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Post by inger on Feb 12, 2024 23:21:56 GMT -5
I love the old Woodie Held batting tip: “Swing hard in case you hit the ball.”… Not all that far off from "hit strikes hard." Hit strikes hard isn’t a bad saying. You have to read into it that since the objective is to hit strikes, it also means lay of the pitches outside of the strike zone, and even more particularly, your hitting zone…That was how I approached hitting. Until there were two strikes on me, I wasn’t swinging unless it had a nice fat pitch. Then I tried to barrel the bat in the ball, not swing out of my shoes. I don’t think the mantra was bad. Somehow the teaching and monitoring side just didn’t seem to help the players. I felt from day one when they hired that dude (forgot his name) there would be a credibility issue… |
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Post by fwclipper51 on Feb 13, 2024 16:31:14 GMT -5
Joe DiMaggio’s Last Hurrah: The 1951 Lefty O’Doul All-Star Tour of Japan
This article was written by Rob Fitts, Edited by Clipper
This article was published in Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan, 1907-1958
 From left to right: Takehiko Bessho, Eddie Lopat, Joe DiMaggio, and Tetsuharu Kawakami. (Rob Fitts Collection)
In 1951, American troops still occupied Japan, but their mission now had shifted. Rather than seeing the country as a former enemy to be subjugated, Japan was now viewed as an ally in the fight against communism. As the war in Korea raged, Japan became a strategic center for United Nations troops, providing a supply base, command center, and behind-the-lines support that included hospitals. It became vital to US policy that democracy flourish in Japan and that ties between the 2 nations remain strong.
Since the end of World War II, US forces had consciously used the shared love of baseball to help bind the 2 nations together. To this end, Maj. Gen. William F. Marquat, the occupation forces’ Chief of Economic and Scientific Section, had restarted Japanese professional and amateur baseball immediately after the war. He also worked closely with Frank “Lefty” O’Doul to organize baseball exchanges. O’Doul made 3 trips to Japan between 1946 and 1950, bringing over the San Francisco Seals in 1949 and Joe DiMaggio in 1950. In August 1951, O’Doul announced that after the season he would return to Japan for the 4th time; this time taking an all-star team of major leaguers and Pacific Coast League stars on a goodwill tour to bolster ties between the 2 countries.
A's Pitcher Bobby Shantz
Sponsored by the Yomiuri newspaper, and organized by Sotaro Suzuki, the team was to play 16 games during a 4-week trip starting in mid-October. The roster included American League batting champ Ferris Fain, Bobby Shantz and Joe Tipton of the Athletics; Joe DiMaggio, Billy Martin and Eddie Lopat of the Yankees; Dom DiMaggio and Mel Parnell of the Red Sox; Pirates Bill Werle and George Strickland; and PCL standouts Ed Cereghino, Al Lyons, Ray Perry, Dino Restelli, Lou Stringer, Chuck Stevens and Tony “Nini” Tornay. To accommodate the All-Stars’ schedule, Japanese baseball Commissioner Seita (also known as Morita) Fukui had canceled the final games of the Nippon Professional Baseball League, so that the Japan Series could be concluded before the all-stars arrived.
As the all-star squad was about to depart, Joe DiMaggio made a stunning announcement. He was considering hanging up his spikes. In a meeting in New York, Yankees President Dan Topping supposedly told his star, “You are going to Japan. … You will have a lot of time for thought. So, think it over, and when you get back to New York, call me up and we will go over this matter again.”
O’Doul’s team gathered in San Francisco on October 15th and the next day boarded a Boeing 307 Stratoliner for the long flight to Hawaii. After an hour’s delay before takeoff, the plane finally departed. Thirty minutes later, an engine began to sputter and then died. “Boy, was I scared,” recalled Bobby Shantz. “It’s no fun to have a motor conk out and see nothing below you but Pacific Ocean!” The Stratoliner returned safely to San Francisco and after 3 hours of repairs tried again. As the plane neared Hawaii, O’Doul told his players to change into their uniforms. The team was scheduled to play a 7:30 P.M. game in Honolulu and although they would be late, Lefty had planned to keep the engagement.
Once, they touched down at 9:45 P.M., a police escort whisked the ballplayers to Honolulu Stadium, where 15,000 fans were still waiting for the visitors to arrive. By 10:30, they were playing ball. The exhausted All-Stars put in a poor performance against the local semipros. The Hawaiians scored 6 runs off of Shantz and Lopat as starting pitcher Don Ferrarese (who had played minor-league ball and eventually had an 8-year major-league career) held the visitors to a single run in 4 innings before the All-Stars erupted for 5 in the 5th inning to tie the score. Reliever Ed Correa, however, stymied the All-Stars for the remainder of the contest, striking out 8 batters, as the Hawaiians pushed across 2 more runs to win 8-6. To the great disappointment of the crowd, Joe DiMaggio did not start and only appeared as a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning -Correa fanned him on 3 pitches. One irate fan later wrote to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:
Do you honestly think that the way you let 15,000 people down the other night is true sportsmanship? Folks came piling into the Honolulu stadium at 7:00 PM and waited for 6 hours. … They came in droves, young and old. Old women carrying babies, dads with their kids, who should have been in bed in order to be ready for school the next day. And for what? … they all came for the 1 purpose of seeing 1 man in action, Joe DiMaggio. All through the game an old grandmother sat holding her grandson, who kept asking, ‘Where’s DiMaggio, Gramma, where’s DiMaggio? And when he finally did appear for an instant in the 8th, I looked over at them, and they were still waiting there, sound asleep! Yep, Lefty, you sure let us down.
After the game ended at 12:55 A.M., the All-Stars trudged back to the airport and boarded a flight to Tokyo.
General Marquat met the team when it arrived at Haneda Airport at 4:30 P.M. After a brief press conference, Marquat ushered the players into 15 convertibles for a parade through downtown Tokyo.
Joe,General Marquat, Dom
As dark fell, nearly a million fans lined the streets of Tokyo to welcome the team. “I never saw so many people in my life,” recalled Shantz. “Baseball worshipping Japanese fans choked midtown Tokyo traffic for an hour and rocked the city with screams of ‘Banzai DiMaggio!’ … in a tumultuous welcome,” the United Press reported. “Magnesium flares flashed through the sky as the motorcade inched through the mob. DiMaggio and O’Doul were in the lead convertible, just behind a Military Police jeep that used its hood to push back the mob to clear a path. ‘Banzai DiMaggio! Banzai O’Doul!’ the mob shouted. Scraps of paper rained from the windows of office buildings.”
Yets Higa, a Honolulu businessman who accompanied the team to Japan, said, “The cars finally slowed down to almost a snail’s pace as thousands of Japanese baseball fans walked right up to the cars to touch the celebrities from America. The crowd intensified its enthusiasm as an American band played Stars and Stripes [Forever]. The whole thing was so fantastic that I couldn’t believe my eyes. Never in my life have I seen such a tremendous welcome given to any team.” The “surging crowds gave the ball players one of the greatest receptions ever accorded any visitors to Japan,” added the Nippon Times.
The next afternoon, Thursday, October 18th, 5,000 spectators showed up at Meiji Jingu Stadium (renamed Stateside Park by the occupation forces) to watch the visiting ball- players practice. O’Doul and DiMaggio remained the center of attention. “When O’Doul walks off or on the field, going to his car, walking to the locker room or any other time he appears in public, people seemed to spring right out of the ground. Baseball fans of all ages press in on him and beg for an autograph or just mill around, trying to catch a glimpse of ‘Refty.’ Joe DiMaggio is the same way. … It becomes almost impossible for him to move from one place to another for the people who want him to sign cards, baseballs, scraps of paper, old notebook covers or anything they happen to have handy.”
That evening more than 3,000 fans jammed the Nippon Gekijo, Asia’s largest movie theatre, to see the ballplayers. Thousands more waited outside after being turned away from the sold-out event. During the brief ceremony, Sotaro Suzuki introduced the players as each stepped forward and bowed to the audience. After the introductions, O’Doul spoke: “The long war with cannons and machine-guns is ended. Let’s promote Japanese-American friendship by means of balls and gloves. There is no sport like baseball to promote friendship between 2 countries. "Oyasuminasai" [goodnight].”
On October 19th, after 10,000 fans came to watch them practice, the ballplayers met with Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, commander of the United Nations forces in Korea and the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Japan. The general told the team that he was “very happy the major leaguers had come to Japan and felt sure their visit would promote good relations between the United States and Japan.” Ridgway also asked if the squad could travel to Korea to entertain the troops.
The gates of Korakuen Stadium opened at 8 A.M. the following day to accommodate the expected throng for the opening game against the Yomiuri Giants. The players themselves arrived for practice at 11:40. By 1:30, 50,000 fans had packed the stands as baseball comedian Johnny Price began his show. Often known as Jackie, Price had been a longtime semipro and minor-league player (with 13 major-league at-bats for the Cleveland Indians in 1946), who had turned to comedy. During the 1940s and ‘50s, he performed at minor- and major-league parks across the United States. His act included accurately pitching 2 baseballs at the same time, blindfolded pitching, bunting between his legs, catching pop flies down his pants, and both playing catch and batting while hanging upside down by his ankles from a swing set. His signature act featured shooting baseballs hundreds of feet in the air with an air-powered “bazooka” and then catching them from a moving jeep. The Japanese fans adored the show, having never seen anything like it in their serious games.
At 1:45, an announcer introduced the 2 teams and numerous dignitaries as they lined up on the field. Just as the pregame ceremonies and long-winded speeches seemed endless, General Marquai yelled, “Let’s get on with the ball game!” and a few minutes later the teams took the field.
The Yomiuri Giants had just completed one of their most successful seasons, running away with the Central League pennant by 18 games and then topping the Nankai Hawks in the Japan Series, 4 games to 1. Their star-studded roster included 7 future members of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. Nevertheless, “Manager Shigeru Mizuhara readily admitted that his championship team didn’t have a chance, but he promised his ball players will be hustling all the way to put up a good fight.”
It did not take long for the All-Stars to grab the lead. After starter Takehiko Bessho had retired leadoff batter Dom DiMaggio on a fly to right field, Billy Martin would beat out a grounder to the shortstop. Ferris Fain then stroked a line-drive single into center field, sending Martin to 3rd. Joe DiMaggio stepped to the plate and on a 2-2 count, “answering the fervent pleas of the fans” slammed a sharp single by the 3rd baseman to score Martin. But a nifty double play turned by 2nd baseman Shigeru Chiba ended the inning.
Leading off the bottom of the 1st for Yomiuri was Lefty O’Doul’s protégé Wally Yonamine. Yonamine was the 1st American star to play in the Japanese leagues after World War II. Frustrated by not reaching the inaugural Japan Series in 1950, Yomiuri executives wanted to import an American player to strengthen their lineup and teach the latest baseball techniques.
They reasoned that hiring a Caucasian player so soon after the end of the war would lead to difficulties, so instead they searched for the best available Japanese American player. They soon settled on Hawaiian-born Yonamine, who had not only just finished a stellar year with the Salt Lake City Bees of the Pioneer League, but he had also become the 1st man of Japanese descent to play professional football, when he joined the San Francisco 49ers in 1947. In his 1st season with Yomiuri, Yonamine became an instant star, batting .354 with 26 stolen bases. He went on to have a 12-year Hall of Fame career in Japan.
Yonamine battled starter Mel Parnell before drawing a walk. With a 1-out single by Noboru Aota, the Giants threatened to even the score, but Parnell got out of the jam and proceeded to shut down Yomiuri for the next 5 innings. In the meantime, Bessho retired the next 10 All-Stars and the 5th inning began with the score still 1-0. Two errors, a walk, and a single in the 5th, however, increased the All-Stars’ lead to 4-0. The Americans tacked on another 3 runs and Bill Werle came on in relief of Parnell, holding Yomiuri scoreless for the 7-0 victory.
After the game it began to rain. The precipitation slackened to a continuous drizzle by game time the following afternoon, October 20th, when the All-Stars tackled the Mainichi Orions, winner of the inaugural Japan Series in 1950. The 1951 squad, however, was not as strong, finishing in 3rd place in the Pacific League, 22 games behind the Nankai Hawks.
The event began with the usual pregame ceremonies. Penny Ridgway, the general’s wife, threw out the 1st pitch and Johnny Price entertained the 50,000 damp spectators with his antics. Not all went as planned, however, as Price failed to clear his “bazooka” and was struck in the elbow with a baseball. He was rushed to the Tokyo Army Hospital, where X-rays showed no significant damage.
Once the game started, the muddy field caused grounders to “roll erratically” and players had difficulty “getting out of the muck around the batter’s box.” The conditions may have helped American starter Bobby Shantz. “The Orions could do absolutely nothing with him. Despite the rain, [his] control was fine, and he was very seldom behind the hitters.” On the other hand, the All-Stars feasted on Orions starter Takeshi Nomura and reliever Toshihide Yamane, scoring 11 times on 20 hits with HRs by the DiMaggio brothers and Shantz. Eddie Lopat came on for the visitors to close out the easy 11-0 victory.
After spending October 22nd shopping in Tokyo, where “hundreds of people surrounded and trailed after the … athletes as they peered into stores,” the All-Stars and Yomiuri Giants traveled by train to Sendai in northern Japan to play on the 25th. Thirty thousand fans, including 5,000 GIs from California’s 40th Division, packed the ballpark. In a symbolic gesture to emphasize unity between the 2 nations, the 40th Division’s band played both national anthems as the flags were raised prior to the game. Then the spectators would witnessed an exciting game.
Although the Americans went out to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning, the Japanese tied the score in the 5th as left fielder Hiroyoshi Komatsubara tripled in Yuko Minamimura and then scored as Yasuo Kusunoki executed a perfect squeeze bunt—causing the fans to jump “to their feet, waving red paper fans in great excitement.” The All-Stars moved back on top in the next frame as Joe DiMaggio doubled and Dino Restelli slammed a pitch into the left-field stands. In the 7th, Komatsubara tripled again and scored on an infield out to cut the American lead to 4-3. In the 8th, however, Billy Martin would homered and Restelli singled in Chuck Stevens to seal a 6-3 victory.
The All-Stars returned to Tokyo the next day and were Marquat’s dinner guests that evening at the Washington Heights Club, where they spent most of the time autographing menus and baseballs. The following day, October 27th, the All-Stars and Giants met again, this time in the city of Utsunomiya, 60 miles north of Tokyo. Although Yomiuri scored in the 1st inning to hold a lead for the 1st time in the tour, the All-Stars answered quickly with 3 runs in the top of the 2nd and went on to win 11-4.
After rain postponed a scheduled game in Tokyo, the Americans traveled to Toyama to play a squad of Central League all-stars. The city’s mayor personally greeted each player as the All-Stars left the railroad station through a “specifically constructed arch of welcome.” The team then paraded through town in open cars as thousands of fans cheered their arrival. The 30,000 spectators, who packed the small stadium were disappointed to learn that Joe DiMaggio would not be in the lineup as he had slipped and fallen in his hotel bathroom, injuring his back. The game began as a pitchers’ duel. Mel Parnell pitched masterfully, shutting out the Japanese for 8 innings on 4 hits. The Central League team started 18-year-old Masaichi Kaneda. In his 2nd year of pro ball, the slim southpaw had showed promise, winning 22 games (but losing 21) and striking out 233 batters (but walking 190) in 350 innings. Kaneda matured into one of Japan’s greatest pitchers, the only hurler to win 400 games. Kaneda pitched well, holding the Americans to 2 runs and 4 hits in 5 innings before the lanky, bespectacled Shigeru Sugishita took over. O’Doul’s All-Stars entered the 9th inning with just a 3-0 lead, before both teams’ bats came alive with the Americans plating 3 more and a 2-run HR by Michio Nishizawa spoiling Parnell’s shutout.
As the All-Stars departed for a 3-game stint in Osaka, Eddie Lopat, troubled by a sore arm, left the team and headed back to the United States. The Osaka games began on November 2nd against the Pacific League champion Nankai Hawks, led by wily Player-Manager Kazuto Yamamoto (also known as Kazuto Tsuruoka). As a player, Yamamoto had just won his 3rd MVP award and as a Manager would lead the Hawks to 11 pennants in 23 years at their helm. He became the manager responsible for sending Pitcher Masanori Murakami to the United States in 1964.
The game at Namba Stadium had sold out, but heavy rain before the game discouraged spectators and just 10,000 showed up to the ballpark. Those who stayed home missed a great game. Yamamoto decided to challenge the Americans with a series of pitchers rather than just rely on his ace. Haruyasu Eto and Nobuo Nakatani shut out the visitors for 5 innings before Ferris Fain hit “a towering HR into the right-field stands” off Takeo Hattori in the 6th inning to give his side a 1-0 lead. After the HR, Hattori and Susumu Yuki continued to shut out the Americans. Meanwhile Bill Werle (who managed Masanori Murakami when he came to the States in 1964) held down the Hawks, scattering 9 hits in a complete-game shutout.
The next day’s game at famed Koshien Stadium against a combined Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers team could not have been more different. The All-Stars pounded all 5 Japanese pitchers for 13 runs on 19 hits, including 6 HRs. With a 13-2 lead, O’Doul turned the mound over to Kenny Lehman of the US Army’s 40th Division. Lehman had pitched for the Hollywood Stars in 1950 and went on to pitch for Brooklyn, Baltimore and the Philadelphia Phillies in the majors. Lehman “retired the side without trouble.”
On Sunday, November 4th, the American All-Stars began a 4-game set against the All-Japan squad. Although the All-Japan roster contained numerous future members of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, some complained that player selection was not based on actual performance and that a number of the past season’s top players had been omitted. Commissioner Seita Fukui “however, pointed out that the games to be played with the American major leaguers are wholly of a goodwill character and cautioned against placing too much emphasis on the strength of the Japanese representatives.”
Fifty thousand fans packed Koshien Stadium to watch the 2 nations’ all-stars battle. The Americans scored quickly as Joe DiMaggio lashed a 2-out double in the top of the 1st off of Takehiko Bessho to drive in 2. The Japanese retaliated with 2 runs off of Mel Parnell in the 4th, momentarily knotting the game before Chuck Stevens doubled home Ferris Fain in the top of the 5th to put the Americans back in the lead. In the bottom of the 6th, Kenny Lehman took the mound again and pitched 4 scoreless innings to save the 4-2 victory. After the game, reporters peppered Joe DiMaggio with questions about his retirement, but the Yankee Clipper restated that he was still undecided about his future in baseball.
The All-Stars headed back east the next day, stopping in Shizuoka to play the All-Japan squad on November 6th and Nagoya on the 7th to meet the Dragons. Neither team challenged the Americans as the All-Stars beat All-Japan 6-1 and the Dragons 11-1. O’Doul’s team had now won every contest, outscoring their opponents 76-15.
The All-Stars’ perfect record ended the next day in Nishinomiya.
Thirty thousand fans crowded into the ballpark to watch the Pacific League All-Stars, managed by Kazuto Yamamoto, challenge the Americans. Bobby Shantz took the mound for the All-Stars and held the Japanese to just 3 hits in 7 innings. Unfortunately for Shantz, 2 of the 3 hits were sharp RBI singles by Mainichi Orions outfielder Kaoru Betto, which put the Pacific Leaguers up 2-0.
Having nearly upset O’Doul’s squad earlier in the week, Yamamoto once again threw a succession of fresh pitchers at the Americans. Nankai ace Haruyasu Eto started and was followed by Yasuo Yonekawa of the Tokyu Flyers, Nobuo Nakatani of the Hawks, Tokuji Kawasaki of the Nishitetsu Lions, Giichi Hayashi of the Daiei Stars, and Susumu Yuki of the Hawks. The hurlers held the Americans scoreless, and Joe DiMaggio hitless, until the 8th inning, when a bunt hit, an error, a triple, and a wild pitch allowed the All-Stars to tie the game.
The 2 teams entered the 11th inning knotted, 2-2. With 1 out, Betto struck again, smoking another single. He then stole 2nd base to put the winning run in scoring position. Right-handed relief pitcher Ed Cereghino bore down and stuck out future Hall of Famer Tokuji Iida. Yamamoto then sent Takuji Kochi to pinch-hit for Shosei Go. With the game in jeopardy, O’Doul walked to the mound and brought in his ace, lefty Mel Parnell, who fanned Kochi to get out of the jam. After 2 hours and 54 minutes of baseball, dusk had fallen. All agreed that the game would end in a tie.
Two days later, on Saturday, November 10th, the Central League All-Stars adopted Yamamoto’s strategy against the Americans. On a crisp, misty day at Meiji Jingu Stadium, 54,000 fans watched 4 of Japan’s top pitchers -1951 Rookie of the Year Kiyoshi Matsuda, Takehiko Bessho, Masaichi Kaneda, and Shigeru Sugishita—hold O’Doul’s squad scoreless for 7 innings. Meanwhile, GI Kenny Lehman limited the Japanese to just 2 hits in the 1st 6 innings, but he had surrendered an unearned run.
With his team down 1-0 in the top of the 8th, Joe DiMaggio stepped into the batter’s box. The 6-foot-tall Sugishita stood on the mound, peering down at his catcher through his thick, round glasses. Although the lanky hurler always looked a bit comical in his baggy flannel uniform, he could pitch. He would win 3 Sawamura Awards for the season’s best pitcher and finish his career with a 2.23 ERA. “When DiMaggio came up,” Sugishita later told reporters, “I felt tremendous pressure. …I was half inclined to walk him.” The Yankee Clipper fouled off a pitch and then connected with his long graceful swing, slamming “a towering fly into the stands in left field” to tie the game.
In the top of the 9th, the Americans surged ahead as relief pitcher Al Lyons walked, Dom DiMaggio tripled and Billy Martin hit a fly ball scoring Dom to put the Americans on top, 3-1. After a walk to Fain and a groundout by Stevens, the inning came to an end with Joe DiMaggio grounding to 3rd. It proved to be DiMaggio’s last professional at-bat as he announced after the game that he needed to return to the United States for unspecified “business reasons.” A month later, DiMaggio had retired.
On Sunday, as Joe DiMaggio waited for his flight at Haneda Airport, his team faced the All-Japan squad at Jingu. After 2 close games, the All-Stars’ bats unleashed against starter Masaichi Kaneda and 4 relievers. The Americans pounded out 21 hits and 12 runs as Mel Parnell blanked the Japanese on 4 hits.
After a couple of days off, O’Doul’s All-Stars once again faced off against Kazuto Yamamoto’s Pacific League All-Stars. Seventeen-year-old Ed Cereghino took the mound for the Americans, and the Pacifies began with Susumu Yuki. The Japanese took the lead in the 2nd inning, as Tokuji Iida tripled down the right-field line and after an out, Kazuo Horii walked. With runners on 1st and 3rd, Hawks shortstop Chusuke Kizuka surprised the Americans with a perfect squeeze bunt and Iida streak home for the 1st run. Next Yuki, the pitcher, walloped a double to left, scoring Horii to put his team up 2-0.
