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Post by kaybli on Mar 12, 2024 13:01:30 GMT -5
This link looks suspect to me. I would urge everyone not to open it… Does the board get alot of spam like this? Seems to have been several lately. I usually ban and delete as soon as I see it. I can get rid of guest posting. That would take care of most of these spammers but we would lose the functionality to post without having an account. I would prefer to keep guest posting around in case someone has trouble with their account, they can still post as a guest. |
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Post by inger on Mar 12, 2024 13:15:46 GMT -5
Does the board get alot of spam like this? Seems to have been several lately. I usually ban and delete as soon as I see it. I can get rid of guest posting. That would take care of most of these spammers but we would lose the functionality to post without having an account. I would prefer to keep guest posting around in case someone has trouble with their account, they can still post as a guest. I agree… we’ve had some good posters that started out as “guest”, and I used it when something happened with my account to help rescue me… |
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Post by fwclipper51 on Mar 15, 2024 18:44:10 GMT -5
Mel Stottlemyre
Yankees Starter 1964-1975, Long Time MLB Pitching Coach
This article was written by Gregory H. Wolf, Edited by Clipper
Mel being given his player plaque ay Yankee Stadium
A baseball lifer, Mel Stottlemyre burst on the scene as a midseason call-up for the New York Yankees in 1964, helping the club win its 5th consecutive pennant and starting 3 games in the World Series. One of the most underrated and overlooked pitchers of his generation, Stottlemyre will win 149 games and averaged 272 innings per season over a 9-year stretch (1965-1973) that corresponded with the nadir of Yankees history. Only Bob Gibson (166 victories), Gaylord Perry (161), Mickey Lolich (156) and Juan Marichal (155) won more during that period; only Perry tossed more innings and only Bob Gibson fired more shutouts (43) than Stottlemyre’s 38. Stottlemyre was the “epitome of Yankee class and dignity,” wrote longtime New York sportswriter Phil Pepe. “[He was] a throwback to a winning tradition in those years of mediocrity.” After a torn rotator cuff ended his MLB playing career at the age of 32 in 1974, Stottlemyre embarked on a storied career as a big-league pitching coach, most notably for the New York Mets (1984-1993) and Yankees (1996-2005). Denied a championship as a player, he will win 5 as a MLB Pitching coach (1986, 1996, 1998-2000).
Melvin Leon Stottlemyre was born on November 13, 1941, in Hazleton, Missouri, the 3rd of 5 children born to Vernon and Lorene Ellen (Miles) Stottlemyre. Vernon was a pipefitter and moved the family from south-central Missouri to Oregon and South Carolina before settling in the early 1950s in Mabton, a small farming town in Washington’s Yakima Valley, where he was employed at the Hanford Atomic Energy plant. The elder Stottlemyre, a former sandlot player, introduced Mel and his younger brother, Keith to baseball and took them to local semipro games. According to his autobiography with John Harper, ”Pride and Pinstripes“ Mel spent countless hours as a teenager in his backyard with his brother replaying the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers games that they had read about. Growing up in a blue-collar family in a rural area, Mel’s experience with baseball in organized leagues was limited until high school. The tall, bashful right-hander with sandy blond hair pitched and occasionally played shortstop for Mabton High School, which had just 10 players. when he had graduated in 1959.
On the strength of a 13-0 record as a senior, Mel accepted a scholarship to attend Yakima Valley Junior College, but got off to a rough start both in school and on the diamond. Declared academically ineligible because of poor grades in 1960, he had played in a local summer league. He returned to the junior college in 1961 and went 7-2 for legendary coach Chuck “Bobo” Brayton. Stottlemyre worked out for the Milwaukee Braves at their minor-league affiliate in Yakima, but he was rejected because he didn’t throw hard enough. While toiling on a farm and resigned that his baseball days were probably over, he was surprised by a visit from Yankees Scout Eddie Taylor. With no negotiations and no bonus, but unequivocal support from his folks, Stottlemyre signed a minor-league contract with his favorite team. “He had the effortless way of throwing the ball,” recalled Taylor. Just 19 years old, the unheralded Stottlemyre began his pro baseball career splitting his time with the Class-D Harlan (Kentucky) Smokies in the Appalachian League and the Auburn (New York) Yankees in the New York-Penn League in 1961. A combined 9-4 record and 3.27 ERA in 99 innings, who earned him a promotion to Class-B Greensboro in 1962. Described by sportswriter Moses Crutchfield as the “hottest prospect” in the Carolina League, Stottlemyre would relied on a fastball, slider and sinker to post a 17-9 record with a stellar 2.50 ERA in a league-leading 241 innings, including a stretch of 28⅔ scoreless frames early in the season. “His biggest asset,” wrote Crutchfield, “is his ability to keep the ball low.” That quality turned out to be Stottlemyre’s calling card to the big leagues.
The Yankees brass was impressed with Stottlemyre’s unexpectedly quick progress. He was invited to participate in the MLB spring training camp in 1963 as a non-roster player and was subsequently assigned to the Triple-A Richmond Virginians (International League). The youngest player on the club, Stottlemyre struggled against seasoned competition, posting a 7-7 record and splitting his time between starts (16) and relief appearances (23). The Yankees, fresh off a 104-win season that ended in a drubbing by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, did not invite the 22-year-old to spring training in 1964. Stottlemyre began the season in the bullpen for Richmond, but the lanky righty scuttled those plans by tossing a shutout in a spot start on Memorial Day. He would work his way into the Richmond starting rotation and he would win 10 consecutive decisions, earning a berth on the International League’s All-Star team.
1965 Topps World Series Game baseball Card
While Stottlemyre was leading the IL in wins (13), ERA (1.42) and shutouts (6), the Yankees were in a tense, 3-way battle with the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox for the 1964 AL pennant. When longtime ace Whitey Ford went down with a hip injury in late July, New York would call up Stottlemyre, who arrived on August 11th.
Stottlemyre’s MLB pitching debut on August 12th was “movie script stuff,” wrote New York sportswriter Til Ferdenzi. The rookie tossed a complete-game 7-hitter to defeat Chicago, 7-3. In what developed into a refrain heard over the next decade, hitters pummeled Stottlemyre’s sinker into the ground all afternoon. “He sure knows how to serve up those grounders,” said batterymate John Blanchard as the Yankees recorded 19 groundouts. Stottlemyre’s fairy tale continued throughout the regular season. On September 17th, he recorded his 7th victory in 9 starts to give the Yankees a psychological boost by pushing them into 1st place, tied with the Orioles and White Sox, for the 1st time in almost 6 weeks. Nine days later, he blanked the Washington Senators at D.C. Stadium on 2 hits (his 1st of 7 MLB career 2-hitters) and tied a big-league record for pitchers by collecting 5 hits (4 singles and a double). The Yankees’ most effective hurler, Stottlemyre finished the campaign with a 9-3 record and a team-best 2.06 ERA in 96 innings. Most importantly, Stottlemyre stabilized a shaky staff and helped the club win 34 of its final 52 games and capture its 5th consecutive AL pennant.
After the Yankees’ loss in Game 1 of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Stottlemyre would tossed a 7-hit complete game, defeating hard-throwing Bob Gibson, 8-3, at Sportsman’s Park. “The kid’s got the best sinker and curve I’ve seen,” said the Cardinals 3rd baseman and NL MVP Ken Boyer. “There isn’t a pitcher in the National League with this kind of stuff.” Facing Gibson again, in Game 5 at Yankee Stadium, Stottlemyre held the Redbirds to 6 hits and 2 runs (1 earned), but he was lifted for a pinch-hitter with New York trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the 7th in an eventual 5-2 defeat in 10 innings.
Then 1st-year skipper Yogi Berra sent the 22-year-old Stottlemyre on 2 days’ rest to face “Gibby” for the 3rd time with the championship on the line. In the 4th inning, with 2 on and no outs, Stottlemyre induced Tim McCarver to ground into what appeared to be an easy double play. While covering 1st, Stottlemyre hurt his shoulder diving for a poor throw by Phil Linz, filling in for Tony Kubek at shortstop. Boyer scored on the play, and the floodgates were open. Stottlemyre surrendered 2 more singles and 2 runs (1 on McCarver’s steal of home on the front end of a double steal), and was lifted for a pinch-hitter the next inning. “The fielders sabotaged [him],” wrote Yankees beat reporter Leonard Koppett of Stottlemyre’s performance in Game 5 and 7. “His hitters didn’t make a run while he was in the game. With a little support, Stottlemyre could have been the hero.”
The Yankees’ 7-5 loss in Game 7 marked the end of an Yankees Golden era. After winning 29 AL pennants and 20 World Series from 1921 to 1964, the team embarked on what historian Robert W. Cohen called the “lean years” over the next decade. A new era had indeed dawned. The Yankees were an aging club that had failed to sign top African American prospects, unlike other teams around baseball, including their opponents in the 1964 World Series. Although New York led the AL in attendance in 1964, its average of 15,922 per game was the club’s lowest since 1945 and suggested Americans’ general lack of interest in major-league baseball. At the end of the season, CBS, Inc had purchased 80% of the team from Team Owners Dan Topping and Del Webb. Stottlemyre’s emergence as a bona-fide big-league ace corresponded with the Yankees’ plunge to depths not witnessed since before the acquisition of Babe Ruth for the 1920 season. For the remainder of Stottlemyre’s career, a discussion of his accomplishments was often accompanied by the nostalgic remark that he arrived on the team 10 years too late.
In 1965, the Yankees experienced their 1st losing season since 1925 and fell to the 2nd division for the 1st time since 1917, but Stottlemyre emerged as one of baseball’s best hurlers. He set the tenor by shutting out the California Angels in his season debut. Remarkably consistent, Stottlemyre paced the AL with 18 complete games in 37 starts, led the league with 291 innings (including consecutive 10-inning affairs), won his 20th game in his final start of the season and posted an impressive 2.63 ERA. He was named for the 1st of 5 times to the AL All-Star squad (he did not pitch) and to The Sporting News All-Star team.
Stottlemyre’s success is often attributed to his sinker, which Yankees Bullpen Coach Jim Hegan compared to that of his former batterymate with the Cleveland Indians, Hall of Famer Bob Lemon. They both threw the sinker overhand, whereas most throw it side-arm or three-quarters because of how difficult a pitch it is to control. Said Stottlemyre, “When [the wind] blows in, I may be a bit faster, but my ball straightens out. When the ball blows out, my ball sinks.” Cerebral and reflective, Stottlemyre also succeeded because of his ability to adjust over time. Around 1962. he took Yankees Pitching Coach Johnny Sain’s advice and began gripping the ball with the seams instead of across them in order to get a bigger break. This change made his fastball as effective as his sinker. “I created some movement with my delivery and the way I held the ball, but mostly it was just natural.” Often touted for his good control (2.7 walks per 9 innings in his career), Stottlemyre himself admitted, “I couldn’t throw the ball straight if I wanted to.”
Described as “strangely inconsistent” in 1966, Stottlemyre’s season was a study in contrasts for a team in turmoil. The Yankees’ experiment with Johnny Keane, the former Cardinals skipper hired after he beat the Bronx Bombers in the 1964 Series, ended 20 games into the season with the club in last place. He was replaced by Ralph Houk, who could do little to keep the Yankees from finishing in the cellar for the 1st time since 1912, when the club was known as the Highlanders. One of the team’s few early season standouts, Stottlemyre had carved out a sturdy 2.71 ERA through the end of June (despite a 7-8 record) before the bottom the fell out. Excluding a 2-inning outing in the All-Star Game in which he yielded 1 hit and 1 walk, Stottlemyre’s ERA almost doubled (5.02) for the remainder of the season and he concluded a frustrating campaign by becoming the 1st Yankee hurler to lose 20 games (12-20) since Sad Sam Jones in 1925. “I was giving in (to the hitters),” Stottlemyre told Phil Pepe. “Instead of walking them, I came in with a fat pitch and they hit it.” His ERA jumped to 3.80 overall and he completed just nine of 35 starts. “I learned a lot through adversity. I got to the point where I almost hated to walk out to the mound,” recalled Stottlemyre later in his career.
Recognizing that he needed to make adjustments, Stottlemyre dumped his slow curve, which had affected his sinker, in 1967 and honed his rising fastball. The sailing heater “makes batters hesitate about leaning out to hit my slider,” said Stottlemyre. The changes paid immediate dividends as Stottlemyre blanked the Washington Senators on 2 hits on 1967 AL Opening Day and the Boston Red Sox on 4 hits in his 2nd start. In late April, he had developed tendinitis in his right shoulder, which required X-ray treatment and caused him to miss 2 starts. For the rest of his MLB pitching career, Stottlemyre contended with shoulder soreness. In a workmanlike season, the right-hander re-established himself as the Yankees ace, going 15-15 and posting a 2.96 ERA in 255 innings. Even in a pitchers’ era, the Yankees were an especially atrocious offensive team, batting just .225 and scoring an AL-low 522 runs as they finished in 9th place. In 14 of Stottlemyre’s losses, New York scored 2 runs or fewer (16 total runs).
Stottlemyre reported to camp in 1968 in good spirits following surgery to correct lingering problems with his right foot, which had affected his stamina the previous 2 seasons, limiting him to just 19 complete games. His mood soon turned sour, when tendinitis resurfaced in his shoulder and caused him to miss 2 weeks. Thus, a pattern was established. Plagued annually by bouts of shoulder tendinitis, Stottlemyre was eased into spring training for the remainder of his MLB pitching career.
After walking a career-high 3.1 batters per 9 innings in 1967, Stottlemyre made yet another adjustment. “I’ve always thrown across my body, but I was throwing more and more across my body and it was affecting my control,” he explained. “I tried to widen my stance at the end of my follow-through and this cut down a lot on my body crossing.” Stottlemyre’s walk ratio fell to a career-low 2.1 per 9 innings. He had fired shutouts in 3 of his 1st 7 starts, including a 3-hitter against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium on April 26th, when Mickey Mantle had blasted HR No. 521 to tie Ted Williams for 4th place on the all-time list. Named to the All-Star Game for the 3rd time, he faced only 1 batter, Hank Aaron, whom he struck out in the 9th. The 26-year-old set career bests in wins (21) and ERA (2.45), finished tied for 2nd in the league in complete games (19) and shutouts (6), and placed 3rd in innings (278⅔), while the Yankees enjoyed their 1st winning season since 1964. “There is no question that Mel rates with the top 5 pitchers in baseball,” said skipper Houk.
People regularly praised Stottlemyre for his character, sportsmanship, and unassuming leadership. “He doesn’t moan when you don’t get him runs,” said Houk, “[or] when they kick ones behind him.” Quiet and self-effacing, Stottlemyre rarely sought the spotlight or chewed out his teammates. He was seen as “old school” before the term was common, an embodiment of Yankees style more reflective of the 1940s and 1950s than the mid- to late 1960s and early 1970s. “In the 2nd-division days around the stadium,” wrote beat reporter Jim Ogle, “Stottlemyre is one Yankee who retains the old championship aura and class.” Stottlemyre’s outwardly quiet demeanor belied a passion and desire to succeed. Said 1-time Yankees backup catcher Bob Schmidt, “He works like a machine, never showing his feelings. Inside he’s thinking and fighting and planning to win.”
Often described as a country boy, Stottlemyre shunned the media capital and returned to his beloved Washington state to spend the offseasons hunting and fishing, and above all to be with his wife, Jean (Mitchell), whom he married in November of 1962. The “big city hasn’t spoiled him,” opined Ogle. A consummate teammate, Stottlemyre also had a humorous side and enjoyed joking with his teammates. “I was a quiet prankster,” he once said. “I could get away with a lot of things [because] no one ever suspected.”
An excellent and agile fielder, the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Stottlemyre might have been considered the best at his position in the AL had Jim Kaat (who won 16 consecutive Gold Gloves from 1962-1977) not been in the league. Stottlemyre led AL pitchers in fielding and assists twice and in putouts 3 times. Not an automatic out at the plate, Stottlemyre batted .160 (120-for-749), homered 7 times and knocked in 57 runs. Four of those came in a victory over the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on July 20,1965, when he became the 1st hurler since 1910 to hit an inside-the-park grand slam HR. Said Jim Turner, a baseball lifer and longtime Yankees pitching coach, “[He] would be an outstanding pitcher in any era. He is intelligent, a fine fielder, has 3 or 4 big-league pitches, a perfect temperament, and is a great competitor.”
In 1969, the Yankees had a losing record (80-81) for the 5th time in Stottlemyre’s 5 full seasons, but the righty was not to blame. In the wake of Mantle’s retirement on March 1st, Stottlemyre had inherited the Commerce Comet’s mantle of leadership. “There’s no more respected player with the Yankees than Stottlemyre,” wrote Ogle. He made a seamless transition to the lowered pitching mound mandated by Major League Baseball to generate more offense following the “Year of the Pitcher.” In his last start of the season, Stottlemyre won his 20th game and finished with 303 innings, the 1st Yankee to break the 300-inning barrier since Carl Mays in 1921. He set numerous career highs, including starts (39), innings, and complete games (24, to lead the AL). His 2.82 ERA trailed only lefty Fritz Peterson (2.55 ERA) among the Yankees starters. Tabbed to start the All-Star Game, Stottlemyre was rocked for 4 hits and 3 runs (2 earned) to get tagged with the loss in one of the few blemishes in an otherwise stellar campaign.
The Yankees would make Stottlemyre the highest-paid pitcher in team history in 1970, when they signed the 28-year-old for $70,000. He put up typical numbers (37 starts and 271 innings), but was bothered all year by chronic shoulder pain that limited him to a 15-13 record and just 14 complete games. “I was afraid to cut loose because my arm was tight,” he said. In his final All-Star appearance, he tossed 1⅔ hitless innings of relief. Led by rookie catcher Thurman Munson and outfielder Bobby Murcer, the Yankees won 93 games but finished they well behind the Baltimore Orioles, winners of 108 games.
“We couldn’t sustain our success,” said Stottlemyre in his biography. “CBS owned the ballclub … and the feeling among the players, based on what we knew, was that there was no strong baseball presence in the front office. It was a true corporate ownership.” In 1971, the club had regressed to 82-80 record as offense around the majors plummeted despite the lowered mound. After arguably his worst outing as a big leaguer (7 hits and 6 runs in 1-3rd of an inning against the Minnesota Twins), Stottlemyre surged, completing 6 of his final 10 starts of the season. Included were 3 shutouts (2 of them 3-hitters), and he forged a stellar 2.05 ERA in 79 innings. “He doesn’t embarrass you,” said teammate Roy White. “He doesn’t overwhelm you. He’s an annoying kind of pitcher. He just gets you out.” Stottlemyre led the corps with 16 wins, a 2.87 ERA, 19 complete games, and 7 shutouts to anchor a staff that boasted 4 hurlers (Stottlemyre 269⅔ innings; Peterson 15-13, 274; Stan Bahnsen 14-12, 242; and Steve Kline 12-13, (222⅓) with at least 200 innings, the most since 5 turned the trick in 1922.
“The best word to explain the year for me is frustrating,” Stottlemyre told Jim Ogle as the 1972 season, which was marred by the 1st players’ strike in history, came to a conclusion. While the Yankees would finish in 4th place in the AL East, Stottlemyre enjoyed stretches when he was either very good or very bad. In May, he had tossed 3 shutouts in 4 starts; fired 2 more shutouts and tossed 10 scoreless innings for another victory during a 2-week period in July; and was on fire in September, posting a 1.67 ERA over 54 innings, but he had won just twice, both were shutouts. However, he struggled in June (4.28 ERA), and in 7 starts in August, as he yielded 33 runs in 40⅔ innings. “That stretch was the worst I ever had,” he said. He would finish with 14 wins and 7 shutouts, but he would complete only 9 games while his ERA (3.22) was higher than the league average. His 18 losses tied for the AL lead in that dubious category, but the Yankees didn’t help him much, scoring 2 runs or fewer in 16 of those defeats.
In 1973, Stottlemyre would split 32 decisions, completed half of his 38 starts and logged 273 innings for the Yankees, who finished in 4th place for the 3rd consecutive year. Newsworthy at the time, Stottlemyre had also broke Red Ruffing’s team record by starting his 243rd consecutive game without a relief appearance (and set a then big-league record by starting his 274th game without a start, in 1974) Arguably the season’s most memorable moment came when pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich announced during spring training that they were trading lives, including wives, kids, and houses. New Team Owner George Steinbrenner had purchased a majority stake in the Yankees prior to the start of 1973 AL season and vowed to make substantial changes to return the team to glory. After a failed and litigious attempt to sign former Oakland A’s Manager Dick Williams for the 1974 season, “The Boss” would signed Bill Virdon. Under Virdon, the Yankees were one of the surprise teams in baseball in 1974, winning 89 games and occupying 1st place as late as September 22nd in their 1st pennant race since Stottlemyre’s rookie season, before finishing in 2nd place.
As fate would have it, the stoic pitcher was relegated to a fan for much of the pennant race. After enduring years of regular cortisone shots in his shoulder to numb the pain and make pitching possible, Stottlemyre was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff after 15 starts in 1974, effectively ending his MLB pitching career at the age of 32. Years before corrective surgery was devised, Stottlemyre rested his shoulder, but continued to pitch on the side, probably damaging his shoulder even more. Not ready to give up, Stottlemyre reported to spring training in 1975, but pain would limit him to pitching only batting practice. In late March, the Yankees stunned baseball by releasing him. “It seems like a heartless move to cut loose so coldly such a loyal and devoted servant,” decried Phil Pepe. “I am not surprised,” said Stottlemyre, “but I am disappointed.” In 9 full seasons and parts of 2 others, Stottlemyre had compiled a 164-139 record with a 2.97 ERA in 2,661⅓ innings, 40 shutouts and 152 complete games.
With “bitter memories” about his Yankees player release, Stottlemyre would return to Washington state and his wife, Jean. They had 3 children- Todd, Mel and Jason. He operated a sporting-goods store and coached his sons’ youth baseball teams, but he recognized that he had missed the big leagues. He inaugurated the 2nd phase of his career in baseball, when he had accepted the expansion Seattle Mariners’ offer to serve as a Roving Pitching Instructor. He would resign in 1981, when his youngest son, Jason, had succumbed at the age of 11 to a 5-year battle with leukemia. In an ironic twist, Todd was chosen by the Yankees, with whom Stottlemyre had lost all connections, in the 1983 MLB Amateur Player draft. Though he never donned the pinstripes, Todd would fashion a 14-year career, winning 138 games. Mel Jr. was a 1st-round draft pick by the Houston Astros in 1985, and enjoyed a cup of coffee in the majors with the Kansas City Royals in 1990.
After a 3-year hiatus, Stottlemyre returned to the big leagues in 1984 as the Pitching Coach for the New York Mets. From 1984 to 1990, the Mets would average more than 95 wins per season, but finished in 1st place just twice, in 1986 and 1988. These teams were led by catcher Gary Carter, 3rd baseman Howard Johnson and volatile slugger Darryl Strawberry; however, the face of the franchise was the pitching staff and especially Dwight “Doc” Gooden. Widely considered one of the best teams in baseball history, the 1986 squad won 108 games and defeated the Boston Red Sox in 7 games in the World Series. The starting rotation was led by Gooden (17-6, 2.84 ERA), Ron Darling (15-6, 2.81 ERA), Bob Ojeda (18-5, 2.57 ERA) and Sid Fernandez (16-6, 3.52 ERA)and each logged in excess of 200 innings. Those successful years stand in stark contrast to the period from 1991-1996 when injuries, age, free agency and rumors of widespread drug use among players led to consecutive losing seasons that reached their nadir in 1993 (103 losses and Stottlemyre’s dismissal).
After a 2-year stint as the Pitching Coach for the Houston Astros, Stottlemyre had reconciled with Yankees Team Owner George Steinbrenner and accepted his offer to become the club’s Pitching Coach for new Manager Joe Torre. For the next 10 seasons (1996-2005), Stottlemyre would enjoyed the fruits of unimaginable success, including 9 1st-place finishes, 10 playoff appearances, 6 pennants and 4 World Series championships.
Mel with Yankees Manager Joe Torre
In 1999, Stottlemyre was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells and ultimately recovered after intensive chemotherapy. In the wake of the Yankees’ collapse in the 2001 World Series, Stottlemyre’s relationship with Steinbrenner became more strained as the Team Owner privately and publicly 2nd-guessed his pitching coach. “Baseball was my life,” said Stottlemyre, trying to explain why he didn’t walk away. That changed in 2005, when the stress of the situation had finally begun to take a toll on Stottlemyre’s health and he retired at the end of the season.
Retirement didn’t last long. After a 1-year break, he served as a Special-Assignment Instructor for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2007. The next season, he was back in a big-league dugout, when he joined the Seattle Mariners’ MLB coaching staff. Approaching his 69th birthday, Stottlemyre would retire after the 2008 season. A quiet, unassuming player and a dedicated, well-respected coach, Stottlemyre spent almost 50 years in Organized Baseball. He died on January 13, 2019 at the age of 77.
Sources
In addition to the sources listed in the notes, the author consulted:
Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org.,SABR.org.,Mel Stottlemyre’s player file, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, New York.
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Post by inger on Mar 20, 2024 8:03:09 GMT -5
Another potential phishing site that I would urge everyone to please NOT open…
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Post by fwclipper51 on Mar 25, 2024 19:41:36 GMT -5
Outfielder Spencer Jones wins 2024 James P. Dawson Award March 25, 2024
The New York Yankees announced Monday that outfielder Spencer Jones is the recipient of the 2024 James P. Dawson Award, given annually to the most outstanding Yankees rookie in Spring Training.
