Robert Lee Turley (September 19, 1930 – March 30, 2013), known as "Bullet Bob", was an American professional baseball player and financial planner.

[2] Bill DeWitt, the general manager of the St. Louis Browns, brought Turley to Sportsman's Park for a tryout.

The day after he graduated from high school in 1948, Turley signed with the Browns as an amateur free agent.

They used a bullet timer from the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, which recorded a speed of 98 miles per hour (158 km/h) by the time it reached home plate.

The Yankees needed younger starting pitchers, as their rotation fell off due to the ages of Allie Reynolds, Eddie Lopat, Johnny Sain, Tommy Byrne, and Jim Konstanty.

[18] In order to acquire the hitting the Orioles decided they needed to compete, they traded Turley to the Yankees after the 1954 season.

[14][19] The Yankees received Turley, Billy Hunter, Don Larsen, and players to be named later, while the Orioles acquired Harry Byrd, Jim McDonald, Willy Miranda, Hal Smith, Gus Triandos, Gene Woodling, and players to be named later.

[4][23] The Yankees won the American League pennant, and advanced to the 1955 World Series, where they faced the Brooklyn Dodgers.

[29] Fellow pitcher Sal Maglie wrote during 1958 spring training that Turley "ha[d] started to step off the mound when things get a little shaky, take a couple of deep breaths and then go back to work."

[30] By the 1958 season, Turley changed his delivery in an effort to improve his control, by using a no-wind up pitching position.

[33] As a result of his 1958 season, Turley won the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the year, receiving twice as many votes as Jim Brown, the second-place finisher.

[33][35] Turley finished second in the American League Most Valuable Player Award voting, losing to Jackie Jensen of the Boston Red Sox.

[38][39] The Yankees chose Turley to be their Opening Day starting pitcher for the 1959 season, opposing Tom Brewer of the Red Sox.

[44] Turley suffered through discomfort in his right elbow during the 1961 season, which resulted in a 3–5 win–loss record and 5.75 ERA in only 15 games pitched.

[46] Though the Yankees reached the 1961 World Series, and defeated the Cincinnati Reds four games to one, Turley did not make an appearance.

He underwent surgery in the offseason to remove the bone chips, and returned to the Yankees confident his performance would improve in 1962.

[54] The Yankees defeated the San Francisco Giants four games to three in the 1962 World Series, but Turley was not an active participant.

[21] After the 1963 season, Turley agreed to remain with the Red Sox as their pitching coach, succeeding Harry Dorish.

[59] Turley spent one season as the Red Sox' pitching coach,[31] and was released at the end of the year.

In one instance, Jim Bunning of the Detroit Tigers noticed the system and pointed to Turley to stop or he would knock down the batter (which happened to be Mickey Mantle).

[66] Roger Maris and his historic 61st home run was hit after the sign for the pitch was decoded by the third base coach, an acolyte of Turley's system.

Though he played in Baltimore for one season, he remained in Lutherville for the remainder of his baseball career, and sent his children to the local public schools.

[3] Later in his life, Turley resided in Blue Ridge, Georgia, and had a winter home on Marco Island, Florida.

In total, Turley and his wife bought and sold 27 houses on Marco Island and in Naples, Florida.

[3] Turley made an appearance on It's News to Me, a current events-based game show hosted by Walter Cronkite.

[69] He was mentioned in a song called "St. Louis Browns" by Skip Battin, who was the bass guitarist of The Byrds and the New Riders of the Purple Sage.

[3] He died on March 30, 2013, in hospice care at Lenbrook, a retirement community in Atlanta at age 82 from liver cancer.