A single by Ferris Fain followed by a Chuck Stevens triple put the Americans on the board in the top of the 3rd, but the Pacifies retaliated in the bottom of the inning as Kaoru Betto walked and Iida doubled him in. Down 3-1, O’Doul brought in Bobby Shantz to start the 4th inning. Shantz dominated the Pacifies, allowing just 3 hits and no runs for the remainder of the game, but it was too late as Yuki, Takeshi Nomura, Yasuo Yonekawa, and Giichi Hayashi shut down the Americans’ offense to preserve the 3-1 victory.
A surprised reporter for the Nippon Times wrote, “The upset victory was not only the 1st loss of the American All-Stars in 14 starts, but was also the 1st time ‘Lefty’ has played for or managed a losing team here.” Even the New York Times covered the upset, incorrectly stating, “An American professional baseball team was beaten by a Japanese club today for the 1st time in history.” According to The Sporting News, “The victory produced a national sensation in Japan.”
On the heels of the defeat, the All-Stars had a 4-day hiatus as comedian Johnny Price, Dom DiMaggio, Mel Parnell, Billy Martin, Ferris Fain and George Strickland headed off to Korea to visit American troops. The players were flown by a US Army plane to the Kumsong front, an active war zone. There they visited “the front-line infantry companies [to] talk baseball to the combat weary fighters.”
On Saturday, November 17th, the All-Stars returned to action at Korakuen Stadium against the All-Japan squad. Although the Pacific League All-Stars had given the Americans trouble, the supposedly more talented All-Japan team had not played well, losing their previous 3 games, 4-2, 6-1, and 12-0. This final matchup was no exception, as O’Doul’s squad pounded All-Japan team by the score of 14-5.
The All-Stars’ tour ended on Monday, November 19th, with a charity game against the Yomiuri Giants at Meiji Jingu Stadium. For what was heralded as “O’Doul Day,” Lefty invited 30,000 Japanese schoolchildren as well as United Nations soldiers from the Army hospitals in Tokyo to be his guests at the ballpark. After the game, O’Doul would donate 100,000 yen (worth $2,777 at the time) to Hinode Gakuen, a private school for the mentally challenged in Tokyo.
The children were treated to a cracking good game. Yomiuri went out to a quick lead, scoring 4 in the bottom of the 1st off of Mel Parnell. The All-Stars chipped away, tallying 2 in the 3rd, 1 in the 5th and 2 in the 7th to enter the bottom of the 9th on top 5-4.
Dusk had fallen as reliever Bobby Shantz faced Hiroyoshi Komatsubara with 2 outs and Mitsuo Uno on 1st. Komatsubara hit a high pop fly to shallow left. Shortstop George Strickland went out and left fielder Dino Restelli charged in, but neither could see the ball in the darkened sky. It fell for a double as Uno raced around the bases to score the tying run. After the inning, all agreed that it was too dark to continue, and the game ended in a 5-5 draw. A perfect finish for a charity event.
The next day, the All-Stars boarded a 10:05 P.M. flight back to the United States. As they departed, the players gushed about the Japanese hospitality. “I found the Japanese to be wonderful hosts,” exclaimed Bobby Shantz. “They wouldn’t let us do a thing. After a game they would come to our rooms and get the uniforms and have them cleaned. Almost anything we wanted was served on a silver platter. I never met such friendly people. They are great cooks too. …I can sincerely say I thoroughly enjoyed the trip. I’d love to go back to Japan for another tour.”
O’Doul praised the Japanese players. “Don’t underestimate Japanese baseball. It is developing in rapid strides and right now is capable of competing in Class A or lower leagues in the United States. … We had a pretty well-balanced aggregation of American players on this trip—a club that could make United States teams in every league step lively. In every game, the Japanese played fine baseball and did not appear to be outclassed by any means. I am really amazed at the progress made in baseball technique in the three years since I first came to Japan in the postwar period. The Japanese have some good long-ball hitters such as Tetsuharu Kawakami, Michio Nishizawa and Kaoru Betto. They always have been top fielders and the pitching has improved a lot since the early days. Yamamoto and Mizuhara are top strategists as Managers.”
Although the 1951 tour did not have the diplomatic impact of the 1934 All-American or 1949 Seals tours, newspapers in both the United States and Japan agreed that the visit helped solidify goodwill between the 2 nations. A New York Times editorial proclaimed, “News that a half a million Japanese turned out in Tokyo to shout ‘banzai’ for Joe DiMaggio and Lefty O’Doul is the sort of thing that keeps up our hope for some eventual international understanding. … What we are all trying to find is those means of communication that can jump across language and culture-pattern barriers. Sport is one of those means … We don’t expect the world to be transformed on the playing fields, but every little bit helps. When the Japanese shout their ‘banzais,’ in this case they are helping to shout in a better world.”
ROBERT K. FITTS is the author of numerous articles and 7 books on Japanese baseball and Japanese baseball cards. Fitts is the founder of SABR’s Asian Baseball Committee and a recipient of the society’s 2013 Seymour Medal for Best Baseball Book of 2012; the 2019 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award; the 2012 Doug Pappas Award for best oral research presentation at the annual convention; and the 2006 and 2021 SABR Research Awards. He has twice been a finalist for the Casey Award and has received 2 silver medals at the Independent Publisher Book Awards. While living in Tokyo in 1993-1994, Fitts began collecting Japanese baseball cards and now runs Robs Japanese Cards LLC. Information on Rob’s work is available at RobFitts.com.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Feb 13, 2024 19:24:34 GMT -5
September 1, 1963: Yankees’ Tom Metcalf gets sole major-league win, aided by home runs
This article was written by Michael Trzinski, Edited by Clipper
 1964 Topps Yankees Rookies Baseball Card.
On July 16,1940, Tom Metcalf was born in Amherst, Wisconsin. Metcalf graduated from Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids. He had attended Northwestern University. He threw and batted right-handed, and stood 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall during his active career. He had signed with the New York Yankees as an MLB Amateur Free Agent in 1961. He was in his 3rd year in their minor league system. In 1963, he was pitching for the AAA Richmond Virginians (International League), where he had posted a 9-5 record with a 2.69 ERA in 46 games.
Tom Metcalf had been called up by the New York Yankees in early August of 1963 and had appeared in only 4 games for the league-leading Yankees during the month. Relief appearances were few and far between; the New York pitching staff had led the American League in complete games with 59. In fact, the Yankees used only 8 relievers during the season in addition to relief appearances by starters. (In the 1960s, it was fairly common for even star hurlers to sometimes work in relief.)
As the calendar flipped to September, the Yankees found themselves 12 games up on the rest of the American League field and were going for a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles in a 3-game road series.
The Sunday afternoon contest was scoreless until the home half of the 3rd. Boog Powell grounded out, scoring Luis Aparicio. One batter later, John Orsino hit his 15th HR of the year, also scoring Russ Snyder to give Baltimore a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the 5th, New York starter Ralph Terry loaded the bases with 2 outs before giving way to Steve Hamilton. The lanky southpaw struck out Jim Gentile to end the threat.
Tom Metcalf had worked 6 innings in his 4 games, without a decision but with a 4.50 ERA. He came into the game in the 6th inning and got a pair of groundouts and a strikeout while allowing a harmless 2-out infield single to Bob Johnson. The 7th inning would be a little tougher for Metcalf.
Yankees center fielder Tom Tresh hit a solo HR in the top of the 7th to cut the deficit to 3-1. In the bottom half, Aparicio singled and moved to second on a groundout. A balk by Metcalf moved Aparicio to 3rd and then Powell was intentionally walked to set up a double play.
Up to the plate strode Orsino, who not only had hit a HR in the 3rd, but he had hit 1 off Metcalf in the right-hander’s 1st big-league appearance, in the 1st game of a doubleheader on August 4th. (New York Daily News writer Joe Trimble called it a “horrendous debut.”)
“I hung a curveball and he hit it down the line and just inside the foul pole,” said Metcalf of Orsino’s HR in the pitcher’s MLB debut.
The pitcher got the better of the duel this day, with Orsino fouling out to 1st baseman Joe Pepitone for the 2nd out. Gentile made up for his previous at-bat, singling Aparicio home to extend the Orioles lead to 4-1. Al Smith lined out to center, retiring the side.
“My idea at that time was that I’m going to get [Orsino] on my curveball,” said Metcalf. “I’m not going to pitch around him.” And Metcalf got his “revenge” on the Baltimore catcher with the popup.
Metcalf was due up 3rd in the top of the 8th, but gave way to pinch-hitter Mickey Mantle. The slugger was in the midst of an injury-plagued season, playing in only 65 games. Mantle broke his left foot and banged up his left knee during an early June contest, losing a battle with the outfield wall in Baltimore.
“I hear kind of a roar and I turn and look and Mantle is just stepping out of the dugout with his bat,” said Metcalf with a smile. “Mantle says, ‘Tom, how does it feel to have a drunk pinch-hitting for you?’ I figured he was coming in and I kind of laughed and headed for the dugout.
“The night before, he and [Orioles 1st-base coach] Hank Bauer and [Yankee pitcher] Whitey Ford were out all night. I don’t think he figured he would be playing the next day.
“Bauer called time out and went out to talk to [Baltimore pitcher] Mike McCormick,” recalled Metcalf. “He probably said something like ‘don’t give him anything off-speed. Bring the fastball.’ I’m pretty sure that’s what he said.”
With 1 man on, Mantle turned around on a 1st-pitch fastball and drilled a HR to left field, making it a 4-3 game. Mantle grinned as he rounded the bases. Afterward he said, “After not batting for a long time, and taking 1 swing, it has to be luck.”
Three batters later, Tresh would hit his 2nd round-tripper of the game, a 2-run HR blast to put the Yankees up 5-4, which is how the game finished after a 6-up, 6-down performance by reliever Hal Reniff. Metcalf got the win.
Metcalf would pitch in 3 more games during the regular season, ending with a total of 8 appearances, the 1 win, along with an ERA of 2.77. He probably could have been credited with another win on September 7th in a game against Detroit in which the Yankees scored 8 times in the 5th inning after trailing 6-3. He was the pitcher of record, but was pinch-hit for in the big inning. Wrote Trimble in the New York Daily News after official scorer Til Ferdenzi gave Reniff the win, as he pitched 3⅓ innings to close the game. “The scoring rules permit this elasticity of choice in a flappy game such as this.”
“It was a brief appearance in the middle innings,” remembered Metcalf. “I saw the paper the next morning and thought they made a mistake. I was a rookie so I wasn’t going to complain to a writer. I thought I’d get my share of wins. I wasn’t worried about that. When I was done playing, I would get baseball cards and see the 1 win listed. Then it was kind of annoying.”
The Yankees would finish the 1963 AL season with a record of 104 wins and 57 losses, 10½ games in front of the runner-up Chicago White Sox. But the 1963 World Series was a different story. The Los Angeles Dodgers would swept New York behind the exquisite pitching of starters Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Johnny Podres. Relief ace Ron Perranoski barely broke a sweat, pitching two-thirds of an inning while the 3 starters did all the rest.
As for Metcalf, he did not see any game action in the 4-game sweep.
“I felt going into that Series that I would not pitch,” recalled Metcalf. “I thought the only way I would get in is if the starter got lit up early, but that really never happened. In the last game, [Manager Ralph Houk] had me warming up but I didn’t go in.
“We were overwhelmed by the Dodgers pitching staff,” said Metcalf. “We were just dominated.”
The next season, Metcalf found himself in competition for a relief spot with Pete Mikkelsen. He also found that Houk had moved up to the front office and that Yogi Berra was taking over in the dugout. Berra would prefer Mikkelsen, who threw the sinkerball. Metcalf was more of a fly-ball pitcher.
At that point, Houk told Metcalf, “Tom, I’m not in favor of this deal, but Yogi has the right to choose his players. Go down and do the best you can and I’ll try to get you back here.” So, Metcalf would report to AAA Richmond, albeit a couple of days late, and started working on a sinkerball.
“And that’s when I hurt my arm,” said Metcalf. In fact, he had broke it.
Metcalf would toiled in the minor leagues for 2 more years, never getting that call from Houk. In the spring of 1966, he decided to retire from the game.
“Sometimes I wake up at night and wish that I hadn’t ended my career so soon.”
Acknowledgments
This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Len Levin.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Feb 14, 2024 18:59:46 GMT -5
Good Optics: The 1955 Yankees Tour of Japan
This article was written by Roberta J. Newman, Edited by Clipper
This article was published in Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan, 1907-1958
The Yankees arrive in Japan on October 20, 1955. (Rob Fitts Collection)
On Thursday, October 20, 1955, the New York Yankees and their entourage landed at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to begin a 3-week, 16-game goodwill tour of Japan. There, they were mobbed by kimono-clad young women bearing bouquets, an eager press corps, and a thousand devoted fans. The result was chaos, as children, autograph seekers, formalists, businessmen, and advertisers of all stripes besieged the Yankees party. But the airport crowd was tiny compared with the throng lining the streets of Tokyo. An estimated 100,000 turned out to shower the motorcade, 23 vehicles carrying the players and coaching staff, Team Co-Owner Del Webb, General Manager George Weiss, Commissioner Ford Frick, and accompanying wives—with confetti and ticker tape. They were also showered with rain from Typhoon Opal, but the weather, which caused significant damage and loss of life elsewhere in Japan, did little to dampen the crowd’s enthusiasm.
The Yankees were not the only American visitors to arrive in Japan on that day. Former New York Governor and failed presidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey also landed in Tokyo on the Japanese leg of his world tour, with the stated aim of learning about Japan’s recent economic advances. In reality, Dewey’s aim was to spread pro-American Cold War propaganda to a new democracy still finding its political direction, a nation he called “one of the keystones to any sound system of freedom.” Dewey stayed but 4 days, his visit gamering little coverage in the English-language press. In contrast, the Yankees remained in the spotlight and on the pages of newspapers for the entirety of their visit. If influence can be measured by column inches, the Yankees’ impact on Japanese attitudes toward America far outweighed that of the political power broker.
The Yankees Parade in Japan
Ten years before the Yankees arrived, Japan was thoroughly beaten, exhausted from fighting the “Emperor’s holy war.” Of the early postwar period, historian John W. Dower writes:
Virtually all that would take place in the several years that followed unfolded against this background of crushing defeat. Despair took root and flourished in such a milieu; so, did cynicism and opportunism—as well as marvelous expressions of resilience, creativity, and idealism of a sort possible only among people who have seen an old world destroyed and are being forced to imagine a new one.
For the Japan that greeted the Yankees, this new world had just begun to become a reality. The year 1955-Showa 30 or the 30th year of Emperor Hirohito’s reign by the Japanese dating system-marked the beginning of what would be called the Japanese Miracle, a period of unprecedented economic growth that lasted more than 3 decades. Ironically, war was the engine that drove the Japanese Miracle-the Cold War. In 1945, Japanese industry was crippled-almost 1-3rd of its capacity had been demolished. With staggering unemployment rates among an educated labor force, combined with the country’s advantageous geographic location near Korea, China, and the USSR, Japan became an ideal place to establish new war-related industries and revive old ones. In a very real sense, Japanese manufacturers played an active part of what President Dwight D. Eisenhower would come to call the “military-industrial complex” in his 1961 farewell speech.
Nevertheless, in 1955, relations between the United States and Japan were occasionally tense, the United States fearing that Japan, like India, would take a neutral position in the power struggle between it and the Soviet Union. It did not. Instead, it became one of the United States’ strongest allies. But the strength of that alliance was still wobbly as the 2 nations negotiated an ultimately successful trade deal, one that would see Japan’s entry into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and become a player in the global economy.
Though clearly not as delicate as treaty talks with international implications, negotiations to bring the Yankees to Japan were handled with care. In a very broad sense, these negotiations were a microcosm of the larger, far more complicated economic and political talks. In June, during the broadcast of a “good will talk” for the Voice of America, Yankees manager Casey Stengel, who had toured Japan in 1922 as part of an all-star outfit, let it slip that he might be returning. An anonymous source within the Yankees intimated that the team had, in fact, been discussing the possibility of a tour, as had several other clubs. Although there may have been other teams under consideration, it had to be the Yankees. As New York World Telegram and Sunsports columnist and Sporting News contributor Dan Daniel observed, “Information from U.S. Army sources says that baseball enthusiasm over there (in Japan) and rooting support for the pennant effort of the Yankees have achieved unprecedented heights.” Daniel, who covered the New York team, became the primary source of information regarding tour negotiations, though he did not cover the tour itself. But he was not the only sportswriter to weigh in. Writing in the Nippon Times, F.N. Mike concurred, noting, “The Yankees is a magic name here, where every household not only follows baseball doings in Japan, but also that in America. The Yankees, of all others epitomizes big-time baseball in the States, just as Babe Ruth, who helped to build up its name and who led the great 1934 All-Americans to Japan, represented baseball in America individually.” And not only were the Yankees the most recognizable and most popular American team in Japan, but their very brand meant “American baseball” and, by extension, America, to the Japanese, in the most positive sense.
Before the Yankees front office would consent to the visit, it required assurance that both governments were on board. More importantly, even after they were invited to tour by sponsor Mainichi Shimbun, the 2nd largest newspaper in Japan, the organization would not begin to plan a tour without a formal invitation from the Japanese. The Japanese government laid down certain conditions, most specifically, that the visiting team would not be compensated. According to Daniel, “the proposition offers no financial gain to the club. Nor would any of the players receive anything beyond an all-expense trip for themselves and their wives.” In fact, it was absolutely essential that the team agree to forgo any type of payment. Writing in Pacific Stars and Stripes, columnist Lee Kavetski observed, “Each Yankee player is likely to be asked to sign an acceptance of non-profit conditions before making the trip.” Kavetski continued, “It is recalled an amount of unpleasantness developed from the Giants’ 1953 tour. Upon completion of the tour, some of Leo Durocher’s players complained that they had been misled and jobbed about financial remuneration. There was absolutely no basis for the complaint. And the beef unjustly placed Japanese hosts in a bad light.” This was hardly goodwill. Indeed, it was a public-relations disaster that extended into the realm of foreign relations. Kavetski noted, “As Joe DiMaggio, who has been to Japan twice, said to New York sports writer Dan Daniel, ‘Stengel’s players can perform a great service to baseball and to international friendship if they sign up for the trip even though there is no prospect for personal financial gain.’”
Why did the bad behavior of a few American baseball players border on an international incident? On April 28,1952, the San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed by 49 nations, including the United States and Japan, officially ended World War II. It also ended the Allied Occupation. As such, the Giants were guests in a newly sovereign nation trying to find its way and to establish its identity on a global stage. Tour sponsor Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper, promised to pay each player 60% of the gate of their final 2 games in Osaka in return for their participation. Unfortunately, the resulting figure was smaller than the players expected. Only 5,000 of the 24,000 who attended the 1st of those games actually bought tickets. As a result, each player was to be paid $331, in addition to “walking around money.” While this was no small amount—it translates to approximately $3,550 in 2021 dollars-it was nowhere near the $3,000 they believed they would net. Writing in Pacific Stars and Stripes, Cpl. Perry Smith noted, “The individual players did not appreciate the ‘giving away of the remaining 19,000 tickets and 6 team members refused to dress for the final contest.” Although they were eventually persuaded to take the field, they were not happy. This represented a significant cut in revenue for players accustomed to making good money during the offseason.
Although the Giant players thought they had a legitimate beef, their complaints did not play well in the press. To demand more was a public insult. Conditions in Japan had certainly improved by 1953, when the Giants toured, but they were far from ideal. Poverty and unemployment were still an issue, as was Japan’s huge national debt. That representatives of a wealthy nation demanded payment from the representatives of a newly emerging nation looked especially bad. That the players themselves were no doubt viewed as wealthy by individual Japanese could not have helped, either. It was essential that the Yankees not make the same mistake, treating their hosts as inferior and not worthy of due respect.
In 1955, US-Japanese relations were still a work in progress. While arrangements for the tour were being discussed, Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu visited the United States for talks with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. At a press conference, Shigemitsu, who simultaneously served as Japan’s foreign minister, “emphasized the desire of his government for a more independent partnership with the United States.” For Japan to make what Shigemitsu called “a fresh start,” he said, “we must talk things over frankly with the United States and see that the 2 governments understand each other.” Of course, Shigemitsu’s conference with Dulles had nothing directly to do with the goodwill baseball tour. But as he suggested, conditions laid down by a government seeking recognition of its independence had to be given their due. And given the timing, it would have been terrible optics were the insult to be repeated.
Ultimately, the Yankee players agreed and the tour was organized, but not before another major wrinkle had to be ironed out. Once Mainichi Shimbun offered its sponsorship, its chief competitor, Yomiuri Shimbun, countered with an offer to another team. Commissioner Frick was not having any of it. He responded negatively, announcing that simultaneous Japanese tours by 2 major-league clubs was out of the question-it would be 1 or none. Following their own delicate negotiation, competitors Mainichi and Yomiuri came to their own agreement. The 2 papers would sponsor tours by American clubs in alternating years.
On August 23rd, George Weiss announced that the visit would proceed. Beginning with 5 games in Hawaii and ending with several more in Okinawa and Manila, the Yankees would leave New York shortly after the World Series on October 8th and planned to return on November 18th. Included in the group of 64 travelers were many of the players’ wives, though some planned to stay behind in Hawaii. Among these wives were those of Andy Carey, Eddie Robinson and Johnny Kucks, all of whom were on their honeymoons.
The schedule, which included games in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyushu, Sendai, Sapporo, Nagoya, and Hiroshima, was announced on September 24th. Tickets, which went on sale on October 1st for the Tokyo games to be played at Korakuen Stadium, ranged in price from 1,200 yen (approximately $3.33) for special reserved seats, to 300 yen (approximately 83 cents) for bleacher seating. Games at other stadiums would top out at 1,000 yen (approximately $2.77). According to Japan’s National Tax Agency, in 1955 private sector workers earned an average annual salary of 185,000 yen (approximately $513). This was a great improvement from the poverty of the early postwar years. Indeed, it was approaching twice the annual salary that private sector workers earned in 1950. But even a ticket to the bleachers would have been a considerable reach for the average worker. As a result, it is safe to assume that the live spectatorship for the Yankees games would have consisted primarily of well-off Japanese as well as American servicemen. Other Japanese fans had to make do with newspaper coverage, radio and, in many cases, television. Realistically speaking, television receivers were extremely expensive, making individual ownership rare in 1953, for example, even the least expensive receivers cost more than a year’s wages for the average Japanese consumer. But this didn’t mean that television was only for the wealthy. As in the United States, sets were placed strategically in front of retail establishments in order to draw customers. Far more common, however, was the institution of gaito terebi, plaza televisions, sets situated in accessible public spaces, which gave rise to the practice of communal viewing. This would have enabled many Japanese fans to watch the games.
