Allie Reynolds

Reynolds was born on February 10, 1917, in Bethany, Oklahoma. His father, Dave Reynolds, was a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and he also became enrolled. He played fast-pitch softball for his father's church team, which did not play on Sundays. Iba asked Reynolds to throw batting practice while his pitchers recovered from sore arms. Without taking any warmup pitches, Reynolds struck out the first four batters without any making contact. Reynolds was the team's captain playing as an outfielder–pitcher during his senior year in 1938, and he led the team to victory in the state conference baseball championship. Reynolds was drafted by the New York Giants of the National Football League as a halfback. Since Reynolds preferred baseball to football, and believed he could earn more money playing baseball, he chose not to sign. ==Professional career==

Minor leagues (1939–1942) Iba was friends with Hugh Alexander, a scout who worked for the Cleveland Indians. After Iba recommended Reynolds, the Indians signed Reynolds as an amateur free agent for a $1,000 signing bonus ($ in current dollar terms). The Indians wanted to convert Reynolds to catcher due to his athleticism, but Reynolds refused to change positions. Becoming increasingly homesick and not wanting to spend his entire professional career in the minor leagues, Reynolds considered retiring after the 1942 season if he did not get promoted to the majors. In 1942, Reynolds went 18–7 with a 1.56 earned run average (ERA), 11 shutouts, 21 complete games, and 193 strikeouts in 231 innings pitched, but due to his family and football injuries, he did not enlist in the military and was not eligible to be drafted. Reynolds began the 1943 season as a relief pitcher, making his first start on June 20. Indians player-manager Lou Boudreau used Reynolds as a reliever in between starts due to his resiliency. Reynolds led the AL in walks with 130 in 1945. During his five years with the Indians he was primarily used as a starting pitcher, although he did display the versatility that would become his hallmark. He pitched in 139 games for the Indians, starting 100 and finishing 27. Early evidence of his versatility is demonstrated by his 41 complete games, 9 shutouts and 8 saves. New York Yankees (1947–1954) shaking hands with Harry S. Truman before Opening Day at Griffith Stadium in 1947 On October 11, 1946, the Indians traded Reynolds to the New York Yankees for second baseman Joe Gordon. A possible trade was speculated throughout the 1946 season. The Yankees had a wealth of infield talent, but needed pitching help. The Indians were managed by player-manager Lou Boudreau, who played shortstop, but they needed help at second base. Cleveland wanted Gordon and offered the Yankees any pitcher on their staff, with the exception of Bob Feller. Yankee executive Larry MacPhail discussed the potential trade with Yankees star Joe DiMaggio. Though MacPhail initially wanted Red Embree, DiMaggio replied: "Take Reynolds. I'm a fastball hitter, but he can buzz his hard one by me any time he has a mind to." Reynolds promptly became the Yankees' best pitcher, recording the highest winning percentage in the AL in his first season as a Yankee. In 1949, joined by Vic Raschi and Eddie Lopat, he was a star of a Yankee team that won the first of five consecutive league championships, a feat that had never been achieved before. On July 12 and September 28, 1951, Reynolds threw no-hitters. He was the first American League pitcher to throw two no-hitters in a season and only the second player to do so in baseball history, after Johnny Vander Meer threw consecutive no-hitters in 1938. This is still the major league record for most no-hitters in a single season, a record that he and Vander Meer share with Virgil Trucks (1952), Nolan Ryan (1973), Roy Halladay (2010), and Max Scherzer (2015). His second no-hitter, on September 28, 1951, was an 8–0 defeat of the Boston Red Sox which allowed the Yankees to clinch at least a tie of the American League pennant. The Yankees clinched the pennant in the second half of the September 28 double-header. Reynolds struck out nine hitters. He walked four, but "not one Boston batter seemed close to getting a hit". With two outs in the ninth inning, Ted Williams hit a pop fly to Yankees catcher Yogi Berra. Berra dropped the ball and prolonged the at bat against the dangerous Williams. Reynolds remained calm, telling Berra, "Don't worry Yogi, we'll get him again." Reynolds was correct and Williams once again popped up, but Berra caught this one. In the spring of 1953, Stengel made Reynolds predominantly a reliever, although he notched 15 starts and 5 complete games, because of Reynolds' ability to pitch without much rest and to use his blazing fastball late in the Yankees' afternoon games when the shadows crept over the mound. However, Reynolds injured his back in July when the team bus was on the way to the train station after a game in Philadelphia—robbing Reynolds of his control. During the '53 World Series—his final one—Reynolds started the opener at home and struggled because of his back injury, but recovered to appear in two more as a reliever—winning the sixth and final game of the Series. Reynolds led the AL in shutouts in 1951 with seven. In 1952, he had his greatest single season performance. He won twenty games for the only time in his career (against eight losses). He led the American League in earned run average (2.06), strikeouts (160), and shutouts (6). He also saved six games. He also played in the MLB All-Star Games of 1949, 50, 52, 53, and 54 (no official All-Star selection or game was held in 1945). With the Yankees, Reynolds reached the World Series in 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, and 1953. Reynolds had a 7–2 record with a 2.79 ERA over 77 innings in the World Series. He made six relief appearances in the World Series, recording a win or save in each of them, including the clinching games of the 1950, 1952 and 1953 series. Reynolds won the Hickok Belt as the top professional athlete of the year in 1951. He also was voted the Player Of Year in 1951 by the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, In 1952, he was the MVP runner-up to Bobby Shantz of the Philadelphia Athletics. Reynolds suffered a back injury when the Yankees' charter bus crashed into an overpass in Philadelphia during the 1953 season. He retired after the following season as a result of the injury. ==Nickname==