Jones, 22, is batting .444/.565/.722 (8-for-18) with 7 runs, 2 doubles,1 HR, 4 RBIs and 4 walks in 12 spring games. Additionally, Jones participated in Major League Baseball’s inaugural “Spring Breakout Game,” going 3-for-4 with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs. The left-handed batter enters this season as the No. 2 prospect in the Yankees organization according to Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. Jones is also ranked as the No. 46 overall prospect in baseball by Baseball America and the No. 84 overall prospect by MLB Pipeline. The Encinitas, Calif., native was selected by the New York Yankees in the 1st round (25th overall) of the 2022 1st-Year Player Draft out of Vanderbilt University.
The award was established in honor of James P. Dawson (1896-1953), who began a 45-year career with The New York Times as a copy boy in 1908. Eight years later, he became boxing editor and covered boxing and baseball until his death during spring training in 1953.
Two winners of the honor, Tony Kubek in 1957 and Tom Tresh in 1962, went on to win the American League “Rookie of the Year” Award. The Dawson Award 1st was presented to Rookie OF Norm Siebern by Manager Casey Stengel in St. Petersburg, Fla., at the conclusion of Spring Training in 1956. New York Yankees beat writers vote on the winner.
In conjunction with the award, Jones will receive a watch courtesy of Betteridge Jewelers.
James P. Dawson Award winners:
1956…Norm Siebern OF
1957…Tony Kubek SS
1958…John Blanchard C
1959…Gordon Windhorn OF
1960…John James P
1961…Rollie Sheldon P
1962…Tom Tresh SS
1963…Pedro Gonzalez 2B
1964…Pete Mikkelsen P
1965…Arturo Lopez OF
1966…Roy White OF
1967…Bill Robinson OF
1968…Mike Ferraro 3B
1969…Jerry Kenney OF/ Bill Burbach P
1970…John Ellis 1B/C
1971…None Selected
1972…Rusty Torres OF
1973…Otto Velez OF
1974…Tom Buskey P
1975…Tippy Martinez P
1976…Willie Randolph 2B
1977…George Zeber INF
1978…Jim Beattie P
1979…Paul Mirabella P
1980…Mike Griffin P
1981…Gene Nelson P
1982…Andre Robertson SS
1983…Don Mattingly 1B
1984…Jose Rijo P
1985…Scott Bradley C
1986…Bob Tewksbury P
1987…Keith Hughes OF
1988…Al Leiter P
1989…None Selected
1990…Alan Mills P
1991…Hensley Meulens OF
1992…Gerald Williams OF
1993…Mike Humphreys OF
1994…Sterling Hitchcock P
1995…None Selected
1996…Mark Hutton P
1997…Jorge Posada C
1998…Homer Bush INF
1999…None Selected
2000…None Selected
2001…Alfonso Soriano 2B
2002…Nick Johnson 1B
2003…Hideki Matsui OF
2004…Bubba Crosby OF
2005…Andy Phillips INF
2006…Eric Duncan INF
2007…Kei Igawa P
2008…Shelley Duncan INF/OF
2009…Brett Gardner OF
2010…Jon Weber OF
2011…Manny Banuelos P
2012…David Phelps P
2013…Vidal Nuño P
2014…Masahiro Tanaka P
2015…Slade Heathcott OF
2016…Johnny Barbato P
2017…Gleyber Torres INF
2018…Miguel Andújar 3B
2019…Stephen Tarpley P
2020…Clarke Schmidt P
2021…Deivi García P
2022…Clarke Schmidt P
2023…Anthony Volpe INF
2024…Spencer Jones OF
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 2, 2024 0:00:09 GMT -5
Darrell Johnson Former Yankees Reserve Catcher 1957-1958
This article was written by Bill Nowlin, Edited by Clipper
1958 Topps Baseball Card Darrell Dean Johnson worked in baseball as a catcher, a coach, a manager best known for taking the 1975 Red Sox to Game 7 of the World Series and as an MLB Scout. He was born in the small community of Horace, Nebraska, on August 25, 1928, but he grew up on the West Coast, so much so that he was routinely described as a Californian.
After playing in the California State amateur tourney in 1949, Darrell Johnson was signed as an MLB Amateur Free Agent by St. Louis Browns MLB Scout Tony Robello. He was assigned to Class D Redding (California) in the Far West League and played in 88 games, batting .276 in 322 at-bats, with 9 HRs and 58 RBIs.
Moving up from Class D to Class C, Johnson would play in 1950 for the Marshall (Texas) Browns in the East Texas League. Appearing in 131 games in the 136-game schedule, he had hit 13 HRs, 105 RBIs and a .329 batting average. Johnson tied for the league lead with 36 doubles and led the league’s catchers in fielding average (.979). Marshall had won the ETL playoffs.
Moving further up the ladder, Johnson was jumped to Double-A, catching for the 1951 San Antonio Missions in the Texas League. He got into 49 games, while hitting .266 with 3 HRs and 24 RBIs. He was remembered by the folks in Marshall and some 300 fans from there traveled to Shreveport on May 23, 1951, to present him with a savings bond and Manager Salty Parker with a hat. Johnson was accorded another honor when he was named to the South team for the July 12th Texas League All-Star game, but he was unable to take part, because just a few hours before the team was announced, he had been sent down to Wichita Falls. It wasn’t that he couldn’t handle AA ball, but that the Missions had won the championship the year before and not only did the team want to make room for a returning member of that squad coming from the AAA Toronto Maple Leafs (IL), but Wichita Falls urgently needed a catcher. So, Johnson made his way to the Class B Big State League, where he would finished the 1951 season with the Wichita Falls Spudders, batting .309.
Darrell Johnson was not on the St. Louis Browns’ 1952 spring roster, but he was elected to participate in advanced spring training camp. New Browns Manager Rogers Hornsby liked his work and kept him on the Opening Day roster. (At the time, teams often started the season with extended rosters and did not have to pare down to 25 men until 30 days after the season had started.)
Darrell Johnson would make his MLB player debut on April 20, 1952, in the Browns’ 7th game of the season. He would single and scored in his 1 at-bat, against the Chicago White Sox’ Billy Pierce. There was an odd aspect to the game. It was suspended after 7 innings with the White Sox leading, 10-2. The game was finished on May 26th. When fellow rookie Clint Courtney emerged as the regular catcher for the Browns in May, Johnson was sent down to San Antonio to get more playing time, so he wasn’t around, when the April 20th game was finished. But Cliff Fannin was. Fannin had been the starting pitcher for the game, throwing to Johnson, but he was pulled after 2⅔ innings. The very day the original game was completed, May 26th, the Fannin/Johnson battery were working for the Missions; Fannin had also been sent down by the Browns. Shreveport would beat San Antonio 7-3 and Fannin was tagged with the loss- and also the loss in the American League Browns vs. White Sox game!
With the Missions, Johnson got into 24 games, while batting .325 with 3 HRs and 15 RBIs. In June, he was brought back up to the Browns. In all, Johnson had played in 29 games for the Browns, batting .282, while driving in 9 runs. He almost helped tie an MLB record on July 22nd. Three pinch-hitters in a row had hit safely, but Johnson had flied out. A serious spike wound prevented him from getting a few more games under his belt. Then, on July 28th, the Browns had traded Johnson and OF Jim Rivera to the Chicago White Sox for Catcher J.W. Porter and OF Ray Coleman. With the White Sox, Johnson would serve as backup catcher behind starter Sherm Lollar, getting into 22 games, but for only 37 at-bats. He would hit .108 and drove in just 1 run.
Johnson would spent the next 4 years playing minor-league ball. In 1953, he was optioned out and spent the entire season with the AA Memphis Chicks of the Southern Association, while playing in 113 games and batting .249 with 4 HRs and 44 RBIs. He was actually traded back to the Browns on June 13th, sent by the White Sox along with Lou Kretlow and $75,000 to St. Louis for pitcher Virgil Trucks and 3rd baseman Bob Elliott. But under the terms of the deal, he would remain with AA Memphis for the balance of the 1953 season.
After 1953 AL season, there was no more St. Louis Browns team, as the long-time AL franchise was moved to Baltimore and became the Baltimore Orioles. In 1954, Clint Courtney was still the regular catcher and Johnson was on the MLB roster early in the season, but he was optioned to AAA Richmond (International League) on cutdown day without appearing in an MLB game. For the 1954 AAA Richmond Virginians, Johnson would appear in 90 games, hitting 6 HRs, drove in 37 runs and recorded a .261 BA.
On November 4,1954, Darrell Johnson was recalled by Baltimore and packaged in an 18-player trade sending him to New York Yankees, who in turn assigned him to their Denver Bears AAA club in the American Association. The Yankees were set at catcher with Yogi Berra and Charlie Silvera and there wasn’t much room for Johnson. Silvera was traded to the Chicago Cubs after the 1956 AL season, but both Elston Howard and Johnny Blanchard were emerging prospects and Darrell was the odd man out.
An interesting sidenote is found in an October 19, 1955, article in The Sporting News that said Johnson had never had an injury to his throwing hand in 7 years of catching professionally. The reason cited was his double-jointed thumbs. “Most of the time a foul tip knocks the thumb into the other joint and I can just snap it right back in,” he said. He was reported to have a peculiar throwing motion; he would curve his thumb outward. Nonetheless, he had an outstanding throwing arm.
Playing under fellow catcher Ralph Houk at Denver, Darrell Johnson had a very full 152-game season in 1955 and hit for a strong .306 average along with 4 HRs and 49 RBIs. Never the fastest man around (he stole only 1 base in his 6 MLB seasons and articles in The Sporting News in April 1957 and again in 1958 ranked him “slowest player afoot” on the Yankees), Johnson would hit an inside-the-park HR on June 6th on a hard-hit grounder past 1st base, which took a carom and deceived the right fielder, who was looking under the bullpen bench when the ball was actually sitting on the playing field in fair territory.
In 1956, playing for the AAA Bears again, Darrell would appear in 107 games and hit a strong .319 with 7 HRs and 48 RBIs. After the season, the Yankees had sold Charlie Silvera to the Chicago Cubs and that opened up the possibility of a slot on the MLB team. Johnson would played winter league ball with Licey in the Dominican Republic, though going 48 consecutive at-bats without a hit may have undercut his prospects. Johnson was an active golfer and won more than 1 tourney during his years in baseball, among them 1 in February 1957 involving more than 150 active and former ballplayers. Golf could have done him in. The whole story probably hasn’t been told, but in 1979 Whitey Herzog recalled a time when “Darrell Johnson, Don Larsen, Billy Hunter, and myself were all in golf carts and ran off a bridge.”
Darrell Johnson had impressed Yankees Manager Casey Stengel and MLB Coach Bill Dickey at St. Petersburg in the spring of 1957 and made the MLB club. He spent the full seasons of 1957 and 1958 with the Yankees, but he saw very little action. Yogi Berra played a pretty full year, so Johnson tabulated only 46 at-bats in over 21 games in 1957. He hit 1 HR, his 1st in the majors, off of veteran starter Virgil Trucks on June 15th and drove in 8 runs, while batting .217. Elston Howard would remained the backup to Berra in 1958, so while Johnson stuck with the Yankees as the 3rd-string catcher, he had appeared in just 5 games, hitting .250 without either a HR or an RBI. In both years, he was on the World Series roster and received a full share each year and a ring, but he didn’t see any action at all.
In 1959, Johnson would begin the season with the Yankees, but he didn’t appear in a single game. He was sent to the AAA Richmond Virginians of the International League, which had become a Yankees farm club. There, he would play in 94 games and hit for just a .218 average, with 4 HRs and 28 RBIs. He was selected the best-throwing catcher, in a poll of managers in the IL.
Johnson was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the MLB Rule 5 Player draft at the 1959 MLB winter meetings. St. Louis General Manager Bing Devine realized Johnson was rusty after a couple of underutilized seasons, but thought he might have a chance to hit. He was 1 of 5 catchers competing for a spot during spring training in 1960, a group that included a young Tim McCarver. Since Johnson had spent most of his MLB career in the bullpen, he was kept on the team as a Catcher-Coach. Tim McCarver was sent to the minors, but when he was recalled on July 31st; Johnson was released as a player and promptly signed to a new contract as just a MLB Coach. He had played just 8 games with the Cardinals in 1960, going hitless in 2 at-bats, without driving in a run.
After the 1960 season, Johnson was named Manager of the Cardinals’ entry in the Peninsula Winter League, which played on the San Francisco Bay peninsula during the wintertime. Johnson would begin the 1961 MLB season as a Coach with the Cardinals, but he was let go when Manager Solly Hemus was fired on July 8th. The very next day, the Philadelphia Phillies would sign him as a player. They had to designate Pete Whisenant, a Coach to make room on the roster. Manager Gene Mauch was unhappy with Jimmy Coker’s catching, he had hoped Johnson’s handling of pitchers would improve his pitching staff. Darrell would play in 21 games with the Phillies in July and early August, he was batting .230. On August 14th, Johnson was sold by the Phillies to the Cincinnati Reds, his 3rd MLB team of the season. The Reds had 2 rookies sharing catching duties: Johnny Edwards and Jerry Zimmerman and they were looking for a veteran catcher for the NL pennant run. Johnson, a right-handed batter like Zimmerman, platooned with the lefty Edwards down the stretch as the Reds won the 1961 NL pennant. Johnson had appeared in 20 games for the Reds, batting .315 with 1 HR (on his 2nd day on the job) and 6 RBIs in 54 at-bats. The Reds won the NL pennant, but Johnson almost missed out on postseason play, when he had pulled a muscle in his side on September 29th. Expectations were that the “aging Darrell Johnson” would play rather than the 2 Reds rookie catchers, but Arthur Daley in the New York Times warned that “his only recommendation is experience.” Johnny Edwards saw more duty and batted .364 with 4 hits in 11 at-bats.
After sitting unused on the Yankees bench in the 1957 and 1958 World Series, however, Johnson finally got his chance to play in the World Series, this time against the Yankees. He played in pain but he started in the 2 games begun by New York lefty Whitey Ford Games 1 and 4 and he went 2-for-4 off the Yankees ace, both hits in the 4th game. Ford would shut out Cincinnati twice, 2-0 and 7-0. Jim Coates threw the final 4 innings of Game 4. Unlike the Yankees, who had voted Johnson a full Series share, while what he’d mostly done was catch in the bullpen, the Reds voted him only a quarter-share. The 115 at-bats for the Phillies and the Reds matched the total he’d had as a rookie for the Browns and White Sox in 1952, and stand as his MLB career high. The Browns fans still had not forgotten Johnson, and he was named “Brownie of 1961,” an award given by the St. Louis Browns Fan Club of Chicago to perpetuate the memory of the Browns. At that point, Johnson was one of 11 former Browns still playing in the major leagues.
In the spring of 1962, the Reds would move Johnson to Baltimore Orioles for Catcher Hank Foiles, though it was an unusual deal that saw Cincinnati releasing him on April 24th and Baltimore signing him on the same day.
Johnson was acquired to be a Coach. O’s Executive Lee MacPhail said he had always admired Johnson’s work, while both were with Yankees and thought he would be a good choice to manage the bullpen. In a pinch, he could always be reactivated. Indeed, Johnson was activated on May 22nd, after Orioles Catcher Gus Triandos had broke a finger. Johnson would caught 6 games, while batting .182, but he resumed coaching after the Orioles had acquired veteran Catcher Hobie Landrith from the New York Mets. Other than a brief, hitless appearance in 1 game, while managing Rochester in 1965, that was the end of Darrell Johnson’s pro playing career.
Before the 1963 AL season, the Baltimore Orioles had named Johnson Manager of the AAA Rochester Red Wings (IL), their top farm club, where he would spend 3 seasons, winning the International League championship in 1964. After a disappointing 5th-place finish in 1965, the Orioles would promote Earl Weaver from AA Elmira and gave Johnson the AA Elmira job and the Pioneers team won the Eastern League pennant.
In November 1966, the New York Yankees had hired Johnson as an MLB Area Scout and he served in that capacity in 1967. Beginning in 1968, he would worked with the Boston Red Sox, as the MLB Pitching Coach under Manager Dick Williams in 1968 and 1969 and as a Minor-League Pitching Instructor and Special-Assignment Scout in 1970. In 1971 and 1972, Johnson would manage the AAA Louisville Colonels; they had finished 1st in 1972, but they had lost in the International League playoff finals. While at Louisville, Johnson looked over Luis Tiant and pitched him regularly to help him get his form back. Tiant had already been released by 2 other clubs. In many respects, he owed his later success to the opportunity under Johnson.
Boston Red Sox Topps Card
In 1973, Johnson would manage the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox (the Louisville Colonels had moved to Pawtucket, RI); the team had finished 2nd during the season, but they would win the league championship playoffs and the Little World Series.Darrell Johnson was named Manager of the Boston Red Sox for the 1974 season, replacing Eddie Kasko. Under Johnson the team was firing on all cylinders before a collapse in August and September and finished up somewhat worse than its 1973 record; it hurt losing Carlton Fisk to knee surgery for half the season, but there had been an overall power outage during the stretch drive, Boston lost both halves of a September 2nd doubleheader to Baltimore by identical 1-0 scores. With the addition of the Gold Dust Twins (Fred Lynn and Jim Rice), the Red Sox won 11 more games and the AL pennant in 1975. Darrell Johnson was back in the World Series once again, this time at the helm of the Red Sox. The Red Sox lost a very dramatic World Series, by 1 9th-inning run to Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine in Game 7. This was the Series of the Ed Armbrister bunt, the Carlton Fisk HR in the bottom of the 12th in Game 6, and the question from the final game: Why did Johnson take out Willoughby? Asked years later about having Cecil Cooper (1-for-19 in the Series) pinch-hit for Jim Willoughby, Johnson said, “I wouldn’t change a thing, except that I’d probably have Cecil hit a home run.”
Darrell Johnson was named 1975’s Major League Manager of the Year by The Sporting News. And once again he was given the St. Louis Brownie of the Year Award by those, who still kept the faith. Sportswriters covering the World Series noted that Johnson had become more bitter, was livid regarding the Armbrister incident and was observed as becoming “surly and quick-tempered in his relations with the World Series press.” Former Red Sox Manager Dick Williams empathized with Johnson, noting the pressure, and called him an “intense, inward” but “outstanding” person who simply hadn’t adjusted as well to dealing with the press as Williams himself had. Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee had his criticisms, expressed in the immediate aftermath of the World Series: “Johnson has been falling out of trees all summer and landing on his feet.”
Nonetheless, the skipper had piloted the Red Sox deep into a World Series against the odds-on favorite and few questioned his being named Manager of the Year; an honor also awarded him by United Press International. Johnson was given a new 2-year contract. He wasn’t allowed long to bask in the glory. In the early morning hours, the next day after getting the new contract, he was arrested for drunk driving near his home in Pinole, California. But it was the following summer that the knives came out. Just 10 days after Boston’s longtime Owner Tom Yawkey had died and with the Red Sox struggling with a 41-45 record, Johnson was fired on July 19, 1976. It was just 6 days after he served as AL skipper in the 1976 All-Star Game, a 7-1 loss at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Headlines in some papers reading, “Johnson Called Idiot” followed his choice of pitchers for the game. Jim Palmer was the reigning Cy Young Award winner and his Orioles teammate Wayne Garland had a 9-1 record at the time, but neither was selected, nor was Gaylord Perry. (Johnson started the Tigers’ Mark Fidrych.) “He’s an idiot,” said Palmer, “and maybe this is why the American League seldom wins an All-Star Game.” Palmer also castigated Johnson for his handling of the Red Sox pitching staff in the 9th inning of Game 7 of the World Series. Columnist Dick Young replied to Palmer’s charge with a Knight Wire Service story headlined, “First of All, Darrell Johnson Is Not an Idiot.” Young’s assessment? “Maybe a little retarded.”
Seattle Mariners Manager
The American League would expand for the 1977 season, adding 2 franchises and looking ahead, Johnson was named the 1st manager of the new Seattle team on September 3rd, even before the 1976 AL race was done. With a new franchise, one doesn’t expect much of a team in its 1st season, but with 64 wins the 1977 Mariners would finish a half-game ahead of the last-place Oakland A’s. Johnson, though, said he was happy. He’d felt really down with the way things ended in Boston, but now he was finding new life with a young, new team. He was rewarded early in 1978 with a pay raise and a 2-year contract; the Mariners held down the cellar, but in 1979 improved significantly to finish 13 games ahead of Oakland. Johnson would serve as Bullpen Coach for the 1979 All-Star Game.
Johnson would manage Seattle into the 1980 AL season. Though the team wasn’t faring well, he was given a vote of confidence by Team President Dan O’Brien on July 5, 1980. But on August 4th, he was replaced by Maury Wills, 105 games into the season, with a .375 winning percentage (or, perhaps more to the point, a .625 losing percentage). Meanwhile back in Boston, Don Zimmer almost made it to the end of the season but he had lost his job just a few days before. Zimmer promptly got the job managing the Texas Rangers. He had hired Johnson as one of his MLB Ranger coaches.
On July 28, 1982, Don Zimmer was fired and Darrell Johnson was named interim manager for the Rangers. He said he wouldn’t even sit in the manager’s chair for the 1st 2 days on the job, because he didn’t think it was right the way Zimmer was fired. Oddly, Zimmer kept managing for 3 games after he was fired; the whole story was an odd one. Johnson’s record at the helm in Texas was a 26-40 mark.
In 1983, Johnson was an MLB Coach for the New York Mets. He had served as a Special-Assignment Scout, a position, he held into 1993. He would played in his 1st Old-Timers Game in 1984. In 1985, he also served as Coordinator of Minor-League operations for the Mets. In 1986, Johnson finally tasted World Series champagne with the Mets, when they beat the Red Sox and Johnson had joined in the clubhouse celebration.
After working as the MLB Bench Coach for the Mets in 1993, Johnson became a Special Assistant to the General Manager from 1993 through 1999, which was his last year in baseball.
Darrell Johnson would pass away from leukemia on May 3, 2004, in Fairfield, California. He was 75 years old. He had lost his wife, Dixie, in February. The couple had left 2 daughters, Dara and Deana; a son, Douglas; 3 grandchildren; and 2 great-grandchildren. The Red Sox were in 1st place the night before, some 39 games into the season. Later that year, they finally won it all, 29 years after Johnson had helped bring them to the brink.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 5, 2024 19:37:42 GMT -5
Spud Chandler Yankees Starter
This article was written by Mark Stewart; Edited by Clipper
Spud on mound at Yankee Stadium
Spurgeon Ferdinand “Spud” Chandler was a no-nonsense, take-charge hurler who went after opposing hitters as if they were mortal enemies. The intensity with which he patrolled the area around the pitching rubber sent a clear message to the batter: I will not lose. You will have to beat me. Despite a late start and an uncooperative elbow, the blue-eyed, blond-haired Georgian was on 6 World Series championship teams. He won an American League Most Valuable Player Award and set a modern record for career winning percentage that still stands. Chandler threw just about every pitch, and he threw every pitch as if it might be his last, a possibility that loomed over him for most of his big-league career.
The boy everyone called Spurge and later Spud (which he preferred) was born on September 12, 1907, in Commerce, Georgia, a Jackson County agricultural community about 60 miles northeast of Atlanta. When he was a boy, his parents, Leonard “Bud” Chandler and Olivia (Hix) Chandler moved the family to Franklin County, Georgia. As a teenager, Spurge played sports with a consuming passion that intimidated teammates and opponents alike. He did not mind the comparison to another Franklin County product, Ty Cobb. He said proudly throughout his life that he and Ty Cobb were the 2 most famous people to come from Franklin County.
In 1928, Chandler won a football scholarship to the University of Georgia, earned a spot on the team, and developed into a classic triple-threat (running, passing, kicking) back. Chandler also starred on the Georgia baseball team. The New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals tempted him with player contract offers in 1929, but he chose to stay in school. He was having too much fun being a football star. Besides, his favorite team was the Yankees. He would wait to hear from them.
In November 1931, the University Georgia football squad played New York University in front of 65,000 people at Yankee Stadium. Chandler was one of the stars in a 7–6 victory. After the game he walked out to the pitcher’s mound and began throwing footballs through the uprights. When teammates asked what he was doing, he responded that he wanted to get used to the place because he expected to be pitching there someday.
The following spring Chandler was the property of the Yankees. The Chicago Cubs actually had 1st crack at him, but a paperwork foul-up enabled New York Scout Johnny Nee to swoop in and sign him. Chandler began his professional career at the Class B level with the Binghamton (New York) Triplets of the New York-Penn League. He went 8-1 for Binghamton and earned a promotion to the Class A Springfield (Massachusetts) Rifles of the Eastern League, where he was perfect in 4 decisions.Chandler had a sinking fastball that worked best without a full follow-through. The pitch put undue stress on his right arm, already tender from a football injury. The resulting pain limited his availability and effectiveness for much of the 1930s.
Chandler was back in Binghamton to begin the 1933 season, as the New York-Penn League moved up to Class A status. He went 10-8 before finishing the season with the AA Newark Bears of the International League, the Yankees’ top farm team. Spud struggled against the better competition. He pitched for Newark again in 1934, and also did stints with the AA Minneapolis Millers and the AA Syracuse Chiefs. Elbow pain all but ruined his season, as he won just 2 games and had an ERA over 6.00. The Yankees would ship Chandler to the West Coast in 1935. He played for AA clubs, Oakland Oaks and Portland in the Pacific Coast League, pitching in 34 games as a starter and reliever. In 1936, the Yankees would bring him back to AA Newark on the word of his Manager at Oakland, Ossie Vitt, who was also hired as the Bears’ Manager. Chandler went 14-13 for Newark with a fine 3.33 ERA.