Cover of the 1955 Yankees’ Japan tour program featuring Mickey Mantle. (Rob Fitts Collection)
A Japanese poster promoting the series announced, “Unprecedented-the marvelous terrific team of our time-Champion of the Baseball World-New York Yankees-coming! 16 games in the whole country.” While not entirely accurate- the Yankees went on to lose the World Series to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 7 games after the poster was printed—it did not matter to Japanese fans. Given the public response to the team’s arrival in Tokyo, the Yankees were, in fact, the “marvelous terrific team” of l955.
That the series had a purpose beyond “goodwill” was publicly stated by Vice President Nixon, speaking on behalf of President Eisenhower, on October 12th. Eisenhower had, in fact, been involved with the planning, according to Del Webb. Prior to arranging the tour, Webb had discussed its potential benefits with the president, Secretary Dulles, and General Douglas MacArthur, former commander of the Allied powers in Japan. “I asked the president last summer if he thought a trip by the Yankees might help bring the American and Japanese people closer to each other,” said Webb. “He said it would.” So it was no surprise that Nixon made a statement, addressing Commissioner Frick, expressing the president’s best wishes. Nixon wrote, “Appearances in Japan by an American MLB team will contribute a great deal to increased mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of Japan, and thus to the cause of a just and lasting peace, which demands the continued friendship and cooperation of the nations of the Free World.” It was up to the Yankees, Nixon implied, to help cement the US-Japanese alliance, assuring that Japan would come down on the side of “freedom” rather than neutrality in the ongoing struggle against the unfree Soviet bloc. Of course, the vice president’s statement was a clear example of the inflated rhetoric of Cold War propaganda. But the message was unavoidable. Public relations played an essential role in geopolitics, and this tour was, above all else, an exercise in public relations.
Having fared well on their Hawaiian stop, winning all 5 games against a mixture of local teams and armed forces all-stars and having survived their mobbing at the airport, the Yankees began their hectic schedule. The sodden but jubilant welcome was followed by a series of events, receptions, and press conferences. The next day, the team worked out while Stengel, who would serve as the face of the club, and Weiss had attended a luncheon at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club. Lest it be thought that the tour consisted only of propaganda, the proceedings included their fair share of frivolous fun, which was also covered in the press. At the club, Stengel was presented with a gift—a large box, labeled “For 01’ Case.” According to the Nippon Times, “Stengel stood patiently by while bearers deposited the box at his feet. Then, lo and behold, a pretty girl in a kimono crashed through the wrapping pounding her fist into a baseball glove in the best tradition of the game.” Sensing an opportunity to get in on the act, Weiss “went through the motions of putting the girl’s name to a contract.” In what might, in 21-century terms, be considered in very bad taste, Weiss asked her how much she wanted. But under the circumstances, Weiss’s actions were just part of the fun. Nevertheless, Stengel took a moment to emphasize the true nature of the tour. The Yankees were in Japan “on a serious mission of good will.”
It would be nice to say that the 1st game, held on Saturday, October 22nd went off without a hitch. But rarely does this happen when there are so many moving parts. This time, Opal did more than just soak a parade. The typhoon caused a postponement of Game 5 of the Japanese championship series between the Nankai Hawks and the Yomiuri Giants, which was scheduled to be played at Korakuen Stadium on Friday. As a result, the Yankees contest had to be moved to the evening to accommodate both games. A smaller crowd than expected-35,000 about 5,000 shy of a capacity crowd—turned out to see the Yankees make quick work of the Mainichi Orions, beating the Japanese team 10-2. After Kaoru Hatoyama, the wife of the prime minister, threw out the 1st pitch—the very first wife of a head of state to do so at a major-league game, exhibition or otherwise-fans and dignitaries were treated to a 10-hit barrage by the Yankees, including 2 HRs and a triple by rookie catcher Elston Howard. The Orions countered with 7 hits, but committed a costly 1st-inning error in their loss. The crowd, which included Thomas E. Dewey and his wife, was not disappointed.
Baseball, however, never completely supplanted diplomacy, as Prime Minister Hatoyama greeted the Yankees, Frick, and their entourage at a reception. Among the many photo ops, one stood out. Hatoyama, having been presented with a Yankees hat by Stengel, became the 1st Japanese prime minister to wear a baseball cap.
The Yankees were once again victorious in the 2nd game at Korakuen Stadium, this time defeating All-Tokyo (a team composed of Pacific and Central all-stars) 11-6 in front of a capacity crowd. A 9th-inning Grand Slam HR by 1st baseman Eddie Robinson off of the Japanese Central League’s Rookie of the Year, Kazunori Nishimura, sealed the victory. This time, the Japanese players’ bats were not quiet. All-Tokyo managed 7 hits against Bob Turley and Bob Grim. Only Mickey Mantle underperformed. Fans, perhaps unreasonably, expected big things out of the injured Mantle, who had played only part time in the World Series, a few weeks earlier. Mantle struck out 3 times in the 2nd game, after whiffing once during a pinch-hitting appearance in the 1st game.
With the 3rd game in Tokyo postponed until later in the trip, the Yankees moved on to Sendai, 304 kilometers to the north on Japan’s east coast. As in Tokyo, they were mobbed. Greeted by another throng, their motorcade tied up traffic for 2 hours en route from their hotel to Miyagi Stadium, where once again they went head-to-head with All-Tokyo. Ending New York’s winning streak, the Tokyo squad played to a 1-1 tie, despite the fact that they had but 1 hit. But the Yankees also committed an error, allowing All-Tokyo to score its run. From Sendai, both teams flew to Sapporo, located on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island, where they played for an overflow crowd of 30,000 fans. Returning to form, Mantle finally got going, hitting 2 doubles to the delight of the spectators, in the Yankees’ 11-0 rout of the all-stars.
Another huge crowd, complete with its own ticker-tape parade and its own storm, greeted the Yankees in Osaka, in the southwestern part of the main island. There the American club took on the Nankai Hawks. Like the Yankees, the Hawks had been unable to win a championship, having fallen to Yomiuri Giants in the 1955 Japan Series. Japan’s 2nd-best team fell to America’s as well, losing in a 7-0 shutout. The crowd was unusually sparse for this contest, for reasons beyond the control of both teams. Once again, rain interfered. Only 15,000 fans came out to see the game.
There was no such paucity of spectators for the 2nd game in the Osaka area, where 30,000 turned up at Nishinomiya Stadium on October 29th to see the All-Osaka 9 lose 6-1 as the Yankees amassed 16 hits. Bob Cerv, substituting for Mantle, thrilled the crowd with a “tremendous 430-foot HR.” Once again Turley and Grim performed masterfully against the best players in the region.
The next day, Cerv homered again and had collected all 4 of the Yankees’ RBIs against the Pacific League All-Stars. Cerv went on to double in the 8th, once again scoring Martin with the final run. The All-Stars scored as well-once in the 7th inning and once in the 8th-but it was not enough to put the Japanese team over the top. Had the Yankees done nothing more than entertain Japanese baseball fans in Osaka, it most likely would have been sufficient to gamer goodwill and burnish America’s reputation in the eyes of the Japanese. But they were teachers as well as performers. The Yankees held a clinic for more than 200 participants. Coach Bill Dickey worked with the local players on catching techniques, while Jim Turner tutored them on pitching. Gus Mauch, the Yankee trainer, held his own clinic as well. According to Tokyo journalist N. Sakata, who had recently traveled to the United States to cover an international tournament and the World Series, the Yankees’ primary role was to provide instruction to their Japanese opponents. Writing in The Sporting News, Sakata observed, “(The Yankees’) way of sliding is something we have to learn. Some of the Yankee players tell me that the Japanese way of defending bases is very dangerous to themselves. The Japanese players are not accustomed to the American way of base-sliding.”
Next on the itinerary, the Yankees flew to Nagoya to play the Chunichi Dragons, before returning to Osaka. A crowd of 33,000 came out to see the New Yorkers face Dragons ace Shigeru Sugishita. The Yankees touched up Sugishita for 7 runs, including another HR by Robinson and doubles by Kucks and Yogi Berra, while the Dragons managed just 3 hits and no runs off Kucks and Tom Sturdivant. Conspicuously absent was the underperforming Mantle. Injury was not the cause. The Yankees erstwhile slugger left Japan early to attend to his ill wife, Merlyn, who was expected to give birth imminently. Despite Mantle’s anemic performance in part-time play, Japanese fans were disappointed. They had been holding out hope that he would break out of his slump and that they would be there to witness it.
November 3rd, a Japanese holiday celebrating the birthday of the Meiji Emperor (1852-1912), who both modernized and militarized the country, was another banner day for the Yankees. Drawing one of the largest crowds in Japanese baseball at the time, the Yankees and All-Japan played in front of 70,000 fans, paying an average of 720 yen each, at Koshien Stadium. Once again, the Yankees emerged victorious, defeating their opponents by a score of 7-3, behind a HR from Billy Martin, who may have made the crowd forget Mantle’s absence.
But the real victor here was US-Japanese relations. In Osaka the Yankees made a move that, as Red McQueen, writing in The Sporting News, observed, “solidified the importance of their visit as good-will ambassadors of the United States and Organized Ball.” Before he, too, left Japan, Weiss spoke enthusiastically about the quality of Japanese baseball, appointing Henry Tadashi “Bozo” Wakabayashi, Coach of the Tombow Unions of Japan’s Pacific League, an official Yankees scout. Said Weiss, “As the one who inaugurated the Yankee scouting and baseball school system, I have long wanted to institute an exchange between the Japanese pro circuits and the leagues in America. We would be interested in players who stood out and we would be very happy if we found one. However, we would not sign a Japanese player merely for publicity.” It is possible that Weiss was being honest. Still, it would take more than 4 decades for the Yankees to sign their 1st Japanese player, Hideki Irabu, in 1997. A genuine desire to sign a Japanese player does not seem to have been the real aim of Wakabayashi’s appointment. It was, in fact, publicity, but not for the Yankees. In a sense, it represented a public recognition of the emerging status of Japanese baseball in international sports, and, by extension, a representation of Japan’s independence and the type of new understanding between the American and Japanese people. While it may not have been specifically what Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Shigemitsu had in mind, it signaled the type of respect that Shigemitsu expected would be extended to Japan by the United States.
From Osaka, the Yankees once again boarded a plane, this time for Fukuoka, on the southernmost of the major Japanese islands, Kyushu, to play the Nishitetsu Lions. In the eyes of an unnamed sports- writer for the Nippon Times, the Yankees “annihilated” the Lions, 14-1. Perhaps this was not the best language to use, given Fukuoka’s proximity to Nagasaki, but the lead on the sports page of an English-language Japanese newspaper was not noteworthy enough to cause a stir. Once again, Robinson homered-this time a Grand Slam HR. So did Hank Bauer, Andy Carey, Bob Cerv, and pitcher Don Larsen, who hit .146 during the regular season. The Lions managed 5 hits. A single by outfielder Hiroshi Oshita drove in Akinobu Kono for the team’s only run. Then it was on to Shimonoseki, at the very tip of the main island, not far from Fukuoka. Once again, the Americans poured it on, touching up the Pacific-Central All-Stars pitching for 19 hits and 12 runs. All-Stars shortstop Yasumitsu Toyoda managed a 2-run HR off of Turley in the 3rd inning for the Pacific-Central team’s only runs.
The tour’s last stop before returning to Tokyo for the final series of games was Hiroshima, where the Yankees defeated the Central All-Stars, 6-2. This time the New York squad had to come from behind to defeat its opponents, who jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Perhaps not surprisingly, the game, not the city’s history, was the emphasis of this visit. By 1955, Hiroshima had rebounded. The city played a significant role in the Japanese Miracle, becoming a center for weapon manufacturing and procurements during the Korean War. Nevertheless, concerns about the long-term effects of radioactive fallout remained.
While the Yankees were in Japan, a small group from Hiroshima were visiting New York, but for different reasons. An item in the Nippon Times about a member of the Yankees traveling party tells a story not included on the sports page. Toshio Ota, a transplanted Hiroshima resident living in New York, accompanied the team on its trip. Ota reported to the newspaper about the welfare of the Hiroshima Maidens. A group of 25 girls and young women-hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombs-who had been badly disfigured in the attack, were taken to New York under the auspices of the American Friends Service Committee and several other organizations, with the help of Saturday Review editor Norman Cousins, to undergo reconstructive plastic surgery. Both the patients and physicians came to be seen as symbols of developing understanding and goodwill between the United States and Japan, as did the Yankees on their tour, though in a far more important fashion. Moreover, the Maidens’ treatment cast a public spotlight on the devastation of nuclear warfare.
On November 10th, the Yankees would returned to Tokyo for 4 games, 3 that had been previously scheduled and the rescheduled contest against the Yomiuri Giants. Once again facing the Central League All-Stars, the Yankees continued their streak against Japan’s best, winning 6-1. And once again they came from behind, this time after Yoshio Yoshida tripled, scoring on a fielder’s choice. In fact, the Yankees were held hitless over the 1st 3 innings by pitcher Kazunori Nishimura, but they would break out in the 4th with 4 runs. The streak continued the next day, as the Yankees rode roughshod over the Japanese champions, shutting out the Giants 11-0. As in the previous game, the Yankees were held scoreless, though not hitless, until the 4th inning. Then the tide turned. They scored 3 in the 4th and 8th in the 6th. Despite a triple by Morimichi Iwashita and doubles by Takashi Iwamoto and Andy Miyamoto, a Hawaiian member of the Giants squad, the Tokyo effort turned into an exercise in futility.
Korakuen Stadium also hosted the final 2 games of the tour, as the Yankees played the Pacific League All-Stars and the Japan All-Stars. Neither the 1st game against the Pacific team nor the 2 that preceded it drew huge crowds, but attendance was still substantial. Some 20,000 turned out to see the Yankees shut out their Japanese opponents yet again, this time by 10-0, outhitting the All-Stars 12 to 4. Not surprisingly, the final game, played on November 13th, drew quite well. According to the Nippon Times, 35,000 cheering fans joined the Yankees, “saying say- onara.” Surprisingly, unlike 14 out of the previous 15 contests, the Tokyo outfit outhit the Yankees, 8 to 7. Yogi Berra homered twice in the Yankees’ 9-3 win. But as was true for the other 15 games, the spectators had not come to see the Japanese win, but rather, to see the American celebrities do what they did best.
Still, there were doubts that the Yankees had given the games their all. After the final contest, Tokuro Konishi, a former professional manager, announced to his radio audience that the Yankees had played only to 70 to 80 % of their ability, so as not to make the local players look too bad. A bemused Stengel replied, “Our players gave their best to win and I’m proud of the fine impression they made.” American League umpire John Stevens, who worked the whole series, concurred. “We had a wonderful trip,” noted Stengel. “The fans treated us swell.”
After a final day packing and shopping in Tokyo, the Yankees had departed for Okinawa, then a United States protectorate, and the Philippines. Unlike the 1953 Giants tour, the Yankees’ goodwill trip was an unmitigated success. Indeed, even the New York Times, which had paid it scant attention, declared it so. Red McQueen, writing in the Honolulu Advertiser, agreed. “This morale, patriotic and goodwill stuff can be stretched a bit too far, but in the case of the recent visit of the New York Yankees and their present tour of Japan and the Philippines, it is one of the most diplomatic excursions in the history of sports,” opined McQueen. “Except for the explicit purpose of spreading goodwill between the respective nations, it is doubtful that a venture of this nature could ever have materialized.” Whether or not the tour had a direct effect on US-Japanese relations, it provided great optics. It was a public-relations coup. While the relationship between the 2 nations, one already a global superpower, the other on its way to becoming a major player in the world economy, would take a few more years to form into a solid alliance, Japan finally came down firmly on the side of the United States in the Cold War. The Yankees’ goodwill tour provided a vision of what cooperation between the 2 countries might look like. By respecting Japan’s newfound sovereignty and serving as exemplary guests-even Martin, Ford, and Mantle, while he was there, seem to have behaved themselves-the New York Yankees and major-league baseball as a whole participated in what might be called their own Japanese miracle.
ROBERTA J. NEWMAN is a clinical professor of liberal studies at New York University. Her work focuses on the many intersections between baseball and popular culture. She is co-author of Black Baseball, Black Business: Race Enterprise and the Fate of the Segregated Dollar (2014) and author of Here’s the Pitch: the Amazing, True, New, and Improved Story of Baseball and Advertising (2019), as well as numerous articles on these and other topics. Currently, she is at work on a project dealing with Japanese baseball, manga and cultural identities.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Feb 17, 2024 20:04:57 GMT -5
Elston Howard
First Black American Yankee Player (1955-1967)
This article was written by Cecilia Tan, Edited by Clipper
Elston Howard was born February 23,1929, in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Emmaline Webb and Travis Howard. A schoolteacher in Sikeston, Missouri, Emmaline fled to St. Louis, when Howard, her principal, refused to marry her. She worked to become a dietician and when Elston was 5 years old, she married Wayman “Big Poppy” Hill. Elston had attended the Toussaint L’Ouverture school as well as the Mt. Zion Baptist Church. The church’s pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah M. Baker, became Elston’s godfather and the boy was raised to work hard and eat right (thanks to his mother’s dietician’s know-how).
In the summer of 1945, Howard, then 16, was playing baseball in a sandlot, when Frank Tetnus “Teannie” Edwards approached him. “The biggest kid on the field was hitting the ball so hard and far that it made Teannie mad,” wrote Arlene Howard in her book Elston and Me. “When he got to the field, he found out that the big kid was, in fact, one of the youngest on the lot.” Edwards, a former Negro Leagues player himself, helped run the St. Louis Braves and he wanted Elston. Convincing Emmaline was the hardest part. Edwards had to promise that young Elston would eat properly. On Easter Sunday 1946 (April 21), Howard debuted in the Tandy League, catching in a game against Kinloch. He had 2 hits and threw out 2 runners trying to steal 2nd in a 5-4 loss.
The following year, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the Major Leagues. Now 18, Howard was working at Bauer’s grocery store and finishing at all-black Vashon High School. After Robinson’s debut, Vashon hastily formed a baseball team. Elston was already a star athlete at Vashon, playing football, running track, and making all-state in basketball. He was easily the best player in baseball as well and after graduating from Vashon, he played another summer with the Braves.
He was urged by Teannie Edwards to attend an open tryout for the St. Louis Cardinals at Sportsman’s Park, but the Cardinals turned a blind eye. (Alas, the Cardinals would not field a black player until 1954-Tom Alston. Meanwhile, college beckoned, with 3 Big Ten schools (Illinois, Michigan and Michigan State) asking for his services in football and several others interested in him for track, basketball and baseball. Emmaline was hoping her son might grow up to be a doctor. But Edwards called in scouts from the Kansas City Monarchs, the elite Negro Leagues team Jackie Robinson had played for. The Monarchs were so impressed that they went to his mother to negotiate a professional contract. Elston would get $500 a month, mailed directly to her.
Kansas City Monarchs Player Photo
In Kansas City, Howard, like the rest of the Monarchs, was treated like a king. Player-Manager Buck O’Neil and Earl “Mickey” Taborn, the Monarchs catcher and Ellie’s roommate, showed him the ropes. They enjoyed tailored clothes, terrific food and the best jazz music in the nation in Kansas City. Because Taborn was the regular catcher, Howard played left field, filling in at 1st base, when O’Neil was out of the lineup. Then in 1949, Taborn left to play for the AAA Newark Bears. By the time, he returned in 1950, Howard’s new roommate was a young fellow named Ernie Banks.
The players could see what was coming. Monarchs Owner Tom Baird had found that there was money to be made selling players to the majors. Ernie and Ellie made a bet: Whoever got to the majors 1st, would call the other and tell him what it was like. Tom Greenwade, the legendary Yankees Scout, soon came calling to look at a different player, but Buck O’Neil steered him to Howard. Within days, Elston Howard and Pitcher Frank Barnes had been sold for $25,000 to the New York Yankees.
Now 21, Howard debuted on July 26,1950, in left field for the Class A Muskegon Clippers, in Michigan. He would earn $400 a month. The Clippers had a 39-46 record when he arrived and went 36-18 in the 54 games that he had played in, making the playoffs. Howard batted cleanup and hit well, but the Clippers fell short of the league championship.
Returning to St. Louis for the off-season, Elston announced his decision to marry his high school sweetheart, Delores Williams. Just before the wedding, he was drafted into the Army, at the height of the Korean War. While he was in basic training, the marriage with Delores was dissolved there are conflicting stories as to why. Howard was sent overseas, but he never fought in Korea. Once the Army realized it had a great baseball player on its hands, he was assigned to Special Services and sent to Japan. That was all Howard ever did in the army: play baseball.
By 1953, Howard was playing for the Yankees’ top farm team, the AAA Kansas City Blues (American Association). Another black player, Vic Power from Puerto Rico, was a teammate. Power had batted .349, but because of the amount of trouble, he stirred up was considered too much of a loose cannon to ever make it in pinstripes. Power was eventually traded to the Philadelphia A’s in December of 1953. In August, Jet magazine featured an article with the headline “Howard May be First Negro With Yankees.”
Shortly before Christmas, Elston had proposed to Arlene Henley, whose sister he had gone to high school with. He spent February 1954 at “Yankee Prospects School” with 28 other ballplayers in Lake Wales, Florida and March at spring training camp with the big club, sharing a locker room with Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin. Bill Dickey, former Yankee great, worked with him to make him a major league catcher. Some newspapers, like the Baltimore Afro-American, criticized the Yankees, claiming the move to catcher was a manufactured setback to keep Howard in the minors. When the Yankees broke camp, they took 3 catchers north with them: Yogi Berra, Charlie Silvera and Ralph Houk. They didn’t want to send Howard back to the Blues, so they arranged for him to play with the AAA Toronto Maple Leafs in the International League. Canada was a bit more welcoming to black players. Howard won the International League MVP Award, hitting .330 with 22 HRs and 109 RBIs. At the end of the season, he gave Arlene an engagement ring and they planned to marry in the spring of 1955.
