NY Post: Turley’s Whistling While He Worked Was Boon For Mantle

Soon after, Turley was sitting on the bench in a spring training game, calling pitches when Mantle asked, “What are you doing?”

Turley explained he could call pitches by studying the mannerisms of the pitcher, something he picked up in his early days with the putrid St. Louis Browns to keep himself occupied. Mantle’s eyes lit up. “Start calling them for me,” he said.

They developed a system based on Turley whistling. Turley told Mickey to assume the first pitch would be a curve, but if he heard the whistle it would be a fastball. If the pitch after that was another fastball, there would be no whistle. If it were going to be a curve, Turley would whistle again. So the pattern went.

“I started calling pitches and he started whacking the heck out of the ball,” Turley said.

He also explained to Mantle how pitchers would tip their pitches, how they would set up on the rubber, for example. Mantle proved to be a good student. Sometimes there was no need to whistle.

Mickey, though, would often forget what the last pitch was, so Turley told Mantle that whenever he forgets, place his hand on his helmet and they would start over again as if a curve ball were coming.