Spud in Yankees Dugout
He began the 1937 season with AA Newark Bears, a club that featured young sluggers Joe Gordon and Charlie Keller. History would recall this team as perhaps the best ever assembled at the Minor League level, but Chandler wasn’t on the roster long. He was called up to the Bronx in early May and made his MLB pitching debut on May 6th in Detroit. He entered the game in relief of Frank Makosky in the 8th inning.
Makosky had failed to record an out starting the frame and Spud did no better, giving up hits to both batters that he faced. Three days later, Manager Joe McCarthy had started Chandler against the White Sox in Chicago. Spud had better luck this time, settling into a pitchers’ duel against Thornton Lee after allowing a 1st-inning run. The score was tied 1–1 in the 7th when he allowed a HR to Zeke Bonura that gave the White Sox a 2–1 win.
Chandler won his 3 remaining May starts, tossing shutouts against the White Sox and Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium and also beating the Philadelphia Athletics at home. McCarthy used him as a spot starter until a sore shoulder sidelined him in early August. Chandler did not pitch again during the regular season and was not on the World Series roster, when the Yankees defeated their cross-river rivals, the Giants. Chandler would finish 7-4 with a 2.84 ERA in 82 1/3 innings.
The next season, Chandler would cracked the regular starting rotation, which was fronted by the trio of Red Ruffing, Lefty Gomez and Monte Pearson. He made 23 starts and completed 14 in 1938, despite battling aches and pains throughout the season. With a lineup featuring Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, and Lou Gehrig, his primary responsibility was to keep the games close. Chandler won his 14th game on September 5th and pitched once more before a sore elbow ended his season. For the 2nd year in a row, he sat out the World Series. In 1939, Chandler had fractured his ankle before the season started and was not back in uniform until the end of July. By then the Yankees were well on their way to a 4th consecutive pennant. Chandler was used out of the bullpen in August and September, making 11 appearances mostly in mop-up duty. For the 3rd straight season, he had picked up a World Series check but he did not participate.
It’s difficult to say if Chandler’s injury problems were a matter of bad genes, bad luck, or bad judgment. Certainly, there were times when he acted more like a college running back than a big-league pitcher. When Chandler came to the plate, he swung with great ferocity. He was a decent hitter, with a lifetime average above .200 and occasional HR power. As a base runner, the 6-foot, 181-pound Chandler had more than a little Ty Cobb in him; several times a season, he would get into pileups breaking up double plays. He maintained that he could beat any pitcher in baseball in a footrace to 1st base, a claim he continued to make as a coach and scout in his forties.
Fielders thought twice about blocking a bag. when Chandler was steaming toward them. Even the umpires weren’t safe. In a game against the White Sox, on June 27,1942, Spud raced to back up a throw to 3rd base and slammed into Umpire Harry Geisel with such force that Geisel later had to retire.
Yankees Spring Training photo
Chandler would reclaim his spot in the Yankees’ starting rotation in 1940, by starting 24 games. Tigers and Indians, both had strong clubs and the Yankees spent all year chasing them. In early September, New York came within a game of the lead, but then lost 7 of 9 games in mid-month and would finished in 3rd place. Pitching with varying degrees of discomfort throughout the season, Chandler was as much a part of the problem as the solution. He won only 8 games against 7 losses and his ERA rose steadily throughout the season, ending up at 4.60. One redeeming moment for Chandler in this disappointing campaign came on July 26th, when he socked a pair of HRs, including a Grand Slam HR.The Yankees got back on track in 1941, winning the pennant by 17 games over the Red Sox. Chandler took a while to get warm, performing as both a starter and reliever in the 1st 3 months. He did not record his 1st victory until July, but he would won 10 games in 11 weeks and finished with a 10-4 record.
Chandler started Game 2 of the 1941 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. He gave himself a 1–0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning with an infield hit that scored Charlie Keller, but he ended up the loser as the Dodgers came back to win, 3–2. The Yankees took the Series in 5 games to give Spud his 4th championship.
In 1942, Chandler would finish 16-5 with a 2.38 ERA. He was selected to play in his 1st All-Star Game, held at the Polo Grounds. As the American League starter, he was the beneficiary of 1st-inning HRs by Lou Boudreau and Rudy York and was awarded the victory in a 3–1 win. He pitched 4 innings, allowing 2 hits and no runs. In late July, Chandler pitched back-to-back shutouts over the Tigers and Browns, the latter a 3-hit masterpiece. The Yankees returned to the World Series, this time facing the St. Louis Cardinals. Ruffing, the Game 1 starter, entered the 9th inning with a 7–0 lead, but left after allowing a walk and 4 hits. McCarthy summoned Chandler to get the final out. Terry Moore and Enos Slaughter would greeted him with singles to make the score 7–4 before young Stan Musial tapped a grounder in the hole that was gloved by Buddy Hassett. Chandler raced to the bag and took the throw from the 1st baseman to end the game. The teams played 4 more close games and each time St. Louis won to take the World Series 4 games to 1. Chandler was an effective starter in Game 3, limiting the Cardinals to 3 hits and a run in 8 innings, but Ernie White was better, blanking the New Yorkers, 2–0.
The 1943 Yankees found themselves without the services of DiMaggio, Ruffing, Hassett, Phil Rizzuto, and Tommy Henrich. The talent drain of World War II had turned baseball topsy-turvy, but in the end, it was the Yankees and Cardinals repeating as pennant winners. Chandler enjoyed another injury-free year and was the talk of baseball. Pitching against lineups made up of prospects and suspects, he mowed down American League hitters with frightening efficiency. Chandler went 20-4, while allowing 3 or fewer earned runs in all but 1 of his defeats. Five of his league-leading wins were shutouts and 4 more were 2–1 games. Win number 20, the pennant-clincher, came in a 14-inning complete game. His 1.64 ERA was the lowest for an American Leaguer since Walter Johnson in the Dead Ball Era. Never a strikeout pitcher, Chandler fanned 134 batters, equaling his 1941 and 1942 totals combined. He was The Sporting News’s Major League Player of the Year, and when the writers cast their votes for Most Valuable Player, Chandler’s name was atop 12 of the 24 ballots. He out-pointed batting champion Luke Appling of the White Sox by 31 votes.
Chandler started the World Series opener in a rematch with the Cardinals and twirled a complete-game, 4–2 victory. The Yankees had a 3–1 series lead when Chandler took the mound for Game 5 in St. Louis. Time and again the Cardinals put runners on, but the Yankee ace escaped without allowing a run. Nine innings, 10 hits and 2 walks later, Chandler had a 2–0 shutout and the Yankees were champs.
Uncle Sam caught up with Chandler after the Series. He was classified 1–AL, which meant he would not see combat because of a permanent injury. Ironically, the Army listed this debilitating condition as limited movement of his right arm. Chandler would attend spring training camp in Atlantic City, New Jersey and pitched 1 regular season game before being called to active duty as an infantry private and shipped to Georgia for basic training.
Spud and his wife, the former Frances Willard, were expecting a child that spring. When she went into labor, he was unable to be at her side. It was a difficult birth that required a c-section and the baby died a few hours later. The couple did have 2 sons, Frank, born in 1941 and Richard, born in 1945. Frances had been a stewardess for National Airlines and had 1st met Spud in Chicago when the Yankees were in town. They were married in Athens, Georgia in 1939.
Chandler would train at Camp Shelby in Mississippi. Because he was too old and injured to qualify for combat, he hoped he might spend the war playing ball and serving as a fitness instructor. Many other baseball stars had pulled this type of duty. Although, he did launch a few fastballs for the camp baseball team, Chandler spent most of his time there firing weapons. Although he never saw overseas action, Chandler would missed almost 2 full seasons. He was discharged in early September 1945 and would make 4 starts for the Yankees, winning 2 and losing 1.
Chandler was among hundreds of returning veterans hoping to make Major League squads in 1946. Some had lost their edge, while others had gained strength and toughness during their time in the military. Chandler blanked the Athletics on Opening Day and didn’t lose a game until mid-May. He finished 20-8 for the 3rd-place Yankees, with a 2.10 ERA and a career-high 257 1/3 innings pitched.That October, Chandler had joined the Bob Feller All-Stars, a barnstorming group made up of Yankees and Indians players. It was a chance to make a little extra cash and, as it turned out, do something he could brag about for years to come. Facing Satchel Paige’s All-Stars in a game at Youngstown, Ohio on October 1st, he hit a HR against Paige.
Chandler had turned 39 in September 1946. Although his statistics were impressive, his right elbow was getting more troublesome with each start. There were times when he left the clubhouse with his collar unbuttoned and no tie, he was in too much pain to dress. The agony, he endured only added to his aura in the Yankees clubhouse. Known as an intense competitor (some said he was just plain mean) when he joined the club in the 1930s, by the late 1940s he would get so keyed up before starts that no one dared bother him. Milton Gross wrote a story for The Saturday Evening Post calling him the angry Yankee ace. Chandler always denied he was mean in the locker room, claiming he was just “determined.” On the mound, however, he made no apologies for his behavior. He referred to other teams as the enemy, and refused to give in to hitters. If he saw an opponent digging in, Chandler would likely sail a pitch at his chin.
After having an operation in Atlanta to remove more than a 12 bone chips in his right elbow, Spud felt good enough to give it a go again in 1947. He started and lost the season opener in Yankee Stadium, yielding 6 runs to the Philadelphia A’s. Five days later, he avenged this defeat in Philadelphia. On April 27th, Chandler hooked up with Sid Hudson of the Washington Senators in a thrilling pitching duel at Yankee Stadium. The 2 hurlers wriggled in and out of trouble, but hung-up zeroes inning after inning until Hudson singled in the 8th and later scored on a hit by Buddy Lewis for the game’s only run. Sid Hudson, who like Chandler lost key years to military service, later remembered this as his greatest game.
After 5 starts, Chandler’s record stood at a lackluster 1-3, albeit with a sub-3.00 ERA. This was unfamiliar territory for Chandler, who had yet to register a losing record as a Major Leaguer. Beginning with his next start, against the White Sox, he would win 8 of 9 decisions. Pitching against the Tigers at Yankee Stadium on June 21st, he had fanned 11 batters, a career high. On July 4th, Chandler would beat the Senators to raise his record to 9–4. He had already pitched 118 innings in the season as Manager Bucky Harris was riding his starters hard. In his 1st start after the MLB All-Star Game, Chandler would faced the Browns in St. Louis. With 1 out in the 7th inning, after yielding the tying run in a 3–3 game, he could throw no more. He gave way to Reliever Joe Page, who would finish the contest and hit a game-winning HR in the 9th inning. Lost in the postgame celebrating was the fact that Spud Chandler might be through Chandler did take the mound again twice more, but he was ineffective in 2 September appearances,1 in relief and 1 in a start against Boston. His final regular-season line was 9-5 with a 2.46 ERA in 128 innings. Not a bad way to say goodbye. Alas, it was not quite goodbye. The Yankees were pennant winners again and Chandler would pitched 2 innings and allowed 2 runs to Brooklyn in Game 3 of the World Series.
The Yankees would officially hand him his player release in April 1948. Twice a 20-game winner, he won 109 games in all, 26 by shutout. He lost only 43, for a career winning percentage of .717, the best ever by a player with at least 100 victories. Catcher Bill Dickey called it a pleasure to squat behind the plate with Spud on the mound. He claimed his teammate could spot 7 different pitches; fastball, sinker, curve, slider, screwball, knuckler, and splitter, plus a couple more he never bothered to name. Chandler, Dickey insisted, was the best pitcher that he ever caught.
In the years that followed, Chandler stayed busy as an MLB scout for several teams, including the Yankees, Indians, and Minnesota Twins. He managed for 2 years in the Minor Leagues. In 1954, he would pilot Cleveland’s Class D affiliate in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, and once put himself in a game as a pinch-hitter.
The following year, Chandler would manage the Class B Spartanburg (South Carolina) Peaches, another Cleveland farm team. He appeared in 2 games as a pitcher at the age of 47. He later would served 2 seasons as the Kansas City Athletics’ MLB pitching coach.
Chandler would retire from baseball for good in 1984, at the age of 77. In 1989, he had fell and fractured his shoulder. Complications followed and he had suffered a heart attack in 1990. He was 82, when he had died on January 9, 1990, near St. Petersburg, Florida. He was survived by Frances and his sons.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 6, 2024 11:55:06 GMT -5
Red Ruffing Yankees Ace Starter 1930-1940’s
This article was written by Warren Corbett, Edited by Clipper
Red Ruffing Yankees Player Photo
Hall of Famer Red Ruffing’s career is a reminder that you can’t judge a pitcher by his wins and losses. The right-hander lost more than 20 games twice, while pitching for the last-place Red Sox and won at least 20 for 4 straight years with the World Series champion Yankees.
Charles Herbert Ruffing was born in Granville, Illinois, on May 3,1905, 1 of 5 children of German immigrants John and Frances Ruffing. He spent his childhood in nearby Coalton, attending schools in Nokomis. The nickname “Red” came from his hair color, but his family called him Charley and his wife called him Charles. He signed some autographs “Chas. ‘Red’ Ruffing.”
Ruffing’s father was a coal miner until he broke his back. He took a job in the company office and rose to be the mine superintendent. He also served as mayor of Coalton. Charley quit school and went into the mine when he was 13, working for 3 dollars a day. It was punishing physical labor, 600 feet underground, often swinging a pick while stooped over. And it was dangerous; he saw a cousin killed in an accident. At 15, Charley was working as a coupler, hooking coal cars together, when his left foot was crushed between cars. Doctors managed to save the foot, but he lost 4 toes.
He had been a hard-hitting outfielder and pitcher for the company baseball team, managed by his father. While he was on crutches recuperating from his accident, Doc Bennett, a former minor leaguer who managed a local semipro team, encouraged him to concentrate on pitching, since he would no longer be able to run well. When Ruffing was 18, Bennett arranged his 1st professional contract, with Danville, Illinois, just 140 miles from home in the Class-B Three-I League. After 1 season in Danville, he was sold to the Boston Red Sox. The 19-year-old was hit hard in 6 appearances and went back to the minors in July 1924. When Boston recalled him in September, he was in the big leagues to stay.
1927 Red Sox player photo
Ruffing would join the Red Sox just as the club plunged into the bleakest period in its history. Boston finished last in each of his 5 full seasons, losing more than 100 games 3 times. Sportswriter Stanley Frank wrote that Owner Bob Quinn “was operating the Red Sox on a frazzled shoestring.” Quinn’s predecessor, Harry Frazee, had traded or sold most of the team’s best players. Several, including that Ruth kid, went to the Yankees.
Although Ruffing was the Red Sox’ top pitcher, he showed no sign of greatness. Today he would be tagged with the backhanded compliment “inning eater.” Relying primarily on a whistling fastball, he posted a better-than-average ERA only once, and then just barely better. His 39 victories and 96 losses gave him a .289 winning percentage, even worse than his team’s sorry .344. After he had batted .314 in 1928 while losing a league-leading 25 games, the Sox considered shifting him to the outfield, but found that his mangled foot slowed him down too much.
Owner Quinn faced one of his frequent financial crises in May 1930. Red Sox Scout Pat Monahan recalled, “He was real worried. He said he’d have to raise $67,000 in 48 hours to make a payment. ‘If I don’t make it, Pat, they’ll foreclose. I know they will.’” Quinn would swapped the 25-year-old Ruffing to the Yankees for backup outfielder Cedric Durst plus $50,000 and, according to Monahan, an additional $50,000 loan from Yankees Owner Jacob Ruppert. The trade rated only a 1-inch story in the New York Times, describing Ruffing as “an in-and-outer.” The deal made Ruffing’s MLB career. The turnaround in his fortunes began the 1st time, he took the mound for New York, when Babe Ruth slammed a 1st-inning home run. Ruffing gave up 6 runs to the Tigers, but he would knocked in the deciding runs himself with a single and 2 RBIs. Late in the season, he won 6 straight decisions. He sealed his place on the team with a 2-hit shutout over the pennant-bound Philadelphia Athletics in September. He would finish 1930 AL season with a 15-5 record for the Yankees; his 4.14 ERA was better than average in the Year of the Hitter. He also batted a career-high .364 with 4 HRs.
Bob Shawkey, a former pitcher, who managed the Yankees in 1930, said he had noticed that Ruffing could dominate for 4 or 5 innings, while he was with the Red Sox, but tired and lost his stuff because he was “pitching all with his arm.” Shawkey revamped the pitcher’s delivery. That wasn’t the only reason for the dramatic improvement; Joe McCarthy took over as manager the next year and McCarthy consistently fielded strong defensive teams, a pitcher’s best friend.
When Ruffing turned into a star in New York, some writers questioned whether he had been giving his best effort to the Red Sox. But he remembered, “We had kids just out of college, Class D players. Nobody could win with them.” A young man in his early 20s could easily have become demoralized pitching for a hopeless team, then snapped out of it when he found himself backed by a lineup that included Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
Twenty-two-year-old Lefty Gomez established himself at the front of the Yankees rotation in 1932 as McCarthy began retooling the aging club. With young catcher Bill Dickey, shortstop Frank Crosetti, and speedy outfielder Ben Chapman in the lineup, the Yankees romped to their 1st pennant in 4 years. Gomez had won 24 games and Ruffing 18 wins with a 3.09 ERA, 2nd-best in the AL. He led the league with 190 strikeouts.
Ruffing and Gomez gave the Yankees a pair of aces for a decade. Gomez, 3 years younger, was the better pitcher, when he was healthy. He led the league in ERA twice and in strikeouts and shutouts 3 times, but suffered recurring bouts of arm trouble. Ruffing usually racked up more innings and complete games; he completed 62% of his career starts, while the average AL pitcher finished less than half. Yankee outfielder Tommy Henrich said, “You know, there wasn’t that much difference between [Gomez] and Ruffing, but Ruffing was always looked upon as the ace.”
Joe McCarthy agreed; he chose Ruffing to start Game 1 of 6 World Series to Gomez’s 1. “Sure, he’s the best pitcher around,” the Manager said. McCarthy scheduled Ruffing’s starts to match him against the Yankees’ toughest challengers. He would beat the Tigers 13 straight times from 1937 to 1939. Ruffing was the type of player McCarthy liked best: quiet, consistent, and durable. But the 2 were not close; Ruffing recalled, “Well, he said hello to me on the 1st day of spring camp and said good-by to me on the last day of the season. In between, he just put the ball in my hand and that was all I wanted.”
Gomez was a clown and a quipster whose personality eclipsed the stoic Ruffing. (Gomez said the secret of his success was “clean living and a fast outfield.”) One writer called Ruffing “the Coolidge of baseball,” after the president who never spoke 2 words when 1 would do. McCarthy remarked, “If Ruffing has nothing to say he doesn’t bother to say it.” Ruffing’s closest friends on the Yankees were his roommate, Tony Lazzeri, Frank Crosetti, and Bill Dickey, men who fit the stereotype of the “strong, silent type.” His hometown, Nokomis, had put up a sign at the city limits welcoming visitors to the home of Jim Bottomley, the onetime Cardinal 1st baseman. When the Chamber of Commerce wanted to add Ruffing’s name to the sign, he told them not to do it because “I might move.”
On October 6, 1934, Ruffing married a local girl, Pauline Mulholland, whom he had met when she was working in a candy store. He threw a raucous party after the wedding that kept most of the town up all night. Pauline usually attended his starts and heckled the opposition. When she criticized rookie 3rd baseman Red Rolfe for making an error behind her husband and Rolfe’s wife overheard her, Ruffing told Pauline to apologize. He said, “Rolfe will help me win more games than he ever lost for me.”
After finishing 2nd from 1933 through 1935, McCarthy would assembled a juggernaut in 1936. With Babe Ruth retired, rookie Joe DiMaggio was anointed as the new face of the Yankees. The club won 409 regular-season games in the next 4 seasons and claimed the World Series championship every year, an unprecedented run of success. During the Yankees’ 4 years of dominance, Ruffing won at least 20 games and ranked in the top 6 in ERA each season. He developed a slider, then a new pitch. Umpire Bill Summers said, “[O]n account of Red Ruffing, the slider got to be the thing.” His career was peaking as he entered his mid-30s, an age when most pitchers began to fade. He shared his prescription for keeping fit: “Run, run, run…. Some of the young kids on the Yankees used to kid me about going to bed at 7:30 after running all day long. But as the years went by, I noticed I was still up there while they were forgotten.” He kept his weight between 208 and 212 on a 6-foot-1 frame.
Ruffing gave the Yankees trouble only when it came time to sign his contract. He was a chronic holdout. After his 1st 20-victory season in 1936, he didn’t sign until May 1937. With no spring training, he reeled off victories in his 1st 4 starts and went on to win 20 again.
1939 Red celebrating his 200th victory as a Yankees Starter
By 1939 Ruffing’s reported $28,000 salary was the 2nd highest on the team, behind Lou Gehrig’s $34,000. He won his 1st 7 decisions, the last 1 the 200th of his career, as the Yankees were running away with their 4 straight pennant. But Ruffing’s elbow was hurting. Without telling McCarthy or the trainers, he began having Pauline massage his arm with a vibrating machine. He said the secret treatment was all that kept him going. He started only 28 games and sat out the last 2 weeks of the season. He would finish with a 2.93 ERA, the best in any of his full seasons, and his 2nd consecutive 21-7 record. And he was ready to start, and win, Game 1 of the World Series against Cincinnati.In the opening game of the 1942 Series Ruffing held the St. Louis Cardinals hitless for 7 2/3 innings until Terry Moore singled to right. St. Louis rallied for 4 runs in the 9th before Spud Chandler relieved to get the last out in the Yankees’ 7-4 win. It was Ruffing’s 7th World Series victory, a record that stood until another Yankee, Whitey Ford, would break it 18 years later. The Cardinals’ 9th-inning rally was the turning point in the Series; they swept the next 4 games. Ruffing lost the decisive Game 5 when he gave up a 9th-inning HR to Whitey Kurowski.
After the Series, with wartime draft calls growing, Ruffing took a job in a defense plant in Southern California, where he had moved. He was summoned for a draft physical, even though he was 37 years old, was missing 4 toes and was married with dependents. He and Pauline had a son, Charles Jr., who was called Chuck and her mother lived with them.The 1st doctors who examined him declared him unfit for military service, but an army doctor overruled them. Lt. Hal C. Jenkins said Ruffing could handle noncombat duty. Years later Ruffing grumbled, “He would have drafted any ballplayer.” At the time he said what was expected of a patriotic American: “There’s only one way to feel. We’ve got a different battle on our hands.”
On his 1st day of basic training, as he told it, “A sergeant said to me, ‘Ruffing, I understand you can pitch.’“‘That’s right,’ I answered. And the sergeant said, ‘Okay, Buddy, let’s see how fast you can pitch this tent.’” Ruffing’s noncombat duty was pitching baseballs and leading soldiers’ physical fitness training. He was stationed in California at the Long Beach Ferry Command on a team with big leaguers Max West, Harry Danning, Nanny Fernandez, and Chuck Stevens. In July 1943, he pitched a no-hitter against a Santa Ana Air Base lineup that included his civilian team mate Joe DiMaggio. He compiled a 20-2 record against fellow servicemen. In late 1944, he would joined a team of military all-stars that sailed to Hawaii to entertain the troops. Some of the ballplayers went on to other Pacific islands, but Sergeant Ruffing sprained a knee and was sent back to the States. After Germany surrendered in May 1945, the War Department discharged all soldiers and sailors older than 40.
Ruffing took a short vacation with his wife and son, before he reported to Yankee Stadium on June 9th to begin shedding some of the 20 pounds he had gained in the army. “I am like a kid with a new toy,” the 40-year-old said. “I keep pinching myself and looking at my civilian clothes.” He made his 1st appearance in pinstripes on July 16th as a pinch-hitter and received a standing ovation. He delivered a single. In his return to the mound 10 days later, he held the Philadelphia Athletics scoreless for 6 innings before giving way to a reliever. He picked up the 1st of his 7 victories and finished the 1945 season with a 2.89 ERA in 11 starts, capping his comeback year with a 3-run HR in his final game. It was his 36th lifetime HR-34 of them as a pitcher, 2nd in MLB history to Wes Ferrell’s 37 at that point. Ruffing was one of the best-hitting pitchers ever; opponents occasionally walked him to pitch to the Yankees’ leadoff batter, Frank Crosetti. Ruffing would pinch-hit 257 times in his MLB playing career, hitting .258/.300/.316. He would opened the 1946 season as a spot starter and more than held his own against the other returning servicemen. By the end of June, he was 5-1 with a 1.77 ERA, when Philadelphia’s Hank Majeski would smashed a line drive that broke his kneecap. The Yankees would release him in September. His MLB pitching career appeared to be over.
Not so fast. White Sox Manager Ted Lyons, who had just retired from pitching at age 45, thought Ruffing, a mere lad of 41, still had value as a pitcher and pinch-hitter and signed him for 1947. With 270 victories in his pocket, Ruffing said he wanted to catch Lefty Grove at 300. He didn’t make it. A line drive hit him in the same knee during spring training, and he went on the disabled list. He returned in July for 8 more starts, posting a 6.11 ERA and he was released at the end of the season. He finished with a 273-225 record; his 231 victories for the Yankees were a club record until Whitey Ford surpassed him. He probably would have gotten to 300, if he had not lost 2-and-a-half seasons to military service.