Media reports that Howard would be a Yankee by spring increased, as did protests pressuring the Yankees to integrate. The Yankees had won 103 games in 1954, but not the league pennant. Cleveland, featuring black outfielder Larry Doby, won the flag with 111 wins, a sign that the Yankees might need to integrate themselves. The Yankees decided to send Howard to winter ball in Puerto Rico. The wedding to Arlene was rushed to December 4, 1954. Howard’s godfather, Reverend Baker, married them in Arlene’s mother’s living room. They honeymooned in San Juan, where they lived in the same building as Willie Mays and Sam Jones. Then Howard was off to St. Petersburg for Yankee camp, Arlene back to St. Louis, pregnant with the couple’s 1st child.  Topps 1955 Baseball Card
Casey Stengel batted Howard in the cleanup spot much of the spring, prompting Arthur Daley to write in the New York Times, “He seems certain to be the 1st Negro to make the Yankees. … They’ve waited for one to come along who [is] ‘the Yankee type.’ Elston is a nice, quiet lad whose reserved, gentlemanly demeanor has won him complete acceptance from every Yankee.” Daley was right. Ralph Houk went to the minors, Howard was given his uniform number (32) and on March 21st, General Manager George Weiss announced that Elston Howard would be coming to New York.
His New York City debut came the Sunday night before the season, when he appeared with Stengel and 2 other rookies on the Ed Sullivan Show. His on-field debut followed on April 14th at Fenway Park, subbing for Irv Noren, who had been ejected for arguing with an umpire. He got a base hit and knocked in a run. Perhaps the most memorable effect of Howard’s presence on the Yankees that year, though, was that the team changed its hotel policy, staying only in hotels that would accept Howard as a guest. Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, and Hank Bauer were Howard’s best friends on the team. He hit .290 in 97 games his rookie season, with another 5 hits in the World Series, including a HR in his 1st World Series at-bat. That performance was offset by 8 strikeouts and the Dodgers won their 1st World Series. Howard made the final out of the Series, then traveled to Japan with the Yankees for a good will tour.
On the 25-game tour of the Pacific, Howard would hit .468 to lead the team. Meanwhile, Elston Jr. was born. Howard’s pay jumped in 1956 from $6,000 to $10,000, he bought a house in St. Louis and then heard from Stengel that he would be doing more catching. Howard drove the family to Florida, planning to stay overnight with a friend of his godfather’s, a preacher named Martin Luther King. But that night the King house was firebombed and they could not stay there. Almost as disastrous, Howard broke a finger in spring training. Then Norm Siebern went down and Howard had to fill the gap in the outfield. So much for spending significant time behind the plate. He appeared in only 98 games, 26 at catcher and finished the year with a so-so .262 batting average with 5 HRs and 34 RBIs. While he had started all 7 World Series games in 1955, the team’s acquisition of Enos Slaughter kept Howard on the bench for the 1st 6 Series games in 1956. Nonetheless, Stengel started him in Game 7 and Howard homered and doubled in the 9-0 Yankees win.
The era of change continued to sweep New York City. Jackie Robinson had retired from the games and within a year the Giants and Dodgers went west, leaving New York to the Yankees and Elston Howard the only black major leaguer in town.
In 1957, he would returned to the Yankees once again hoping for more playing time. After Moose Skowron got hurt, Howard played more and in midseason Yankees Manager Casey Stengel named him to the American League All-Star team. He would end the season hitting .253 with 8 HRs and 44 RBIs, still pining for more playing time.
As the 1958 season opened, hope for regular catching duties again flared. Stengel again hinted that Berra could not catch so much. The Howards bought a house in Teaneck, New Jersey. Howard was in left field again on Opening Day in Boston. Daughter Cheryl was born on May 9th, and Howard spent his 1st game behind the plate that season shortly after that, in the 1st game of a doubleheader on May 11th. At one point Howard’s batting average reached .350, but he would not have enough plate appearances to qualify for the title should his average hold up. Stengel was adamant about platooning his players; Howard ended the year hitting .314, with 11 HRs and 66 RBIs in 103 games, 67 behind the plate.
Elston’s heroism as a Yankee was cemented in the 1958 World Series. Down 3 games to 1 in Game 5, Howard got the start in left, despite having dental work that morning. In the 6th, he made a game-saving dive in the outfield, then doubled off the runner, in a play that turned the Series around. “I knew I had to get the ball,” Howard told reporters after the game. “I skinned my knee and my stomach doing it. I’m no outfielder. I’m a catcher, but the Manager put me out there and I had to do the best I could.” The next game, the Yankees won again, 4-3 in 10 innings in which Howard had 2 hits and scored a run and in Game 7, with the score tied 2-2 in the 8th, Howard drove in the go-ahead run. The New York Baseball Writers chapter gave him the Babe Ruth Award as the outstanding player in the World Series.
In 1959, Casey’s annual prediction that Berra would catch less was again wrong. In fact, Yogi caught 116 games, more than the previous year. Though Elston reached his career high in games played, the Stengel's platoon system made him feel like a part-time player. One thing that did change was that the Yankees picked up another black player, Panamanian Hector Lopez, who came from the Kansas City A's in a trade. But Mickey Mantle was hurt, Whitey Ford’s elbow was balky and it was all downhill that summer. The Yankees suffered bad losing streaks, including losing 5 straight at Fenway Park and finished 3rd in the AL standings.
Because the club had done poorly, General Manager George Weiss tried to cut player salaries in 1960. Howard’s offer was $5,000 less than his previous year’s wages, and he held out, missing the reporting date for spring training camp. Weiss would relented, giving him $25,500, a $3,000 raise. Elston, like the rest of the team, had ups and downs that season, but eventually came out on top. Shelved by a few injuries, he nonetheless did get in 107 games, 91 catching and made the AL All-Star team again. He had sprained a finger on the season’s last day. Doctors said he wouldn’t play until Game 3 of the World Series, but Casey had him pinch hit in Game 1. He hit a 2-run HR in the 6-4 loss to Pittsburgh. He had a very good Series, until he broke a finger batting against Pirates veteran Starter Bob Friend. He had batted .462 in the Series, but the Yankees lost, on the famous Bill Mazeroski HR in Game 7. The World Series loss precipitated the ouster of both Manager Casey Stengel and General Manager George Weiss.
Ralph Houk, the former 2nd-string catcher pushed back to the minors by Elston’s emergence, became the new Manager in 1961. Preferring a more stable lineup than Stengel had, Houk would plugged Howard in as his catcher 111 times, playing Berra more in left field. New Yankees Hitting Coach Wally Moses encouraged Howard to bat with his feet closer together, allowing him to spray the ball to all fields. Howard responded with a career year, hitting .348 with 21 HRs in 129 games. He again made the All-Star team and would have battled Norm Cash of Detroit for the batting title, if he’d had the plate appearances (Cash won it, hitting .361). Between the revitalized Howard, an historic HR race between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle and terrific pitching (Ford won 25 games), the Yankees won 109 and took only 5 games to beat Cincinnati in the 1961 World Series. Howard caught all 5 games and was honored in the off-season as St. Louis’ Man of the Year by the city.
The 1962 season brought another improvement. Pressured to stop segregating their black players in spring training housing, the Yankees would move their camp to Fort Lauderdale. Howard’s pay raise was significant, to $42,500 and he earned it. He hit another 21 HRs with 138 hits and a .279 average in a career-high 136 games. The 3 catchers, Howard, Berra and Johnny Blanchard, combined for 44 HRs that season. But Howard’s batting average suffered a bit, down to .268 on June 30th, though he made the All-Star team again. Most of the HRs came in the late-season pennant race with Minnesota Twins and his and Mantle’s surges insured that the Yankees captured the flag. They would faced the San Francisco Giants in a pitching-dominated World Series that was drawn out by rain-outs on both coasts. Elston was behind the plate, when Ralph Terry secured the final 1-0 win in Game 7.
Howard's AL MVP Award Photo
The Howards bought a vacant lot in Teaneck on which to build a larger house. Mayor Matty Feldman begged them not to build in a white neighborhood. The Howards ignored him and although they suffered graffiti and sabotage during building, they moved in toward the end of the 1963 season. Elston switched to a heavier bat, 38 ounces, that he said helped his power to right field. He hit a career high 28 HRs in 1963, many into the short porch in Yankee Stadium’s right field and with Mantle and Maris both hobbled by injuries, Howard batted cleanup often that year. He had ended the 1963 AL season with a .287 average and became the 1st African-American to win the American League MVP Award. He also took home the Gold Glove with his .994 fielding percentage. Howard had appeared in his 8th World Series and he hit .333, but Dodgers’ pitchers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale kept the Yankees in check. The Dodgers would sweep the World Series in 4 games.
The MVP Award meant off-season banquets and Howard gained 10 pounds speaking on the dinner circuit. The award also brought commercial endorsements, and Elston, his wife, and family were featured in ads for oatmeal, mustard and beer. Howard also became the 1st black man to ever model clothes for GQ magazine. His salary for 1964 season jumped to $60,000, making him 1 of the best paid players in baseball. (Mantle earned $107,000.) After the season, Ralph Houk moved upstairs to become GM; Yogi Berra became the field manager. Howard told reporters that he had set his sights on the batting title. “It takes planning,” he told them. “That year I hit .348 … I was a base-hit swinger, not a home-run swinger.” He vowed to go with the pitch more and not be too pull-conscious. His efforts were successful. In a career-high 150 games, he had tallied a career-high 172 hits for a .313 average, as his HR total dropped to 15. He also walked a career-high 48 times. He did not win the batting title, but he did catch all 9 innings of the 1964 All-Star Game. The Yankees went to the World Series once again, but Bob Gibson’s Cardinals came out on top in 7 games.
The loss precipitated major changes. Yogi Berra was fired as Manager, replaced by Johnny Keane and CBS bought the team and did nothing to improve the aging roster. Howard had injured his elbow during spring training camp and it worsened over the next few weeks. By April 13th, it was so swollen that he couldn’t bend his arm enough to eat breakfast. Bone chips were surgically removed from his elbow and the Yankees had slipped in the standings. Howard didn’t catch again until June 13th; persisted catching 95 games after his return despite the sore arm. He would ended with the lowest average of his MLB playing career; hitting .233, while the Yankees went nowhere. 1966 was not much better. The arm still hurt, the now 37-year-old Howard hit .256 and the Yankees were stuck in the AL cellar.
Then came 1967, the Yankees had offered him a $10,000 pay cut. After a 4-day holdout, Howard would accepted only a $6,000 cut and a clause that if he performed well, he could earn the money back. But on June 26th, the A's batter Rick Monday fouled a ball off of Elston’s finger and his hitting suffered. On August 3rd, Houk telephoned to tell him he had been traded to the Red Sox. Boston was in 2nd place at the time and unlike the Yankees, had a chance to reach the top.Boston Team Owner Tom Yawkey called Howard to assure him how much they wanted him. Howard briefly considered retiring, but the chance to play in his 10th World Series was enticing. “If I can help the Red Sox win the pennant this year it would be the greatest thrill of my career,” he told writer Jim Ogle.
He would joined the Red Sox on the road in Minnesota and was greeted by Manager Dick Williams, 2 years his junior. Elston played the next day in a nationally televised contest against the Twins. Not an auspicious beginning: He had struck out with the bases loaded in the 2-1 loss. Boston mustered only 3 hits against Twins starter Dave Boswell. Elston caught the next day, too, when Boston’s best pitcher, Jim Lonborg, took the hill. But rain would cut the game short, as Minnesota would win it 2-0 in 5 innings, as Twins Starter Dean Chance did not allow a base runner and struck out 4 Red Sox batters. They lost again after an off day, at Kansas City, the 1st time they had lost 4 games in a row since July 9th.
The team sputtered along until August 18th, when they beat the Angels 3-2 at Fenway Park, a game in which Howard caught Gary Bell’s complete game 4-hitter. The game would be most remembered, though, for the tragic incident that shattered Tony Conigliaro’s eye socket. Perhaps inspired to win for Tony and helped by Howard’s presence, the Sox would reeled off a 7-game win streak, going 14-5 the rest of the month. Eleven of the games were decided by 1 run. In that span they had played 5 doubleheaders and took 3 of 4 in a series in New York. When Howard came to bat against his former team, the Yankee Stadium crowd gave him a standing ovation, one he later called “the best ovation I ever got in my life.”
One of the memorable moments from the stretch run came when the Red Sox led Minnesota by half a game on August 27th. That day the Red Sox faced Chicago, clinging to a 4-3 lead in the 9th. Ken Berry, the tying run at 3rd, attempted to score on a shallow fly caught by right fielder Jose Tartabull. Tartabull’s throw was high, but Elston leaped to snare the ball, then swept the tag down in the same motion, Berry was out at the plate and the game was over.
Howard’s greatest contribution to The Impossible Dream, though, may be one that can’t be measured, in his influence on the pitchers and in the clubhouse. His knowledge of the hitters in the league, his game-calling ability, and his calming presence helped the entire pitching staff. “He was like a pitching coach to Lonborg, Gary Bell, Gary Waslewski, Lee Stange, guys like that,” Reggie Smith said. “No doubt Elston helped us win it. We were a young team. Our average age was 26. We needed someone like Ellie to show the way. He brought the Yankee aura of winning to the Red Sox.” The Red Sox, of course, did pull off 2 amazing wins over Minnesota, while Detroit lost on the final day of the season, giving Boston the AL pennant.
How fitting that Elston Howard’s 10th and final World Series would be against his old hometown, St. Louis. Unfortunately, the Cardinals would beat the Red Sox; Elston could mustered only 2 hits in the Series. That off-season he had pondered retirement and numerous possibilities. The Red Sox asked him to play and later coach. The Yankees had suggested a minor league coaching job or scouting position. Bill Veeck said he wanted to make Howard the game’s 1st black manager, if he could buy the Washington Senators. In the end, Veeck’s bid to buy the Senators was rebuffed. Howard helped a New Jersey entrepreneur, Frank Hamilton, to market the doughnut -not the edible kind, but the weighted metal ring that batters today use in the on-deck circle. But when spring came, the Red Sox offered him a $1,000 raise, and Howard decided to play 1 more year.
The Red Sox and Elston were banged up. Jim Lonborg had broke his leg skiing. Tony Conigliaro did not regain his full eyesight and sat out the season, his MLB playing career apparently over. George Scott’s average dropped to .171, as his weight rose. Meanwhile, Howard’s elbow had acted up again. At midseason, he couldn’t straighten it and he did not want surgery. His playing time limited because of the chronic elbow injury. Howard played in only 71 games. In his final game at Fenway Park, he had received a standing ovation. He had hit .241 with 5 HRs and 18 RBIs. He held a press conference on October 21st to announce his MLB retirement from playing. Then on October 22nd, he was at another press conference, this one in New York City, to announce he was taking the 1st base MLB coaching job with the New York Yankees.
Elston became the 1st black coach for an American League team, but never reached his goal of becoming the 1st black manager. (Frank Robinson would, in 1975 with the Indians.) While coaching, he took part in various side businesses, including the ongoing involvement with batting doughnuts; a printing company; opening an art gallery with Arlene in Englewood, New Jersey, to sell Haitian and modern art; heading a division of Group Travel, for whom he was the star attraction on corporate tours and cruises; the Elston Howard Sausage Company concession stand at Yankee Stadium; and serving as vice chairman of the board of Home State Bank, an interracially owned bank that catered to the black community. George Steinbrenner, who bought the Yankees in 1973, would not make Howard a Manager, but he did make occasional noises about wanting to move Elston from coaching to the front office. Meanwhile, at Yankee Stadium, he became the important counterbalance to the fiery Billy Martin in “The Bronx Zoo.” He would coach through the 1978 AL season.
In mid-February 1979, after nearly collapsing at La Guardia airport, Elston was diagnosed with myocarditis. The muscles of his heart were being attacked by the coxsackie virus and the doctors prescribed total rest. Elston could not participate in Yankees spring training camp. George Steinbrenner told him not to worry. Whenever he recovered, his coaching job would be waiting for him and he stayed on the Yankees payroll. By August, Howard was still too weak to attend Thurman Munson’s funeral. In February 1980, a year after his attack at the airport, Elston was appointed by Steinbrenner to join the front office staff. He would be an assistant to Steinbrenner and his duties ranged from appearing at banquets to scouting talent in the Yankees minor league system. His health never recovered, though and he was often too weak to travel. His heart was giving out. On December 4,1980, he was admitted to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Two weeks later, he would pass away at age 51. In 1984, the Yankees would retire his uniform number 32.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Feb 17, 2024 21:22:25 GMT -5
Yankees Magazine: Trenton Made
Al Downing took his childhood dream and turned it into a 17-year big-league career
Published February 28th, 2020
Alfred Santasiere III, Edited by Clipper
 New York Yankees Photo
On a perfect January day in Southern California, Al Downing reflected on a lifetime of memories, spanning more than 7 decades and extending from the East Coast to his current home near Pasadena, California.
For the 1st African American pitcher in Yankees history, the journey began in Trenton, New Jersey.
“Trenton’s slogan is ‘Trenton Makes, The World Takes,’” says Downing, now 78.“The significance of that was that Trenton was an industrial town back when I was growing up. The main industry was pottery, but there was also wire rope, turbine engines and bathroom fixtures.”
As a child growing up in New Jersey’s capital city in the 1950s, Downing had little interest in working in any type of local factory, instead becoming fixated on sports. He was 1 of 8 children and following the tragic death of his mother, who died in a car accident, when Downing was just 7 years old, he was raised by his father and an older sibling.
Luckily for Downing, Trenton had a lot more to offer than factory jobs.
“When I was in 5th grade, I saw an ad in the local newspaper for the Police Athletic League youth baseball program,” Downing says from Brookside Golf & Country Club, located next to the famous Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California. He’s sitting in the golf club’s restaurant, a favorite lunch spot of his for years. “I was interested more because the teams wore real baseball uniforms than for any other reason.”
From there, Downing quickly found success on the diamond as a pitcher and a hard-hitting 1st baseman. When he was 14 years old, Downing had an opportunity to play for a Babe Ruth League team in Trenton that competed against clubs throughout the country.
“The Babe Ruth League for Trenton pulled from neighborhoods throughout the city,” Downing says. “You had to be pretty good to make that team. They drafted players, and it was very competitive.”
Downing’s upward trajectory continued. While also playing basketball and baseball for Trenton Central High School, Downing became the staff ace of his Babe Ruth team. At 15 years old, he tossed a 1-0 shutout in the national championship game.
“That gave me a lot of confidence,” Downing said. “It made me realize that I could go somewhere in baseball if I got the opportunity. It also compelled me to work harder. I would spend hours throwing a ball against a wall, in an effort to build up my arm strength.”
Winning the 1956 Babe Ruth League World Series was a pivotal moment for Downing, but it wouldn’t be the last time that his career would intersect with Ruth’s legacy.
While playing in a North-South high school All-Star game at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, Downing had a life-changing encounter. Bill Yancey, then scouting for the Philadelphia Phillies, was at the game to watch Montclair High School’s Richard and Robert Haines, twin brothers whose baseball and football prowess made them local legends in the quaint northern New Jersey town.
During the course of the game, Yancey’s focus turned to Downing.
“The North Stars got all of the publicity back then,” Downing says. “We really wanted to beat them. I got into the game during the late innings, and I struck out the side. Then I got a base hit and stole 2nd base. He was impressed with me. He told me that I was a pitcher when I was on the mound and that I played like Willie Mays when I was on the basepaths.”
Before Downing left Jersey City that night, Yancey made a point to connect with him. Following his high school career, Downing had accepted a scholarship to play basketball at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. But following some academic struggles during his freshman year, Downing was told that unless he was willing to take several summer classes, he would lose the scholarship.
“I was willing to take classes at home, but they insisted that I stay in Muhlenberg over the summer,” Downing says. “I couldn’t do that because I needed to work in order to pay the rest of my tuition.”
At a crossroads, Downing got some unexpected advice from the scout who had continued to track his progress, and who had already begun to mentor him.
“Yancey told me not to go back to Muhlenberg,” Downing says. “He told me to enroll at Trenton Junior College because something was coming up. That same year, the Yankees had fired (General Manager) George Weiss and (Manager) Casey Stengel. The Yankees had hired Roy Hamey, who was the Phillies’ General Manager and Yancey’s mentor. When Hamey had offered Yancey a job with the Yankees, Yancey told him, ‘I’ll come there under 1 condition: that I can sign that kid Downing from Trenton.’”
Without even having a scouting report on Downing, Yancey, the Yankees’ 1st African American scout and a former Negro Leagues star, convinced Hamey and fellow Yankees brass to sign the left-hander.
It didn’t take Downing long to make Yancey look like a genius.
“I had a contract to play A-ball, which back then was higher than the D, C or B classes,” Downing says. “They told me that I was going to pitch for the Class A team in Spring Training, then start the season with their Class B team in Greensboro, North Carolina. That wasn’t a great place for a black player in those days.”
Despite those plans, Downing impressed Binghamton Triplets Manager Jimmy Gleeson enough to stick with the Yankees’ Class-A team out of Spring Training in 1961. Then Downing’s professional career began in a most unusual way.
“We were supposed to play the defending champion Springfield (Mass.) Giants on a Friday, but the game was snowed out,” Downing says. “The players had to shovel the field so that we could work out before the 1st game. The following day, it was about 35 degrees, and I threw a 2-hit shutout.”
That performance brought Yankees brass north to watch Downing in subsequent starts, and he didn’t disappoint. By the middle of the 1961 season, Downing had a 9-1 record with a 1.84 ERA in 12 starts.
“I was on the 10-day disabled list because I had a strained muscle from throwing so much,” Downing says. “I came back, won the next 5 or 6 games and made the All-Star team. I was getting ready to go to Springfield for the All-Star Game, and the Manager pulled me aside and told me I was going to New York. I asked what I was going to New York for, and he told me, ‘You’re going there to play for the Yankees.’”
Only a few short months after stepping onto a professional baseball field for the 1st time, Downing was slated to start against the Washington Senators in the 2nd game of a July 19 twin bill at Griffith Stadium.
“I was really nervous that whole day,” Downing says. “It was a night game, but I couldn’t eat that whole day. I tried to eat pancakes for breakfast, but all I got down was one bite. When I got to the ballpark, I finally began to relax.”
Although he was able to calm down before the game, Downing didn’t pitch well, giving up 5 runs and 3 walks in 1-plus innings of work.
“I wasn’t ready for that,” Downing says. “Mr. Yancey also knew I wasn’t ready, but we both realized that it was an opportunity that I had to take. That wasn’t who I was. I was so overwhelmed by the atmosphere that I reverted back to the kid who had to throw the ball through a brick wall in order to get guys out.”
Although it was a disappointing debut, things began to look up for Downing immediately following the game.
“Yogi [Berra] caught me that night,” Downing recalls. “All the writers were talking about me in the clubhouse after the game, and out of nowhere, Yogi walked in between them and told them, ‘Say something nice about Al. He’s going to be here for a long time.’ That made me feel so much better. That was Yogi.”
Downing stayed with the big club for the remainder of that storied 1961 campaign, pitching in 4 more games down the stretch and showing some improvement from his debut.
