European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 27, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 22 the stars and stripes thursday february 27, 1986 red had More than share of trouble by Milton Richman Dpi senior editor sports no Mailer How self assured they arc out there on the Field no Mailer How Cool and composed they look Ball players melt like butter on the Back porch. Charley red ruffing was no exception. He was a Lillic nervous. I Little anxious me was with the girl he loved the one he finally had made up his mind to marry and he motioned her to open two Small boxes he had brought with him and placed on a table. In one of them Pauline Mulholland found a sparkling engagement ring and in the other a glistening wedding ring. That s yours ruffing said to her gruffly. What a Beautiful flowery Way to put it declared the girl of his dreams. You Don t have be one of those ancient old timers to know something about red ruffing. Me won 273 games in his career plus seven More in the world series and was the Yankees most productive Pitcher second Only to Whitey Ford. He was the Yankees Best right handed Pitcher i Ever saw and he was voted into the Hall of Fame in i967 As a natural matter of course. Many arc familiar with that aspect of ruffing s life which ended last week in Cleveland when he died of cancer thing Coso. What in t nearly so Well known about ruffing is his Long suffering ordeal in his later life the almost unbearable struggle he had to survive. He never gave up. He kept fighting right Down to the wire. With every ounce of Energy in his body the same As he did out on the Mound. Little known also is How much he had to depend on his faithful and devoted wife Pauline. She should be in the Hall of Fame with him. She looked after him constantly cleaning him bathing him dressing him taking care of him and Loving him Afier he suffered a stroke confining him to a wheelchair 13 years ago. To be Able to do that and and still make ends meet the girl Charley ruffing first discovered tending shop in a Candy store in his Hometown of Nokomis iii., kept working for the sunny acres skilled nursing facility in Cleveland Only a mile from their Home. You know Charles. He was such a private person and he had so much Pride his wife says. Everything he did whether on the Ball Field or off it the strapping 6-2, 220-Pounder did with obvious Pride. When Hollywood made a movie of Lou Gehrig life years ago they called it Pride of the  ruffing had As much Pride As Gehrig. Maybe even More. You could Tell that by the Way he walked the Way he talked the Way he dressed the Way he pitched. And hit. He originally was an outfielder. That was before los ing four toes on his right foot when it was crushed be tween two Coal cars while he was working in a mine. The Accident made him convert to pitching and that was the Way he came up to the red sox in 1924, As a Pitcher. They traded him to the Yankees in 1930. All told. Ruffing was used As a Pinch Hitler More than 200 times batting .300 or better eight different times while hitting 36 homers and driving in 273 runs. Ruffing s major physical problems began after he quit As the acts first pitching coach in 1963 because he did t want anybody s  Hall of Famer red ruffing. As always he a Cal Down fighting he had More than his share of trouble says mrs. Ruffing. Trouble very few people knew about. Besides losing his toes when he was Young he also had his head crushed in the mine. A Black spot appeared on his Temple some years ago and it was diagnosed As skin cancer. I always believed that was caused by the Accident to his head in the mines. Charles had two strokes. Later because of the can cer he had part of his face taken off. Part of his ear also and the glands underneath his Chin. In addition to All that he had two kidney stones removed. How much Canone human being take Pauline ruffing is an unusually Strong woman. She was aware How much it meant to her husband to make the trip each summer from Cleveland to Cooperstown n.y., so he could see the new Hall of a Mars inducted and be with All his old ballplayer friends. He had to be taken by wheelchair and the trip was excruciatingly difficult especially without a trained attendant but mrs. Ruffing managed to do it alone for Many years. Until these last two. Then her husband simply could t make it anymore physically. During those trips he did make to Coop Slown Ruf fing sitting in his wheelchair was always Friendly never turning Down anyone for his autograph. He was never rude to anybody mrs ruffing says. Because of All his health problems though it got to a Point where he would t answer the phone at Home. But he knew if there was any emergency All he had