The White Sox would kept him on as an MLB scout, then as Manager of their Class-A farm club in Muskegon, Michigan. In 1950, he would manage Cleveland’s Class-D team in Daytona Beach, Florida. He spent the rest of the 1950s as an MLB scout for the Indians and moved his family to the Cleveland area. In 1962, the expansion New York Mets, led by former Yankee General Manager George Weiss and Manager Casey Stengel, hired him as a MLB Pitching Coach. But he complained that the Mets’ pitchers wouldn’t listen to him, perhaps because of the noise of line drives ringing in their ears as they recorded a 5.04 ERA, the worst in the majors. He left after 1 season.
Ruffing drew as many as half of the Hall of Fame votes only once in his 1st dozen years on the ballot; 75% is required for election. In 1962 new Hall of Famer Bob Feller, writing for a popular magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, named Ruffing, shortstop Luke Appling, and Satchel Paige as players who deserved to be honored in Cooperstown. Under the Hall’s rules at that time, baseball writers voted only every other year; on the next ballot, in 1964, Appling was elected and Ruffing’s support jumped to 70%. In 1967, his final year on the writers’ ballot, he got 73% of the votes and was ushered into the Hall in a runoff. “It’s a dream come true,” he said.
Many analysts regard Ruffing as a decent pitcher, who rode to glory on the coattails of the Yankee dynasty. His reputation rests primarily on his 231 victories and 4 20-win seasons as the ace of one of the most powerful clubs in history. His record was a bit better than the Yankees’; he compiled a .651 winning percentage, while the team went .630 with other pitchers. Looking beyond wins and losses, Ruffing’s 3.80 ERA was the worst by any Hall of Fame pitcher until Jack Morris was elected in 2018. He played in a high-scoring era and said he pitched to the score, coasting when, as often happened, the Yankees staked him to a big lead. His adjusted ERA, equalized for the era and ballparks in which he pitched, is 110, just 10% above average. More than 150 pitchers have done better (minimum 2,000 innings), although several Hall of Famers rank behind him, including Don Sutton and Catfish Hunter. Ruffing’s stat lines show little “black ink,” categories in which he led the league: 1 each in strikeouts, shutouts, complete games, and wins and twice in strikeouts per 9 innings and losses. He was never the equal of the dominant pitchers of his time-Lefty Grove, Carl Hubbell and Dizzy Dean.
Ruffing’s last years were hard. When he was 68, he had suffered the 1st of several strokes that paralyzed his left side. Pauline loaded him and his wheelchair into their car to make the annual trip from Cleveland to Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. He had contracted skin cancer and had part of an ear removed. “He was truly a wonderful person,” his wife said, “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 wouldn’t let anyone touch him except me. Unless I fed him, he wouldn’t eat.”
Ruffing died of leukemia on February 17, 1986, at a hospital in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. Pauline and their son Charles Jr. survived. In 2004, a plaque was placed in Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park to honor the pitcher who was lucky to be a Yankee.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 13, 2024 13:17:33 GMT -5
Vic Raschi “The Springfield Rifle”
This article was written by Lawrence Baldassaro, Edited by Clipper
 Vic Raschi Yankees Player Photo
In the New York Yankees’ unprecedented streak of 5 straight World Series titles between 1949 and 1953, Vic Raschi’s pitching record was 92-40, an average of 18 wins a season and a winning percentage of .697. From 1949, only his 2nd full season in the majors, through 1951, Raschi had won 21 games each year.
Victor John Angelo Raschi was born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, on March 28, 1919. His nickname, “The Springfield Rifle,” combined the speed of his fastball and the name of the neighboring city—the site of the U.S. Armory, which had been producing army rifles since 1794. His parents, Massimino, a carpenter who worked for the railroad and Egizia had moved to Springfield, when Raschi was still in diapers. Vic also had 2 older sisters and a younger brother.
A star in baseball, football, and basketball at Springfield Tech High School, Raschi would attracted the attention of Yankees MLB Scout Gene McCann, while still a freshman. In 1936, Raschi had signed an agreement under which the Yankees would pay for his college education in return for getting the 1st chance to sign him when he graduated. He would enroll at the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1938 and by 1941 the Yankees decided it was time for Raschi to begin his professional baseball career. After the 1941 college baseball season, Raschi was sent to upstate New York to pitch for the Amsterdam Rugmakers in the Class C Canadian-American League. He would continue to attend classes at William and Mary in the off-season.
A 10-6 season at Amsterdam had earned Raschi a promotion in 1942 to the Norfolk (Virginia) Tars, the Yankees’ affiliate in the Class B Piedmont League. His record at Norfolk was only 4-10, but he had an impressive 2.71 ERA. World War II put both his career and education on hold. After spending 3 years in the Army Air Force as a physical-education instructor, he returned to school part time, while pitching for the Yankees, earning a degree in physical education in 1949. In the meantime, he had married Sarah “Sally” Glen, a fellow student at William and Mary.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound right-hander resumed his professional baseball career in 1946 with the Binghamton (New York) Triplets in the Class A Eastern League. The Yankees would call him up in September, following his 10-10 season for the Triplets and 5 games with the Newark Bears, the Yankees’ Class Triple-A affiliate in the International League.
On September 23, 1946, at the age of 27, Raschi would make his MLB pitching debut before a tiny turnout of 2,475 at the Yankees’ 1946 season home finale. Raschi, a “well-proportioned right-hander with burning speed,” pitched a complete-game 9–6 win against the Philadelphia Athletics, 6 days later he won his 2nd start, 2–1 over the A’s in the season’s final game.
Given that successful debut, Raschi was bitterly disappointed, when the Yankees optioned him to the Portland Beavers of the Class Triple-A Pacific Coast League in May 1947. Initially he refused to report but finally relented. In Portland he benefited from the tutelage of Beavers Manager Jim Turner, a former Yankees reliever, who in 1949 would become the Yankees’ pitching coach and remain in that position for the rest of Raschi’s MLB career.
Raschi would compiled an 8-2 record with Portland, including 9 complete games in 11 starts and was called up to New York in July. The Yankees had won 9 straight games, but on July 10th, with starter Spud Chandler injured and Mel Queen was sold to Pittsburgh Pirates, Yankees Manager Bucky Harris telephoned Turner. Late that night, after a doubleheader in San Diego, Turner approached Raschi, who had won his 4th straight in the 2nd game, and asked if he could be ready to pitch on Sunday, 3 days later. When Raschi said “Yes,” Turner told him he’d been recalled by the Yankees. Raschi showered and caught a plane to Portland before flying on to Chicago to join the Yankees.
Vic Raschi Yankees Photo
Raschi did pitch that Sunday, in the 2nd game of a doubleheader in Chicago, giving up 3 runs in 6 1/3 innings to earn a 6–4 win over the White Sox. It was the Yankees’ 14th straight victory. Five days later, Raschi gave up 6 hits in a complete-game 7–2 win over the Indians in Cleveland. It was the final win in the Yankees’ 19-game streak, putting their record at 58-26 with an 11 1/2-game lead over the Detroit Tigers.
By August 2nd, Raschi, a power pitcher who complemented his fastball with a slider and change-up, had won his 1st 5 starts. After a no-decision on August 8th, he raised his record to 6-0 on August 13th. (Wins 2 through 5 were all complete games.) After Raschi’s 5th victory, a 3-hit shutout of the Indians, J.G. Taylor Spink, in a front-page story in the August 13 issue of The Sporting News, described Raschi as “a quiet, very much reserved, hardly talkative man” and the “latest pitching remarkable- of the Yankees … . ”
Raschi’s 1st MLB loss was one of his best outings of the year. In an August 17th game at Yankee Stadium that according to the New York Times, had “all the thrill and excitement of World Series combat,” he shut out the defending American League champion Boston Red Sox on 4 hits for 4 innings before giving up 3 runs in the 11th. Five days later, Raschi’s record fell to 6-2 in a 4–3 loss to the Indians. His 7th and final victory of the season didn’t come until September 14, a 6–4 win over the last-place St. Louis Browns that clinched at least a tie for the pennant.
For the 1947 AL season, Raschi had compiled a 7-2 record with 6 complete games in 14 starts and a 3.87 ERA. In the Yankees’ World Series victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers, Raschi made 2 relief appearances-in Games 3 and 6-giving up 1 run on 2 hits in 1 1/3 innings.
Vic Raschi, Allie Reynolds, Eddie Lopat
Though the New York Yankees finished in 3rd place in 1948, Raschi had won 19 games and lost just 8. He was the winning pitcher in the 1948 All-Star Game and also drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded single. He would finish 11th in the Most Valuable Player voting after the season. Then followed 3consecutive seasons with 21 wins (21-10, 21-8, 21-10); he averaged 263 innings and 34 starts, leading the league in starts in both 1949 and 1951. His winning percentage of .724 in 1950 led the American League. In 1952 his win total fell to 16 (with 6 losses), but his 2.78 ERA was the lowest of his MLB pitching career.
In addition to his 92-40 record from 1949 to 1953, Raschi made 160 starts for the Yankees. What makes this stretch of endurance even more impressive is that a collision at home plate with Indians catcher Jim Hegan in August 1950 resulted in torn cartilage in Raschi’s right knee. Playing in pain, he found it difficult to run or to put all his weight on his right leg when he pushed off the pitching rubber. Raschi and the Yankees kept the injury to themselves to prevent other teams from taking advantage by bunting on him. Not until November 1951, did he undergo surgery to remove the cartilage.
In 1952, Raschi signed for a reported $40,000, making him at that time the highest-paid pitcher in Yankees history. But the signing came with a stern warning from General Manager George Weiss: “Don’t you ever have a bad year” Raschi’s 13-6 record with a 3.33 ERA in 28 games for 1953 apparently was a bad year, according to Weiss, who offered Raschi a player contract calling for a 25% cut in 1954. Refusing to sign, Raschi held out until spring training, 1 of 12 Yankee holdouts. When he got to training camp in St. Petersburg, Florida, he was informed by newspaper reporters, not by Weiss, that he had been sold to the St. Louis Cardinals. Raschi’s record in his 8 years with the Yankees was a 120-5 with 3.49 ERA in 218 games, with a .706 winning percentage.
Raschi would spend his final 2 MLB seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Athletics, compiling a combined record of 12-16 before retiring in October 1955 at the age of 36. In his 10-year MLB pitching career, he had won 132 while losing only 66, with an ERA of 3.72. As of 2011, his win-loss percentage of .667 was tied for 14th best for any pitcher with at least 100 decisions. He had finished 7th and 8th in the Most Valuable Player voting in 1950 and 1951 respectively, and he pitched in 4 All-Star games, starting in both 1950 and 1952.
In 8 World Series starts, Raschi won 5 games (against 3 losses), including a 2-hit shutout of the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1950 opener and 2 wins over the Dodgers in the 1952 Series. His World Series ERA, including his 2 relief appearances in 1947, is 2.24. But perhaps his most memorable game came on the final day of the 1949 season when the Yankees hosted the Red Sox with the pennant at stake. The Red Sox, who had trailed the Yankees by 12 games early in July but stormed back to take a 1-game lead with 2 games left, needed to win only 1 of the 2 to take the flag. But the Yankees won the 1st game 5–4 to force the Red Sox into a do-or-die finale. Raschi, with a 20-10 record, was matched up against Ellis Kinder, who had won 23 (4 against the Yankees) and lost 5 going into the game.
With 68,055 fans on hand, Raschi, given a 1–0 lead in the 1st, shut down the power-laden Red Sox on 2 hits over the 1st 8 innings; the Yankees then took a 5–0 lead after scoring 4 in the 8th. But the Red Sox, who had been favored to win the pennant, wouldn’t go quietly, scoring 3 runs in the 9th with the tying run at the plate in Birdie Tebbetts. First baseman Tommy Henrich approached Raschi to offer some encouragement. But the glowering Raschi was in no mood for chit-chat and before Henrich could say a word he told him, “Give me the goddamned ball and get the hell out of here.” He then got Tebbetts to hit a foul pop that Henrich squeezed for the final out and the 1949 AL pennant.
After his baseball retirement Raschi and his family would settled in Groveland, his wife Sally’s hometown in upstate New York on the shores of Conesus Lake. Raschi owned and operated the Green Valley Liquor Store in nearby Conesus. He also coached baseball and basketball at Geneseo State Teachers College (now the State University of New York at Geneseo), where the baseball field was named in his honor. In 2001 he was posthumously inducted into the Geneseo Sports Hall of Fame. Beginning in 1969, at the age of 50, he also taught elementary school. Raschi died of a heart attack on October 14, 1988, at the age of 69, survived by his wife, son William, daughters Victoria and Mitje, and 2 grandchildren.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 13, 2024 14:23:20 GMT -5
Yankees Pitcher Tommy Byrne
This article was written by Jimmy Keenan, Edited by Clipper
Tommy Byrne Yankees Player Photo
Tommy Byrne had 3 careers and was successful in all of them. A hard-throwing left-handed pitcher, he had spent 13 seasons in the Major Leagues. His ball playing days over, Byrne turned to business, with considerable success. Then he devoted himself to politics and served 2 terms as Mayor of his adopted hometown.
Thomas Joseph Byrne was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on December 31, 1919, 1 of 3 sons of Joseph Thomas Byrne and Grace C. (Phenice) Byrne. The youngster’s favorite ballplayer was Babe Ruth, and he told friends he hoped someday to don the same pinstriped uniform of his hero.
Byrne first pitched for the Blessed Sacrament Elementary School team in the Baltimore Junior League. A neighbor, Philadelphia Athletics Pitcher Eddie Rommel mentored Tommy on the finer points of pitching and instilled baseball savvy in the youngster that would stay with him throughout his career.
In his 1st year at City College high school, Byrne failed to make the freshman baseball team. In his 2nd year, he made the junior-varsity squad, and was called up to the varsity late in the season to pitch in an exhibition game against the Naval Academy’s Plebe team. Tommy walked the 1st 3 batters and then settled down, leading his team to a 4–0 victory.
Finally installed on the varsity squad, Byrne dominated the Baltimore school baseball scene for the next 2 years. He helped guide City High to 2 undefeated seasons and a pair of Maryland Scholastic Association championships. During the summer months, he hurled in the Baltimore amateur leagues with the Oriole Juniors and the Joe Cambria All Stars.
After graduating in 1937, Byrne had an opportunity to sign with the Detroit Tigers. He traveled with the club for part of the summer. The Tigers had offered him a $4,000 signing bonus and a roster spot on their Texas League farm club in Beaumont. But Byrne, an excellent student, wanted to go to college and turned down the offer.
Duke University offered a scholarship that would have required him to work in the school cafeteria to defray some of his expenses. A friend in Baltimore, who had a connection with Wake Forest College, told Byrne he could get a scholarship there without having to work.When Byrne got off the train in Wake Forest, North Carolina (the college had not yet moved to Winston-Salem and become a university), he was instantly smitten with the small-town atmosphere. He struck up an immediate friendship with Baseball Coach John Caddell. Byrne lived with the Caddell family during his stay at the school and as their bond grew, he eventually, came to know the coach and his wife as his adoptive parents.
Byrne was a mathematics major in the classroom and a standout pitcher on the Wake Forest baseball team for 3 seasons. He had defeated Duke 9 of the 10 times that he had faced them. He also fanned 17 in a game against Cornell. During the summers, Byrne would played in the semiprofessional Tobacco State League. He was scouted by Yankees Regional Scout Gene McCann and signed with New York on July 4, 1940. He would receive a $10,000 signing bonus and a $650-a-month salary. The Philadelphia Athletics had offered Byrne more money, but he was determined to play on the same team as his boyhood idol, Babe Ruth.
The Yankees started Byrne with their top farm club, the AA Newark Bears of the International League. He struggled in his 1st season, winning 2 games and losing 5. He did better in 1941 as the Bears won the 1st of 2 consecutive pennants, winning 10 games and losing 7. In 1942, Byrne hit his stride. He won 17 games while losing just 4, and while he gave up only 160 hits in 209 innings, he walked 145 batters. But Bears Manager Billy Meyer said, “Wild or not, he is the best prospect in the International League, as his record shows. There is no reason he can’t get the ball over the plate in the majors.” At the plate, the left-handed hitting Byrne had 10 doubles, 2 triples and 2 HRs, while batting .328.
Byrne earned a spot on the Yankees’ 1943 roster, making his Major League pitching debut on April 27th, against the Boston Red Sox. He pitched only 1 inning, giving up no hits but a run on 2 walks. The rookie was with the Yankees for only a short time before enlisting in the navy. He won 2 games and lost 1, but he had walked 35 batters in 31 2/3 innings. Byrne’s 1st MLB win came as a reliever in his 2nd game, in Washington. To make the victory even sweeter, his mentor Eddie Rommel was umpiring at 1st base.
Byrne quickly grasped the Yankees tradition. “Part of the Yankee success lay in perpetuating the image,” he recalled in later years “From the moment you signed a contract with them they began instilling in you that Yankee tradition and they never stopped, not even when you were with the parent team. The attitude in those days was so great it was unreal. If we had a ballplayer on the Yankees who seemed to be doing things on his own, who didn’t appear to have had bred in him what it meant to play and win as a team, he wasn’t around too long . . . They just wouldn’t allow anyone, no matter how much ability he had, to tarnish that Yankee image. It meant too much, in ways that were as much practical as symbolic.”
Because Byrne was a college graduate with a degree in mathematics, the Yankees’ Farm Director, George Weiss, recommended him for Naval Officers Training School. Byrne was accepted and was commissioned an ensign in November 1943. His 1st assignment was to the Norfolk (Virginia) Naval Base, where, like many ballplayers in uniform, he mostly played baseball. In the spring of 1944, Byrne posted a 16-2 record for the powerful base team, while playing in the outfield on the days he did not pitch.Later, Byrne was assigned to the destroyer USS Ordronaux as the gunnery officer. In August 1944, he participated in the Allied invasion of the southern coast of France and was in charge of the ship’s guns as it shelled German shore defenses. Discharged from the Navy in January 1946, Byrne would rejoin the Yankees. But he made only 4 pitching appearances during the 1946 season, though he appeared in 10 other games as a pinch hitter or pinch runner. Manager Joe McCarthy tried without success to get the 6-foot-1, 182-pound Byrne to switch to 1st base. The highlight of the season for Byrne was probably Oldtimers Day at Yankee Stadium, when Babe Ruth asked to borrow his glove.
The emergence of rookie pitcher Frank Shea put Byrne’s 1947 MLB roster spot in jeopardy. Byrne had pitched only 4 innings when on June 14th the Yankees sent him to the AAA Kansas City Blues of the American Association. With the Blues, Byrne would win 12 and lose 6, but he gave up 106 walks in 149 innings. Byrne was back with the Yankees in 1948 and finally started to find his groove in the majors, winning 8 games and losing 5. Still wild, h had walked 101 in 133 innings and hit a league-leading 9 batsmen. Coach Bill Dickey, who had been his 1st MLB catcher, taught Byrne a cut fastball, which curtailed the natural rising movement of his fastball. But the wildness remained. He led the American League in walks 3 years in a row (1949–1951) and hit batsmen in 5 seasons.
Even with his problems locating the strike zone, Byrne was considered a vital part of the Yankees squad, and got a raise in salary in each of 3 years he led the league in walks. “ … I never really believed in my own mind that I was so very wild,” he said in later years. “I didn’t think I was ‘losing’ wild, if you know what I mean. I used to feel that if they let me pitch, I wasn’t going to give more than 3 or 4 runs a game, and I would get a couple back with my own bat, because I could hit.”
The Yankees had a new manager in 1949, Casey Stengel and Byrne, with a 15-7 record had his best MLB season to date. The Yankee had defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series. Byrne started the 3rd game but he was lifted in the 4th inning after giving up a HR to Pee Wee Reese and loading the bases on a hit and 2 walks. Byrne was a methodical worker on the mound, taking an inordinate amount of time between pitches. He was a sociable fellow on the mound, too. He talked to players in the opposing dugouts and also to opposing batters, all in an effort to shake their concentration.
Despite leading the American League in walks and hit batters in 1950, Byrne had won 15 games for the pennant-winning Yankees and was selected to the All-Star team. On July 5,1950, he hit 4 batters in the 5 innings he pitched, which tied an American League record for most batters hit in a game. He did not pitch as New York swept the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.
When Byrne came to work at Yankee Stadium on June 15,1951, he found left-handed pitcher Stubby Overmire occupying his locker. Byrne was summoned to Stengel’s office and told he had been traded to the St. Louis Browns with $25,000 for Overmire.
1952 Topps Baseball Card
Tommy did not fare well in St. Louis, winning 11 games, while losing 24 during his year and a half with the club. “There was no greater tumble than going from the 1st-place Yankees to the last-place Browns,” Byrne said. But he enjoyed playing for the colorful Bill Veeck, who gave him a raise despite his 4-10 record for the tail-enders. Byrne tied another record for wildness on August 22,1951, against Boston, when he walked 16 batters in a game.
After posting a 7-14 record in 1952, the Browns would trade Byrne to the Chicago White Sox along with shortstop Joe DeMaestri for outfielder Hank Edwards and shortstop Willie Miranda. His tenure with the White Sox was brief, but he did have 1 shining moment. On May 16th, White Sox manager Paul Richards summoned him from the bullpen to pinch-hit for infielder Vern Stephens with the bases loaded and 2 men out in the 9th inning. Veteran Right-handed pitcher Ewell Blackwell had just entered the game for New York.
Byrne recalled: “Richards asked me, ‘You ever hit this guy?’ ‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘about 11 years ago.’ ‘Well,’ said Richards, ‘How about going up and hitting one out of here?’ So, I go up there and, after getting the count to 2-2, I don’t even remember swinging the bat, but I hit a line drive, 20 rows back in right field.” The grand slam won the game. During his MLB career, Byrne had batted .238 with 14 HRs, 98 RBIs and a .378 slugging percentage.
Less than a month after the grand slam, Chicago would sell Byrne to the Washington Senators. He appeared in 6 games for Washington in 1953, losing 5 before being released on August 2nd by Team Owner Clark Griffith. “I had 1e day to go before becoming a 10-year man in the majors,” Byrne recalled. That annoyed him, but not as much as the reason Griffith gave for the move-they couldn’t understand what had happened to his hitting!
Byrne signed as a free agent with the White Sox, who sent him to the Charleston (West Virginia) Senators, their affiliate in the American Association. He was 1-6 with a 5.31 ERA for Charleston in the last 2 months of 1953.
That December, Chicago had traded him to the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League for 1st baseman Gordon Goldsberry.
During the winter, Byrne played for a team in Pastora, Venezuela, where he began to experiment with changing speeds on his pitches. “I was determined to work on a slider down there, and it was amazing what I did in the short time there,” he said.
When the Rainiers’ newest addition joined the team in the spring of 1954, he picked up right where he left off in winter ball. The seasoned southpaw pitched great all year, keeping the Pacific Coast League hitters off balance with a variety of off-speed offerings and his recently developed slider. “It turned out to be the perfect spot for me,” Byrne said. “[Jerry] Priddy was a 1st-year manager and he needed a veteran pitcher who could give him innings. I was ready and willing. I needed starts on a regular basis to work on my contract.” When the PCL season ended, Tommy had compiled a record of 20 wins and 10 losses with a 3.15 ERA. His 199 strikeouts led the league, and for the 1st time, outnumbered his walks (118). He also played in 50 games as an outfielder, 1st baseman, or pinch-hitter and hit for a .295 batting average, with 7 HRs and 39 RBIs.
Byrne’s statistics impressed an opposing Manager, Oakland’s Charlie Dressen. When his old pal, Casey Stengel, sought his opinion on PCL players, Dressen told him, “The only guy here who can help you is Byrne. I suggest you get him. He’s a different pitcher than when I saw him with the Yankees. He’s learned what this is about.” On September 3, 1954, the Yankees would purchased Byrne’s player contract from Seattle. Byrne would start 5 games for New York during the last month of the season, winning 3 and losing 2.
Topps 1956 Baseball Card
By 1955, the Yankees pitching staff had been revamped, Casey Stengel made Byrne his No. 3 starter behind Whitey Ford and Bob Turley.
At the age of 35, Byrne set his MLB pitching career high for victories, finishing 16-5, with a 3.15 ERA. His .762 winning percentage was the best in the league and the Yankees won the pennant. “He beat the other 1st-division clubs, Cleveland, the White Sox, the Red Sox, when it was them or us,” Stengel said. “Without him, we don’t win.”
Byrne would start Game 2 of the 1955 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, in Yankee Stadium. He held them to 5 hits and 2 runs and rapped a 2-run single as the Yankees won, 4–2. Casey Stengel had enough faith in his veteran pitcher to give him the start in Game 7. Byrne pitched 5 2/3 innings and gave up just 2 runs, but Johnny Podres shut out the Yankees as the Dodgers won the game, and the 1955 World Series. After the Series, Byrne was part of the Yankees squad that toured Japan.