“The biggest challenge for me that season was keeping self-control and being ready to pitch,” Downing says. “Elston Howard and Héctor López were my mentors. They took me out to dinner on the road and really treated me like a little brother. Mickey [Mantle] and Roger [Maris] were both quiet, but Mickey spoke out when he had to. One day that September, we were all signing baseballs in the clubhouse, and Mickey walked in, sat down and said, ‘You know, guys, Baltimore is getting pretty close to catching us. It’s time to step it up.’”
With 54 HRs, Mantle would fall victim to injury soon after that, but his teammates -- including Maris, who broke Ruth’s single-season record with 61 HRs that year -- picked him up, winning the pennant and the World Series.
“There were no problems on that team,” Downing says. “There were no controversies, and so the media had to make one up, which is how I believe the whole idea that Mantle and Maris didn’t get along started.”
Downing’s belief that he came up too quickly proved to be accurate. Coming out of Spring Training in 1962, he was assigned to Triple-A Richmond in the International League, where, save for 1 September appearance in New York, he would remain for that entire season. Unlike the previous season, Downing struggled at times, going 9-13 with a 4.10 ERA. That season also marked Downing’s 1st extended stay in the South during a time of great civil unrest.
“It was tremendously enlightening for me in 1962,” Downing says. “Coming from New Jersey, I had no idea about the culture in the South. I was able to stay in the team hotel during Spring Training because the Yankees were paying for all of the rooms, but once we got to Opening Day, blacks were no longer allowed to stay there. I had to find a place to live. Luckily, I met Mr. Walter Banks. He welcomed me into his home, and we would sit out on his porch after games and chat about the day.” Downing contends that while his teammates also treated him well, Richmond was far from a friendly environment for African Americans.
“I had to take a bus downtown to get to a restaurant where I could eat,” Downing says. “People in Richmond just weren’t accustomed to being around black people, and the ballpark was segregated. African Americans had to sit in a grandstand that was covered with a tin roof. It would get very hot out there during day games, and I pitched just about every Sunday afternoon. Despite the heat, that grandstand would still be full when I was on the mound.”
As far as his performance was concerned, Downing felt that he was simply overthrowing and trying too hard to make it back to the Majors.
An Army reserve, Downing went to reserve training in Columbia, South Carolina, following the 1962 AL season. There, he was required to run every day, and he embraced the challenge of gaining endurance.
“That gave me discipline that I didn’t have before that,” says Downing, who won several of the daily 1-mile races that winter. “You should never get fatigued from pitching, and after that winter, I never got tired in a game again, no matter how many pitches I had thrown. Sometimes, I felt I got a little sore, but just like when you’re running, you learn to get past it without slowing down.”
Although Downing didn’t make the big-league club coming out of Spring Training in 1963, instead beginning the season back in Richmond, it wouldn’t be long before he returned to the Bronx. After pitching to a 2.68 ERA in 9 AAA starts, Downing was promoted.
Downing took the ball in relief for the Yankees on June 7th and pitched a scoreless inning. Three days later, the Yankees were in Washington and -- 2 years after making his Major League debut there -- Downing would finally get another chance to start a game.
The results were far different. He had pitched a 2-hit shutout, striking out 9 batters.
“It was like night and day,” Downing says. “I didn’t dread pitching. In 1961, I wasn’t able to execute. When I was in Binghamton, I was throwing strikes and locating my pitches perfectly. When I came up to the big leagues, I was throwing hard, but not throwing strikes. It took me a while to figure out how to be effective again. When I came back up in 1963, everything in my life had changed. I had gone through the whole Richmond situation, and that helped me mature. I had also learned a lot about pitching and about what I was capable of overcoming. Going out and throwing 7, 8 or even 9 innings felt easy after that.”
Downing followed up the early June shutout with another 9-inning performance in which he gave up just 2 earned runs in a win over Detroit. Then, with the Yankees trying to expand their lead in the American League, Downing went on a memorable run. Beginning with a July 2nd shutout of the Chicago White Sox and lasting through the end of the regular season, Downing had won 12 games and went the distance in 8 of those contests. He would finish the season with a 13-5 record and 4 shutouts, helping the Yankees to win the pennant by 101⁄2 games.
“I knew I had the tools, and now I had the confidence,” Downing says. “I felt like I could get out of any jam. I still remember when Mickey came back after being hurt, he came up to me and said, ‘You’ve been pitching great. You’re a big part of this team now.’ Things like that made me feel like I couldn’t lose out there.”
Downing also relished the chance to pitch in the same rotation as Whitey Ford, who -- at 34 years old had won 24 games that season.
“I was just trying to keep up with our other pitchers,” Downing says. “I had looked up to Whitey for a long time, and now I was able to talk to him every day. He used to always tell me that he wished he could have 5 of my fastballs each game. That was a great compliment.”
Downing gave up 3 runs over 5 innings of work in Game 2 of the 1963 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but Johnny Podres would silence the Yankees’ bats. Dodgers all-time great Sandy Koufax, also threw 2 gems and Los Angeles would swept the Yankees in 4 games.
“I take pride and appreciation in the fact that I was named to pitch the 2nd game of that World Series,” Downing says. “When you stop and think about where I came from, you realize that it was a great achievement. I just wish that I could have pitched better.” Downing came back strong in 1964, beginning the season in the big leagues for the 1st time. He had won 13 games for the 2nd consecutive year and he led the American League with 217 strikeouts. His 11 complete-game outings were impressive, but also damaging.
“In those days, if you were still on the mound in the 7th inning, the manager would leave you out there until the game was over,” Downing says. “I gave up some runs late in games that year that cost me a few wins. I should have won more games in 1964.”
With Downing’s consistency and the emergence of rookie pitcher Mel Stottlemyre, the Yankees made it back to the World Series, but they lost the Fall Classic to the St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games. In 1964, it was future Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, who had won 2 games against the Yankees.
“Until our hitters faced Gibson, we had no idea how tenacious he was,” Downing says. “That’s why we lost.”
Downing continued to pitch well for the next 3 seasons, despite a sudden downturn for the Yankees. In 1967, Downing reached 14 wins for the 1st time in his MLB career, and he earned his only All-Star selection.
“In my estimation, that was even better than pitching in the World Series,” Downing says. “To be on a team with the best players in the world was great. These are the best players in the game, and I was in the same clubhouse with them. That was the thrill of a lifetime.”
The 1967 All-Star Game would be Downing’s last great achievement with the Yankees. Soon after the Midsummer Classic, he began to experience elbow pain in his throwing arm, but the injury went undiagnosed until 1968, when a doctor discovered that he had torn a ligament. Downing made 5 starts in the Minors in 1968 and he pitched sparingly that season and in 1969, knowing that his days in pinstripes were numbered.
“When I got sent to the Minors, I took it as a challenge,” Downing says. “I pitched well down there, and when I got back to New York, they put me in the bullpen.” After pitching to a 5.50 ERA in 17 appearances -- 15 of them in relief -- Downing returned to the rotation that August. He pitched well down the stretch, tossing 5 complete games in the final 2 months of the season. “I wasn’t experiencing any pain, and I had good command,” Downing says. “But my strength never came back to where it had been before.”
That winter, while he was working for a printing company in Queens, New York, Downing got word that he had been traded to the Oakland A’s and, after a midseason deal that sent him to Milwaukee Brewers, the next summer, Downing was dealt again to the Los Angeles Dodgers in February 1971. It was in Los Angeles that Downing was able to experience a pitching renaissance. In his 1st season there, Downing put together his most complete effort. At 30 years old, he would win 20 games for the 1st and only time, while also tossing 12 complete games with a National League–leading 5 shutouts. Downing’s 2.68 ERA in 1971 was the 2nd-best mark of his MLB pitching career.
Dodgers Player Photo
“I enjoyed what I was able to do that season because it kept us in the pennant race,” Downing says. “A lot of our guys said that I was the difference maker because they didn’t count on me to win 20 games. But more than anything, it confirmed that I could still pitch in the majors. I had learned how to be effective without the same velocity I once had from watching Whitey (Ford) and from being around him earlier in my career, and it was satisfying to now do some of the same things he had done.” Although the 1971 season was Downing’s last impact performance, he would pitched for the Dodgers for 6 more years, winning 26 more games and finishing his MLB pitching career with a 123-107 record. During that time, he would find himself linked to the Great Bambino yet again.
Al Downing-Hank Aaron Photo
On April 8,1974, the Braves’ Hank Aaron drove a Downing pitch over the left-center field fence at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium for his 715th MLB career HR, surpassing the record set by the immortal Yankees slugger.
For Downing, giving up the HR that eclipsed Ruth’s seemingly unbreakable mark was never a source of embarrassment. He had long respected Aaron for the way he handled being a target of bigotry, and his admiration for the Braves slugger only heightened after the HR.
“If I had been in the league for only a year or 2, it might have been more emotional for me,” Downing says, “But, I had been around for a long time, and I was content knowing that I threw him a good pitch.
“Hank was a true mentor to a lot of young black guys coming through the big leagues,” Downing continues. “The next day, Hank called our clubhouse and asked to talk to me. He told me not to feel bad because he was going to break the record anyway, and the fact that he hit the HR off me didn’t mean I wasn’t a good pitcher. I thanked him, congratulated him and told him that I respected everything he had done.”
As Downing, who never got married and “doesn’t regret that either,” reached the end of his trip down memory lane, he began a slightly shorter journey, along a walking path that brought him to the iconic entranceway of the Rose Bowl Stadium.
“Whenever I’m up here, I take a few minutes to walk over to the stadium,” Downing says. “It’s something that never gets old.”
Downing’s feelings about coming back to the Bronx, which he does each summer, are similar.
“I really appreciate the time I spent playing for the Yankees,” says Downing, who worked as a broadcaster for almost 3 decades following his MLB playing career. “It’s something that stays with you forever. When I come back for Old-Timers’ Day, I think about how my life has played out. I was a kid from Trenton, who nobody paid much attention to, and before I knew it, I was pitching for the New York Yankees. That makes me feel real good.”
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Post by fwclipper51 on Feb 18, 2024 18:42:35 GMT -5
Yankees Pitcher Zach Monroe 1958-1959
Bio Information Complied by Clipper
1960 Topps baseball Card
Zach Monroe was born on July 8,1931 in Peoria, IL. Zach would attend Bradley University in Peoria, IL. He was a right-hander, who made a steady climb through the minor leagues in the New York Yankees organization, after signing as an MLB amateur free agent before the start of the 1952 season. He started his pro baseball career with the Class B Quincy Gems of the Three-I League in 1952, posting a 7-6 record with a 5.04 ERA in just 16 appearances.
Then Monroe would miss the next 2 seasons (1953 and 1954), being inducted into the United States military during the Korean War. Back from the service, he would spend both 1955 and 1956 seasons with the Class A Binghamton Triplets of the Eastern League by going 12-11 with a 5.46 ERA in 1955. Then he would speed up his motor in 1956 to a 16-7 record with a 2.67 ERA.
Moving up to the 1957 AAA Denver Bears in the American Association, Zach would win 16 times again with a 3.58 ERA in 36 games. After going 10-2 with a 3.38 ERA in 13 games with the Bears in 1958, when he got the call to Yankee Stadium. He would make his MLB pitching debut on June 27th against the Kansas City A’s. He would pitch 3.1 innings in relief with 3 strikeouts, no hits or earn runs allowed and 4 walks. For the 1958 AL season, Zach would post a 4-2 record with a 3.26 ERA in 21 games for the World Champion Yankees, including 1 relief appearance against the Milwaukee Braves in the 1958 World Series. Zach was in 3 more games for the Yankees in 1959, which concluded his major league time with a 4-2 record with a 3.38 ERA in 24 appearances.
1959 Topps Baseball Card
Monroe would finished out the 1959 season with the AAA Richmond Virginians of the International League with a 10-11 record with a 2.51 ERA, while pitching 172 innings. On October 20,1960, the New York Yankees would send Pitcher Zach Monroe and cash to the Cincinnati Reds to complete an earlier deal made on April 1, 1960. On April 1,1960, the New York Yankees sent players to be named later to the Cincinnati Reds for players to be named later and Catcher Jesse Gonder. Zach would spend the next 3 seasons (1960-1962) with the Yankees AAA club Richmond, then in the Reds farm system with the 1960-1961 AAA Havana Sugar Kings and AAA Jersey City Jerseys and the AAA San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League in 1962, as his last stop in the minor leagues. He had ended his 9-year minor league run with a 99-77 record and a 3.74 ERA in 256 games.
2023 CBS News Photo
After baseball, Zach became a sales manager for a hydraulic manufacturing company in his native Peoria, IL and as of last notice he was making his home in Bartonville, IL. As of 2024,
Zach is currently 92 years old, still living in Peoria.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Feb 18, 2024 19:23:26 GMT -5
Luis Marquez: First Black Player Yankees Signing-1949
This article was written by Amy Essington, Edited by Clipper
 1953-1954 Mayaguez Player photo
Luis Márquez was a member of the generation of baseball players, who had integrated professional baseball in the 1940s and 1950s. Márquez played in many levels of segregated and integrated baseball including the Puerto Rican Winter League, the Negro Leagues, the Mexican Leagues, the minor leagues and the major leagues. He integrated the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League, along with Frank Austin, in 1949. Two years later, he became only the 3rd Puerto Rican to play in the MLB, when he joined the Boston Braves. Although he never found the success in the majors that he had in other leagues, Márquez had a 20-year career in professional baseball.He is the only Puerto Rican player with batting titles in Negro League baseball (1947 Homestead Grays .417), Puerto Rican baseball (1953-1954 Mayaguez .333), and Organized Baseball (1959 Dallas, Triple-A American Association .345).
The nickname “Canena” was bestowed on Márquez him by his mother, Adela, a name by which she had been known. After a truly hot start in a series in the 1944 Amateur World Series in Venezuela, he picked up the nickname “El Fogón Boricua.”
After he had finished high school, an 18-year-old Márquez signed a professional baseball contract with Mayaguez. During his playing career, Márquez, who was quick and had a strong arm, played in both in the infield and outfield. The 5-foot-10, 174-pound player threw and batted right-handed. Márquez began his professional career with the Mayagüez Indios during the 1944-1945 season. In his 1st game, Márquez experienced both high and low points – he raced from second to home on an infield out, but he also made 2 fielding errors. Márquez’s career in Puerto Rican winter ball included time with the Mayagüez Indios (1944-1946,1953-1956,1957-1964), the Aguadilla Sharks (1946-1951), the San Juan Senators (1952-1953), and the Ponce Lions (1957-1958, and 1959-1960, both stints as Manager).
During his 1st professional season in Puerto Rico, Márquez batted .361 and tied with Alfonso Gerard for 1944-45 Rookie of the Year honors. The next season, he led the league with 10 triples, tying the league record and during the 1946-47 season, he set the single-season HR record with 14 round-trippers, breaking Josh Gibson’s record by 1. During the 1953-1954 season, Márquez was the Puerto Rican Winter League’s batting champion with a .333 batting average. He was voted Most Valuable Player as well. He hit 2 HRs in the 1957 Caribbean Championship Series.
Over the course of 20 seasons in Puerto Rico, Márque had played in 4,018 games; scored 768 runs; registered 1,206 hits which included 235 doubles, 66 triples, and 97 HRs; and batted .300. His totals of games played, hits, doubles, and runs scored are all league records. He was inducted into the Puerto Rican Baseball Hall of Fame in October 1991.
After his 1st season of winter ball in Puerto Rico, Márquez would joined the New York Black Yankees in 1945. Then he would play for the Baltimore Elite Giants and the Homestead Grays of the Negro National League in 1946 and the Grays in 1947 and 1948. In 1947 and 1948, Márquez would represent the Grays in both the Chicago and New York games of the Negro Leagues’ East-West All-Star Game. In 1947, Márquez led the league in hitting with a .417 batting average and he had 29 stolen bases. The following season, the 2nd baseman changed playing positions, moving to the outfield and also moved to the top of the batting order. James Riley’s Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues says Marquez had a .274 batting average the year his team won the Negro National League pennant and the Negro League World Series in 1948.
After the Homestead Grays had folded in 1949, Márquez’s player contract was transferred to the Baltimore Elite Giants, now of the Negro American League. By the time his Negro League career concluded, he had posted a .335 career batting average.
The Brooklyn Dodgers’ signing of Jackie Robinson on October 23,1945, initiated the integration of baseball in the United States and allowed Márquez to move from the Negro Leagues into Organized Baseball. Márquez was one of the hundreds of players who participated in the process of integrating the minor and major leagues in the 1940s and ’50s. This process included sorting out contracts that may or may not have existed with the teams of the collapsing Negro Leagues.
On February 3,1949, newspapers reported the purchase of Márquez’s player contract with the Baltimore Elite Giants by New York Yankees General Manager George Weiss. Márquez was the 1st player of color signed by the Yankees, although he was not the player, who ultimately integrated the team. He would report to the Newark Bears, the Yankees’ affiliate in the Triple-A International League, at their spring-training camp in Haines City, Florida. Whether the Baltimore Elite Giants or the Homestead Grays owned his contract, however, was in dispute. The Grays still made a claim to Márquez’s contract and Owner See Posey had offered Bill Veeck of the Cleveland Indians, a 120-day option to purchase the contract.
The dispute over Márquez’s contract was revealed in the midst of another contract disagreement between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians. The Yankees had accused the Indians of signing Artie Wilson of the Birmingham Black Barons, who was already under contract with them. The MLB Commissioner’s office would mediated the 2 disputes in the spring of 1949. Commissioner A.B. “Happy” Chandler’s decision was to send Márquez to the Indians and Wilson to the Yankees. Márquez had been playing with the Newark Bears, the Yankees’ AAA affiliate in the International League. While Wilson had been playing with the AAA San Diego Padres in the Pacific Coast League, the Indians’ affiliate. In 18 games with the Newark Bears, Márquez had hit 1 HR, 3 stolen bases, and a batting average of .246. Even though his preference was to remain in the New York Yankees organization, Márquez would join the Indians on May 13,1949 and was optioned to the AAA Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League.
In the United States, Márquez spent most of his baseball career in the minor leagues. He would join the Beavers on May 27,1949. After he had arrived by plane from New York, he went straight into left field for that night’s game. Márquez and his teammate Catcher Frank Austin, who also was signed by the Yankees and was playing for the 1949 AAA Newark Bears were the 1st players of color on that team, though Art Pennington of the Chicago Giants, who would later joined the Beavers in July. During the 1949 season, Márquez would hit .294 in 132 games and led the team with 32 stolen bases. He would return to Portland in 1950, played 194 games, hit over .300, and again led the club in stolen bases. As one of the players who were at the forefront of the integration of baseball, Márquez faced discrimination on and off the field. Despite the discrimination, he made strong connections in the PCL. In 1957, when the 3-time Manager of the Portland Beavers, Bill Sweeney had died, Márquez served as an honorary pallbearer.
1952 Baseball Card
In 1951 Márquez finally moved up to the major leagues. when he was claimed by the Boston Braves in the MLB Rule 5 Player Draft prior to the season. Márquez had joined the Braves, 1 year after Sam Jethroe integrated it, but historian Adrian Burgos has noted that Márquez was the 1st Afro-Latino player signed by the Braves and the 2nd one overall (after Minnie Miñoso) His MLB player debut came on April 18,1951, when he entered the game against the New York Giants as a pinch-runner for Jim Wilson. Márquez’s 1st hit, a triple, came on April 19th in the 2nd game of a doubleheader against the New York Giants. His 1st RBI followed the next day in a 2-for-4 performance against the Philadelphia Phillies; Márquez drove in the 1st run and scored the 2nd in a 2-1 Braves victory. He scored the winning run on Max Surkont’s sacrifice fly after singling, advancing to 2nd base on a sacrifice and stealing 3rd. Márquez had played in 68 games for the Braves in 1951 and he was frequently used as a pinch-runner. He hit only.196 and was successful on only half of his stolen base attempts, going 4-for-8 on the year.
The next season, Márquez would return to the minors, where he played in 136 games for the AAA Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association. His batting average was 3rd best in the league at .345 and he had hit 14 HRs with 99 RBIs, Márquez’s contributions to the Brewers helped the team to win the American Association championship in 1952. During the 1953 season, Márquez would play in 130 games and batted.292 for another American Association team, the Toledo Sox. With Márquez on the roster, the Sox won the American Association championship and playoffs.
1954 Pirates Player Photo
Márquez’s performance merited a return to the major leagues in 1954 and he batted .083 in 17 games for the Chicago Cubs; after a trade on June 14,1954, he would hit .111 in 14 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He had only 1 base hit for each of the 2 teams, and the Pirates had released Márquez to AAA Toledo Sox on July 14,1954. Over the course of his MLB playing career, Márquez played a total of 99 games for 3 different teams and finished with a .182 batting average and an on-base percentage of .278. He had drove in 11 runs, all during his 1951 season with the Boston Braves.
From 1955 to 1958, Márquez returned to the roster of the AAA Portland Beavers in the Pacific Coast League, with a 21-game stint with the Toledo Sox in 1955. In 1956, he represented the Beavers on the Pacific Coast League’s All-Star team. During his time as a Beaver player, Márquez had accepted a Friday the 13th challenge of playing all 9 positions in one 1957 game, which he completed by pitching the last 3 outs of the game.
After his 4 seasons in the Pacific Northwest, Márquez would spend 2 seasons in Texas. In 1959, he was with the AAA Dallas Rangers of the American Association, where he would play in 142 games and won the batting championship with a .345 average. The next season, he would appear in 144 games with the AAA Dallas Fort-Worth Rangers of the American Association, while batting .264.
In 1961, in Márquez’s 17th year as a professional baseball player, he moved down to Single-A ball for the 1st time, playing in 19 games with the Williamsport Grays of the Eastern League. That season, he also played 18 games with the Dallas Fort-Worth Rangers. After his final minor-league stints, Márquez moved south of the border for 2 seasons, he would play for the Mexican League’s Poza Rica Petroleros in 1962 and 1963. He excelled during his 1st season in Mexico, by batting .357 with 28 doubles, 21 HRs and 91 RBIs in 126 games. His performance was not quite as strong in 1963, but he still would hit .314 with 20 HRs and 72 RBIs in his final season.
Márquez’s career included 3 seasons in the Negro Leagues, 12 seasons in the minor leagues, 2 seasons in MLB and 2 seasons in the Mexican Leagues in addition to his years in the Puerto Rican Winter League. As a player, Márquez had a superstition of touching 1st or 3rd base while trotting in from the outfield at the end of an inning. He later worked as a MLB Scout for Montreal Expos in 1969 and 1970, the 1st 2 years of the franchise’s existence.
