During his playing career, Ryne sported a blazing 100 mph fastball, and quickly became the most feared reliever in the league. The arrival of Ryne Duren into a ball game was as exciting as his actual performance. Nicknamed "Blind Rhine," he would frighten hitters when he entered the game, often throwing the first warm- up pitch back to the screen, which became his trademark. He was so wild in warm-ups that he once hit an on-deck hitter.
Casey Stengel was once quoted as saying, "He's the most exciting thing in baseball; I would not advise hitting against Duren
because if he hit you in the head you might be in the past tense."
Yogi (Berra) had short fingers and when poor-sighted Ryne Duren pitched he used to paint his fingers red so Ryne could see the signals. He wore half-inch thick dark glasses and when he was in the minors he wrote a letter asking Casey (Stengel) to bring him up before he became too blind to pitch. Casey brought him up and he became the best reliever in the Majors. Ryne often had batters shaking in their boots. He was the fastest pitcher in baseball, he could barely see (20/200, and he was wild. Most hitters felt fear when they faced Ryne. Imagine how the hitter felt the time Ryne yelled in to Yogi, "Is the batter hitting right-handed or left-handed?"
In 1958, Duren won six and saved a league-high 20 games. He was brilliant in the Yankees' World Series victory over the Braves, going 1-1 (1.93) with a save. He saved 14 games in 1959, at one point going 18 games - (36 innings) - without allowing a run. In those two seasons he allowed only 89 hits, fanning 183 in just 151 innings. At the peak of his career, for two or three innings, Ryne Duren came as close to being invincible as any pitcher who ever lived.
