NY Yankees all-time workhorse: Whitey Ford
3,170.1 innings
Signed as an amateur free agent in 1947, Ford spent his entire 16-season career with the Yankees. His impressive innings total would be even higher but for a Korean War military commitment that cost him the 1951 and 1952 seasons.
In 1953, his first full season, he made 30 starts and went 18-6 in 207 innings. Unlike most pitchers, his most productive seasons were probably his later ones. Ford first topped 253 innings in 1961 – he was 32 at the time — when he led the league with 283 on his way to a 25-4 record. He worked 258 innings in 1962 and led the AL again in 1963 with 269.
His post-season record is legendary for its length, and to a degree for its quality. He made 22 World Series starts, producing a 10-8 record and 2.71 ERA. Between 1960 and 1962, he broke Babe Ruth’s Series record with 33.2 consecutive shutout innings of the Pirates, Reds and Giants.
Ford retired in May of 1967 with a career 236-107 record, the 1961 Cy Young Award and eight All-Star game selections. On May 12, in the second-to-last appearance of his career, he passed Rud Ruffing as the all-time Yankee innings leader. Ruffing had retired with 3,168.2 innings.