Following his short stint as a MLB scout, Márquez would work for the Department of Sports in Aguadilla. Also he would coached both amateur and professional baseball. A 1st marriage to Lydia Babilonia was short-lived. Then he would married Olga Asis Rodríguez, who had died in 1974. After her death, Luis went to live with and care for his mother. He and Olga had 2 children, Wanda and Gloria. In 2017, Wanda worked and gave sports talks at the ballpark that bears her father’s name.
At the time of his death, Márquez was working with the Sports and Recreation Department in Aguadilla and in charge of Parque Colón.
His daughter Wanda’s husband, Luis Ramos, shot Márquez twice with a handgun when Márquez confronted his son-in-law about the way he treated his daughter. He was shot on the same street where he had been born, Calle Mercado. Márquez was pronounced dead at the hospital in Aguadilla on March 1,1988. He was buried in Monte Cristo Memorial Park in Aguadilla. Reportedly because of a number of police “mistakes” of some sort, Luis Ramos was never convicted of a crime and as of 2017 was free and living in New York.
The municipal baseball park in Aguadilla, Estadio Luis A. Canena Márquez, is named for the local man who had a 20-year career in professional baseball. A bronze statue of Márquez is located in front of the stadium. Although he did not succeed in the majors, Luis Márquez was part of history as a member of a generation that broke down the racial barriers of professional baseball.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Feb 18, 2024 21:44:31 GMT -5
Frank Barnes Yankees Minor League Pitcher 1950-1951
Kansas City Monarchs Player PhotoOn August 26,1926, Frank Barnes was born in Longwood, Mississippi. Frank would start his pro pitching career with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro leagues at age 18 in 1947. On July 19,1950, Pitcher Frank Barnes and OF Elston Howard were purchased by the New York Yankees from Kansas City Monarchs (Negro American League). Both players were sent to the Yankees minor league team at Muskegon (Central League). Frank went 8-4 with 2.23 ERA in 15 games. In 1951, Frank would returned to Muskegon, where he had posted a 15-6 record in 15 games with a 2.23 ERA. He was promoted to AAA San Francisco Seals (PCL). He appeared in only 2 games for the AAA Seals, while posting a 0-0 record.In August of 1951, Frank was sent from the New York Yankees to the St. Louis Browns in an unknown transaction. Pitcher Frank Barnes and several other black Yankees minor league players (Vic Power, Ruben Gomez, Artie Wilson and others) would be traded away during the 1951-1954 seasons, once Yankees GM George Weiss had decided that Elston Howard would be the 1st black Yankees MLB player. Before the 1953 season, the Browns would returned him to the AAA Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) after expiration of their minor league working agreement. In 1955, Elston Howard would become the 1st Black Yankees MLB player. After the 1956 International League season, Frank was traded by AAA Toronto to the St. Louis Cardinals for Jim Pearce, Cash and a player to be named later, which turned out to be 1B Rocky Nelson. He would pitch in the MLB for the Cardinals in 1957-1958 and 1960 seasons.  St. Louis Cardinals Player PhotoIn 1957, Barnes led the American Association with a 2.41 ERA for the Omaha Cardinals before being called up to St. Louis in September. He also led the league with 6 shutouts and pitched a record-setting 41+1⁄3 consecutive scoreless innings. On August 4, 1958, he pitched the 1st no-hitter in Omaha Cardinal American Association history. It was not the 1st no-hitter for Barnes who had pitched one for the Oklahoma City of the Texas League in 1955. Barnes had posted a 1-3 record with 1 save over the course of 3 seasons with the Cardinals. He accumulated 30 strikeouts in 36+2⁄3 innings pitched. During his career, Barnes scored 3 runs despite only having 1 hit in 10 career at bats and having no walks, no hit by pitches and one caught stealing. Also, over the course of his career he had a 2.84 ERA in games on the road, but only a 9.17 ERA at home in Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Barnes had appeared as a pinch runner several times in 1957 and 1958 NL seasons.
 1960 Topps Baseball CardOn May 19,1960, the Chicago White Sox had purchased Frank Barnes from the St. Louis Cardinals. After the 1961 AL season, he was traded by the White Sox along with veteran 3B Andy Carey to the Philadelphia Phillies for Bob Sadowski and Taylor Phillips. However, Andy Carey would refuse to report to his new team before the start of 1962 NL season. Thus, to complete the trade the White Sox would send veteran hurler Cal McLish to Philadelphia and the Phillies would send a minor league player to Chicago. During the 1950s, he had played in the Eastern League, Texas League and American Association in Minor League Baseball.
After his Major League Baseball career, Barnes would pitch in the Mexican Summer League for Liga Mexicana de Beisbol. In 1965, where he led the circuit in both winning percentage 13–5, with a .722 WP and with a 1.58 ERA.Additionally, Barnes played winter ball for the Licoreros de Pampero club of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League during the 1955-1956 seasons. He also played in the Dominican Republic's league with Tigres del Licey and Estrellas Orientales in from 1953 to 1959.
Following his MLB playing days, Barnes had retired in Greenville, MS, where he owned a pool hall and a liquor store. He would pass away on October 19,2014 at the age of 88.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Feb 18, 2024 22:19:54 GMT -5
Shortstop Frank Austin 1949 Yankees Minor League Black Player
Information compiled by Clipper
1945 Negro League All-Star Photo
Frank Samuel "Pee Wee" Austin was born on May 22,1917 in the Panama Canal Zone. Frank Austin was a shortstop who would in the Negro Leagues and Minor Leagues. He would played professionally from 1944 to 1956, playing with the Philadelphia Stars of the Negro National League from 1944 to 1948. He had played in the 1945 East-West All-Star Game. He would finish his Negro League playing career with a .343 BA along with 3 HRs and 139 RBIs in 254 games. Frank Austin would played in the International League in 1949 and the Pacific Coast League from 1949 to 1956. Although, he never would play in the Major Leagues, Austin was 1 of the 1st 2 black players to play for the New York Yankees organization for the AAA Newark Bears (International League) in 1949 along with Outfielder Luis Marquez. He had appeared in 19 games for the AAA Bears, while hitting .282 with 1 HR and 16 RBIs.
Portland Beavers Player Photo
He would finish the 1949 Minor League season with the AAA Portland Beavers in the Pacific Coast League, hitting .242 with 4 HRs and 34 RBIs in 135 games. In 1950, Frank batted .277 for Portland and his .972 fielding percentage led regular Pacific Coast League shortstops by a wide margin. In 1951, Austin had his best average in the PCL with a .293. Frank put up a .265 batting line and again led PCL shortstops in fielding (.958). He was 5th in the PCL with 186 hits and led with 702 at-bats. His 177 games tied him for 2nd, 1 behind Dick Cole and he stole 17 bases. He had played for Carta Vieja in the 1952 Caribbean Series, going 4 for 24 with a double.
Portland Player Photo
In 1953, the Panamanian had batted .280 with the AAA Beavers and slammed a career-high 7 HRs. He would play all 180 games, tying 4 others for the lead in the Coast lead. His 739 at-bats were 3rd; he scored 91, stole 14 bases and legged out 39 doubles, 3rd in the PCL. He again led Pacific Coast League shortstops in fielding percentage (.970). In the 1953 Caribbean Series, he only was 3 for 23 with a double for In 1954, Austin batted .269/~.323/.346 for Portland. That winter, he hit .331 in his last season playing in the Panama League.
At age 33, the veteran only hit .233 with a single steal in the 1955 year, his last season with Portland. His .969 fielding was "just" 2nd in the league. He had tied Nippy Jones for the league lead with 172 games played in that 1955 campaign. In his last minor league season at the age of 39, he would finish his pro baseball career with the 1956 AAA Vancouver Mounties in the Pacific Coast League, as a Reserve Infielder. He would hit .285 with No HRs and 27 RBIs in 120 games. He was the 2nd baseman for Panama's Azucareros team in the 1959 Caribbean Series and hit .308, his best showing in the Series. Overall, he had hit .200 in 3 Series.
Frank Austin would pass away on January 15,1960 at the age of 42 in Panama.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Feb 18, 2024 23:20:55 GMT -5
Yankees Minor League OF Bob Thurman
This article was written by Rick Swaine, Edited by Clipper  Bob Monarchs Player Photo
Power-hitting Bob Thurman was nicknamed “Big Swish” because the free-swinging power-hitter rarely got cheated at the plate. But Thurman, who was a star pitcher as well as a long-ball-hitting outfielder in the Puerto Rican winter league, also earned a nickname for his hurling. He was dubbed “El Múcaro” or “The Owl” because he always seemed to win the night games that he pitched.
Thurman, who originally signed with the New York Yankees in 1949 and then spent several seasons as the property of the Chicago Cubs, was a month shy of his 38th birthday when he made his MLB player debut with the Cincinnati Reds on April 14,1955. His obstacle-strewn path to the big leagues was long and winding with many detours along the way. But when he finally got an opportunity, the former Negro League star developed into one of the most respected pinch-hitters in baseball and established an all-time National League home run record.
Described as broad-shouldered and muscular, Thurman was a left-handed pull hitter who was said to be extremely fast on the bases for a big man. Often referred to as “Big Bob,” he’s listed as being 6’1″ tall and weighing 205 pounds in The Baseball Encyclopedia, but during his Negro League career, he was reported to be a 6’4″, 230-pound giant. His actual size was probably somewhere between the two.
From 1955 until he was released in early 1959, Thurman was one of the most popular players on the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds were an outfit that had been slow to integrate, but made tremendous strides in a short time thanks to the examples set by respected veteran black players like Thurman. Off the field Thurman served as an informal traveling secretary for the Reds’ contingent of black players, taking responsibility for arranging accommodations on the road, when they couldn’t stay with the team and assisting younger players in getting acclimated to the major leagues
Robert Burns Thurman was born on May 14,1917, but he had trimmed a few years off of his age before entering organized baseball. Thurman grew up in Wichita, Kansas. Most sources indicate he was born in Wichita, although nearby Kellyville, Oklahoma is listed as his birthplace in the Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues. In The Sporting News coverage of Thurman’s acquisition by the Yankees in 1949, he was reported to be 26 years old. Apparently, most of the baseball world bought off on this little fabrication because Thurman’s birthday was listed as 5/14/23 by the Doubleday Official Baseball Encyclopedia, Annual Baseball Register, Baseball Digest and even the backs of his baseball cards during his active career.
Somewhere along the line, however, Thurman must have slipped up because the Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia reported his birth date as 5/14/21 and a 1957 Associated Press article mentioned that he was 34 years old in 1955, when he broke in with the Reds. Many years after his retirement Thurman confessed to his real age in a neatly hand-written 1982 letter to the Baseball Hall of Fame as follows:
“Many Baseball clubs like to put players ages back a few years. Mine was put back several times, so much so, that I always use the baseball age. Even when I joined the pension, I didn’t think of [using] my correct age. So, my real [birth date] is May 14, 1917.”
Thurman started his baseball career playing semipro ball with various teams in the Wichita area, before entering the U.S. Army at the beginning of World War II. He was stationed in New Guinea and Luzon. He saw combat action in the Pacific Theater of Operations. His baseball talent became evident while playing military ball in the Philippines. When he was discharged in 1945 an offer to play for the Homestead Grays in the Negro National League was waiting for him.
In 1946, Thurman’s 1st season with the Homestead Grays, their roster included some of the greatest names in Negro baseball history. Catcher Josh Gibson, 1st baseman Buck Leonard, outfielder Cool Papa Bell, infielder Sam Bankhead, pitcher Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, outfielder Vic Harris, and 3rd baseman Howard Easterling were some of the veteran stars. In addition, future major leaguers Sam Jones, Dave Hoskins, Luis Marquez, and Dave Pope were also with the Grays. Thurman’s mound work was mediocre, but he got some playing time in the outfield and hit .408 with power.
The next year, Cool Papa Bell had retired and big Bob found himself playing the outfield more than pitching. He handled right field with new recruit Luke Easter in left and league batting champ Luis Marquez in center field. Thurman would hit .338 for the 1947 season and showed good power with 6 HRs in 157 at-bats. In 1948, he would hit .345, also posted a 6-4 won/lost record as a regular starting pitcher to help the Grays capture the last Negro National League pennant. They also had defeated the Birmingham Black Barons in the World Series that year before their powerhouse squad was dismantled along with the once grand league.
Like most Negro Leaguers, Thurman had to play winter ball to make ends meet. He began playing with the Santurce Crabbers in the Puerto Rican Winter League and became a big fan favorite. He led the league with 9 HRs in the winter of 1947-1948 and doubled that total the next winter, before reporting to his new employers the Kansas City Monarchs, another fabled Negro League franchise in the newly reorganized Negro American League.
The Monarchs, managed by Buck O’Neill, were still a powerhouse. Listed on their roster were long-time Negro League stars Willard Brown, Booker McDaniels, Nat Peeples, Bonnie Serrell and Theolic Smith, as well as future big leaguers Elston Howard, Gene Baker, Connie Johnson, Frank Barnes and Curt Roberts. But with the integration of organized baseball, the Negro Leagues were in their death-throes.
The only way they could survive was by selling off their star performers and Thurman’s big season in Puerto Rico had attracted the attention of the major league clubs.
In his preview of the 1949 East-West All-Star Game clash, Wendell Smith of the Pittsburgh Courierwrote, “Another player who seems destined to move up… is Bob Thurman. He is also with Kansas City and many tab him as Josh Gibson’s successor when it comes to hitting. Bob is hitting .327 and is a HR hitter deluxe… Thurman’s tootsies are lined with mercury. He’s leading both leagues in stolen bases with 12. Formerly a pitcher, he can throw with the best of ’em and is definitely ticketed for the majors.”
But Thurman would never play in the East-West classic. On July 29,1949, it was announced that his contract, along with Catcher Earl Taborn’s, had been purchased from the Kansas City Monarchs by the New York Yankees. Thurman was one of the 1st black players signed by the New York Yankees. He was assigned to the AAA Newark Bears of the International League. Bob would slammed 3 HRs in his 1st week in organized baseball, including 1 tape-measure blast that was said to be the longest hit in the old Newark park in 30 years. In 59 games for the AAA Bears, he would hit .317 before a hand injury sent him to the sidelines.
But despite his promising freshman campaign, the Yankees would dispose of him, transferring his player contract to the Chicago Cubs. Thurman would spend the 1950 season with AAA Springfield in the International League, where his batting average fell to .269 with only 12 HRs. He spent the next 2 years with the AAA San Francisco Seals club of the Pacific Coast League. He would hit .274 and .280, respectively, but failed to display the power expected of him. As far as the Cubs were concerned, however, it probably didn’t matter how many HRs Thurman smashed since they still weren’t ready to integrate at the MLB level. During the winter following the 1952 season, Thurman’s contract was sold to AAA Charleston of the American Association. But Thurman didn’t play for Charleston or any other team in organized baseball for the next 2 years.
Thurman had continued to play for Santurce in the Puerto Rican winter league after entering organized ball and was one of the biggest names in Latin American baseball. In the early 1950s, the Dominican Republic was in the process of establishing a professional league called the Dominican Summer League. The new league was not affiliated with organized baseball and was able to lure several minor leaguers with generous salary offers.
Since Thurman was nearing 36 years of age and going nowhere in the Cubs system, he was receptive to abandoning organized baseball for a more lucrative offer from the Escogido team. He spent 2-years in the Dominican league, leading the loop in HRs and RBIs in 1954 and even pitching occasionally.
When he opted to play in the Dominican Republic, Thurman was suspended from organized baseball. Therefore, when the Caribbean circuit slid under the umbrella of organized baseball in 1955, he was in limbo. Technically he was still under contract to the Cubs, although they didn’t really seem to want him. But he proceeded to create a market for his services with his play in the 1954-1955 Puerto Rican winter league. He hit .323 and slammed 14 HRs for a Santurce team that revered veteran baseball man Don Zimmer, who had been in the game for more than 50 years as a player, manager, and coach, called “the best winter league baseball club ever assembled.”
PlayingWinter Ball Bob with Roberto Clemente
Zimmer, who at the time was the jewel of the Brooklyn Dodgers farm system, was the club’s shortstop, while Thurman played right field and hit .323. Reigning National League Most Valuable Player, Willie Mays, played center field and led the winter league in batting, and young Roberto Clemente, who would join the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1955, would hit .344 for 4th place in the league rankings. George Crowe, who’d led the American Association in HRs and RBIs and would be a regular for the Milwaukee Braves in 1955, played 1st base and former Negro League star Bus Clarkson, who topped the Texas with 42 HRs in 1954, handled 3rd. Harry Chiti, who would be the Cubs regular catcher the next year, shared backstop duties with future New York Giants receiver Valmy Thomas and another future major leaguer, Giants prospect Ron Samford, manned 2nd base. The pitching staff was led by Ruben Gomez, a 17-game-winner for the 1954 World Champion Giants, Sam Jones, who would lead the National League in strikeouts in 1955 and Bill Greason, a Cardinal farmhand and former Negro League standout. And also taking an occasional turn on the mound was 37-year-old left-hander Bob Thurman. Although Thurman was strictly an outfielder in organized baseball, he continued to pitch in the winter leagues. In previous winters, he’d been among the top hurlers in the league, but in 1954-1955, his services weren’t required quite as often on the mound.
Impressed by his winter-league heroics and unaware of his true age, the Cincinnati Reds would purchase the player rights to Thurman from the Cubs for a reported sum of $2,000. It would turn out to be a terrific investment. Ironically, Thurman’s MLB player debut occurred on the same day that Elston Howard became the 1st black man to play for Thurman’s original organization, the Yankees.
During the 1955 NL season, Thurman shared left field with several other players and hit 7 HRs in only 152 at-bats, though his batting average was only .217. The next year, however, he raised his batting mark to .295 and slammed 8 HRs in 139 chances at the plate, helping the powerful Reds to tie the all-time MLB HR record of 221 set by the 1947 New York Giants. On August 18,1956, he had slammed 3 consecutive HRs and double against the Milwaukee Braves, enabling the Reds to tie a MLB record with 8 HRs in the game.
The next season, Thurman would celebrate his birthday with a HR all at the time, he was the 1st player to HR on his 40th birthday; and it didn’t happen again until Joe Morgan did it in 1983. The 1957 campaign would be Thurman’s best season in the MLB, even though it was interrupted by a trip to the minors. He started the year on fire and was hitting .351 on June 1st, but by the end of the month his average had skidded 92 points. On August 2nd, he was dispatched to AAA Seattle of the Pacific Coast League to make room for Joe Taylor, a younger black outfielder.
Thurman took the demotion in stride. Instead of sulking about it, the irrepressible outfielder told Reds Manager Birdie Tebbetts, “I know I’ll be back and when I am I’ll make you play me.”
When Thurman reported to Seattle the next day, after flying all night, the game was already underway. But Seattle Manager Lefty O’Doul asked him to suit up right away. “I may need you to hit one,” he cracked. Sure enough, “Big Swish” was needed in the 8th inning and obliged with a pinch-hit HR. He would ravaged Pacific Coast League pitching for 7 more long ones before being recalled by the Reds, later the same month.
The Reds, who had missed Thurman’s clubhouse presence as much as his big bat, were in a deep slump and the big guy responded by giving them an immediate lift. After flying in from Seattle overnight, he would rejoin the Reds in Philadelphia on August 27th and smashed a 3-run 9h-inning HR to give the Reds a desperately-needed 5-2 victory.
After 2 at-bats off the bench on the 30th, Thurman would banged a 2-run HR off of Milwaukee’s Lew Burdette in his next start on August 31st, but the Reds still suffered their 15th loss in 18 outings. The next day, however, he doubled home a run and added a 2-run circuit smash as the Reds beat the Cardinals behind Brooks Lawrence. In total, he hit 4 HRs and drove in a 12 runs in his 1st 5 games back to help get the team back on track. The Reds won 18 of 30 games, after the big outfielder’s recall to finish the season with 80 victories.
Thurman would finish the 1957 NL campaign with 16 HRs and 40 RBIs in only 190 at-bats for the Reds. At the time, he was the 1st National Leaguer and only the 2nd player in MLB history to slam that many HRs in less than 200 at-bats. His HR per at-bat percentage of 8.4% was better than league-leader Duke Snider‘s 7.9%, although Big Bob didn’t have enough plate appearances for official ranking. His 8 HRs in 104 at-bats with Seattle gave him a personal total of 24 for the year in less than 300 chances at the plate.
1958 Topps Baseball Card
Thurman would remained with the Reds through the entire 1958 NL campaign, but he hit only .230 with 4 HRs. After a few pinch-hitting appearances early in the 1959 season, he would return to the minor leagues, but he failed to hit well with either AAA Seattle (PCL) or AAA Omaha (American Association).
In 1960, the 43-year-old Thurman would drifted into the Washington Senators organization and finally reported to AAA Charleston, 7 years after the franchise had 1st tried to acquire his services. He would hit .274 with 10 HRs for the American Association club. On August 21st, Thurman received his first and only opportunity to pitch in organized ball. Charleston starter Jim Kaat had been knocked out of the box and the score was 10-5, when the 43-year-old veteran was summoned from right field to take the mound against Dallas-Fort Worth. Thurman held them scoreless the rest of the way, striking out a trio of batters and giving up a pair of hits in 3 innings. He also went 3-for-4 at the plate that day. The next year, he finally hung up his spikes after 21 games with Charlotte in the South Atlantic League.
Thurman had ended his MLB playing career with a .246 lifetime batting average in 334 MLB games, spread mainly over 4 seasons. He had belted 35 HRs and both drove in and scored 106 runs in 663 at-bats. More than 1/2 of his appearances were as a pinch-hitter and he blasted 6 HRs in that role, including 4 in 1957. In addition, he had played 12 winters in the Puerto Rican winter league, 11 seasons with the Santurce Crabbers. He is a member of the Puerto Rican League Hall of Fame and the leagues’ all-time HR leader.
Bob Thurman was never considered one of the best players in major-league baseball, although he might have been if he’d gotten an earlier start. But he easily qualifies as one of the most interesting and unusual stories. Despite the fact that he was 38 years of age when he got his 1st shot at the majors and was used as a pinch-hitter so often, Thurman’s career totals equate to approximately 30 HRs and 90 runs batted in over a full season.
During his career he was regarded as one of the most dangerous clutch hitters in the game. Reds Manager Birdie Tebbetts said, “He’s one of the best pinch hitters I have seen in my nearly 17 years in baseball….That big boy gets off the bench good and cold, and he just gets hot walking up to the plate.”
Like most hitters, however, Thurman was more productive with the bat when playing full time. His career HR percentage was a respectable 3.4 as a pinch hitter, but an extraordinary 6.0 otherwise. To put Thurman’s 6.0 figure in perspective, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, the top 2 National League HR hitters of the 20th century, both finished their fabulous careers with 6.1 HR percentages.
