Pirate pitcher knew success and heartache
Robert T. "Bob" Purkey, who pitched for the Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds -- and played in a World Series with the 1961 Reds -- died Sunday, March16, 2008, in an Upper St. Clair nursing home. He was 78.
A retired insurance agent in Bethel Park, Mr. Purkey suffered from Alzheimer's disease in recent years, said son-in-law Bob Holland. He died at Sunrise Assisted Living just two months after the death of his wife, Joan Latsko Purkey, 75, who had also lived at the nursing home.
"He lost a lot of his heart and will at that point," Holland said.
A native of Mt. Washington and a graduate of South Hills High School, Mr. Purkey was a knuckleballer who played in the major leagues from 1954-66. He began and ended his career with the Pirates, but spent 1958-64 with the Reds, who inducted him into their hall of fame in 1974.
In a 13-season career, he posted a 129-115 record with 793 strikeouts and a 3.79 ERA in 2,114 innings pitched, according to The Baseball Encyclopedia.
The 1961 World Series capped a season in which the "M&M boys" -- the New York Yankees' Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle -- chased the season home run record set by Babe Ruth 34 years earlier. The Series was tied 1-1, and Game 3 was 2-2 in the ninth inning when Maris -- hitless in 10 Series at-bats -- hit a home run off Purkey into the right-field bleachers at Cincinnati's Crosley Field.
The Yankees won the game, 3-2, and went on to win the series, 4-1.
The following season, Mr. Purkey lead the National League in winning percentage at .821, winning 23 games and losing just 5.
"He was a hell of a pitcher," said Steve Blass, a Pirates announcer who roomed with Mr. Purkey in 1966 -- his first season in the major leagues and Mr. Purkey's last. "Roberto Clemente said Purkey was the toughest pitcher he ever faced."
After retiring from baseball, Mr. Purkey briefly was a sportscaster for KDKA-TV, and went on to open an insurance firm, Bob Purkey Agency, in Bethel Park, where he and his wife raised two children.
Eighteen-year-old Bobby Purkey Jr. was pursuing a baseball career of his own in Panama City, Fla., when he died of an undetected heart ailment in 1973, said his sister, Candy Holland. She was 14 at the time.
"They coped as best they could," she said of her parents. "That's something you never get over."
Candy Holland described her father as a patient man who took her fishing in Florida during spring training, and who tailored his interests to those of his children and grandsons, never pushing baseball on them.
"He took my son skating every week when he became interested in hockey," said Bob Holland. "He came to every basketball game my younger son played in. They played horseshoes, darts. ... He was competitive, but he loved to have fun.
"He was one of the most generous and straightforward people I ever met in my life," he added.
Blass called Mr. Purkey a man of great character. "I don't know a soul who didn't think the world of Bob Purkey. He was just really a gentleman who made friends with everybody."
In addition to the Hollands, Mr. Purkey is survived by two grandsons; and a brother, Don Purkey of San Francisco.
Friends will be received from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today at Paul L. Henney Memorial Chapel, 5570 Library Road, Bethel Park.
Funeral services will be at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Valentine Church, with burial to follow at Queen of Heaven Cemetery.
