Friend, Bob

Early years

Robert Friend was born November 24, 1930 in Lafayette, Indiana. He grew up and graduated from high school in West Lafayette , located on the other side of the Wobash River . Robert's father was the leader of the orchestra and as a child he learned to play the piano. At school, Bob was a sports star - he played football and baseball , was included in the symbolic teams of the state, and also played golf and basketball . His teammates gave him the nickname “Warrior” ( English Warrior ), which followed him into his further professional career ^[1] .

In 1949, following the example of his father, Robert entered Purdue University . Due to a shoulder injury received at school, he stopped playing football, concentrating his efforts on a baseball career. At the beginning of next year, Friend signed a professional contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates club and took part in the pre-season gathering of the team in the spring. He did not abandon his education and for eight years he came to the university every off-season. In 1957, Bob received a bachelor's degree in economics ^[1] .

Professional career

Pittsburgh's Farm System Friend passed in one season. He began the year 1950 with Waco Pirates and ended with the AAA League at Indianapolis Indiana . At the beginning of 1951, the general manager of the Pittsburgh Branch Ricky , who actively promoted young players, transferred him to the main team ^[1] .

In 1951, he spent his first season in Major League Baseball. Pirates played poorly, finishing seventh in the National League . Friend entered the field as both a starting pitcher and as a receiver , scoring six wins with ten defeats with an ERA transmittance of 4.27. In the next three years, Bob received gaming experience as part of the weakest league team - Pittsburgh finished last three years in a row ^[1] .

After the end of the 1954 season, Friend, together with the club's coaches, actively worked on the delivery technique, trying to make it less predictable. This helped and in the championship of 1955 he won fourteen victories with nine defeats. Its ERA transmittance was 2.83 - the best in the National League. For the first time in history, the pitcher of the last team, who finished last, least missed the least. For the first time in his career, he spent 200 innings per season. In 1956, Bob first received an invitation to the All-Star Game ^[1] .

Since the 1957 season, Friend has only played as a starting pitcher. He became the first in the league in the number of innings held, scoring fourteen wins with eighteen defeats, and remained the strongest pitcher of the club, again finishing seventh. A year later, the Pirates were able to improve the game in attack and had a good season, taking second place. Bob won twenty-two victories, which became for him the best result in his career. In the voting that determined the winner of the Prize, Sai Young , he took third place. For the second time in his career, Friend played in the All-Star Game. In the 1959 season, he performed worse, losing the most matches in the league and fighting overweight ^[1] .

Champion Season

At the training camp in the spring of 1960, Bob gained an excellent form, proving that it was not in vain that he received his nickname. He lost his first regular season match, but then spent a series of three winning full games in a row. In June, for the third time he received an invitation to the All-Star Game, after which he spent a not-so-successful stretch with three wins and four defeats. However, on July 25, Friend won the match against St. Louis , putting Pittsburgh in first place in the table. He played the last two months of the championship well and helped Pirates to keep the championship. Bob scored eighteen wins over the season with twelve defeats with an ERA of 3.00. Thanks to excellent feed control, he became the best in the National League in terms of strikeouts to walks (4.07). According to the results of the championship, he was awarded the Return of the Year award ^[1] .

In the Pirates World Series, they met with the New York Yankees , led by Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra . Friend played unsuccessfully in the final matches of the season. In the second game of the series, he won only four innings, although he missed only two points, the Yankees won the match with a score of 16: 3. In the sixth game, he was replaced in the third inning with a score of 0: 5. In the decisive seventh game, Bob entered the field in the ninth inning, which retained the advantage of the team in the long run (Pittsburgh led 9: 7). He again missed two points and was replaced by Harvey Haddix . The Pirates pulled out a victory at the bottom of the ninth inning after a home run by Bill Maseroski . Friend's transmittance in the World Series was 13.50. Perhaps the reason for such a weak performance was a serious load on the pitcher in August and September. For two months he spent 94 inning on the field ^[1] .

Retirement

In 1961, Bob again became the best in the league in terms of transmittance, but at the same time suffered the most defeats. One of the best of his career was the year 1963, which Friend finished with an ERA of 2.34, his best career record. In the 1965 season, the last for him in the Pittsburgh, the team took third place, showing the best result since winning the World Series ^[1] .

In the winter, Pirates traded him at the New York Yankees for the reliever Pete Mikkelsen . In the course of the 1966 season, Friend was resold to the New York Mets . On September 24, he played his last league match. During his sixteen-year career in the Major League Baseball, he played in 602 matches, of which 163 games were full ^[1] .

After Baseball

After completing his career, Bob, along with his wife Patricia Koval, remained in Pennsylvania. They had two children, one of whom, Bob Jr. subsequently became a professional golfer. Friend worked as an insurance broker and was elected financial controller of Allegheny County , whose post he held from 1967 to 1975. He participated in Republican Party congresses three times. He also led a fundraising charity program for the Pittsburgh Children's Hospital ^[1] .

In 2005, Friend retired. In recent years, he lived in the suburbs of Pittsburgh - O'Hara. Bob Friend died February 3, 2019 from heart failure ^[1] .

• Performance statistics at baseball-reference.com (eng.)