The accomplishments of “Big Swish” are even more amazing when his age is taken into consideration. There are no other hitters who began their big-league careers at a similar age to compare him to. He may have been the oldest slugger to establish a league HR record, even an obscure one, or set the pace in HR % as he did in 1957, until Barry Bonds came along.
The fact that the ancient, veteran slugger was playing baseball year-round when he performed his feats makes them even more remarkable. For most of his career, Thurman would leave for the Caribbean immediately after the season ended in the fall and then report for spring training the following year, shortly after the Puerto Rican League season closed. More than one baseball talent evaluator wondered how much Thurman’s career in organized ball was harmed by his exhausting schedule.
Then again, there’s the fact that Thurman was a 2-way performer, at least during the winter. In Puerto Rico, he often gave a pretty fair imitation of a young Babe Ruth. For the 1949-1950 season his won-lost mark was 5-3 and he hit .353. In 1951-1952 and 1952-1953 his records of 6-3 and 5-3 put him among the league pitching leaders. In 1953-1954 he had a no-hitter going into the 7th inning of a contest, but he had to settle for a 2-hit shutout. All the while he was consistently among the league HR leaders and finished 6th in batting in 1954-1955 and 2nd in 1955-1956.
The likeable, hard-working Thurman would joined the Minnesota Twins as an MLB Scout after his playing days were over, his 1st signee was Rudy May, who would pitch in the majors for 16 years. After about a year and a half, he would return to the Cincinnati organization to scout for the Reds.
In 1970, he would moved closer to his Wichita roots. when he became a special assignment scout for the Kansas Royals. Later, when the Major League Scouting Bureau was established, he hooked on with them.
Thurman remained physically active after his playing career, keeping close to his playing weight. He had a gym in his house and was an enthusiastic golfer who, by his own admission, worked off a lot of calories searching the woods for his tee shots. He frequently attended old-timer games and reunions, showing off his youthful-looking physique for his envious old buddies.
When he would visited Cooperstown at the age of 74 in 1991, Bob Thurman was still working as a senior partner with Marketing Associates in Wichita. He appeared in excellent shape, when he was interviewed for Sports Collectors Digest by Robert Objoski, who more than a decade later would remember him as one of the nicest players he ever talked to. But the big guy fell victim to Alzheimer’s disease and would pass away on October 31,1998 in Wichita at the age of 81, leaving behind Dorothy, his wife of 51 years and their 3 children.
Bob Thurman put in a lot of hard work and endured some tough breaks to make the major leagues. Like many former Negro Leaguers’, he was forced to misrepresent his age to get a chance in organized baseball. “If the Reds knew I was that old, they probably would not have signed me,” he said in his 1991 Sports Collectors Digest interview.
But old Cincinnati fans are glad that the Reds didn’t know – for reasons in addition to Thurman’s performance on the field. “Cincinnati wouldn’t have signed Johnny Bench without Bob Thurman,” said long-time baseball executive Herk Robinson, who was in the Cincinnati front office at the time. He was also instrumental in the signing of Wayne Simpson, Hal McRae and Gary Nolan among others.
After her husband’s death, Dorothy Thurman said, “He never seemed to regret not getting a chance earlier.”
But major-league baseball historians regret that we’ll never know what kind of career Bob Thurman would have enjoyed, if given an earlier opportunity.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Feb 19, 2024 16:22:19 GMT -5
Bill Yancey The Yankees 1st Black MLB Scout
Player Information compiled by Clipper
Bill Yancey Hilldale Player Photo
1933-1934 Renaissance 5 Team Photo
Bill Yancey was born on April 2,1902 in Philadelphia, Pa. Yancey was not allowed on his Central High school's baseball or basketball teams in Philadelphia. In his sophomore year, he began playing baseball for the semipro Pelham Silk Sox. After his high school graduation, he tried out for the Philadelphia Giants (by that time a minor team), but he was sent down to the lower Boston Giants for development. By 1924, he was with Philadelphia full-time and remained there for several years.
Bill got his 1st playing time with a top black team with Hilldale in 1927, hitting .278 as a utility infielder. In 1929, he would join the Renaissance 5 basketball team, which would be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1963. He also would join the New York Lincoln Giants that year, hitting .239 as the regular shortstop for the top team in the American Negro League. The club's manager was legendary Pop Lloyd, who helped teach Yancey how to play shortstop. In 1930, Yancey was a backup for New York. Bill became the 1st black player to step foot on the field at Yankee Stadium, when the Lincoln Giants played there, as he ran out early to take fielding practice in Babe Ruth's spot in right field. He later recalled that it was one of the highlights of his pro baseball career. Yancey went 6 for 30 in the post-season against the Homestead Grays, playing regularly.
Yancey would returned to Philadelphia in 1931 as the starting shortstop and batted .224. At age 28, he moved on to the New York Black Yankees hitting .241 as the regular at shortstop. In 1933, Yancey had batted .250 for New York. He would followed with a .191 BA for the 1934 season (still good for 5th on the team as New York went into a collapse that year). Then Yancey would play for the New York Cubans and Brooklyn Eagles in 1935, but his hitting struggles would continue; as he fell to .176 BA with Brooklyn, one of the lowest marks in the Negro National League. He would bounced back in his last season,1936 by hitting .273 as the 2nd baseman for the Philadelphia Stars. He would finish his Negro League playing career with a .263 BA along with 7 HRs and 72 RBIs in 181 games.
After his active playing career had ended, Yancey would manage baseball teams in Latin America. He had coached a Panamanian Olympic team. Bill would direct a YMCA in Colon, Panama, through 1943. In 1945, he would returned to America after a nearly 10-year absence, to manage the Atlanta Black Crackers. Later, Yancey was a MLB Scout for various clubs, including the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies from 1950 to 1970. As the Yankees 1st Black MLB Scout, he would sign Pitcher Al Downing for the team. Later, Yancey would serve on the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues for the Hall of Fame. On April 13,1971, Bill would pass away at the age of 69 at his home in Marlton, NJ.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Feb 19, 2024 17:01:31 GMT -5
Yankees Black Minor League Catcher Earl "Mickey" Taborn 1949
Player Information Compiled by Clipper
Mickey Taborn 1949 Newark Bears PhotoEarl "Mickey" Taborn was born on July 21,1911 in Currier Mills, Il. As a receiver, Earl Taborn was outstanding behind the plate, with a strong and accurate arm, but he was slow on the bases and, although a tough out for some pitchers, he was generally an average hitter for both consistency and power, usually hitting in the 8th slot for the Kansas City Monarchs. Joining Kansas City in 1946, he would share the catching duties with Joe Greene for the Monarch's last pennant winning ballclub, but he would hit only .206. While Greene was a better hitter, Taborn was the top receiver on the squad and he was charged with handling the Monarchs' superb mound corps. After another season of sharing the catching spot with Greene, Taborn would take over sole possession of the starting position in 1948; he would responded with a batting average of .301. Two years later, he would hit .345 for the team.
 Earl Monarchs Player Photo/ WWII Newspaper article
Between these 2 prime seasons with the Monarchs, he was signed by the New York Yankees. He was with their Triple-A Newark Bears affiliate (International League) in 1949, hitting .247 with No HRs and 6 RBIs in 33 games. It was his only season in Organized Baseball. He did not play pro baseball in 1950. He would continue to play and was in the Mexican League from 1951 through 1961. In those days, the Mexican Baseball League, through Messrs. Jorge Pasquel and Ernesto Carmona used to travel to the United States to hire some important players of the Negro Leagues and bring them to play in Mexico. In 1950, Carmona would make his last great sign up.
Earl Player Photo
Earl Taborn was starting catcher for the Mexico City "Diablos" team in 1951. Upon his arrival in Mexico, he had mentioned that he had Indian blood in his veins and he was called Earl "the Red Skin" Taborn. Though he played most of his time in Mexico with the Veracruz team "Aguila" where he was one of their favorite players, and even though in 1957 and 1958 he had his best years at bat, being league leader with 27 HRs in 1957, it was his player debut with that Mexico City team that made him, suddenly, an idol in Mexico. He was a true success because Mexico had never seen a player like him. It was a real show the way he played: always enthusiastic, almost throwing himself to the mesh to catch the foul balls, he was very charming, aiming to eccentric. Adding all this to his good defense abilities and batting power, the fans had gotten a new idol. His hitting records in the Mexican League include: HRs champion in 1957; Slugging leader in 1957 and more HRs in inning in 1961.
Beginning in 1951, when he would hit .247 with Mexico City, he would begin a string of 11 straight seasons playing in the Mexican League. His best year was in 1957 with Nuevo Laredo, when he hit .314 with 27 HRs. The next year, Earl had also another good season with the club, as he would hit .274 with 17 HRs. Prior to joining Nuevo Laredo, he had played with Veracruz, compiling marks of .289 with 15 HRs and .279 with 12 HRs during the 1955-1956 seasons. He would finished his pro baseball career in 1961 with Puebla, by hitting .267. During his years in Mexico, the light-complexioned catcher was sometimes mistaken for a Mexican.
Earl "Mickey" Taborn would pass away at age of 74 on December 21,1996 in San Antonio, Texas.
Source: James A. Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., 1994.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Feb 20, 2024 14:37:06 GMT -5
Marshall Bridges Yankees Reliever 1962-1963
Player Information Compiled by Clipper
Negro League News Photo
Marshall Bridges was a 1st baseman/Pitcher with the Memphis Red Sox in the Negro Leagues. He was signed as an amateur free agent by the New York Giants in 1953. He would pitch 2 seasons in the Giants farm system. Before the 1955 Season, he was traded by the New York Giants to the Milwaukee Braves in an unknown transaction After hitting just .233, but going 14-1 on the mound for the Amarillo Gold Sox in 1955, he would concentrate on making the majors as a pitcher. Before 1957 Season, Marshall was sent from the Milwaukee Braves to AAA Sacramento (PCL) in an unknown transaction. After winning 16 games and leading the Pacific Coast League in strikeouts with the Sacramento Solons in 1958. He was acquired by the St. Louis Cardinals. Marshall was used primarily in relief by the Cardinals in 1959 and by the Cincinnati Reds, who had acquired him in 1960.
1960 Topps Baseball Card
On December 14,1961, Bridges was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the New York Yankees for Catcher Jesse Gonder. In 1962, the New York Yankees were looking for bullpen help and "Sheriff", as he was sometimes called, came to the rescue. The hard-throwing southpaw won 8 games and saved 18 games in 52 appearances to help lead the Yankees to the 1962 AL pennant. He was not as effective in the 1962 World Series against the San Francisco Giants, allowing the 1st grand slam HR hit by a National Leaguer in a World Series, rocketing off the bat of Chuck Hiller.
Yankees Player Photo
On February 13,1963, Bridges was at the Pride of Fort Lauderdale Elks Lodge, when he was shot with a small caliber weapon in the leg just below the knee. 21-year-old Carrie Lee Raysor claimed Bridges had repeatedly offered to drive her home and, after repeatedly not taking "no" for an answer, "took out [her] gun and shot him." He recovered to pitch for another season with the Yankees in 1963. He did not appear in the 1963 World Series against the Dodgers. He would finish his Yankees pitching career with a 10-4 record with a 3.35 ERA and 19 saves in 75 games. On November 30,1963, he was purchased by the Washington Senators from the Yankees. He would spend 2 seasons with Washington Senators in 1964 and 1965, concluding his 7-year MLB pitching career with a overall 23-15 record, with an a 3.75 ERA and 25 saves. Bridges spent 3 more seasons in pro ball with the AAA PCL Hawaii Islanders, from 1965 through 1967.
Overall, Marshall spent 15 years in pro ball from 1953 through 1967. As a big leaguer, he was 23-15 with 25 saves and a complete game, crafting a 3.75 ERA in 206 games (5 starts) and 345 1/3 innings. In the minor leagues, he had appeared in 243 games, going 74-57, pitching 1,138 innings with a 3.94 ERA. After pro baseball, Marshall did carpentry and maintenance work at the State Capitol Building in Jackson, MS. Marshall Bridges would die of cancer on September 3, 1990, at the age of 59 at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, MS.
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Post by fwclipper51 on Feb 20, 2024 14:58:24 GMT -5
Willy Miranda Yankees Reserve INF 1953-1954
Yankees 1st Modern Era Cuban Player
Written by Rory Costello, Edited by Clipper
1953 Topps Baseball Card
Willy Miranda epitomized the “good field, no hit” shortstop. He was a lot more than good in the field, though—Tom Lasorda, to name just one, thought the flashy little Cuban was the best he ever saw at short. Wielding the same battered, patched, and secretly doctored glove for nearly his entire pro career, Miranda was so much fun to watch that Paul Richards, his Manager with the Baltimore Orioles, gave him credit for saving the franchise in its early years.
Miranda was in the vanguard of brilliant Latino glove men, who hit the majors in the 1950s. Half a century later, some more recent comparisons come to mind. Mario Mendoza, the “no hit” benchmark, is one—but while Mendoza was a fine defender, he was not among the elite shortstops. With the bat, even though author Tom Boswell called .200 “The Miranda Line” instead, Willy was actually a step up from Mendoza and a shade below his countryman Rey Ordóñez. Ordóñez had his own unique fielding style but may be the most similar shortstop overall. Both Rey and Willy moved like dancers and wowed the fans.
Another small but spectacular Cuban shortstop was Germán Mesa (born 1967). His audience outside of the island was limited, but he can still be seen on YouTube. Ironically, Mesa’s presence on the national team in the 1990s blocked Ordóñez and prompted his defection. Cuban writer Rogério Manzano put it in historical perspective: “In the epic of the Cuban national pastime there are three men who defied the laws of legerdemain. . Willy Miranda, Germán Mesa and Rey Ordóñez are of that special caste of shortstops.”
Miranda should also be remembered for his generous nature and true heroism. Lasorda, a teammate in Cuban winter ball, said, “Nobody helped me on and off the field like him.” Another member of the Almendares team, Andrés Fleitas, called Miranda “a friend that could not be equaled.” Twice in later years, this man risked his life not only for family but also for people he barely knew.
Guillermo Miranda Pérez was born on May 24,1926. His parents always called him Willy, with a ‘y’although the U.S. press and Miranda’s baseball cards used “Willie” more, that spelling is used here only when it comes directly from a quotation.
Until 1976, Cuba was divided into 6 provinces. Miranda’s hometown of Velasco was in the easternmost, Oriente. Since the subdivision, Velasco is now in Holguín province, which today offers an unusual mix of sugarcane fields, forested mountains, dirty nickel mines and beach resorts. In Willy’s youth, however, it was a largely rural place. “Velasco was a very small town,” said his son, Willy Miranda, Jr. “It was really a neighborhood.”
Willy was the 5th of 7 children born to Teodoro “Pilo” Miranda and Isolina Pérez. For that reason, he always wanted to wear the uniform number 7. The only time he couldn’t was with the Yankees because Mickey Mantle had it. The oldest Miranda child, Fausto (1914-2006), became the dean of Cuban sportswriters. In later life, Fausto was sports editor for Miami’s El Nuevo Herald, which he helped launch in 1976. After him came a sister named Aïda, followed by Teodoro Jr. (“Puri”), Irma, and Willy. A younger brother, Raúl (1929-1985), was also a noted sportswriter. Last was another girl named Isolina (“Chicha”).
Teodoro Sr. was a railroad engineer who had studied for a time in the United States. After his return to Cuba, he was put in charge of small train stations in Oriente. The main business was loading operations for the local sugar mills. Isolina was a local girl who stayed at home with the children after marriage. The couple first lived in the city of Puerto Padre, which today is in Las Tunas province.
Pilo Miranda was a big man, standing 6’3” and his grandson Willy Jr. remembered that he was very stern. Though Pilo did not play baseball, he liked the game, so young Willy started playing practically from the time he took his 1st steps. In 1975, he joked, “My father say he spent all his time teaching me to field and then it became too late to make me a hitter.” In a 1950s radio interview, comic actor Joe E. Brown ribbed, “Your father never gave you a bat?” Miranda did learn how to swing from both sides of the plate, but broadcaster Ernie Harwell remarked, “They said Willy hit left, right and seldom.”
Fausto Miranda recalled that when his little brother was 8 years old, throwing a ball against a wall and catching it, Willy would call the play, imagining himself as the shortstop for the New York Yankees. Nearly 20 years later, in 1953, he would realize his childhood dream. Willy had told Fausto that when he started playing ball, he would make it to the majors no matter what anyone said, but being with the Yankees was the happiest time of his life as a pro ballplayer. “Once you play for the Yankees,” said Willy Jr., “you become part of their family.”
It was also when Willy was 8, around 1934, that the Miranda family moved 400 miles west to Havana. (Fausto had gone there the previous year, launching his career in journalism.) In 1940 Willy joined a youth baseball team, Club Juvenil del Parque José Martí. The following year he went to HH Maristas de La Víbora, a Catholic school run by the Marist Brothers order, and played for its team. Cuban author Francisco José Moreno offered a not-so-complimentary view of the way the game was played there, though. “In the self-conscious but whimsical style of the Maristas school "looking good was as important as being good. . .Willy Miranda. . .had a genius for making easy chances look difficult.” Miranda’s 1958 baseball card said exactly the opposite.
From 1942 to 1947, Willy played with Club Teléfonos in Cuba’s National Amateur League. For firsthand knowledge of that time, we are blessed by the phenomenal memory of Cuban legend Conrado Marrero. The pitcher, who turned 98 in 2009, was the ace for Cienfuegos Sport Club in the same league. “[Miranda] was very young when he started his career in baseball,” said Marrero. “Quite rapidly he learned the techniques. He stood out on defense—he fielded well and had a very good arm, getting outs from deep in the hole at short. Several times I saw him make legendary plays.
“In particular he was a man who liked to talk a lot and was very affectionate with everyone.”
Although 2 new integrated amateur leagues sprang up in the 1940s, the one in which Willy played was the domain of white-only social clubs and remained segregated until 1959. This also meant that Cuba’s international amateur teams excluded Afro-Cubans until 1950, when Edmundo “Sandy” Amorós and Justiniano Garay joined the squad. In 1946, Miranda made his 1st appearance for Team Cuba in the 5th Central American Games, held in Barranquilla, Colombia.
Miranda had married Amada Suárez on March 11,1946, in Havana. They would have 4 children together: 3 sons (Guillermo Jr., Eduardo, and Alejandro) and a daughter (Rosalia).
Willy would turned pro in 1948, thanks to Washington Senators Scout Joe Cambria, who signed a legion of Cubans over the years. He went to Sherman-Denison, Texas, north of Dallas and just south of the Oklahoma border. Fortunately, he had plenty of company from home. In addition to Manager José Rodríguez, 7 more of his countrymen also played on the team, though Willy was 1 of just 2 Cuban regulars.
The Twins were champions of the Big State League (Class B) that year. Miranda was a key part of the team and had already established himself as a crowd-pleaser. That June columnist Bill Thompson, who covered the rival Paris Rockets, wrote: “Willie Miranda, Sherman-Denison’s classy little Cuban shortstop, is running 2nd to Buck Frierson in a popularity contest at Twins Park. . .Miranda, 20 years old, is the speedy little ‘flea’ who robbed the Rockets of hits several times during the recent Twins-Rockets stand here.” As an adult, Miranda stood 5’9 1/2” and weighed 150 pounds, often less. One may also note that like so many ballplayers, he shaved a couple of years off his age.
In the winter of 1948-1949, Miranda played his 1st of 12 seasons in Cuba’s professional winter league. He joined the Almendares Alacranes (Scorpions), with whom he would spend nearly all of his Cuban career. Two of Willy’s future teammates with the Senators were there too: catcher-manager Fermín “Mike” Guerra and Conrado Marrero. Marrero said in 2009, “He was a giant of his time on defense, making countless fine plays at shortstop, but his bat did not help him as he himself would have liked.”
Willy backed up the veteran Avelino Cañizares, but he emerged as Rookie of the Year. Clearly the voters recognized him for his fielding, as he batted just 9 for 41 (.220) with 2 RBIs. The Alacranes won the Cuban championship, the 1st of 5 for Willy. The team also featured Santos Amaro and Agapito Mayor, plus Americans such as Monte Irvin, Sam Jethroe, Al Gionfriddo, Clyde King and actor-to-be Kevin “Chuck” Connors. They went on to win the inaugural Caribbean Series, sweeping all 6 games. Miranda was hitless in his only at-bat behind Cañizares.
Back in the U.S. in 1949, Miranda moved up to Chattanooga in the Southern Association (Double A). It was then that Willy bought the glove he called “Old Faithful”—a big, heavy Bob Dillinger model. Bob Maisel in Baseball Digest described Willy’s “best friend” after the 1957 season: “It’s as stiff as a board and even his teammates can’t understand how Willy can catch a ball, let alone pull off the miraculous plays that are a constant source of amazement to followers of the Orioles. Willy is constantly repairing the old piece of leather.” Maisel depicted the countless multi-colored patches, solutions, restringing, and major surgery that kept the glove in action.
In 1975, writer John Steadman revealed the secret of Old Faithful’s stiffness: Miranda had also resorted to illegal means. Inside the fingers were wooden tongue depressors and cut-up sanitary socks. The puppetry helped Willy, who preferred to keep his hand out of the glove as much as possible (only his thumb and little finger actually went all the way inside). Many players knew. . .but not the umpires.
In the winter of 1949-1950, Willy split the shortstop duties for Almendares with both Avelino Cañizares and Eddie Pellagrini from the St. Louis Browns. He would hit .258 in 97 at-bats. The Blues (as they were also known) repeated as Cuban champions and proceeded to the Caribbean Series. The Cuban team was just 3-3 as Panama pulled off an upset victory. Willy was 3 for 7 with a double and 3 RBIs.
Miranda was in the Senators camp in the spring of 1950, interpreting for Conrado Marrero, among other things. When the season broke, though, he remained at Chattanooga. While he hit just .248, Willy hit his 1st pro HR that summer and “amazed the folks with his sensational fielding.” In the winter, he was named to Cuba’s all-star team for the 1st of 3 times. Along with a .294 average, he had a HR and 16 RBIs.
In February 1951, during spring training, veteran pitcher Bobo Newsom told Washington Manager Bucky Harris that Miranda was the finest fielding shortstop he had seen in his 20 years of baseball. (Newsom had spent 1949-1950 at Chattanooga; Andrés Fleitas was his catcher.) Despite this praise, and even though Willy had impressed Harris, doubts remained about his hitting. Yet despite indications that he would open the season in Tennessee again, he stuck with the Senators as their 6th infielder. He flew his father up to Washington to visit at Griffith Stadium.
