bench of stealing signs when he saw the opposing pitcher throw. Using a system of whistling where be whistled if the next pitch was different from the last, he would attempt to help any Yankee who wanted the advice, with Johnny Blanchard and Elston Howard being appreciative of the help while Moose Skowron and Yogi Berra did not care. In one instance, Jim Bunning of the Detroit Tigers noticed the system and pointed to Turley to stop or he would knock down the batter (which happened to be Mickey Mantle). When Turley whistled anyway, he threw a missile in the middle of the box that Mantle missed on, which led to the next batter in Berra pleading that he wasn't listening to whistles. In 1961, even when he was on the injured list, he remained on the bench to do his system, and Tony Kubek estimated that Mickey Mantle his fifty homeruns in part due to Turley, and Mantle once credited half of his home runs to Turley. Roger Maris and his historic 61st home run was hit after the sign for the pitch was decoded by the third base coach, an acolyte of Turley's system.

Turley moved from East St. Louis to Lutherville, Maryland, in 1954, when the Browns moved to Baltimore. Though he played in Baltimore for one season, he remained in Lutherville for the remainder of his baseball career, and sent his children to the local public schools. He also operated a bowling alley in Bel Air, Maryland, and an insurance firm in Baltimore. At A. L. Williams, agents advised clients to purchase term life insurance, rather than cash value life insurance, and invest the money they saved in mutual funds. He was mentioned in a song called "St. Louis Browns" by Skip Battin, who was the bass guitarist of The Byrds and the New Riders of the Purple Sage. In the lyrics, Battin describes Turley as a "no hit pitcher" who "got too surly" and who was "traded too early". Turley's uncle, Ralph, also played professional baseball. The Yankees signed Ralph Turley in 1949 when they meant to sign Bob, and released Ralph when they discovered he was the "wrong Turley".

Turley lived in Alpharetta, Georgia, for the last two years of his life. Turley was cremated in Duluth, Georgia.