David Dupree explained a common view of how he was given the nickname, Superchief, "he was part Creek Indian and always in command on the pitching mound." Former teammate and American League President Bobby Brown noted his heritage and a popular railroad influenced the baseball media to use the nickname, "But for some of you too young to remember, the Santa Fe Railroad at that time had a crack train (called the Super Chief) that ran from California to Chicago, and it was known for its elegance, its power and its speed. We always felt the name applied to Allie for the same reasons." Brown notes that Reynolds was not comfortable with the nickname because of the importance of the 'chief' title. He also explained that his teammates called him Chief. "When we talked with him, we called him Allie... But when he wasn't in the room, he was referred to as the Chief, because we felt he was the one at the top, the real leader." ==Honors==

in Stillwater, Oklahoma, home of the Oklahoma State Cowboys The Yankees dedicated a plaque in Reynolds' honor, to hang in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium on August 26, 1989. Reynolds was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1986 and into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1991. Oklahoma State renamed their baseball stadium after Reynolds. In 1993, Reynolds received the Jim Thorpe Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jim Thorpe Association. The association established the "Allie P. Reynolds Award" in 1998. It is presented annually to the Oklahoma "high school senior who best reflects the spirit of Allie Reynolds by maintaining the highest standards in scholarship, leadership, civic contributions and character". Baseball Hall of Fame candidacy When Reynolds was eligible for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, his highest vote percentage was 33.6% in the 1968 balloting, short of the 75 percent required for election. He received eight votes, one shy of the nine votes required for election. Reynolds was on the new Golden Era Committee ballot in 2011 for 2012, (replaced the Veterans Committee) The Committee meets and votes every three years on ten candidates selected from the 1947 to 1972 era. He was not a candidate in 2014 (none were elected by the committee). Rob Neyer, in evaluating Reynolds' candidacy, believes Reynolds was "probably as good" as Jesse Haines, Lefty Gomez and Waite Hoyt, who have all been inducted into the Hall of Fame. However, he added that "they're all marginals." ==Post-playing career==

Reynolds became a successful oil businessman after his playing career. Despite retiring, Reynolds was allowed to remain a member of the Major League Baseball Players Association. He served as the American League player representative in the negotiations with owners to create the players' pension plan. He later sued administrators of the pension plan in federal court for "whittling away" the rights of retired players. In 1969, Reynolds was named the President of the American Association, a Class AAA baseball league. The Association had been dormant for the previous six years. Reynolds served as president until 1971, when he resigned to spend more time with his family and due to competing business interests. He was also the President of the National Hall of Fame for Famous American Indians in Anadarko, Oklahoma, from 1978 until his death. Reynolds died in Oklahoma City due to complications of lymphoma and diabetes. He was survived by a son, a daughter, eight grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. ==See also==