In 1956, the Yankees starting rotation was retooled with the addition of youngsters Johnny Kucks and Tom Sturdivant. Byrne would make only 8 starts and posted a 7-3 record and 3.36 ERA with 6 saves. He made 1 relief appearance in the World Series, giving up a HR to Duke Snider in Game 2. The 1957 campaign was Byrne’s last in the Major Leagues. He made 4 starts, but he did most of his work out of the bullpen. He had posted a 4-6 record with a 4.36 ERA with 2 saves in 30 games. His last 2 mound appearances came in the World Series against the Milwaukee Braves. One of the outings was the occasion of a memorable incident.
The Yankees took a 1-run lead in Game 4 with a run in the top of the 10th inning. Byrne was summoned to save the game, and his 1st pitch to pinch-hitter Nippy Jones skidded past catcher Yogi Berra and rolled back to the stands. Jones insisted the ball had hit him on the foot, proving his point by showing a shoe-polish scuff mark on the baseball. Home-plate Umpire Augie Donatelli awarded Jones 1st base. Byrne was replaced by Bob Grim, and the Braves won 3 batters later on a 2-run HR by Eddie Mathews. Byrne said that if Berra had thrown the ball back to him instead of holding onto it for Donatelli, Byrne would have marked it up so that nobody could spot the shoe polish. After appearing in a mop-up role in Game 7, Byrne hung up his spikes for good.
He was finding it harder to separate himself from the peaceful times and friendly people of Wake Forest. He’d gotten into the oil business, owned a couple of farms, and even opened a clothing store in Algiers, near Wake Forest. “When I sent back my contract after the ’57 season,” Byrne said, “the Yankees called me and asked me to come to St. Petersburg for spring training anyway.”
There, Yankees General Manager George Weis had offered him a new player contract and a $5,000 raise, with a catch: it involved trading Byrne to the St. Louis Cardinals. “I told him, ‘You don’t understand, if I’m gonna pitch, the only place it’s gonna ever be is for the New York Yankees.’ ” The hard-throwing left-hander would end his pitching career in the MLB with a lifetime record of 85 wins, 69 losses with a 4.11 ERA. In 11 seasons with the Yankees, he was 72-40 with a 3.93 ERA and 12 saves. At the plate, he would finished with 14 HRs and a very respectable .238 batting average. A few years later, Byrne became an MLB scout for the New York Mets. In May 1963, he took over the manager’s job with the Mets’ Class A affiliate in Raleigh, North Carolina and piloted the club for the remainder of the season. Tommy Byrne retired from all baseball activities after the 1963 season.
He had been living in Wake Forest during the off-season and now would make the college town his permanent home. His many business interests during this time included successful forays in real estate, a clothing store, farm equipment, and the oil industry. Byrne was also a dedicated civil servant: He served as a town commissioner, Bureau of Recreation chairman and 2 terms as Mayor of Wake Forest, from 1973 to 1987. Byrne’s accomplishments on the ball field earned him induction into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, the Wake Forest College Hall of Fame, the Maryland Sports Hall of Fame, and the Baltimore City College Hall of Fame.
The town would honored the former Yankee with 2 Tommy Byrne Days in 1955 and 2007. He had received numerous other accolades, including awards from the North Carolina Governor and the Wake Forest Birthplace Society. Byrne was a founding member of St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church and a member of the Knights of Columbus. Beginning in 1957, the local high school gave an award in his name to the best athlete of the year.
Tommy Byrne died from congestive heart failure on December 20, 2007, at the age of 87. His wife of 62 years, Mary Susan (Nichols) Byrne, had died in 2002. Byrne was survived by 3 sons, Thomas, John and Charles, and a daughter Susan, along with numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Byrne is buried in Wake Forest Cemetery.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 15, 2024 15:34:46 GMT -5
Yankees OF Charlie Keller 1937-1949This article was written by Nelson ‘Chip’ Greene, Edited by Clipper
 1939 Sporting News PhotoAt the baseball field in Memorial Park, in Middletown, Maryland, a rural community about 50 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., stands a monument that townspeople erected in honor of Charlie Keller. It’s a bronze plaque affixed atop a waist-high, circular concrete pillar. Beneath a raised profile of Keller is a legend: “Charlie Keller … Middletown’s own … Pride, Character and Sportsmanship.” Below that are listed the highlights of Keller’s career. The pillar stands in the deepest reaches of center field. In 1930, however, the baseball diamond at Memorial Park was reversed, and the spot on which the pillar was erected is the exact place where Charlie Keller stood at home plate and learned to hit a baseball.
Charles Ernest Keller, Jr. was born on September 12,1916, on a 140-acre farm about 2 1/2 miles east of the park. He was the 2nd child and eldest son of Charles Ernest and Naomi (Kefauver) Keller. In addition to his older sister, Ruth, Charlie had 2 younger brothers, John (known as Hugh) and Harold, (known as Hal), who became a catcher for the Washington Senators. All the children worked on the farm. “We all did,” said Jack Remsberg, a cousin of the Kellers who grew up with them, in reference to all the Middletown farm families. Each morning Keller would arise at 4:00 a.m. and help with milking the cows and plowing before heading to school. Such activity developed in the young boy a solid and muscular physique. Remsberg said that after school let out for the day, Charlie would play ball at the field and then run 2 and a half miles to the farm, where he would change into his work clothes in the barn, so his father wouldn’t know he’d been playing.
At Middletown High School, Charlie Keller, Class of 1933, became a schoolboy legend. During the Depression, when he was 17, the Kellers’ had lost their farm and would moved into town. However bad that was for the family, it gave Charlie the opportunity to develop his athletic skills. In addition to playing baseball, he was a guard on the basketball team, the leading offensive threat on the soccer team and a runner on the track team. Although primarily a sprinter in the 100-yard dash, Keller once ran a 54-second 1/4-mile, which won a state meet. It was in baseball, however, that he truly excelled. Starting as a catcher, Keller eventually played every position on the diamond, but alternated mostly between pitcher and catcher. Keller also played in a weekly Frederick County league, and by the time his senior season arrived he was 1 of the leading batters in the county. Unfortunately, his senior season was cut short when he was stricken with appendicitis.
That summer, while recuperating, Keller had obtained a scholarship to the University of Maryland. Keller was an outstanding student and earned a degree in Agricultural Economics. Keller would work hard outside the classroom as well. In 2006, his 90-yearold widow, Martha, remembered Keller “dug ditches at the arts and science building,” for which he was paid $15 a month for 50 hours of campus chores. He also became 1 of the best multisport athletes in the university’s history.He had played on the freshman baseball and basketball teams (freshmen couldn’t play varsity sports) and by his sophomore year, Keller played not only those 2 varsity sports, but football as well. Although he had not played the game in high school, given his build (5 feet 10 and 190 pounds, with broad shoulders and a thick chest), the Athletic Department was confident, he could take to football as he had to other sports.Accordingly, when the varsity opened its 1934 season against St. John’s (Maryland) with a 13-0 victory, sophomore Keller made his football debut at left defensive end by “toss[ing] a passer for a 10-yard loss on [Keller’s] 1st play.” By midseason, though, an ankle injury had sidelined him indefinitely, and, fearing another injury might jeopardize his baseball chances, he decided to drop football.
Clearly, baseball was his future. He had proved to be a slugger from the moment, that he had stepped on campus. In one of his earliest games with the freshman team, practicing against the varsity, Keller “cracked a triple over the center fielder’s head,” and he finished his 2 varsity seasons with batting averages of .500 and .495; the composite .497 average being at that time the best in school history. His head coach, Burton Shipley, who had managed Hack Wilson at Martinsburg in the Blue Ridge League in 1922, told the press that “Keller looks as good to me as Hack Wilson . . . in 1922.” All Keller needed, opined Shipley, “is a little experience. He has a great arm, he’s fast and he’s a fighter.”
By the end of his junior season in the spring of 1936, Keller was one of the best college players in the country. Scouts had been coming to College Park for 2 years to watch him play. In the summer after both seasons, Keller traveled to Kinston, North Carolina, to play in the semiprofessional Coastal Plain League. He would post a .385 average in 1935, and a .466 mark with 25 HRs in 1936. By the time he returned to College Park, he had accepted a player contract offer from MLB Scout Gene McCann to play for the New York Yankees. The Yankees had agreed to let Keller finish his education. Once graduated, he was to report in June 1937 to the AA Newark (Bears, the Yankees’ entry in the International League. As it turned out, he arrived in Newark sooner than expected.
“I read in the papers in March,” Keller said, “that the Newark club had gone to spring training in Sebring, Florida and I decided that I might just as well start playing ball and get my degree the next year. So, I wired [Yankees’ Farm Director] George Weiss I was on my way.” Newark’s Manager, Ossie Vitt, was thrilled to have him. Keller was a left-handed hitter, a commodity Newark desperately needed. He arrived in Sebring on March 22nd and took batting practice the next day. After watching the 20-yearold slugger, Vitt had decided Keller would be his starting right fielder, a position Keller had never played.
The Yankees were hoping Keller would be the left-handed pull-hitter they had been seeking since the departure of Babe Ruth 3 years earlier, one who would hit HRs into the short porch in Yankee Stadium. Keller, though, wasn’t that type of hitter. Rather than always trying to pull the ball, he usually hit it where it was pitched, hammering doubles and triples lined to left field and center field. Hall of Fame Pitcher Herb Pennock, who scouted Keller for the Boston Red Sox, said Keller hit the ball harder to left than any left-handed hitter he had ever seen, except Ruth.
In his exhibition debut, on March 25th, pinch-hitting against the Cincinnati Reds, Keller tripled to left field at Sebring Park. A week later, against the Philadelphia Phillies, he hit a 2-run, inside-the-park homer over the center fielder’s head, a hit, exclaimed Philadelphia’s Chuck Klein, playing right field that day, that was “the longest drive ever saw.” Still, if the Yankees wanted him to become a pull hitter, Keller, anxious to please, would try to accommodate them. The experiment lasted for only a year. After trying throughout the 1937 season to please Yankees’ management by pulling the ball, by April 1938, Keller had returned to the style he favored. “They can save Babe Ruth’s crown for someone else,” he said. In 1937, Keller, who won the batting title with a .353 average and led the league in runs and hits, was named both the International League Rookie of the Year and Minor League Player of the Year.
In August 1937, Weiss exclaimed, “What I’m looking forward to is the day when Charlie Keller puts on a Yankee uniform. . . . [he is] absolutely the best outfield prospect in the minor leagues . . . can go and get fly balls with nearly anybody and he has a great arm.” Still, Keller was disappointed when he wasn’t invited to New York’s 1938 spring training camp. “I’d have given any of (the current Yankee outfielders) a real battle,” he said. Instead, he grudgingly returned to AA Newark Bears, where he would batted .365 (2nd in the league) and finished 3rd in league MVP voting.
CharlieKeller had emerged as potentially the next great Yankees’ player. Rival clubs, a newspaper said in May 1938, were “shouting and bidding for Keller’s services all winter and spring.” Bob Quinn, President of the Boston Braves, remarked, “We’d gladly give $75,000 for Keller because he’s a great ballplayer whose punch might even land us a pennant, but it’s no sale. Instead, the Yanks keep him in hock at Newark.”
On January 21,1938, in Baltimore, Keller wed Martha Lee Williamson, an athletic instructor at a private school. Jack Remsberg remembered Martha, a Baltimore native, as a “beautiful tennis player and golfer.” Keller and Martha had met 3 years previously, when both were students at College Park. Their marriage would last 52 years, until Keller’s death in 1990 and had produced 3 children.
Yankees Player Photo
On February 27,1939, the 3-time defending champion Yankees opened spring training in St. Petersburg, Florida. Manager Joe McCarthy had asked Keller to report a week ahead of the regulars so he could personally work with the 22-year-old rookie who had played right field both years at Newark. Keller threw right-handed, explained McCarthy, a trait that “makes him conducive to left field,” and Keller, the manager affirmed, “definitely [is] a left fielder.” He was expected to compete with veteran George Selkirk, another left-handed batter, for a starting spot at that position.
McCarthy also wanted Keller to again work on pulling the ball, but Keller was reluctant to do so. He said he didn’t want McCarthy to tinker with his swing. “I can hit well enough to make the grade even with a hitting team like the Yankees,” the rookie said. “I hit with the pitch. I never will be one of those HR sluggers. If a man cannot bat well, tinker with him. If he can hit, why not let him be?” Nevertheless, Keller went to work once again altering his hitting style.
If Keller initially disagreed with McCarthy, over time he came to idolize him. In the book Summer of ’49, David Halberstam wrote that one night on the team train, broadcaster Curt Gowdy, sitting around the bridge table with some of the players, asked of the former Yankee manager, then with the Red Sox, “Wasn’t he a bit of a drinker?” Afterward, Keller followed Gowdy to his train cabin and grabbed him, warning, “I never want you to make another remark about Joe McCarthy like that.” In an interview in 1973, Keller said, the Yankees “were just lucky to have the best manager that ever ran a ballclub.” McCarthy, he said, “was a leader … who had no favorites,” and “insisted that we act like men and it wasn’t long before we were proud that we were acting the way we were.”
Throughout the spring of 1939, McCarthy would mentor Keller. He calmed the rookie and settled him down as he struggled to adapt to the change in batting stroke and often became frustrated. Gradually, Keller’s natural talent took over and by April 1st, when the team broke camp, McCarthy had named him the Yankees’ starting left fielder. But when Opening Day arrived, Keller was not ready to play. A muscle tear, he had suffered in his thigh while at Maryland flared up again at Newark and went without proper treatment. At St. Petersburg, the problem had returned and the Yankees’ trainer advised McCarthy that Keller’s debut should be delayed. It wasn’t until April 22nd that he played in his 1st big league game, as a pinch-hitter against the Senators in Washington.
A week passed before Keller played again. He would debut before the home fans on April 29th, against Washington. When Joe DiMaggio had to leave the game with an injured foot, McCarthy would move Jake Powell from left field to center field and inserted Keller in left. Keller had 4 at-bats and collected his 1st hit, a single off of Ken Chase. On May 2nd, in Detroit, the same day Lou Gehrig ended his legendary consecutive-games streak, Keller made his 1st start. Playing left field and batting 5th, he would hit a triple and a HR and drove in 6 runs. By June 6th, he had started 34 games and was batting .319, with 24 RBIs. Still, when DiMaggio returned to the lineup the next day, Keller would returned to the Yankees bench.According to Halberstam, when Keller arrived at the ballpark that afternoon and found he was not in the lineup, he cried. Yankees Manager Joe McCarthy attempted to console his young player. He told Keller someday he would be a great Yankee star, but he would have to work on pulling the ball more, particularly in Yankee Stadium. For the remainder of that season and, indeed, the rest of his MLB playing career, Keller heeded McCarthy’s advice.
Throughout most of June and July, Keller was largely forgotten. Then, on August 2nd, McCarthy put him in right field to replace the struggling Tommy Henrich. From then until the end of the 1946 season (minus 1944 and most of 1945, when he was in the military), Keller not only remained in the Yankees starting lineup, he became one of the most feared sluggers in the American League.
Overall, in 111 games in 1939, he had batted .334, 5th in the league and was 4th with a .447 on-base percentage. In the World Series, as New York would sweep the Cincinnati Reds, Keller batted a team-high .438, with 3 HRs and 6 RBIs. After a season of abrupt starts and stops, it appeared that Keller had finally arrived. In 1940, as Henrich re-established himself in right field, Keller would return to left. Together with DiMaggio, the 3 formed arguably the premier outfield in the game during their time together.
1941 World Series Yankees Outfield: Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Keller and Tommy Henrich
At the University of Maryland, Keller was saddled with the nickname he never cared for, “King Kong.” In 1948, writer Milton Gross visited the team in spring training and reminded readers why Keller had received the appellation. Keller, Gross wrote, “looked massive. His black, beetle-browed eyes, his muscled blacksmith arms, his thick neck and hogshead of a chest were of wrestler’s proportions.” As Keller finally matured into the pull hitter the club had always desired, that impressive physique produced equally impressive results.
From 1940 through 1943, playing an average of 143 games a season, Keller batted .287 and had a .531 slugging average. He had 111 HRs, an average of 28 per season and averaged 102 RBIs over the 4 years. For all his power, Keller displayed remarkable patience at the plate, averaging 107 bases on balls per year. On January 20,1944, Keller, now 27 years old, at the peak of his skills, and earning $15,000 a year, was commissioned an Ensign in the United States Maritime Service. For the next 20 months, he served as a purser, sailing the Pacific aboard merchant ships. “I didn’t see or touch a ball the whole time I was away,” he said in a 1973 interview. Keller returned in August 1945 to play the final 6 weeks of the season. “I wasn’t in shape to play,” he admitted.
As it turned out, 1946 was the final full season of his Yankees playing career. At the beginning of 1947, the 30-old Keller signed a $22,000 player contract. Coming off a season in which, he had hit 30 HRs and driven in 101 runs, the Yankees deemed him worth every penny and he picked up right where he had left off in 1946. On June 5th, Keller led the league in HRs, RBIs and runs scored. That day, though, after walking and collecting a pair of base hits, he would complain of soreness in his lower right back and left in the 6 inning. Afterward, Keller said he had 1st experienced pain the previous day; he thought it had come from swinging awkwardly. On June 27th, with the pain now radiating down his leg, Keller would check into New York Hospital for observation, He would never play another game that season. On July 18th, the doctors would removed a slipped disk from Keller’s spine. The club said he might return in September. Instead, Keller’s playing career was essentially finished. During the 1947 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, he sat in uniform on the bench. A friend suggested that the slugger carry the lineup to home plate before the opening game. “Not for me,” responded Keller. “The next time I go . . . on to that playing field, I’m going out to play, not to try to get some sympathy. I’ll try to be back out there next April. I’ll know if I can make it. If I decide I can’t I won’t go out.”
For the next 2 years, the 5-time All-Star made a valiant attempt to come back from his back injury, but his efforts were largely futile. In 1948 and 1949, although he had played in 143 games, only 97 were as a fielder. Ironically, the disc surgery had forced Keller to change his batting style. Instead of “murderously swinging” at each pitch, he favored his back; doing so forced him to cut down on his swing. On occasion, Keller could still deliver the long ball, but it was soon apparent that his power was gone. Finally, after 2 seasons of watching him struggle, the Yankees would release him on December 6,1949. “I had some marvelous years and I’ve no regrets,” he graciously remarked.
And with that, his Yankees playing career came to a close. On September 25, 1948, before 65,507 fans at Yankee Stadium, the team held “Charlie Keller Day.” With a Maryland delegation on hand, led by Senator Millard Tydings, Keller was presented with golf clubs, a watch and a “pile of other gifts.” With the money he received, the slugger began a University of Maryland scholarship.
One has only to travel 10 miles northeast of Keller’s monument in Middletown to appreciate how he spent the rest of his life. Jack Remsberg said, “Charlie began his life on a farm and ended it that way too.” Before Keller realized his dream, however, he gave baseball one last try.
On December 29,1949, Keller had signed with the Detroit Tigers for $20,000 to be the “the highest-paid pinch-hitter in the game.” Over the next 2 seasons, in 104 games, he would batted .283 and hit 5 HRs, before Detroit released him on November 9,1951. The following September, after 2 evening workouts at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park, Keller sufficiently impressed Manager Casey Stengel for New York to re-sign the slugger as a pinch-hitter. After only 1 at-bat in 2 games (a strikeout), Keller was released by the Yankees on October 13,1952. It was a testament to the Yankees’ respect for him that although he’d been with the team only 2 weeks in 1952, he was awarded a $1,000 World Series share.
Having grown up on a farm, Keller said in 1946, “I’ll know what to do with a good piece of land. Baseball to me means the best farm in my part of the country.” Sixty years later his widow remembered, “That’s why he was playing ball. He wanted a farm someday.” In retirement, Keller bought 4 parcels of land in Frederick, 10 miles from where he’d been born, and eventually amassed 300 acres. He lived there the remainder of his life.
According to Jack Remsberg, Keller initially had standard farm animals, but when milking cows proved too demanding a lifestyle, “he got into the trotting horse business.” In 1955, Yankeeland Farms was born. The former Yankee became a breeder and over the next 35 years Yankeeland Farms became nationally renowned for its line of champion harness racers.
Each day, Keller would mucked stalls, repaired fences, and “savored the simplest of farming pleasures.” His son Donald, who worked beside him for 30 years, remembered that his father “liked feeding horses and liked just listening to them eat.” Keller continued to work until he died of colon cancer in 1990 at the age of 73.
Today Charlie Keller rests in the Christ Church Reformed Cemetery in Middletown, 2 miles from the site of his birth, just behind the high school and a very long home run’s distance to right field from his monument, the place where it all began.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 15, 2024 16:01:31 GMT -5
Yankees Outfielder Tommy Henrich “Old Reliable”
This article was written by Rob Edelman, Edited by Clipper
 Tommy Henrich Yankees Player Photo“What do [you] think of Tommy Henrich?”
“I don’t know, he’s dependable, I guess.”
This bit of repartee, from Philip Roth’s novella "Goodbye Columbus", just about sums up Henrich’s career with the New York Yankees during the late 1930s and 1940s. If Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Joe Gordon, Bill Dickey, Phil Rizzuto, and Yogi Berra were the luminaries of the pre- and post-war Bronx Bombers, Henrich was a rock-solid supporting player. He was celebrated for his dedication to the game, his ability to deliver a timely hit, and his prowess on defense. It was for good reason Henrich was nicknamed “Old Reliable,” and he was sincere when he declared, “I get a thrill every time I put on my Yankee uniform. It sounds corny, but it’s the gospel truth.”
Thomas David Henrich was born on February 20,1913, in Massillon, Ohio. His parents were Edward M. Henrich, a plastering contractor, and Mary Elizabeth (Dressler) Henrich; he had 4 brothers and a sister. The Henrichs were active in St. Mary’s Catholic Church and young Tommy would attend the parish school. Massillon was strictly football country, but Henrich’s parents refused to allow him to play what they considered a violent sport. So instead, the youngster became enamored of baseball. However, there were no baseball teams in Massillon; throughout his childhood and high school years-he graduated from St. John’s Catholic High School in nearby Canton in 1933-he could play only softball. In fact, for much of his MLB career, he claimed his birth year was 1916, to compensate for his lack of baseball playing in his youth. After graduation from high school, Henrich would play baseball for the semipro Prince Horn and Acme Dairy teams. He would draw the attention of Billy Doyle, a Detroit Tigers MLB scout. The Tigers had offered him a player contract, but he chose to continue playing semipro ball while earning a paycheck as a clerk in a steel mill.
In November 1933, Tommy Henrich was signed by the Cleveland Indians after catching the attention of MLB Scout Bill Bradley. He spent the following summer with the Monessen Indians in the Class D Pennsylvania State Association, where he hit .326 in 104 games; he also played in 4 games with the Zanesville (Ohio) Greys in the Class C Middle Atlantic League. He would return to Zanesville in 1935 and hit .337 in 115 games; he finished that campaign playing 17 games for the New Orleans Pelicans in the Class A Southern Association. Henrich, a left-handed batter and thrower, spent the entire 1936 campaign in New Orleans, and his progress as a ballplayer is reflected in the numbers he compiled: a .346 batting average with 15 HRs,100 RBIs and 117 runs scored.
The 23-year-old Henrich believed his stellar Southern Association season would earn him a spring training invite with the 1937 Indians. Instead, he was ordered to report to the Minor League Milwaukee Brewers in the American Association. Henrich was baffled by this exclusion. Furthermore, as the Brewers had no Major League affiliation, he was unsure who exactly owned his player contract. Instead of suffering quietly, he would write a letter to Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the baseball commissioner, in which he wondered if he was being justly treated by the Indians. The commissioner responded by pronouncing that Cleveland was not offering Henrich a fair shot at making the big- league club. Furthermore, Landis declared Henrich a free agent, who could sign with any Major League organization of his choosing. “I had a strong case [against the Indians],” Henrich recalled in 1971, “but I always had the feeling that Landis ruled in my favor because he disliked [Cleveland General Manager Cy] Slapnicka so much.”
On April 14, 1937, Henrich was freed of his baseball obligation to Cleveland. Though the Indians were the closest thing to a hometown big league club, Henrich had long been a New York Yankees fan. He was won over in the early 1920s after the Yankees acquired Babe Ruth; Henrich readily admitted the Babe was his favorite ballplayer. After his liberation from Cleveland, over half the MLB organizations expressed an interest in him. The New York Giants’ Bill Terry told the press he would pay $15,000 for Henrich’s services. But less than a week after becoming a free agent, Henrich sign with the Yankees, earning a bonus that was reported to be in the $20,000 to $25,000 range.
“I still have a vivid memory of coming to town for the 1st time and checking into the Hotel New Yorker,” he remembered. “The bellhop took my bag and discovered who I was before we even reached the room. ‘So, you’re the new Yankee outfielder,’ he said, sneering at me. ‘How can you break in ahead of let’s see, who we’ve got-Joe DiMaggio, Jake Powell, Myril Hoag, George Selkirk, and Roy Johnson? Did you ever see them guys hit?’ ‘Not yet,’ I said bravely, ‘but they never saw me hit either.’
The Yankees would assign the 6-foot, 180-pound Henrich to the International League AA Newark Bears, their top farm club. A week later, Yankees Manager Joe McCarthy overheard Roy Johnson rationalizing a defeat with a “you-can’t-win-them-all” mindset. McCarthy, who loathed losing, asked General Manager Ed Barrow to replace the veteran outfielder with “the kid.” Johnson was sold to the Boston Bees- and “the kid” had played his final Minor League game.