to do was Call me at work. If i did t hear from him by 10 30 every morning after i left for work i knew that meant trouble. I can t say enough about the people i work for. They be been so understanding so supportive of Charles and  few people Ever called ruffing by any other name but  thai was because of the color of his hair his Rosy checks and general complexion. His wife always called him  he was a truly wonderful person but he was so stubborn. Sometimes he could be a trial. I brought a woman into the House a few times a week to help me with him but he would t let anyone touch him except me. Unless i fed him he would t  ruffing required periodic blood transfusions. Six weeks ago he Felt he needed another one because he was so weak but the doctor told mrs. Ruffing another trans fusion would Only be a waste of time and Money. If that s what Charles wants then i want him to have it his wife told the doctor. She went Home and told ruffing the doctor said they were Only buying time. How much time he wanted to know. Six weeks she told him. He received the transfusion. Next week would pc been six weeks she said doing her Best not to begin sobbing again. Like the acts Dwight Goodwn and most other pitch ers ruffing was prouder of his hitting than his pitching. His wife remembers an argument she had with him one Christmas. He old her she could t talk to him thai Way and she wanted to know Why not. Because i hit Over .300," he snapped. I Don t care if you hit 1.000," she had the last word that was t the end of it though. She went out and bought him the smallest trophy she could find and gave it to him after having his batting average engraved on it. He loved it she said. You should have seen the kick he got out of  ruffing s Best friends with the Yankees were Tony push pm up Lazzzri Bill Dickey and Frank Crosetti. He was fond fall his teammates however. When he Learned his wife had been critical of Yankees Rookie third baseman red Rolf booting two balls behind him and that Rolf s wife had overheard the remark he made her apologize. You re the Only one who is important to me she tried to make ruffing understand. I know that but you have to learn i m not the one who is doing it alone he answered her. Rolfe will help me win More games than he Ever loses for  besides his wife. Ruffing is survived by his son Charles jr., his daughter in Law Judy and three grand children Charles Iii Robert and Jacqueline. Shortly after the funeral ruffing s son warned Hii Mother she would be in a bad Way for a while. He re minded her dad always made the  i guess mrs. Ruffing says about her son. He expected me to fall apart and i  Don t believe that for a second. Pauline ruffing has been in there pitching for so Long she would t know How to quit. Petrovic wins 4th slalom to Clinch tie for cup title Lillehammer Norway a Rok Petrovic of Yugoslavia clinched at least a tie for the world cup slalom title tuesday edging Sweden s Ingemar Sten Mark for his fourth Victory of the season. Meanwhile third place finisher Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg extended his Lead in the Overall standings. Only two of the five americans in the 85 Man Field completed both runs. Tiger Shaw of Stowe vt., was 23rd and Dan Stripp of old forge n.y., finished 27th. The 20-year-old Petrovic recorded the fastest times in both runs Down the Berge Bakken Hill in denying Stenmark his 82nd world cup Triumph 1 y just .13 seconds. Petrovic s combined time for the two runs was 1 minute 23.99 seconds. After the first run 1 knew i had a very Good Chance said Petrovic who led Girar Delli by .07 seconds and Stenmark by .12 seconds after the first run. The second run i skied real Well. I did t make any big mistakes and i did t take any big risks. I m quite satisfied wit the Way i m  Stenmark the Best slalom and giant Sla Lom skier in world cup history was timed in 1 24.12 for the 145th top three finish of his Brilliant career. It also was his third runner up finish of this season. Stenmark made a critical mistake mid Way through the first run that May have Cost him the race. But he refused to speculate on that and said that Petrovic simply skied faster. Girardelli the defending world cup Overall Champion was third in 1 24.71. But the austrian native who has competed for Luxembourg throughout his Rac ing career added 15 Points to his total in the Overall standings. He now leads Swiss downhill specialist Peter Mueller 256 Points to 199, going into thursday s super giant slalom at Hessedal Norway. Switzerland s Pirmin Zurbriggen ninth tuesday moved into third place Overall with 186 Points. Yugoslavian slalom Ace Rok Petrovic wins in Norway a photo bests Ingemar Stenmark with two steady runs tuesday