While Willy rode the bench for the 1st few weeks of the season, he enjoyed the Cuban camaraderie. A 1951 photo in Life magazine shows him along with Mike Guerra, sharply dressed pitcher Julio “Jiquí” Moreno, and Marrero in a favorite Cuban hangout, Alamo’s Hollywood Barber Shop. Also on hand was Cuba’s ambassador to the U.S., Luis Machado.
On May 6th, Miranda made his big-league debut. It was an oddity, as he played 1st base for the only time in the majors, substituting for Mickey Vernon. Vernon had turned his ankle in a pickoff play in the top of the 9th at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium. Sitting behind Sam Dente and Gene Verble, Willy did not appear again until May 22nd. In Washington that night, he got his 1st start and 1st base hit, off of Saul Rogovin of the White Sox. Miranda went 4 for 9 in 7 games before the Nats returned him to Chattanooga on June 22. Pete Runnels, who broke in as a shortstop, got his 1st callup.
That October 24th, the Senators traded Willy (whose age was still given as 23 rather than 25) to the Chicago White Sox for 3rd baseman Floyd Baker plus cash. It was a curious deal because the White Sox already had a very similar player in Venezuelan Chico Carrasquel. One report said that Lou Boudreau, new manager of the Boston Red Sox, was actually willing to trade Ted Williams for Carrasquel—and that Chicago General Manager Frank Lane turned him down. Boudreau thought Lane’s answer might be different once Willy joined the White Sox, but Lane said, “In Carrasquel and Miranda we think we’ve got the 2 finest fielding shortstops in baseball. Miranda hasn’t hit, but he’s mighty good in the field and he can run like hell. [Manager Paul] Richards wanted him for insurance, and we figure he might be able to fill in at 2nd, short, or 3rd.”
The year 1952 was odd for Willy as he ping-ponged between the White Sox and Browns. On June 15th, he went with Al Zarilla to St. Louis for Leo Thomas and Tom Wright—but he would return to Chicago less than 2 weeks later (June 28th) on waivers after Carrasquel had broken a finger. One writer, Harry Grayson, viewed “Trader Frank” Lane and Bill Veeck of the Browns as “circumventing the spirit of the rule” and “making a joke of baseball law.” Dan Daniel of the New York Telegram added, “Lane and Veeck are my friends, and I wish them well. But they should stop being so pally in their player moves.”
Nonetheless, on October 16th, Lane dealt Miranda back to Veeck, along with Hank Edwards, for Pitcher Tommy Byrne and Infielder Joe DeMaestri. Veeck would later comment, “When I was in St. Louis, I’d call Frank up and say, ‘Things are dull around here. Let’s do something. . .This is the kind of deal made just to whip up a little excitement. To try to make it look as if big things are happening. It’s like trading a $200,000 dog for two $100,000 cats.”
During the winter of 1952-1953, Miranda fought off the challenge of José Valdivielso for the shortstop job with Almendares. When he got back to St. Louis, Willy would room with Pitcher Satchel Paige on the road and found that even though he was a white Cuban, he was none too welcome in white establishments. In addition, he saw barely any action for the 1st 3 months of the 1953 season. Sitting behind Billy Hunter, for whom the Browns had paid $150,000, he got just 6 at-bats in 17 games. “Willie is the last word in fielding,” said Manager Marty Marion, who taught the young shortstop much about the position, as Conrado Marrero recalled hearing. “But the big question is his hitting.”
1954 Topps Baseball Card
On June 12th, though, his fortunes would change. The New York Yankees had bought him from the St. Louis Browns (the amount was variously reported at $10,000 or $25,000).Yankees Manager Casey Stengel wanted him as insurance for Phil Rizzuto, who was then nearly 36 and starting to show his age. “Yes, almost too good to be true,” said Willy. “I no like sit on the bench all the time. . .lose ambition, no good.” He later added, “All the time my 2 idols in baseball are Marty Marion and Phil Rizzuto, the 2 greatest shortstops. So, 1st I play for Marion in St. Louis and now I am with Rizzuto.”
Miranda got into 48 games for the 1953 Yankees, becoming their 1st Cuban player since Ángel Aragón and Armando Marsáns, back in the World War I era. One highlight was his 1st big-league HR. It came on June 24 at Yankee Stadium, dropping into the 1st row at the right field foul pole, 296 feet away. Again the benefactor was righty Saul Rogovin of the White Sox. The HR was 1 of only 6 in the majors for Willy, including an inside-the-parker; they came roughly once in every 400 plate appearances.
Willy and Phil Risotto holding Cuban Flag
Willy was on the Yankees’ roster for the 1953 World Series. Opposing Manager Charlie Dressen of Brooklyn jibed, “His weakness is pitched balls.” Miranda’s father and brother Fausto made the trip from Havana. Although the reserve did not see any action in the Series, “even being part of the spectacle was enough,” sportswriter Milton Richman noted in 1977. Willy said, “I told my father, ‘Look Pop, I got the New York Yankees’ uniform on and I’m in the World Series. This is the top. You cannot go any higher, so don’t ask for any more.’ My father died a few years later.” In addition to winning a ring, his teammates voted him a 3/4 share of the victors’ prize money.
Returning to Cuba shortly after the Series ended, Miranda was fortunate to avoid serious injury or possible death. Willy, who was ready to go hunting, put his .22 rifle down to greet a friend. His 7-year-old son, Willyto (whom Conrado Marrero remembered as a mischievous lad), accidentally discharged the weapon. Miranda escaped with just a wound on his upper lip, which did require some plastic surgery. Still, he didn’t miss a game for Almendares.
In fact, the winter of 1953-1954 was Willy’s best offensive season in Cuba, as he batted .304 and won his 2nd all-star honor. Cuban baseball author Jorge Figueredo observed that Miranda was “always recognized as the best fielding shortstop in the league.” Manager Bobby Bragan led the Alacranes to the Cuban title, but they went just 3-3 in the Caribbean Series behind Caguas-Guayama of Puerto Rico. Willy was 4 for 22 (.182) and struck out 9 times.
That winter the Miranda family also had hosted Mickey Mantle, who’d had surgery on his chronically bad right knee in November 1953. Although import quotas meant that Mickey was not eligible to play ball in Cuba that winter even if he had been available, he did enjoy the atmosphere as he rehabbed his leg.
Willy returned to the Yankees in 1954 and continued to spell Phil Rizzuto, whose playing time was declining further. In 1996, the Scooter said, “It was a pleasure to watch him from the bench. Seeing him, he taught me many things on how to cover shortstop and I thought I knew it all.” While with the Yankees, Manager Casey Stengel would use Willy and Mickey Mantle as “his power infielders”, they would play shortstop and 2nd base, switching positions depending who was the batter. It would the last time that Mantle would play in the infield in his until his permanent move to 1st base at the end of his MLB playing career.
One amusing moment that year came in a game between the Yankees and the White Sox, as Stengel tried to use Willy as a Spanish-language bench jockey against Minnie Miñoso. Casey was unaware, though, that the Cubans were old friends. Miñoso put on a show, shaking his fist and shouting while in reality accepting Willy’s dinner invitation. The Old Professor then blamed himself for Minnie’s game-winning triple.
On November 17,1954, Miranda became part of the 17-player trade with the Orioles, the biggest swap between 2 teams in big-league history. The deal brought Bob Turley and Don Larsen to New York as well as Billy Hunter, the man who had started ahead of Willy with the Browns. Hunter was also a flashy fielder, yet Orioles Manager Paul Richards (who had come over from the White Sox that September) thought more of Miranda. “Getting down to Willie Miranda,” said Richards as he defended his move, “he’ll show Baltimore fans that he is even a better shortstop than Hunter, and more reliable. And Willie should hit as well.”
Almendares repeated as Cuban champions in 1954-1955, again under Bobby Bragan, but the Caribbean Series was another disappointment. The Alacranes finished 3rd at 2-4, while the Santurce Cangrejeros of Puerto Rico (who fielded perhaps the finest winter ball club ever that year) were the victors.
With the Orioles in 1955, Miranda stepped right into the everyday lineup, showing what he could do early on. In his 1st game back at Yankee Stadium on April 20th, even though he was 0 for 4, he was sensational in the field as the Orioles won 6-3. “He made 3 spectacular stops, participated in a pair of ‘picture’ double plays and drew more applause than any other player on the field.”
What made his feats even more remarkable was that Willy was sick with a stomach bug and fever, and he was worried even sicker because his wife Amada was in serious condition awaiting the birth of their 4th child. Casey Stengel remarked, “They said we gave ’em a bunch of lemons in that trade last winter, but you saw what that little guy at shortstop did to us out there, didn’t you? I kept tellin’ everybody that Miranda’s got a lot of class.”
Miranda wound up having his best year at the plate in the majors. He posted career highs in average (.255) and RBIs (38), outhitting Billy Hunter. He also committed 34 errors, but that was a consequence of his range and his willingness to try for any ball he thought he could reach. In 1988, a man named Michael Hilton, who was a great fan of Willy’s as a boy, wrote an essay in Harvard magazine called “Going for It—and Failing.” Hilton proposed that what he called The Willie Miranda Syndrome was “a very valuable thing.” Investors recognize it as the classic concept that one must accept risk to obtain reward.
Indeed, after the 1955 AL season, the Orioles would rewarded Willy. Assistant General Manager Jack Dunn III said Miranda got a ‘substantial increase affording him the best contract he has had in professional baseball.’” The club also helped by paying Willy in Cuba, where the tax rates were more beneficial.
On the Baltimore team doctor’s advice, Willy quit the winter season in January 1956 to rest and regain weight. He remained an everyday player that summer, though his average tailed off to .217, including an 0-for-41 drought in August. Yet the crowd at Memorial Stadium remained behind him on August 21st. “There wasn’t one boo. Instead, he got a big cheer of encouragement.” Miranda then broke out of his slump with a triple, wrenching his shoulder with a headfirst slide and missing the next 4 games (though he gamely stayed in for the next half-inning in the field). A sad moment near the end of that season came when Miranda warned teammate Tom Gastall about the small plane he had recently bought. “Don’t go up in that thing,” were Willy’s words, and as fate would have it, the catcher died in a crash. In fact, Gastall had asked the shortstop to go with him. “If I had gone along, maybe I would have died,” Miranda said.
That winter the Orioles played hardball with Willy, sending him a contract that called for a cut in pay from $12,000 to $10,000. He refused to sign it and held out for 3 weeks ahead of the 1957 season. The Orioles then fined him a further $1,000. “Nobody likes to lose a thousand dollars,” Miranda told newsmen. “But maybe I can play real well this season and make Richards give me my money back.” In fact, the Orioles did rescind the fine, then and in other years when he reported late.
Willy also described how the Cuban civil strife was causing visa problems for everyone down to his dog and parakeet. Indeed,10 days before the shortstop finally signed on March 23rd, an assassination attempt on dictator Fulgencio Batista set off a bloody wave of repression.
When Miranda signed that year, he said, “The rest of them will have to play with 2 gloves on to get my job.” However, the tradeoff between his defense and offense became even more difficult over the next couple of seasons. His at-bats declined from over 500 in 1955 and 1956 to 349 in 1957 (with a .194 average and .204 slugging percentage) and then 230 in ’58 (.201/.243). On July 30,1958, Paul Richards said, upon pulling Willy for a pinch hitter, “You already have 3 hits and it defies logic to think you’re going to get 4.”
Bob Maisel wrote, “Richards. . .occasionally gets fed up with the idea of having an All-American out for a regular. He frequently replaces Willy at short in an attempt to get more punch in the Oriole attack, but invariably the experiment fails and the Little Cuban winds up back at his old stand.” Jim Brideweser wasn’t the answer and neither was Foster Castleman, while rookie Ron Hansen broke his hand early in the 1958 season. Willy Jr. said, “The Orioles always brought somebody up to try to take over the position. My father welcomed them, he understood. They really wanted Jim Brideweser, who was a nice guy, to take over. They really had high hopes.”
Richards also gave his “circus performer” a pet name. The skipper said in 1957, “We win on defense and we’re just kidding ourselves when we don’t have ‘Ringling Brothers’ in there.” The year before, he called Miranda “Barnum and Bailey” instead. Willy had quick hands (Richards called them “the hands of a pickpocket”) and a strong arm (teammate Gus Triandos called it “almost abnormal for such a small guy”). He also augmented his range with study and smart positioning. “He was as intelligent as he was good with the glove,” said fellow Cuban and friendly rival Pedro Ramos. “He knew all his opponents perfectly. . .it helped him get to balls no other shortstop would ever have caught.”
Willy brought further subtlety to his play. He would actually miss balls on purpose while taking infield practice—the better to recover from bad hops in real games. Also, “once asked why so many of his throws to 1st baseman Bob Boyd were in the dirt, Miranda said, ‘That’s only in the late innings when the sun sets over the corner of the left-field fence. If I throw the ball up, Boyd has trouble seeing it. But if I 1-hop the ball, then he doesn’t have to contend with the sun.’”
In 1958-1959, Miranda’s last full winter with Almendares, he was a league all-star for the last time (.247-1-15). He also won his final Cuban championship and appeared in 1 more Caribbean Series that February. In Caracas Willy batted .316 (6 for 19, including a triple) as the Alacranes won the tournament, taking 5 out of 6 games.
On January 5,1959, news service photos showed Willy chatting with 2 of Fidel Castro’s soldiers at the Havana airport while he awaited transportation to the United States. Just 4 days before, the revolutionary forces had ousted Batista. Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick advised American clubs that they could recall major- and minor-league ballplayers, but as it turned out, the Cuban League shut down for only 5 days and the players stayed put.
The 1959 season was Miranda’s last in the majors. The previous October, Baltimore had obtained old teammate Chico Carrasquel from Kansas City. Willy also reported 35 days late to camp; Paul Richards levied 2 more stiff fines ($1,000 total out of a $9,000 salary) and later suspended him until he “got in playing shape.” Miranda had been perennially late in the past, citing the time-honored excuse of “visa problems.” This time he noted simply “personal problems,” but in reality, he never cared for spring training. Since he always played winter ball, he considered that he was already in condition. Willy Jr. added, “My father didn’t have problems with Castro because he was non-political.”
As a result, Willy got just 96 at-bats in 65 games, hitting a feeble .159. He appeared just twice in the entire last month of the season, in a doubleheader versus Washington on September 7th. Following the season, Baltimore sent him outright to Miami in the International League. Yet, as Richards said in 1975, “In the years we were trying to build a team in Baltimore, the fans didn’t have much to entertain them. From 1955 to 1959, Miranda kept the interest alive. I always felt, in some ways, he helped save the franchise in those formative years.”
Miranda’s Cuban career ended on a somewhat odd note that winter, as he went to the Havana Reds in the middle of the season. In a way it was a compliment, as old friend Fermín Guerra was managing the Reds and traded for him, but Willy’s heart was always with Almendares, Havana’s eternal rival. Willy Jr. said, “It was all about money and publicity.”
Miranda would finished his 12 seasons in Cuban ball with a batting average of .236 on 523 hits in 2,214 at-bats. He had 3 HRs and 145 RBIs, but showed a little more extra-base pop with 57 doubles and 26 triples. Even though he ran well, Willy was never much of a base stealer. He stole 15 during his Cuban career and 13 in the majors. Oddly enough, though, he stole home twice in 1 game for Almendares in 1958.
Miranda, who in many respects was a private man operating on his own, made a secret decision in 1960: to leave Cuba. “He planned leaving without even telling my mother,” said Willy Jr. “We got out so easily because we took out the same things we always did. We would load up the trailer, take the ferry to Key West, and then my father’s old friend Mario ‘El Mulato’ would drive us and Ali our dog up to Baltimore. My father would come up later.” This time was different, though, because the Castro regime was watching closely. “He got on a Pan Am flight by himself under another name, thanks to friends.”
In March 1960, Willy would join the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Baltimore sent him and future Detroit Tigers General Manager Bill Lajoie to L.A., completing the deal in which they had received Jim Gentile the previous October. Miranda would spend the 1960 season with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul. He then played his final year as a pro with the AAA Syracuse Chiefs (International League) in 1961. Triple-A ball returned to Syracuse for the 1st time since 1955 that year, and the revived franchise had signed Willy in February. The parent club was the Minnesota Twins, newly moved from Washington. Their starting shortstop was Zoilo Versalles, who had idolized Willy as a boy growing up in Cuba.
Although he received several offers to coach, including one from the New York Mets in their 1st season, Miranda would retire to Baltimore, where he made his home after leaving Cuba. Willy Jr. recalled, “One of the things that hurt him was that the Orioles never gave him an opportunity” to stay in their organization.
As of 1964, Miranda was the chairman of “Bird’s Nest 954,” an Orioles fan club—in the Maryland State Penitentiary. The group sponsored a Little League team in nearby Pimlico, buying the children uniforms and equipment from their own small earnings. They also promoted baseball and softball within the prison, with Willy’s help from the outside. He gave the inmates pointers. “It was a way of staying in touch with the game,” said Willy Jr.
Willy and Amada were divorced in 1966. In 1967, he would marry Agnes Maria Caruso. They would have 1 child together, a son named Marco Antonio.
Miranda returned to pro ball in 1968, managing the Monterrey Sultanes in the Mexican League. He got the job through one of his old connections, Beto Ávila, the former Indians star known as “Bobby” in the United States. Willy only lasted until May 22nd, though; “the club’s front office merely said, ‘The Sultans aren’t winning with Miranda as manager.’” Despite the potent batting of local great Héctor Espino, they finished in last place because of weak pitching. “It was a mess, he never should have gone,” Willy Jr. said. “The Mexican fans were horrible.”
In 1969, Miranda took a look—and passed—on an opportunity in the short-lived and shady Global League. Willy Jr. recalled, “They were really hard up for players.” The next year, Willy Jr. went to the NCAA College World Series with the University of Delaware. He has since remained in The First State, which has honored him for his many years of service as a high-school teacher and coach.
Willy Sr. had one more brief go-around in the pros in 1979, as he managed the Panama Banqueros in the short-lived Inter-American League. Panamanian Chico Salmón started the season as manager, but he was fired in mid-May with the league’s worst record, 3-13. The club folded on June 17th, at the season’s halfway point with a 15-36 record. The rest of the league followed 13 days later. “I think he went as a favor to Bobby Maduro [the Cuban entrepreneur who launched the IAL],” said Willy Jr. “They called him in. He wasn’t there to start the season.” That year Miranda also enjoyed a personal honor, as the Federation of Cuban Ballplayers in Exile named him to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame. He entered along with his fellow shortstop Leo Cárdenas.
Outside of baseball, Miranda pursued various occupations following his playing days. As of 1975, he was a sales and service representative for the Dixie Saw Company. He also owned an apartment building and 2 houses in Baltimore. His wife ran a beauty parlor that bore his name. One remarkable event took place in June 1976, when Willy was working for an industrial tool firm. A fire broke out in a machine shop across the street and Miranda dashed into the blaze to rescue the proprietor, suffering smoke inhalation. Baltimore made him an honorary fireman and gave him the Distinguished Civilian Award for his heroism. Said Mayor William Donald Schaefer, “A man is judged by how he reacts under stress. Willy made the big play and saved another man’s life.” “With characteristic modesty, Mr. Miranda said, ‘What I did was as simple as catching a ground ball and throwing it to 1st base.’”
In addition, Miranda worked as a car salesman and, for the last 10 years of his working life, as a security officer at the Baltimore Convention Center. He retired for good in 1994. Willy never forgot his roots. “So many things I miss about [Cuba],” he told Milton Richman in 1977. “I miss the sky at night. When you look up, you see all is blue and so full of stars. I miss the palm trees, the beautiful weather and the nightlife. But I am an American citizen now and I have to kiss this country because it is my house. I have to protect and thank the United States, always, and the best way for me to do that is by being as good a citizen as I can possibly be.”
Cult author Barry Gifford (Wild at Heart), then a young Cubs fan, also captured this feeling in his bittersweet account of a chance meeting with the Cuban. It was November 1976, and the scene was a Chicago bar. Willy was down on his luck at the time, having lost a job as a restaurant greeter (Gifford wrote that it was a Playboy Club). Even so, he remained chatty and cheerful. . .mostly. As they shared a drink and talked baseball, Miranda said, “Castro ruin Cuba. Ain nothin’ there for people now. . .Sure, Cubans the best ballplayers! But they ain nothin’ there. No money, no decen’ life.”
Willy sent as much money as he could spare back to Cuba. “He never made much, and what he had, he gave away,” said Willy Jr. “He supported a lot of family, his and his wife’s.” His mother would use her special pet nickname for him (“Gori”) in correspondence because Castro’s secret police were reading people’s mail.
Miranda felt so strongly, in fact, that in 1980, he made a journey to help with the Mariel boat lift. He had quit his construction job and borrowed $8,000 from friends to charter a fishing boat; Fausto Miranda also put-up money. Their brother Raúl was sick; their sister Chicha needed an operation, but couldn’t get it. Their sister Aïda and her daughter Mayda became part of the plan, too—as did many other fellow Cubans to whom Willy simply could not say no.
“Disguising his identity with a beard and dark glasses because Cuban officials were unhappy with his defection, he jammed 22 people in a boat that was only capable of handling 19. At night, the boat started to sink in the middle of the Florida Straits and it was only the arrival of a U.S. Coast Guard cutter that saved their lives.” The Sporting News called it “Miranda’s Miraculous Mission.” Willy Jr. said modestly, “You took who they gave you. Other boats did the same thing.”
Willy Miranda would passed away on September 7, 1996 from lung cancer, though the immediate cause was heart failure. Some obituaries—including the front-page story in El Nuevo Herald—also cited pulmonary emphysema. Ever since the fire rescue 20 years before, his lungs had affected his health.
Some 200 people had attended Miranda’s funeral Mass at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Hamilton, Maryland, where he was a communicant. His Catholic faith remained important to Willy throughout his life. There were 7 speakers at the Mass, including the 5 Miranda children. He is buried in Baltimore’s Gardens of Faith Cemetery.
“I be all ri’, everybody remember Willie Miranda,” said the shortstop to Barry Gifford in 1976. The next year, as White Sox Owner Bill Veeck celebrated the club’s unsung heroes, another Chicago writer, Bob Logan in the Chicago Tribune, also refreshed fans’ memories. Logan’s article led off by emphasizing, “The way Willie Miranda played it, baseball was fun.”
With the passage of time and the absence of video, however, it has grown more difficult to conjure up images of Miranda’s magic at short. Yet we can take it on faith from his peers. One of those men is another survivor of pre-Castro Cuban ball: Tony Taylor, Willy’s double-play partner with Almendares in the late 1950s. “To me, Willy Miranda was the best shortstop I ever saw. The way he moved to field a ball, there were no bad hops with Willy Miranda. This guy was unbelievable.”
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