Henrich would make his MLB player debut on May 11,1937. Batting 7th in the Yankees starting lineup, he would doubled in 4 at-bats against Chicago White Sox hurler Monty Stratton. The Yankees then were mired in a slump, and McCarthy shuffled his batting order. With Henrich now hitting 3rd, the Yankees would score a 4–2 victory on May 13th against the St. Louis Browns. The rookie-described in the New York Times as “our latest freshman sensation”-contributed 2 singles. Then on May 16th, playing against the Philadelphia Athletics, he belted his 1st HR, along with a triple and single. The 4-bagger came in the 6th inning off of Philadelphia A’s starter George Caster. Overall, Henrich had appeared in 67 games, completing the 1937 season with a .320 batting average, 14 doubles, 5 triples, 8 HRs and 42 RBIs. The only downside to his freshman campaign was an injury to his left knee. Before 1938 spring training, he included a note, addressed to Barrow, along with his signed Yankee contract, in which he declared, “I am feeling fine, have no complaints, and am prepared to give everybody a fight for an outfield berth. My knees have not troubled me lately and I intend to report with the 1st squad in St. Petersburg, Fla., to round into shape.”
Henrich did indeed stick with the Yankees in 1938. In fact, that spring and the next, he even worked out at 1st base. Rumor had it he might eventually replace Lou Gehrig as the team’s 1st baseman. “For what is believed to be the 1st time in his 14-year association with the Yankees, as a player under contract,” reported James Dawson of the New York Times on March 23, 1939, “Lou Gehrig didn’t play today when the world champions met their Kansas City farm club at Yale Field in Haines City, Florida. Substituting for him was Henrich. When the Iron Horse finally benched himself during the regular season, ending his streak of 2,130 consecutive games, he was replaced by Reserve 1B Babe Dahlgren and not Henrich. It was decided the “baby-faced guardian of right field” was too valuable to the Yankees as an outfielder.
 1941 World Series Yankees Outfield; Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Keller and Tommy Henrich.
In 1941, Henrich played a significant role in keeping alive Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. On June 26, the 38th game of the streak, the Yankee Clipper was still hitless as the team came to bat in the last of the 8th inning holding the lead against the St. Louis Browns. DiMaggio was due up 4th in the inning, with Henrich scheduled right before him. With 1 out and Red Rolfe on 1st, McCarthy ordered Henrich to bunt to avoid a possible ground-ball double play-and not allowing his teammate a final at-bat. Henrich was thrown out, but Rolfe took 2nd. DiMaggio slammed Elden Auker’s 1st pitch for a double and the streak remained intact.
Upon the United States’ entry into World War II, Henrich was one of the scores of big leaguers, who went into the military. On August 30,1942, the year in which he made his 1st American League All-Star team, he would join the U.S. Coast Guard. He was assigned the rating of Specialist 1st Class and spent the war years attached to a training station in Michigan, where he played baseball for military teams. He also volunteered to coach the girls’ basketball team at Loretto Catholic High School in Sault Ste Marie.
On September 29,1945, Henrich had completed his Coast Guard duty and rejoined the Yankees the following season. His batting average in 1946 sank to .251, but the slump was temporary as he raised his average to .287 and .308 in 1947 and 1948. Additionally, he was an American League All-Star each season from 1947 to 1950. During this time, he displayed his versatility and athleticism by occasionally manning 1st base. By the end of the decade, he was a respected, hard-nosed veteran, who readily criticized teammates who were not playing as hard as they could or were making thoughtless errors. By his standards, such actions led to losing games and diminished opportunities for the Yankees to make the World Series.
Casey Stengel, who took over as the team’s manager in 1949, complimented Henrich for his on-field prowess and added, “If he comes back to the hotel at 3 in the morning when we’re on the road and says he’s been sitting up with a sick friend, he’s been sitting up with a sick friend.” New York Times columnist Arthur Daley observed, “Henrich has never been the captain of the Yankees. But the other players just gravitated to him as their natural leader. He was the captain in fact, if not in name.”
By the late 1940s, however, injuries were starting to debilitate Henrich. In 1949, he had fractured the transverse vertebrae in his back, broke his toe and played in just 115 games. In April 1950, he flew to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore to seek treatment for the left knee that had been bothering him since his rookie year. His physician, Dr. George Bennett, informed him he needed knee surgery, but could not promise the operation would allow him to continue playing ball. Henrich refused to have the surgery and, after playing in only 73 games in 1950, he would announce his retirement as a player on December 18,1950.
In the 11 seasons, that he had spent with the Yankees, Henrich had appeared in 1,284 games, compiling a .282 batting average and 183 HRs. His highest HR total was 31 in 1941, 3rd best in the American League. In 1948, he had tied a league record by belting 4 grand slams, led the league in triples, runs scored and extra-base hits and was 2nd in doubles and total bases. In 1949, he was 3rd in the American League in slugging percentage and tied for 3rd in HRs. He would finish 6th in the Most Valuable Player race in both 1948 and 1949. In January 1950 Sport Magazine honored him as its Athlete of the Year. 1941 World Series Dodgers Catcher Mickey Owen misses strike 3 on Yankees Batter Tommy Henrich
Tommy Henrich had appeared in 4 World Series in 1938, 1941, 1947 and 1949. On 3 occasions, he would play significant roles in deciding final scores. In each, the Yankees were pitted against the Brooklyn Dodgers. In the 4th game of the 1941 fall classic, played at Ebbets Field—which the Dodgers needed to win to tie the series—Brooklyn’s Hugh Casey had nursed a 1-run lead in the 9th inning. After retiring the 1st 2 Yankees batters, he would face Henrich. With the count at 3-and-2, Henrich swung and missed. The game would have been over, but Dodgers Catcher Mickey Owen failed to catch the ball. Henrich’s baseball instincts had him heading toward 1st base as he watched the movement of the ball; when he realized that it had gotten past Owen, he began running at full speed and arrived safely at 1st base. “I saw that little white jackrabbit bouncing,” Henrich recalled, “and I said, ‘Let’s go.’ It rolled all the way to the fence. I could have walked down to 1st.” The Yankees would rally to win to win the game by the score of 7-4 and then they would win the Series the next day. In the 1947 Series, another win against Brooklyn, Henrich had paced the team with 10 hits in 31 at-bats.
Henrich was at his most clutch at the close of the 1949 regular season and in the 1st World Series game. On the final day of the campaign, he belted a home run and drove in two runs in the Yankees’ 5–3 pennant-winning victory over the Boston Red Sox. Three days later, in Game 1 of the World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, he led off the bottom of the 9th with a HR off of Don Newcombe to give Allie Reynolds and the Yankees a 1–0 victory. It was the 1st walk-off HR in World Series history.
After retiring as an active player, Henrich would turned down an offer by George Weiss, the Yankees’ General Manager, to manage in the team’s Minor League system. Stories circulated that he would join Mel Allen in the team broadcast booth, but instead he served as an MLB Yankees Coach during the 1951 season. His duties included mentoring 19-year-old rookie Outfielder Mickey Mantle. Henrich also published a book that season: The Way to Better Baseball: A Guide for Young Ball Players and Their Coaches, written in collaboration with A.L. Plaut. The Yankees would drop Henrich from their MLB coaching staff after the 1951 campaign had ended. He immediately signed a contract to broadcast sports reports on WJZ, ABC’s flagship New York City television station; he also would hosted sports programs on WJZ radio and appeared on other networks. In April 1953, he emceed and was the chief instructor on Little League Baseball School, broadcast by CBS-TV in New York.
In 1954, Henrich would leave broadcasting to become President of the Red Top Brewery in Cincinnati, Ohio; by that time, he also owned beer distributorships in 2 New Jersey counties. He would resign from Red Top in February 1956 and returned to the New York area. He was a commentator on New York (football) Giants broadcasts when, that November, he became the New York (baseball) Giants’ 3rd-base MLB coach. At the conclusion of the 1957 season, with the Giants moving to San Francisco, Henrich would join the Detroit Tigers as an MLB batting instructor and 1st-Base Coach. He would spend the 1958 and 1959 seasons with the Tigers and then he was released from his contract. In 1968, Henrich had 1 last fling in professional baseball as the Kansas City Royals’ Minor League hitting instructor; he also scouted for the team and worked in public relations for Deibold, an Ohio-based manufacturer of bank and security equipment. His outside business interests included his beer distributorships and the ownership of the Diamond Room, a Columbus, Ohio, night club.
In his retirement, Henrich enjoyed regaling listeners with stories about his time with the Yankees and, in particular, anecdotes relating to Joe DiMaggio, whom he regarded as the greatest player he had ever seen. He also was a regular presence at Yankees Old-Timers games. In 1987, the team honored him with its annual "Pride of The Yankees Award," handed out to a celebrated figure from the organization’s history. In 1992, he would published a 2nd book, Five O’Clock Lightning: Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle and the Glory Years of the NY Yankees, written with Bill Gilbert.
Henrich had played the piano, regularly attended church, and sang in his church choir. He was active in the Massillon chapter of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America and in 1946 sang with Ohio’s State championship barbershop foursome.
Henrich would lived in Arizona during the 1980s and 1990s and then returned to his home state of Ohio. In his later years, he had suffered a series of strokes. He would died at the age of 96 on December 1, 2009, at his home in Beavercreek, Ohio, just outside Dayton; at the time, he was the oldest living Yankee. Henrich’s wife had died the previous March. She was the former Eileen Patricia O’Reilly, a nurse whom he met in September 1940, while hospitalized because of his knee injury; the pair were married on July 7,1941. The Henrichs had 5 children- 3 daughters (Patricia, Ann, and Mary Louise) and 2 sons (Tom and Paul)- as well as 3 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. He was eulogized in a private memorial service and was cremated, with his remains returned to his survivors.
Years before his passing, Henrich’s career and love of baseball were summed up by New York Times columnist Red Smith, who observed. “[Henrich] got more pure joy out of baseball than any player I ever knew” Mark Gallagher, The Yankee Encyclopedia.] In his Times obituary, he was described as “a timely hitter, an outstanding defensive player and a leader who epitomized the image of the classy Yankee who nearly always won.”[fn]Richard Goldstein, “Tommy Henrich, Yankees Clutch Hitter, Dies at 96.” New York Times, December 2, 2009.[/fn]
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 15, 2024 17:43:15 GMT -5
Former Yankees Pitcher Ken Holtzman
(1976-1978)
This article was written by Rich Puerzer, Edited by Clipper
 Chicago Cubs player Photo
Upon his arrival in the major leagues, Ken Holtzman was promoted as the new Sandy Koufax. A hard-throwing, left-handed Jewish pitcher, Holtzman quickly became the ace of the Chicago Cubs staff and one of the best pitchers in the majors. He enjoyed a fine career, spending his best years with the tumultuous and talented Oakland A’s. Holtzman was known as something of a thinking man’s ballplayer – he was quoted as having read Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past in the original French and was a staunch union advocate and player representative during the nascent years of free agency. Holtzman’s pitching career had a rocky ending and he retired at the age of 33, but he is remembered today as a very good, if still underestimated pitcher.
Kenneth Dale Holtzman was born on November 3,1945, in St. Louis. Henry Holtzman, his father, was in the machinery business while his mother, Jacqueline, was a homemaker. Ken grew up in the St. Louis suburb of University City. He graduated in 1963 from University City High School, where he had an overall pitching record of 31-3. Holtzman then entered the University of Illinois, where he studied Business Administration and played baseball. Holtzman was selected in the 4th round of the 1965 MLB Amateur Player Draft by the Chicago Cubs. The 6-foot-2, lanky left-hander was 19 years old and was in his sophomore year at Illinois. He was given a reported bonus of $65,000. Holtzman would join the Chicago Cubs organization, but he later graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and later earned a master’s degree.
Holtzman would join the Treasure Valley Cubs (Caldwell, Idaho) in the Rookie Pioneer League. He started 4 games for the team, winning each and allowing only 21 baserunners in 27 innings, while compiling an ERA of 1.00. He was quickly promoted to the Wenatchee (Washington) Chiefs of the Class A Northwest League. There Holtzman started 8 games and went 4-3 with an 2.44 ERA in 59 innings. In his 86 innings of minor-league work, he struck out 114 batters. Based on his success in the minors, albeit at the Class A level, Holtzman was called up to the Cubs. He made his MLB debut on September 4th, called in to pitch the 9th inning with the Cubs down 6-3 to the San Francisco Giants. He promptly gave up a HR to Jim Ray Hart before retiring the side. Holtzman had pitched in 3 games for the Cubs in 1965 and demonstrated that he would contend for a spot in the starting rotation the following season.
Chicago Cubs Manager Leo Durocher wanted to put Ken Holtzman into the starting rotation for the 1966 NL season. Holtzman later reflected that “[Durocher] gave me a chance right away at age 20.” After an early-season relief appearance, he would make his 1st MLB start on April 24th in a matchup against Don Drysdale and the World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Holtzman would pitched 6 shutout innings and got the win in the 2-0 Cubs victory.Despite a lineup featuring 3 future Hall of Fame players, Ernie Banks, Ron Santo and Billy Williams, the 1966 Cubs were a terrible team. They won only 59 games and finished in the basement of the National League. In spite of the Cubs’ poor season, Holtzman’s rookie-year performance was not bad. He led the team with 11 wins with 171 strikeouts in 220⅔ innings pitched and showed great promise. One highlight was a late-season matchup between Holtzman and his boyhood idol, Sandy Koufax. Holtzman faced Koufax on Sunday, September 25th, in a game that drew 21,659 fans to Wrigley Field. (In Holtzman’s previous outing, 4 days earlier, the attendance at Wrigley was 530.) The 24th was Yom Kippur and neither Holtzman nor Koufax was in uniform as they both observed the Jewish holy day. The Cubs had scored 2 runs in the 1st inning against Koufax, and Holtzman was stellar on the mound. He went into the 9th inning with a no-hitter before giving up singles to Dodger hitters Ducky Schofield and Maury Wills. Holtzman got the complete-game 2-0 win, while striking out 8 Dodgers batters.
The 1967 NL season was an unusual one for Holtzman. He got off to a very good start, winning his 1st 5 decisions and posting an 2.33 ERA. He was then called up by the Illinois National Guard for a 6-month tour of duty. Holtzman was sent first to Fort Polk in Louisiana and later to Fort Sam Houston in Texas. While in Texas, Holtzman learned that he would be allowed to get weekend passes, so he could return to the Cubs to pitch. To help him prepare, the Cubs sent former catcher and coach (as a part of the “College of Coaches” approach that the Cubs took in 1961 and 1962) El Tappe to Texas to work with Holtzman, when he was off duty.
Beginning in mid-August, Holtzman was granted weekend passes, and flew to wherever the Cubs were playing. He pitched in 4 games, August 13th and 20th and September 3rd and 30th. He was extremely, and perhaps surprisingly, effective in each outing, winning all 4. All told, he posted a record of 9-0 and an 2.53 ERA for the season. Holtzman regressed a bit in the 1968 season, which was again disrupted by military duty, including in August when his unit served guard duty during the stormy Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He was able to start 32 games and pitch 215 innings and posted a record of 11-14 with an 3.35 ERA.
The 1969 NL campaign was both a breakthrough and heartbreaking season for Holtzman and the Cubs. He got off to a great start, including a span in mid-May of 33 innings without allowing a run. By June 10th, Holtzman had a record of 10-1 and the Cubs held a 7-game lead in the National League East. His best performance of the season came on August 19th, when he pitched a no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves and pitcher Phil Niekro. Holtzman was aided by a wind that blew in from center field and kept a 7th-inning drive by Henry Aaron in the park; left fielder Billy Williams caught it at the wall. Holtzman faced Aaron again with 2 out in the 9th inning, and induced a groundout that ended the game. The game was unique in that Holtzman did not strike out a single batter in the game.
For the Cubs, this game was unfortunately one of the final highlights of the season, as they went on to lose what seemed an insurmountable lead and the Eastern NL division to the “miracle” New York Mets. During their September swoon, Holtzman was not terribly effective on the mound; he went 1-5 as the Cubs collapsed. He would finish the season with a record of 17-13 with a 3.58 ERA.
In 1970, Holtzman was the no. 2 pitcher in the Cubs rotation, with Fergie Jenkins as the team’s ace. The Cubs had another good season, but finished 2nd in the division again, this time behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. Holtzman finished the season again with 17 wins, posting a record of 17-11 and an 3.38 ERA. He had struck out 202 batters, the only time in his MLB pitching career that he exceeded 200 strikeouts in a season. This was likely a result of pitching 287⅔ innings. In 1971, Holtzman would fall out of favor with Cubs Manager Durocher.
Between interruptions to his season for military duty and criticism from Durocher, Holtzman grew unhappy. Durocher rapped Holtzman in the press for not using his fastball enough and relying too much on his curve. He insinuated that Holtzman was not making his best effort. Allegedly, Durocher also made anti-Semitic slurs about Holtzman. Holtzman struggled throughout the season, but did have 1 exceptional game. On June 3rd, he tossed his 2nd no-hitter, this time against the Cincinnati Reds in Riverfront Stadium. He had struck out 6 batters and walked 4 in the 1-0 win. His opponent on the mound was Gary Nolan and the run he gave up was unearned. Aside from the no-hitter, the season was a difficult one for Holtzman. He would finished the season with a record of 9-15 and an 4.48 ERA
Ken Holtzman Oakland A's Photo
After absorbing the criticism of Durocher, Holtzman asked for a trade. While he had had a poor season, he was still only 25 years old and had not suffered any injuries. The Cubs would followed through on his request, and on November 29, 1971, Holtzman was traded to the Oakland A’s for Outfielder Rick Monday. The trade took Holtzman from the hapless Cubs to an Oakland A’s team on the cusp of greatness.
With the addition of Holtzman, the 1972 Oakland A’s had a pitching staff that was even stronger than it had been in 1971, when the A’s had won 101 games. Holtzman would joined fellow left-hander and 1971 Cy Young Award winner Vida Blue, as well as Catfish Hunter and Blue Moon Odom in the A’s pitching rotation. Because of Holtzman’s struggles in 1971, A’s Owner Charlie Finley cut his pay from $56,500 in 1971 to $53,250 for 1972. But Holtzman had a much better chance to succeed in Oakland. Because of the players’ strike, which delayed the opening of the 1972 AL season and Vida Blue’s contract holdout to start the season, the pitching rotation was not set at the start of the season. As a result, Holtzman ended up as the Opening Day pitcher. H would faced the Minnesota Twins on April 15th, pitching a strong 8 innings before giving way to reliever Rollie Fingers with a 3-2 lead. Fingers blew the save and the win for Holtzman, but the A’s would come back to win in 11 innings.
Holtzman was a highly effective pitcher all season long. He was named to the American League All-Star team, although he did not pitch in the game. Holtzman had a fine September and October, winning his final 5 decisions of the season. He finished with a record of 19-11 and an 2.51 ERA. In the League Championship Series, against the Tigers, Holtzman started Game 3, with the A’s having won the 1st 2 games. He gave up 2 runs in the 4th inning,and was pinch-hit for in the 5th. The A’s offense could not do much against Tigers starter Joe Coleman and the A’s ended up losing, 3-0.
Holtzman had better luck in the World Series. He pitched Game 1 matched up against Gary Nolan of the Cincinnati Reds. Holtzman pitched well enough against the potent Reds offense to get the win, with relief help from Rollie Fingers and Vida Blue. Holtzman also started Game 4, facing Reds starter Don Gullett. Holtzman pitched well before leaving the game with a 1-0 lead in the 8th inning with 2 outs and Dave Concepción at 3rd. Reliever Vida Blue lost the lead, but the A’s prevailed, scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th. Holtzman pitched once more in the Series, making a relief appearance in the 8th inning of Game 7. With the A’s leading, 3-1, Holtzman relieved Catfish Hunter after Hunter allowed a leadoff single to Pete Rose. Holtzman gave up a double to Joe Morgan, putting the tying runs on base. Holtzman was then relieved by Rollie Fingers, who allowed Rose to score on a sacrifice fly by Tony Perez. But Fingers allowed no other runs and finished off the game and the World Series.
After his and the A’s success in 1972, Holtzman was given a raise by the penurious Team Owner Charlie Finley, to $66,500. The 1973 season was another great one for Holtzman. He had a very strong 1st half, going 7-0 in May and putting together a record of 10-2 with an 1.56 ERA by June 1st. He hit a rough patch in June, going 1-6 for the month. Nevertheless, he was named to the All-Star team and pitched in the game, relieving teammate and starter Catfish Hunter with 1 out in the 2nd inning. After getting Johnny Bench to ground out, he give up a single to former Cubs teammate Ron Santo, then he would induced Chris Speier to ground out. Holtzman then gave way to a parade of relievers in the exhibition. He would steadied his season in July and finished 1973 as a 20-game winner, with a record of 21-13 and a 2.97 ERA.
Holtzman pitched Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against Orioles starter Mike Cuellar in Oakland with the series tied at 1-1. It was one of the most thrilling postseason games ever played. Holtzman gave up a solo HR to Orioles 1st baseman Earl Williams in the 2nd inning, then matched Cuellar in shutting down the opposition. The A’s tied up the score, 1-1, in the 8th inning, and both Holtzman and Cuellar continued to pitch as the game went into extra innings. Holtzman continued to shut down the Orioles through 11 innings before Bert Campaneris hit a game-winning HR in the bottom of the inning. Holtzman had pitched 11 innings, giving up only 3 hits and 1 walk and pitching through 3 errors by the A’s to earn the 2-1 win.
In the World Series, against the New York Mets, the A’s leaned heavily on Holtzman, who started Games 1, 4, and 7, matched up against Mets starter Jon Matlack in each game. In Game 1, Holtzman gave up 1 run in 5 innings and got the win. In Game 4, he gave up a 3-run HR to Rusty Staub in the 1st inning, then walked John Milner and gave up a single to Jerry Grote and was taken out after getting only 2 outs in the 1st inning. A’s Manager Dick Williams did not lose faith in Holtzman, however, and started him in Game 7. Holtzman pitched well and also helped himself at the plate. In the 3rd inning of the scoreless game, Holtzman doubled and later scored on a Campaneris HR that was a part of a 4-run rally. Holtzman would pitched 5⅓ innings and got the win as the A’s won their 2nd World Series in a row.
The next season, 1974, was another great year for both Holtzman and the A’s. Before the season, Holtzman had won his arbitration case, securing a $93,000 contract, $13,000 more than Owner Finley had offered. Holtzman was again the No. 3 starter in the A’s rotation behind Catfish Hunter and Vida Blue, although all 3 hurlers would have been the ace on many other teams. He would finished the 1974 season with a record of 19-17 and an 3.07 ERA , helping the A’s to their 4th consecutive postseason appearance. The A’s would faced the Orioles again in the League Championship Series. After the A’s lost the 1st game of the 5-game series, in Oakland, Holtzman would faced Dave McNally in Game 2. Holtzman pitched brilliantly, throwing a complete game and shutting out the Orioles, 5-0. He allowed 5 hits and 2 walks, with only 1 Oriole batter getting as far as 2nd base.
Holtzman continued his dominant pitching against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1st all-California World Series. The pitching matchup for Game 1 of the Series was Holtzman and Andy Messersmith. Holtzman pitched 4⅓ innings and allowed 1 unearned run before giving way to Rollie Fingers, who picked up the win. In addition to his pitching, Holtzman doubled off Messersmith in the 5th, advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch and scored on a bunt single by Bert Campaneris. It was the 2nd run of the game for the A’s, who went on to win by a score of 3-2. Holtzman and Messersmith faced off again in Game 4 and again Holtzman helped himself at the plate, this time hitting a HR in the 3rd inning of the scoreless game. He had pitched 7⅔ innings and allowed 2 runs before handing over a 5-2 lead to Fingers. Holtzman earned the win, the 4th and final World Series victory of his MLB pitching career.
After the season, Holtzman had acrimonious contract negotiations with Team Owner Finley. They again went to arbitration, with Finley offering $93,000, the same as Holtzman earned in 1974 and Holtzman asking $112,000. After the arbitration hearing, much to the chagrin of Holtzman, Finley went public with a statistical analysis of what he deemed Holtzman’s shortcomings. Finley won the case. The dealings with Finley greatly frustrated Holtzman, who spoke of retiring and joining a Chicago investment firm, perhaps even before the end of the season.
Although his record was 3-6 at the end of May, Holtzman had a fairly strong start to the 1975 AL season, allowing 3 runs or more in only 2 of his 1st 12 starts. On June 8th, against the Tigers, he came tantalizingly close to pitching his 3rd no-hitter. In the 4th inning, Holtzman walked a batter, who was immediately erased by a double play. Then, after 8⅔ hitless innings, the 27th Tiger to come the plate, weak-hitting shortstop Tom Veryzer doubled to break up the no-hitter. Holtzman proceeded to strike out the next batter, Ron LeFlore and won the game, 4-0. Holtzman would pitched effectively for the remainder of the season, finishing with a record of 18-14 and an 3.14 ERA .
In the postseason for the 5th consecutive year, the Oakland A’s would faced the Boston Red Sox in the League Championship Series. Holtzman pitched Game 1, matched up against Red Sox Ace Luis Tiant. The Red Sox took a quick lead, scoring 2 unearned runs in the 1st inning. Then in the 7th, Dwight Evans and Rick Burleson would doubled off of Holtzman, knocking him from the game, as the Red Sox scored 5 runs in the inning. Holtzman was charged with the loss as the Red Sox won the game 7-1. After an A’s loss in Game 2 of the series, Holtzman was called upon to start Game 3 on just 2 days’ rest. He pitched valiantly, but in the top of the 4th the Red Sox scored an unearned run to take the lead. Then in the 5th, the Red Sox had knocked Holtzman from the game and went on to win, 5-3 and sweep the series.
