Tom Sturdivant died on Saturday:

Before an arm injury in 1958 hampered him the rest of his career, the righthander was a rising star for Casey Stengel's teams. After pitching in 34 games almost exclusively in relief as a rookie in 1955, Sturdivant was moved into the starting rotation in 1956 and went 16-8 with a 3.30 ERA. With an above-average fastball and a devastating curve that earned him the nickname "Snake", Sturdivant led the AL with a 2.12 strikeouts-to-walks ratio (11-0/52).

The Yankees of that era tended to use pitchers with high walk totals. New York was very good at turning the double play, so Casey tolerated the walks if his staff could induce ground balls. In 1957, Sturdivant's walks went up and his strikeouts went down, and he turned in even a better ERA.

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.