91 I believe. I didn’t realize he was still living. I’m 66 and watched Ford many times as a kid when I was getting interested in the game in the early '60s. B&W TV, Dizzy and Pee Wee doing the calling of the game (well, sort of) and selling Falstaff.
I saw him pitch many times on TV, and he taught me to throw a spitball with an interview he gave to Life or Look. Helluva pitch.
I didn’t know he was still with us either.
Wasn’t he one of Mantle’s buddies?
I may be conflating my 50s/60s NY stories.
He and Martin were Mantle’s buddies, and there may have been others too.
Billy, Whitey, and Mickey would tear up the town like few modern players could even contemplate.
Near his death, Mantle granted an interview to Channel 8 (WFAA) in Dallas. I had been one of their lawyers on the SMU/Death Penatlty case and had developed a friendship with two of their producers. One sent me a VHS tape of the uncut, unedited Mantle talking into a camera. Fascinating.
Whitey ran around alot with Mantle and Martin and there are crazy stories about some of their drunken antics including Martin and Mick climbing out on the ledge of a NY skyscraper and crawling around on the ledge many floors above NY streets at night. Crazy bastards.
Drunk bastards.