After the 1975 MLB season, major-league players and owners were negotiating a new contract and agreed to suspend the arbitration process. As a result, Finley offered Holtzman and eight other A’s contracts with 20% pay cuts, the maximum allowable cut. Holtzman and several other players chose to remain unsigned and report to spring training in an effort to become free agents after the season. He was becoming increasingly disenchanted with Charlie Finley’s negotiating tactics and his approach to his players. On April 2nd, Holtzman was freed from Finley. In a blockbuster deal, Holtzman, Reggie Jackson and minor-league pitcher Bill Von Bommel were traded to Baltimore for Pitchers Mike Torrez and Paul Mitchell and Outfielder Don Baylor. Holtzman pitched well for the Orioles, holding an ERA of 2.86 in mid-June. However, his stay in Baltimore ended abruptly. At the MLB trading deadline, June 15th, he was a part of a 10-player trade between the Orioles and the New York Yankees. Holtzman, along with pitchers Doyle Alexander, Grant Jackson and Jimmy Freeman and reserve catcher Elrod Hendricks were traded to the Yankees for reserve catcher Rick Dempsey and pitchers Scott McGregor, Tippy Martinez, Rudy May and Dave Pagan. Holtzman provided a solid left-handed starter for the Yankees. However, the Yankees had traded to their division rivals several players, who would later star for the Orioles.
1977 Topps Baseball Card
The trade reunited Holtzman with Catfish Hunter, and for a time it was thought that Vida Blue would also be a Yankee. But Finley’s sale of Blue to the Yankees was disallowed by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Holtzman stepped into the Yankee pitching staff, but was not nearly as strong as he had been in previous years with the A’s. By season’s end, he had with a record of 14-11 (9-7 with the Yankees), but with an uncharacteristically high 3.65 ERA . His strikeout totals for the season were significantly lower than in previous years, only 66 in 246⅔ innings. And although the Yankees had won their division, Holtzman, who of course had a tremendous amount of postseason pitching experience, pitched in neither the League Championship Series nor the World Series.
In the offseason, Holtzman got a 5-year, $825,000 contract from the Yankees. He began the season in the starting rotation. However, after a few starts, including a particularly disastrous one on May 16th in which he could get only 1 out before being relieved, Holtzman found himself in Yankee Manager Billy Martin’s doghouse. For most of the remaining season, Holtzman would pitch out the Yankees bullpen and rarely when the game was on the line. He was essentially unable to strike out batters, amassing only 14 whiffs in 71⅔ innings. He would finish the season with a record of 2-3, with his last decision coming in mid-May. As in 1976, Holtzman again did not appear in the playoffs or World Series.
Much has been made over the years of Yankees Manage Billy Martin disliking Ken Holtzman and perhaps displaying a streak of anti-Semitism in his treatment of the pitcher. Likewise, Yankees Team Owner George Steinbrenner seemed to dislike Holtzman for both for his performance on the field, especially after just getting a large contract and also for his work with the MLB players union as the MLB player representative for the team. However, there is no question that Holtzman’s performance on the mound was not close to what it had been in the recent past.
Holtzman had started the 1978 AL season in the Yankees’ starting rotation again, but he lasted for only 2 starts before he was benched again by Manager Billy Martin. He did not pitch again for a month, when in mid-May he made a start, which was likely to showcase him for suitors in a trade. After 2 more relief appearances later in May, Ken Holtzman was traded to the Chicago Cubs on June 10th for Minor league Pitcher Ron Davis. Holtzman was both relieved to get away from Billy Martin and the Yankees and happy to be going back to Chicago, where his MLB pitching career had started and where he had made his home. His pitching did not improve, however. Holtzman 1st pitched out of the bullpen for the Cubs, then joined the starting rotation for a few weeks, then went back to the bullpen. He was not terribly effective in either role and between his time with the Yankees and the Cubs, he would finished the 1978 MLB season with a record of 1-3 and a 5.60 ERA. In 70⅔ innings, he had struck out just 39 batters, while walking 44.
In 1979, Holtzman fared a little better for the Cubs. He would worked as a 5th starter, although he made 3 relief appearances to go along with his 20 starts. He had 2 especially good outings against Houston Astros. On May 12th and July 7th, he had shut out the Astros. However, after 2 rough starts in late July and early August, Holtzman was relegated to the bullpen once more. He made 1 more start and pitched quite well, on September 19th against the St. Louis Cardinals. In 7 innings, he would held the Cardinals scoreless, giving up 4 hits and 2 walks before giving way to reliever Bruce Sutter, who blew the lead for Holtzman. It was Holtzman’s last MLB appearance. Immediately after the 1979 NL season ended, the Cubs would release him. While the Yankees would still pay hisplayer contract for 2 more seasons, Holtzman was out of MLB baseball at the age of 33.
Ken Holtzman would finish his MLB pitching career with a record of 174-150 and an 3.49 ERA. He won 9 more games in his career than Sandy Koufax, making Holtzman the winningest Jewish pitcher of all time. He had received a handful of votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985 and 1986, the 2 years that he was considered for election into the Hall. After baseball, Holtzman would worked as a stockbroker and in the insurance industry. In 2007 ,he briefly returned to the sport when he had managed the Petah Tikva Pioneers in the new Israel Baseball League. He did not have a good experience with the team however; he was unhappy with how the league was run, and left the team before the season was complete. As of 2014, Holtzman was retired and living outside St. Louis.
Ken Holtzman, a former left-handed pitcher, who threw 2 no-hitters with the Chicago Cubs and had won 3 straight World Series championships with the Oakland Athletics from 1972-1974, died on April 14,2024 Sunday at the age of 78. Holtzman was battling heart issues and was hospitalized for 3 weeks before his death, his brother, Bob, had told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 16, 2024 13:46:28 GMT -5
Whitey Herzog Former Yankees Minor League OF Prospect and Hall of Fame MLB Manager
This article was written by Adam Foldes, Edited by Clipper
1955 Whitey Herzog AAA Denver Bears Player PhotoIn the annals of baseball dating back to when it 1st became a game played by professionals, the great teams have always taken on the persona of their managers. This includes the old Chicago White Stockings of the National League led by their 1st baseman-Manager Adrian “Cap” Anson, and continues with managers such as Ned Hanlon of the Baltimore Orioles in the 1890s, and a couple of Hanlon’s protégés, John McGraw with the New York Giants and Hughie Jennings of the Detroit Tigers.
Toward the middle of the 20th century, there were Mel Ott with the New York Giants, Leo Durocher’s Dodgers and Giants and Al Lopez’s “Go-Go” White Sox of the late 1950s.
Since MLB free agency began, 2 managers have stamped their game on their teams and largely contributed to their success. They were Alfred Manuel “Billy” Martin, famous for “Billyball,” and Whitey Herzog, whose “Whiteyball” that focused on speed, pitching, and defense.
Dorrel Norman Elvert Herzog was born on November 9,1931, the second of three boys, to Edgar and Lietta Herzog in New Athens, Illinois, 40 miles east of St. Louis. Edgar worked at the Mound City Brewery and Lietta would work in a shoe factory. To help make ends meet and make some extra money, young Dorrel, or “Relly” as he was called, dug graves, worked at the Mound City Brewery, delivered baked goods, and delivered newspapers. Young Herzog would sometimes skip school, hitchhike on Route 13 to Belleville, and then take a bus to Sportsman’s Park, home to the Browns and Cardinals. Herzog would not only watch his idols Stan Musial, Vern Stephens, and Enos Slaughter, but he would snatch up batting practice balls by sneaking into the ballpark early. He would bring the balls back to the New Athens sandlots, sell some and keep some to play with.
At New Athens High School, Herzog, a left-handed thrower and batter, was a 1st baseman, pitcher and outfielder. He also played guard on the basketball team. During his senior year, Herzog led the Yellow Jackets to the regional playoffs and had interest from colleges including the University of Illinois and St. Louis University. As a junior, he had batted .584, was named a 2nd-team all-stater, and led the team to a spot in the championship game against Granite City. (New Athens lost, 4-1.) He was named 2nd team all-state in baseball.
After graduating in 1949, Herzog would by-pass college and signed a pro baseball contract with the New York Yankees. Another Yankees recruit that year was Mickey Mantle. Herzog was recommended by MLB Scout Lou Maguolo and cross-checked by Tom Greenwade. In his 1st year in the minors, playing for the Yankees’ Class-D Sooner State League team in McAlester, Oklahoma, Herzog would hit .279 with No HRs and 31 RBIs in 96 games; the following year, he would hit .351 with 4 HRs in 132 games. While at McAlester, he acquired the nickname Whitey, bestowed on him by a sportscaster in the McAlester because his light blond hair resembled that of a pitcher on the Yankees, Bob “White Rat” Kuzava.
In 1951, Herzog would hit a combined .285 with 7 HRs and 48 RBIs in 113 games for Class-C Joplin and Class-B Piedmont. The next season, 1952, after playing for Quincy in the Three-I League and Beaumont in the Double-A Texas League, he would reach Triple A level with the Kansas City Blues in the American Association. He would finish the season with .260 BA with 4 HRs in 117 games. After the 1952 season, with the Korean War still raging, he was drafted into the US Army and spent 2 years in the Corps of Engineers. The same year Herzog joined the Army, he would marry his high-school sweetheart, Mary Lou Sinn. As of 2018, they had been married 66 years and had 3 children, Debbie, Jim, and David.
While stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Waynesville, Missouri, Herzog got his 1st experience running a ballclub, when he managed the company baseball team. Discharged from the Army, Herzog would play in 1955 for the Yankees’ Triple-A team the Denver Bears (American Association). In 149 games, he would hit .289 with 21 HRs and 98 RBIs.
On April 2,1956, the New York Yankees would send OF Whitey Herzog to the Washington Senators to complete an earlier deal made on February 8,1956, On February 8, 956, the New York Yankees would send a player to be named later, C Lou Berberet, INF Herb Plews, OF Dick Tettelbach and P Bob Wiesler to the Washington Senators for INF Bobby Kline and P Mickey McDermott. With the Washington Senators for 3 seasons, he would hit .230 with 4 HRs with 39 RBIs. On May 14,1958, Herzog was purchased by the Kansas City Athletics from the Washington Senators.While playing for the Kansas City A’s for 3 seasons, he would hit .268 with 9 HRs with 56 RBIs in 209 games. On January 24,1961, Whitey was traded by the Kansas City Athletics along with OF Russ Snyder to the Baltimore Orioles for Pitcher Jim Archer, 1B Bob Boyd, INF Wayne Causey, Catcher Clint Courtney and OF Al Pilarcik. Courtney would be returned to his original team on April 15,1961. While playing with the Orioles for 2 seasons, he would hit .280 with 12 HRs and 70 RBIs in 212 games, On November 26,1962, Herzog was traded by the Baltimore Orioles along with Catcher Gus Triandos to the Detroit Tigers for Catcher Dick Brown. After batting only .151 with no HRs and 7 RBIs in 52 games for the Tigers in 1963, Herzog would retired as an active MLB player. He would finish his MLB playing career with a .257 BA with 25 HRs and 172 RBIs in 634 games.
Of his MLB playing career, Whitey Herzog was known to say that baseball had been good to him once he stopped trying to play it. Herzog had scouted for Kansas City in 1964 and he was an MLB coach in 1965 under Mel McGaha and Haywood Sullivan. In 1966, following the 1965 AL season, Herzog would leave the Athletics organization. He was hired by the New York Mets organization. His 1st position in 1966 was 3rd-base MLB coach under Manager Wes Westrum, on a team that went 66-95 and finished in 9th place ahead of only the Chicago Cubs. They had finished 28 1/2 games behind the pennant-winning Los Angeles Dodgers.
The following year, Herzog was named the Mets’ Director of Player Development, but also got his 1st taste of managing in professional baseball, when at 35, he had guided the Florida Instructional League Mets for 50 games. Over the next 6 years, Herzog oversaw a number of players who played important roles in the pennant-winning Mets teams of 1969 and 1973, including Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry, Jon Matlack; John Milner, and Wayne Garrett as well as players, who had successful MLB careers on other teams including OF Amos Otis, Pitcher Nolan Ryan and OF Ken Singleton. After 7 years in the Mets organization Herzog, who disliked Mets Chairman M. Donald Grant, left the organization upset, when the Mets had passed him over for manager in 1972 after Gil Hodges died from a fatal heart attack. (1st-base MLB Coach Yogi Berra got the job.)
Herzog would quickly rebound. On November 2, 1972, at the age of 40, he was named the Manager of the Texas Rangers, replacing Ted Williams. Team Owner Bob Short said General Manager Joe Burke believed Herzog would help develop the team’s young talent. On April 7, 1973, Herzog made his MLB managerial debut with the Rangers with a 3-1 loss to the White Sox. He did not get his 1st win until April 12th, 4-0 over the Kansas City Royals.
The 1973 Rangers were a somewhat dysfunctional team. In the June MLB Amateur Player Draft, the team had drafted high school pitcher David Clyde number 1 overall ahead of future Hall of Famers Robin Yount and Dave Winfield. As part of the contract Clyde signed, he was to make 2 MLB starts before going to the minors. He pitched fairly well in the 1st couple of starts, but then batters began to get to him. Herzog was unable to get Bob Short to agree to send Clyde to the minors to get his footing. Herzog later said it was “a travesty.” Teammate Tom Grieve called it “the dumbest thing you could ever do to a high-school pitcher,” and said Short had effectively ruined Clyde’s MLB pitching career.
At 138 games into the season with the Rangers sitting at 47-91, Herzog was fired and replaced by Billy Martin, who had recently been fired by the Detroit Tigers. Short knew Martin from his time as a Twins Executive while Martin was manager. Short had allegedly once quipped to Herzog that he “would fire his grandmother for the chance to hire Billy.” A few days after his ouster, Herzog said, “I’m fired. I’m the grandmother.” Herzog was not the only member of the Texas Rangers staff to be fired late in the 1973 season; General Manager Joe Burke was also let go.
The following year, 1974, Herzog stayed in the American League West, becoming the California Angels’ 3rd-base MLB coach under Manager Bobby Winkles. Herzog became the interim manager for 4 games after Winkles (30-44) was fired. After Dick Williams became the Manager, Herzog stayed on as MLB Coach the rest of the year.
During the 1975 baseball season, Kansas City Royals GM Joe Burke was sensing that something was wrong despite the team being 50-46. He sensed a divide between team Manager Jack McKeon and the team. On July 24, he would fire Jack McKeon and hired Whitey Herzog as Manager on a deal worth $50,000 through the end of the 1976 AL season.
Whitey Herzog Royals Photo
Herzog had inherited a solid Royals team with players like George Brett, John Mayberry, Paul Splittorff, Hal McRae, Frank White, Freddie Patek, Cookie Rojas, Doug Bird, Amos Otis, Dennis Leonard, and 39-year-old Harmon Killebrew. He managed the Royals to a 2nd-place finish, 7 games behind the Oakland Athletics. Starting with his tenure with the Royals and continuing with the Cardinals, Herzog implemented a system of baseball well suited to the turf of both Royals Stadium and Busch Stadium and the antithesis of winning baseball via HRs. “Whitey Ball” was predicated on great fielding, line-drive hitting, speed on the basepaths, and solid pitching.
The 1976 AL season was a turning point in Herzog’s managerial career. Whitey Ball worked especially well on Royals Stadium’s artificial turf. The team hit only 65 HRs, 11th in the American League, but George Brett and Hal McRae finished 1-2 in the AL batting race with batting averages of .333 and .332 respectively, and the team had 8 players with 10 or more stolen bases, led by Freddie Patek (51 SB’s). On the pitching side, the Royals had 4 pitchers with 10 or more wins and Relievers Mark Littell and Steve Mingori, each had 10 or more saves.
This team led the Royals to their 1st AL West title with a record of 90-72, edging out Oakland A’s by 2½ games. The 1976 American League Championship Series pitted the Royals against the Yankees, with the teams splitting the 1st 4 games. In the pivotal Game 5 at Yankee Stadium, with the Royals down by 3 in the 8th inning, George Brett hit a game-tying 3-run HR off of Grant Jackson. But in the bottom of the 9th inning, Yankees 1st baseman Chris Chambliss hit a HR off of Mark Littell to win the 1976 AL pennant.
The next year, 1977, the Royals were paced by a career year by Al Cowens, who batted .312 with 23 HRs and 112 runs batted in. Combined with strong pitching that included 20-game winner Dennis Leonard, the team won 102 games and finished 8 games ahead of the Texas Rangers. The ALCS was a rematch against the Yankees. The Royals took a 2-games-to-1 lead and seemed poised to advance to the World Series when an issue arose with 1st baseman John Mayberry, who after dropping a foul ball, was pulled by Herzog and never played for the Royals again. After the Royals lost Game 4, 6-4, Herzog refused to play Mayberry in Game 5, despite the pleas from his Royals teammates and the Royals lost, blowing a 3-2 9th-inning lead.
In 1978, the Royals won 90-plus games for the 4th year in a row and finished with a 92-70 record, 5 games ahead of the Rangers and Angels. In their 3rd consecutive matchup with the Yankees, the Royals would lose again, in 4 games. The 1979 Royals had finished with 85 wins, good enough for 2nd place, 3 games behind the California Angels. This step back cost Herzog his job. The firing had less to do with on-field performance than the fact that there had been friction between Herzog and Royals Team Owner Ewing Kauffman. Herzog got a $50,000 bonus each year, if the Royals drew 2 million fans, which they did in 1978-1979, but Herzog felt that Kauffman and the front office did not really want to improve the team through free agency. (The next season, under Jim Frey, the Royals won the AL West with a record of 97-65, swept the Yankees in the ALCS but lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in 6 games in the World Series.)
Whitey Herzog Cardinals Photo
In June of 1980, Herzog moved east on I-70 to take over the beleaguered St. Louis Cardinals from Ken Boyer, with the team’s record at 18-33 and having gone 5-22 over the previous 27 games. Under Herzog the Cardinals were 38-35. On August 17th, he was promoted to take over for John Claiborne as the Cardinals GM; his successor as Manager was Red Schoendienst. After the season, Herzog had acquired Reliever Bruce Sutter and Catcher Darrell Porter, who had played for him for 3 years in Kansas City. He also had demoted Red Schoendienst to MLB Coach and took over the dual role of General Manager and Manager, the 1st person to serve in both roles since Connie Mack was GM and Manager (and Team Owner) of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1950.
The 1981 MLB season was interrupted by a 50-day MLB player’s strike. When the games were resumed in August, the MLB season was split into 2 halves, with each half’s winner advancing to the playoffs. This ended up hurting the Cardinals, who had the best overall record in the NL East; 59-43, but they had finished 2nd in both halves, to Philadelphia and to Montreal.
The 1981 offseason saw the acquisitions of Lonnie Smith, Steve Mura, Willie McGee and Ozzie Smith, as well as the re-signing of Pitcher Joaquin Andujar. These acquisitions along with the players already in place led the 1982 Cardinals to a 92-70 season, edging out the Phillies by 3 games. They would swept the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series. Three games into the season, Herzog gave up his position as GM to focus on managing. He was replaced by Cardinals Assistant GM Joe McDonald, 3 games into the 1982 season. On April 10, 1982, the stress of being General Manager and Manager was beginning to take away from Herzog’s abilities on the field, so he turned over the General Manager duties to McDonald, who had been hired by the Cardinals in 1981 as an Executive Assistant and Assistant GM. McDonald had not only worked with Herzog when they were both with the New York Mets, but McDonald had previous GM experience with the Mets, as he had been their GM from 1975-1980.
The 1982 World Series presented a stark contrast between the Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers, known as Harvey’s “Wallbangers” after their Manager Harvey Kuenn. Milwaukee led the AL with 216 HRs. The Cardinals hit only 67 HRs, last in the NL, but their team batting average was .264, tied for 2nd, and the led the league with 200 stolen bases. The Series went the full 7 games, with the Cardinals coming back after going down 3 games to 2, to win Game 6, 13-1 and Game 7, 6-3, giving the Cardinals their 1st World Series championship in 18 years, and Herzog his 1st.
The Cardinals were unable to repeat and finished the 1983 season 79-83, 4th in the NL East. The major event of the season came at the June 15th trade deadline, when the Cardinals shocked the baseball world by trading former MVP and reigning Gold Glove winner Keith Hernandez to the New York Mets for Rick Ownbey and Neil Allen. Herzog said he made the move because the Cardinals needed more pitching, and that the plan was to bring Andy Van Slyke up from Triple A and move George Hendrick to 1st base. It was later discovered that the trade was due to the longtime personality conflict between Hernandez and Herzog. There were rumors of Hernandez’s cocaine use, which turned out to be true. This also affected Joaquin Andujar and Lonnie Smith, leading to the trade. After finishing in 3rd place (84-78) in 1984, the Cardinals went to the World Series in both 1985 and 1987. In the 1984-1985 MLB offseason, OF George Hendrick was part of a 4-player trade for Pitcher John Tudor and 1st baseman Jack Clark was acquired from San Francisco Giants. This trade was done to stabilize the 1st-base position for the Cardinals. Also, 1985 saw the emergence of LF Vince Coleman, who stole a rookie-record 110 bases en route to Rookie of the Year honors and also led to the trade of Lonnie Smith to Kansas City Royals.
The 1985 season in the National League East came down to a battle the last couple of weeks of the season between the Cardinals and the New York Mets. The Cardinals ended up with a record of 101-61, edging out the Mets by 3 games. They were led by Jack Clark’s 22 HRs and also stole 314 bases; besides Coleman’s 110 steals, Willie McGee contributed 56 and Tommy Herr and Ozzie Smith, each had 31. Pitchers John Tudor and Joaquin Andujar each won 21 games and Jeff Lahti, Ken Dayley and Todd Worrell combined to save 35 games, to make up for the loss of Bruce Sutter, who had signed in the offseason with the Atlanta Braves
In the NLCS, against the Dodgers, with the series tied at 2 games apiece, and the score 1-1 in the bottom of the 9th, Ozzie Smith hit a solo HR off of LA’s Tom Niedenfuer to win the game, 2-1. The call from Jack Buck- “Go crazy, folks, go crazy, it’s a HR”-was ranked by mlb.nbcsports.com as number 21 of the 32 best calls in sports history. Two days later, in Dodger Stadium, Jack Clark hit a 3-run HR in the 9th inning off of Niedenfuer to capture the pennant for the Cardinals. The win came at a cost: Before Game 4, Vince Coleman’s leg was fractured in a freak accident with the tarp at Busch Stadium.
With both teams from Missouri, the 1985 World Series was known as the" I-70 Showdown Series" and" the Show-Me World Series." The Cardinals would faced Herzog’s former team, the Royals. Many of the Royals’ leaders that year were holdovers from the Herzog era. The Royals had won 10 fewer games than the Cardinals and St. Louis was the heavy favorite. The Cardinals won the 1st 2 games, 3-1 and 4-2, and Kansas City took Game 3, 6-1. After John Tudor shut out Kansas City, 3-0, the Royals staved off elimination by winning Game 5, 6-1. Game 6 was one of the most memorable games in World Series history. The game was scoreless through 7 innings. In the bottom of the 9th, with St. Louis leading 1-0, Herzog called on rookie closer Tim Worrell to give the Cardinals their 2nd championship in 4 years. The leadoff batter, pinch-hitter Jorge Orta, hit a bouncer to Jack Clark, who threw to Worrell covering 1st base. Orta was called safe on the play by Umpire Don Denkinger. Replays showed that Orta was out by half a step, but in the days before instant replay, Denkinger chose not to overrule himself and the call stood. The Cardinals proceeded to self-destruct. Steve Balboni hit a popup in foul territory that neither Darrell Porter nor Jack Clark could come up with; he subsequently singled. After Jim Sundberg’s bunt forced Orta at 3rd, a passed ball moved the runners up to 2nd and 3rd. Hal McRae was then intentionally walked. Pinch-hitter Dane Iorg singled to right and the tying and winning runs scored, to force a 7th game. After the drama of Game 6, Game 7 was anticlimactic as the Royals’ Bret Saberhagen shut out the Cardinals, 11-0, to win the World Series. The only drama in Game 7 was that Herzog became the 1st manager since Billy Martin (in 1976) to be ejected from a World Series game.
The next season, the Cardinals slumped to a record of 79-82, 28½ games behind the 1st-place New York Mets, the only positives being that both shortstop Ozzie Smith and OF Willie McGee had captured NL Gold Gloves and Pitcher Todd Worrell would earned Rookie of the Year Honors During the 1986-1987 MLB offseason, the Cardinals, in an effort to improve their catching, had traded Catcher Mike LaValliere and OF Andy Van Slyke to the Pirates for 4-time All-Star Tony Peña. This trade along with the 35 HRs from Jack Clark, the 109 stolen bases of Vince Coleman, and a pitching staff that had 4 winners of 10 or more games, helped the Cardinals improve by 16 wins and narrowly overtake the Mets and Expos. In the NLCS, the Cardinals came from a 3-wins-to-2 deficit to defeat the San Francisco Giants in 7 games and advance to their 3rd World Series in 6 years.
Herzog’s Cardinals would faced the Minnesota Twins in a World Series played entirely on artificial turf (as had occurred in 1985). The Twins would come back from a 3-games-to-2 deficit and won Game 6, 11-5 and Game 7, 4-2.
Over the next couple of years, the Cardinals slumped. In 1988, they finished with a record of 76-86 in 5th, ahead of only the Philadelphia Phillies and 25 games behind the East-leading New York Mets. In 1989, they improved by 10 games to finish 86-76, but they finished 7 games behind the Chicago Cubs. The 1990 NL season proved very difficult for Herzog and the Cardinals, and culminated in his resignation when the Cardinals, with a 33-47 record, were in last place in the National League East. The end of Herzog’s Cardinals tenure also ended his MLB managerial career, with a record of 1,281-1,125, a .532 winning percentage. He had a postseason record of 26-25, with the 1 World Series championship in 1982, 3 AL West titles, 3 NL East titles, and 3 National League pennants.
Herzog’s departure from the Cardinals did not end his career in baseball. In 1992, after holding various positions with the California Angels, he was named General Manager. Over the next 2 years, the Angels fell short of expectations, finishing 72-90 in 1992 and 71-91 in 1993. In January 1994, he would resigned, citing the opportunity to do other things. He had spent 45 years as a Player, Coach, Manager and General Manager.
As recently as 2018, Keith Hernandez, despite having been traded by Herzog, had nothing but the highest praise for Herzog’s managerial and overall baseball acumen. “He was a great manager, best I ever played for,” Hernandez said.
Whitey Herzog was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010. On a more local note, the baseball field at New Athens High School was renamed Whitey Herzog Field in honor of Herzog, who donated money to have the field renovated. Whitey Herzog took the talent of his teams and where they played, to their full capacities. He took 2 teams from smaller markets to great heights. Whitey Herzog would die at the age of 92 on April 15, 2024.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Apr 18, 2024 14:16:56 GMT -5
Yankees Long-Time Minor League Manager Billy Meyer (1932-1947)
This article was written by Denis Repp; Edited by Clipper
 Billy Meyer Pirates Photo
The apex of Billy Meyer’s major league career came in 1948, when The Sporting News named the rookie pilot as "Manager of the Year". He kept an undermanned Pittsburgh Pirate team in the middle of the NL pennant race until late September. That accomplishment sealed his reputation as a quintessential “baseball man.”
William Adam (“Billy” or “Bill”) Meyer was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on January 14,1892. He began his baseball career with a Knoxville town team. Bill caught, and an older brother pitched. When he was 17, Bill and several of his Knoxville teammates spent the summer playing semipro ball in Lakeland, Florida. His father, a brewer, had reluctantly given permission for the trip and expected the boy to call home for help. To his father’s surprise, Bill lasted the whole summer, arriving home with a little money in his pocket. After 1 more year of school, Meyer began his professional career with the hometown Knoxville Reds in 1910.
After 3 seasons in Knoxville and 1 in Winona, Minnesota, Meyer would join the Chicago White Sox for a late-season look in 1913. The 5′ 9″, 170-pounder, who batted and threw right-handed, made his MLB player debut on September 6th, he would collect a single in his 1st and only at-bat, before he and his 1.000 average were shipped back to the minors. He would split the 1914 season between Winona and Lincoln, Nebraska. After a year in Davenport, Iowa, Meyer would join the Philadelphia Athletics in 1916.
The 1916 Philadelphia Athletics were one of the worst clubs in MLB history, finishing 36-117, 541/2 games out of 1st, and 40 games out of 7th. Meyer was 1 of several catchers with the club. Wally Schang, the once-and-future regular, injured his hand on opening day and would spend much of the season in the outfield. This opened a spot for Meyer, the 24-year-old rookie, and he caught more games than any of his teammates. Meyer would later recall that this was due to Connie Mack’s penchant for putting a valuable player like Schang safely in the outfield when young, unproven, pitchers were on the mound, leaving a more expendable player like Meyer behind the plate to deal with the day’s wild pitches. The woeful performance of the 1916 A’s pitchers would give the rookie catcher plenty of experience.
After a 2nd season with Philadelphia in 1917, this time as a full-time backup to a recovered Wally Schang, Meyer would never see the majors again as a player. In his MLB career, Meyer had batted 301 times in 113 games, garnering 71 hits for a .236 average and scoring 15 runs. He had 7 doubles, 3 triples, a 1 HR and drove in 21 runs.
Back in the minors with Louisville of the American Association, Meyer would room with the Colonels’ 2nd baseman, Joe McCarthy, and began an association with the future Hall of Fame Yankees Manager that would last nearly 30 years. Joe McCarthy became Louisville’s Player-Manager in mid-1919 and stayed with the club through 1925. Meyer caught through the entire span. The Sporting News recognized Meyer as the rare veteran catcher who still had relatively uninjured hands. Meyer claimed that, to that point at least, he had never broken a bone in either hand. He attributed this to good luck, as well his habit of keeping his throwing hand out of the way of pitched balls until the last instant. Meyer did break a leg in 1925, but his hands remained relatively healthy.
McCarthy left Louisville in 1926 to manage the Chicago Cubs and Meyer took over at the Colonels’ helm. After the team won the American Association pennant in his 1st year in charge, Louisville went into a decline, and in 1928 Meyer hinted that he might be moving on, saying that considering the available talent, “someone” would have a hard time winning at Louisville in 1929. The Sporting News sympathized, writing, “Meyer has had a tough time trying to [win] with a half-dozen players and a crowd of sandlotters [and] has-beens.”The rumor mill had him going to Chicago Cubs to become McCarthy’s Pitching Coach, but instead Meyer began a 3-year stint in Minneapolis, as an assistant to the Millers’ long-time Owner and Manager, Mike Kelley. Meyer referred to this job as “the best experience that I ever had. Mike Kelley gave me more tips about baseball than I ever knew before.”
While Meyer was at Minneapolis, Joe McCarthy had switched leagues, leaving the Chicago Cubs to taking over as the new 1931 New York Yankees’ skipper. Following the 1931 AL season, the Yankees began to construct a farm system. They bought the International League’s AA Newark Bears franchise, as well as Springfield in the then-Eastern League. With Albany, Springfield gave the Yankees 2 affiliates in that circuit. The Yankees needed a Manager for Springfield and the call went out to McCarthy’s old Louisville roomie. Ostensibly hired as a Player-Manager, the 40-year-old Meyer began a long managerial stint in the Yankee system.
Meyer had his Springfield club in 1st place in July of 1932, when Brooklyn and the Giants withdrew financial backing from the Eastern League’s Hartford and Bridgeport clubs and turned the franchises back to the league. With the loss of those clubs and the rest of the league struggling at the gate, the Eastern League as theretofore known suspended operations. Soon a number of new faces began to appear in the box scores for the Binghamton Triplets, the Yankees’ New York-Penn (NY-P) League entry. Nine former Springfield Rifles, along with Meyer and the business manager, had joined Binghamton, spurring the Triplets to move up to a 5th-place finish. By 1938, the NY-P League, having survived the worst of the Depression, added teams in Hartford, Ct. and Trenton, NJ and they became the “new” Eastern League. With future MLB players, Catcher Willard Hershberger (Cincinnati) and 1B George McQuinn (Cincinnati, St. Louis Browns, Philadelphia A’s, New York Yankees) joining him in Binghamton, Meyer would win the 1933 NY-P League pennant. The addition of Spud Chandler, a future Yankee All-Star Pitcher, would help the Triplets to yet another title in 1934. Then the Yankees would promote Meyer to manage their AA Oakland Oaks club in the Pacific Coast League at the end of the 1935 Binghamton season.
After the spending the 1936 and 1937 PCL seasons in Oakland, the Yankees would move Meyer to their newly acquired AA Kansas City Blues club in the American Association for 1938. There, with the help of infielders Phil Rizzuto and Gerry Priddy, he would win 2 AA league pennants and 1 Little World Series in 4 seasons. Billy was named 1939 Minor League Manager of the Year by The Sporting News.
Meyer had received his 1st serious consideration for an MLB managing job in 1940, according to a 1951 reminiscence. As Meyer recalled it, his friend Bill Essick was in line for the Cubs’ General Manager job and Meyer thought that he might be named as the new Cub Manager. But when Jim Gallagher became the General Manger instead, he would hire Jimmie Wilson to manage the Cubs. A year later, Meyer was recommended as the replacement for Cleveland’s ousted Ossie Vitt. The Indians ultimately decided against hiring another Yankee Minor League Manager and signed Veteran MLB Manager Roger Peckinpaugh in 1941 instead. Meyer would remain in Kansas City for another season.
From Kansas City, Meyer would move within the Yankee system to the AA Newark Bears of the International League, where in 4 seasons his teams never finished lower than 2nd place. This wasn’t enough for some fans, however, and a frustrated Meyer told The Sporting News in late 1945: “I’m not returning to Newark. I’m washed up in that town. I’ve been booed out.” He still hoped to land an MLB job, but he would return to AAA Kansas City again to manage the Blues. In June 1946, he had collapsed during a game with reported “heat prostration.” He would rejoin the Blues after missing a few games, but was soon hospitalized with what The Sporting News called a “recurrence of an old heart condition.” Although it was described as “not serious,” he was under medical orders to rest for several weeks.
With Meyer unavailable, Burleigh Grimes filled in as acting Kansas City Manager and remained in uniform, when Meyer returned. Meyer managed to be ejected from a game when, in street clothes, he would join Grimes on the field to argue an umpire’s call. One wag suggested that the dual-manager system would work well for this Blues team; one could manage the team, the other could spend time in the hospital recovering from the experience, with the 2 trading off as needed.
By the end of the 1946 season, however, Meyer’s health was still in question. Meyer was on the short list for a number of MLB managing vacancies, and said later that he was offered the Yankee job, but he had turned it down. “I had had a mild heart attack in Kansas City,” Meyer later recounted. “I missed a month of the season because of illness. So, I felt I wasn’t up to it; fact is, I didn’t even intend to manage in the minors in 1947. My idea was to sit out the season and see how I felt.” The Yankees would tab Bucky Harris and the Kansas City writers predicted a 6th-place finish for the 1947 AAA Blues.
Meyer’s health, however, improved enough to allow him to return to the Blues. In the Kansas City Star, Ernie Mehl reported that the locals rethought their predictions, and now called for the Blues to finish 3rd. Under Meyer, the team outdid that and won yet another American Association pennant.
Billy Meyer would manage in the Minor Leagues for 22 seasons, including his 3 years as assistant at Minneapolis. His teams had posted 9 1st-place and 4 2nd-place finishes. Did he benefit from the talent funneled to him by his clubs? Or did his players flourish because of Meyer’s development skills? Either way, Meyer was a successful manager for a long time, his teams usually did well, and he earned a reputation as a “baseball man.”
Meyer’s route from Kansas City to his MLB managing debut in Pittsburgh began in August of 1946, when the Pirates were sold to an ownership group of Frank McKinney, Tom Johnson, John Galbreath and Bing Crosby. The new owners acquired a Pirate club in the 7th year of the mostly-lackluster Frank Frisch managerial era. Other than a distant 2nd-place finish in 1944, the Bucs had not had a whiff of a NL pennant under Frisch since he came aboard in 1940 and the new team owners were looking for a change. Frisch accommodated them by resigning on the 1946 season’s final weekend and the search for a new manager began. Among the candidates were Kansas City’s Billy Meyer, as well as the Pirates’ own 38-year-old Catcher, Al Lopez, the local favorite. Lopez didn’t have enough experience for the job in the eyes of those making the decisions. Meyer’s health made him a questionable choice. Bypassing Lopez and Meyer, the Pirates had acquired veteran Infielder Billy Herman from the Boston Braves and signed him to a 2-year contract as a Player-Manager. AL Lopez was offered the manager’s job at Indianapolis, the Bucs’ top AAA farm club. He would decline it and spent the 1947 MLB season in Cleveland as an Indians MLB Player-Coach.
As the new 1947 Pittsburgh Player-Manager, Herman didn’t impress. An arm injury suffered in spring training limited him to just 15 games. Further, in exchange for Herman’s services, the Pirates had traded one of their best young players, future National League MVP Bob Elliott. New Pirates Slugger Hank Greenberg would contributed 25 HRs in his final MLB season, but the rest of the team was about the same as the lackluster 1946 edition and the Pirates would finish 7th again. Billy Herman followed Frankie Frisch’s precedent when he, too, resigned in the season’s final week. The Pirates again had a managerial opening.
The Pittsburgh papers speculated on the new hire. One possibility was McCarthy, who had been out of baseball in 1947, but he took himself out of the running by joining the Boston Red Sox. Al Lopez still didn’t have major league managing experience, but was offered the job with the Pirates’ top farm AAA club at Indianapolis in the American Association and this time he would accept. The Pirates had made a few deals with Pacific Coast League teams, and some saw this as indicating that Lefty O’Doul would leave San Francisco for the Pirate job. Pie Traynor, who had preceded Frisch, was still popular and still in Pittsburgh. Leo Durocher, having served a 1-year gambling suspension in 1947, was reported in some circles as actually having accepted the Pirates job, but Co-Owner Frank McKinney loudly denied any chance of The Lip’s managing in Pittsburgh.
From Hollywood, Co-Team Owner and Entainer Bing Crosby said that Leo Durocher would be fine with him, but he deferred to his more-involved team partners. Leo Durocher would return to Brooklyn Dodgers.
During the 1947 World Series, the Pirates, after 1st obtaining permission to negotiate with Meyer from the Yankees through Larry Mac Phail, their General Manager, made the call that Billy Meyer had been waiting for, and he was signed to a 2-year deal noted to be “at the highest salary ever paid to a Pirate field boss.” “I waited a long time, ” he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “but I know I made the right move. This Pittsburgh outfit has the real romance of baseball to it.”
He told local sportswriter Al Abrams that he “was getting frustrated in the minors. Sure, I was winning pennants and developing players, but I wasn’t getting anywhere myself. I had to make this break now or never.”
From the start, the 56-year-old Meyer was well regarded by the Pittsburgh writers. Phrases like “developer of young players,” “a solid man at the helm,” and “should have had this opportunity years ago” regularly appeared in association with him. General Manager Roy Hamey said that Meyer was “solid. He plays smart baseball and has both the respect of his players and the opposition.” These high opinions of Meyer’s abilities would not fade. Some of these comments contrasted Meyer, the “manager,” with Herman, who had been “one of the boys.”
The 1948 Pirates appeared to be only slightly improved over the 1947 edition. The club had a legitimate superstar in Outfielder Ralph Kiner, but not much more than that. After the experiences with Herman and Greenberg, as 1-year Pirates, the team began operating on the principle that that homegrown players would serve them better than any veterans they might acquire. The consensus among the baseball writers was that the Pirates were headed for another 2nd-division finish, most likely 6th place.
The 1948 Pirates surprised everyone by spending most of the season in the 1st division, occasionally approaching 1st place. There were a number of explanations: Ralph Kiner led the NL in HRs again, Infielders Danny Murtaugh and Stan Rojek, both hit .290. They gave the team a better middle infield than they had had in recent years and the pitching staff led by reclamation project Elmer Riddle and quadrogenarians Rip Sewell and Fritz Ostermueller, pitched well before fading in September. The team got hot in August and found themselves just 3 games out of 1st place heading into September. In the late summer, Pittsburgh fans and writers began to wonder why no prospects from their league-leading AAA farm club in Indianapolis were being promoted to help in the stretch drive. It was speculated that Co-Team Owner McKinney, a resident of Indianapolis as well as owner of the club there, was more interested in ensuring that his hometown team did well. Meyer took the heat, claiming that no one at AAA Indianapolis interested him.
On September 17, 1951 with the Pirates in 2nd place, 4 games behind the Boston Braves, the Bucs would visit Boston for 2 games against the NL leaders. That was, it turned out, as close as the Bucs would get. It would also be the high-water mark of Meyer’s Pittsburgh manager career. The Pirates would lose both games, as well as their next 4 games at Philadelphia. They quickly slid to a 4th place finish, 8 1/2 games back of the 1st place Boston Braves. Nonetheless, Pittsburgh fans were excited about their Pirates, who won 21 more games than they had in 1947.
The most credit was reserved for Meyer, whose reputation as a “good baseball man” was cemented with that 1st season. He was The Sporting News Manager of the Year. He was “a sage, understanding old geezer who has a talent for making men do their best for him.” He was regularly referred to as “the best manager in baseball,” at least locally. For the rest of his days in Pittsburgh, Meyer would remain in the writers’ good graces, while the players were seen as responsible for the team’s increasingly poor play. One local writer, for example, applauded Meyer when he complained about pitchers running in the outfield during a spring training game. It’s a common sight today, but in the 1940s, Meyer thought the fans deserved better. They paid for their tickets, he reasoned, so even spring training games ought to be taken seriously. Meyer also insisted that his players sign autographs, whenever possible.
For 1949, Meyer figured that his middle infield of Danny Murtaugh and Stan Rojek was set and that his outfield of Ralph Kiner, Wally Westlake and a Dixie Walker/Ted Beard platoon combination would suffice. Bucs General Manager Roy Hamey went further, announcing that with another frontline pitcher and a stronger bat at 1st base, the Bucs could win the NL pennant.
It didn’t work out that way, as the Pirates would crash. Slugger Ralph Kiner had threatened Hack Wilson’s NL HR record with 54 HRs, but Beard was not ready for the majors and the Bucs needed more than a singles-hitting Walker in right. In June, the Pirates signed an Italian-American center fielder from San Francisco and briefly, Dino Restelli looked like the 2nd coming of Joe DiMaggio. But after 3 blazing weeks, Restelli would stopped hitting and would never shine as brightly again. Rojek’s batting average would drop to .244 and Murtaugh’s offensive collapse relegated him to the bench in favor of Monty Basgall. Hamey did get that new Bucs starter, Murry Dickson, but the former trio of Riddle, Sewell and Ostermueller, winners of 32 games in 1948, had declined sharply. Sewell won 6 times, Riddle just 1 and Ostermueller had retired. The 1949 team had won 12 fewer games than the 1948 club and would finished 6th place, 26 games out of 1st place.
Bill Meyer’s health problems lingered, as well. During an August series in St. Louis, Meyer came down with what was called “acute indigestion” while talking with reporters in his hotel room. He felt better after a visit to the hospital, but the team doctor ordered him back to Pittsburgh for a few days of rest. The high point for Meyer in that disappointing 1949 season may have come during the opening week, when his image appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post as one of the managers discussing the weather in Norman Rockwell’s famous “Three Umpires.”
As the 1949 NL season wore on, some Pirates fans began to show impatience with Meyer, although the writers, by and large, did not. Fans criticized Meyer’s performance and accused the sportswriters of being overprotective of him. The writers responded that the players were losing games, not the manager. Meyer was under contract for 2 more years, but it was expected that several players would not be back for 1950.
A housecleaning may have been intended, but most of the regulars were back for 1950, with disastrous results. The team continued to age, and now that some of the hopefuls from Indianapolis were finally reaching the majors, they didn’t impress Meyer. “Some of them,” he told the Post-Gazette, “weren’t good enough to play [Triple-A] ball, so how could I play them up here? I tried to go along with some of them as I could, but this only made matters worse.”
Meyer was encouraged by prospects like Outfielder Gus Bell and Pitchers Vern Law and Bob Friend, but they were the cream of a thin crop of Pirates prospects. The 1950 team fell to last place, and Meyer’s future was in doubt. A “saddened and bewildered” Meyer said, “I won’t quit, and I’m not quitting now. It’s up to the owners. If they want me back, I’ll be very happy to return.” He almost didn’t have to add, “This year has been a nightmare.”
Back in 1946, the new owners had announced that they intended to bring a winner to Pittsburgh in a few years. Instead, after 4 seasons of effort, they had what they had started with–the worst team in the National League. When they talked about a housecleaning this time, they meant it. In November, Pirate management, which by now did not include McKinney, who had sold his interest in the club to his partners, had hired veteran baseball executive Branch Rickey as the new Pirate General Manager. In personnel discussions with Rickey, Meyer said that he had tried to get rid of several players, only to be overruled by management. Meyer himself was ending the 1st year of a 2-year contract, and was not sure of his own status. Branch Rickey, however, was not about to fire a manager, he’d still have to pay or to issue any new multiyear contracts.
In the spring of 1951, perhaps stung by criticism that he had let the team get away from him, Meyer ran a tougher camp than he had previously. Beer was banned from the team clubhouse and the players are now faced a curfew. Meyer also faced some controversy with his star, Ralph Kiner. At Rickey’s suggestion, Meyer had moved Kiner to 1st base. Kiner had objected, but he would ended up spending about a 3rd of the season at 1st, rather than his accustomed post in left field.
The 1951 team continued the struggles of 1950. Kiner led the NL in HRs again and Dickson had won 20 games, but it was not nearly enough. The Pirates would finish 7th, just 2 games out of the NL cellar.
By this time, the club was operating fully under Rickey’s philosophy. No longer trying to create a contender by finding established players where they could, the Bucs, under Rickey, had 2 main rules: 1) use as many young players as possible, and 2) spend as little money as possible.
Uncertain as to whether he would be back in 1952, Meyer was among the Pirate personnel present, when Rickey held a “school,” as he called it, for over 50 Pirate prospects at Deland, Florida, in October, 1951. The core for some clubs that would win in the not-too-distant future, represented by Pitcher Vern Law and Outfielder Frank Thomas, was there, but things would get worse for the Pirates before they got better. Meyer ultimately would signed a 1-year contract for 1952, the standard term for Rickey employees.
1952 Topps Baseball Card
Evoking memories of Meyer’s rookie year with the 1916 A’s, the 1952 Pirates that he managed are recognized as another of the most-inept teams in MLB annals. Winners of just 42 games, the 1952 Bucs would finish 54 1/2 games out of 1st place. The losing took its toll on Meyer, who was now 60. He had had another short hospital stay in 1951 due to ulcers and he was no longer the calm and patient gent he had been, showing a shorter temper and displaying a sterner outlook. In 1952, Shortstop Dick Groat had jumped directly from Duke University to Forbes Field, Outfielder Gus Bell continued to improve and Ralph Kiner led the NL in HRs again. Beyond that, the team was bereft. Trying to cut costs, the Pirates regularly played with fewer than the 25 men allowed on MLB rosters; by July, they were getting by with just 21 players. Besides the decision to employ a less than full roster, the players the team did use were often not of major league quality. This was partly the result of agreements with the Pirates’ top minor league affiliates in AAA Hollywood Stars (PCL) and the AA New Orleans (SA). The Bucs had agreed not to call up players who might be able to play a role in those teams’ pennant races and were left to choose from players in lower leagues.
In a story recounted after his death, Meyer was said to have told of a Pirate-Cardinal game during this time period. One of Rickey’s “bonus babies” had reached base, and Meyer flashed the “steal” sign to his 3rd base coach for relay. On the 1st pitch, nothing happened. Meyer put the sign on a 2nd time. Again, the runner stayed put. Meyer tried a 3rd time, with the same result. Finally, the Cardinal 2nd baseman called time, walked over to the runner, and told him, “Look, they’ve given you the steal sign 3 times now. Are you going to stay on 1st all day?”
With 2 games left in the 1952 NL season, Meyer had finally reached his limit. He would resign on September 27th, ending his MLB managing career, all with the Pirates, at 317-452 (.412). “I’ve had enough,” he said. “I just couldn’t stand being with this team any longer. These kids we have now just can’t do it. If there was a foreseeable future to the club, I wouldn’t mind sticking it out. Everyone likes to manage a winning ball club, but this one is hopeless.” In December 1952, Fred Haney became the new Pirates Manager. For the rest of his baseball career, Meyer would serve as a MLB Scout and “troubleshooter,” a title he enjoyed. “That would make me the busiest man in the world,” he said. “Lord knows we’ve got enough trouble to shoot at on this club.” He would attend the MLB spring training camp with the Pirates through 1955, but he worked mostly out of his home in Knoxville.
While giving Branch Rickey a report on the phone in May of 1955, Meyer had suffered a stroke. He had survived, recovering somewhat from partial paralysis, but his health never fully returned and his pro baseball career was over. Meyer was suffering from uremic poisoning, when a heart attack ended his life on March 31,1957, in Knoxville. He was survived by his wife, the former Madelon Walters. The couple had no children.
Pittsburgh writers remembered him fondly. Les Biederman, in the Press, called Meyer “one of the best liked men ever to come into baseball. He was popular with everybody: players, managers, coaches, owners, umpires, writers and the fans.” Chet Smith said that a “more charming, witty, philosophical and patient man has never been in baseball. Nor a better manager . . ..” The Post-Gazette‘s Jack Hernon remembered his days as a rookie beat writer. Meyer, Hernon recalled, insisted that his players go out of their way to co-operate with Hernon. “He never carried a dislike for anyone; never did he speak a harsh word about a friend or associate.”
A month after Meyer’s death, the city of Knoxville would rename the town’s ballpark “Bill Meyer Stadium.”
Billy Meyer Stadium, Knoxville Tenn.
At some point, the Pittsburgh Pirates had retired Meyer’s uniform number (No. 1), and it shares a place of honor with the retired numbers of more familiar Pirates like Wagner, Traynor and Clemente on an upper deck façade in Pittsburgh’s new PNC Park. There is no record of a “Bill Meyer Day” or any other ceremony at which his number might have been retired. No Pirate media guide of the period mentions newly-retired numbers, but since the final weekend of the 1952 NL season, no other Pirate has worn Billy Meyer’s No. 1.
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