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Post by desousa on Jul 23, 2023 6:31:39 GMT -5
I thought of a good lineup when Judge comes back:
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Post by BillyBones on Jul 23, 2023 16:52:53 GMT -5
Pipps; Thanks for your latest response. Yes, the AL in those years was quite sharply divided between usually 4 pretty darned good teams, and 4 who had no chance. The latter were the White Sox, A's, Browns and Senators. The other 4 were competitive, at least. The Tigers won in 45, the Red Sox won the pennant in 46, then besides the Yankees, the Indians in won in 48 and the pennant in 54. I am pretty sure that any other duo than the Stengel/Weiss pair would never have won the 5 in a row. The rest of the top of the league was that strong.
Yes I saw those players. DiMaggio was incomprable. He hit the ball so hard, so often, that I sometimes felt he was snakebitten with deep shots that died 430 feet away, or shots right at the 3B or SS. Rarely, it seemed , did he swing and miss. Then on defense, he was unmatched, certainly at that time if not still unmatched. Any praise ever written of him as a ballplayer was not without merit.
I loved Charlie Keller. I'm glad you think he should be in the HOF. Some good players were just finishing their careers then, Charlie and Tommy Clutch. Rizzuto was a phemon at SS. Clearly better than anyone in the AL defensively. A smart, smart, player too. The best bunter I have ever seen. I thought Johnny Lindell was going to be another Jimmie Foxx when he first came up. He looked the part, but pitchers seemed to work him over with off-speed and breaking balls. Yogi always looked like a good hitter, but was raw personified behind the plate. Dickey helped him a lot, and Yogi was an excellent athlete, even if he didn't look it. Bobby Brown could have been good if baseball was his first love. Jerry Coleman was steady at 2B, but quite a fall-off from Joe Gordon with the bat. Joe Collins at 1B was a drop from Henrich. Casey was adroit at filling holes in RF. Cliff Mapes gave what he could until Hank Bauer came along. McDougald arrived and could play anywhere and hit too. Then the Comet arrived to dazzle everyone, but that was mitigated by DiMaggio's retirement the same year. Mantles career is well-known. I will just say that in 1956, he was at a peak that few have ever known.
Pitching was not a strong suit it seemed to me coming out of WWII. I was surprised the Yanks were able to win in 47. Reynolds was there the next year, and seemed to extend the rotation more than his one in four starts. Raschi was very good. Casey would cobble together a rotation. When Ford arrived, they had what I thought was a good rotation. Kucks, Gorman came along. I am undoubtedly forgetting some. Kuzava saved the 52 Series. The hard throwing lefty reliever was great in the late 40's. Spec Shea deserves a mention. Can't forget Eddie Lopat. Casey used him like an orchestra leader, always seeming to know how to get 5 or 6 innings out of Eddie, and get him out of there with a lead. Tommy Byrnes had a world to talent, but not good control. But, Yeah, they won 5 WS in a row. it was a phenomenal run.
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Post by pippsheadache on Jul 23, 2023 18:51:58 GMT -5
Pipps; Thanks for your latest response. Yes, the AL in those years was quite sharply divided between usually 4 pretty darned good teams, and 4 who had no chance. The latter were the White Sox, A's, Browns and Senators. The other 4 were competitive, at least. The Tigers won in 45, the Red Sox won the pennant in 46, then besides the Yankees, the Indians in won in 48 and the pennant in 54. I am pretty sure that any other duo than the Stengel/Weiss pair would never have won the 5 in a row. The rest of the top of the league was that strong. Yes I saw those players. DiMaggio was incomprable. He hit the ball so hard, so often, that I sometimes felt he was snakebitten with deep shots that died 430 feet away, or shots right at the 3B or SS. Rarely, it seemed , did he swing and miss. Then on defense, he was unmatched, certainly at that time if not still unmatched. Any praise ever written of him as a ballplayer was not without merit. I loved Charlie Keller. I'm glad you think he should be in the HOF. Some good players were just finishing their careers then, Charlie and Tommy Clutch. Rizzuto was a phemon at SS. Clearly better than anyone in the AL defensively. A smart, smart, player too. The best bunter I have ever seen. I thought Johnny Lindell was going to be another Jimmie Foxx when he first came up. He looked the part, but pitchers seemed to work him over with off-speed and breaking balls. Yogi always looked like a good hitter, but was raw personified behind the plate. Dickey helped him a lot, and Yogi was an excellent athlete, even if he didn't look it. Bobby Brown could have been good if baseball was his first love. Jerry Coleman was steady at 2B, but quite a fall-off from Joe Gordon with the bat. Joe Collins at 1B was a drop from Henrich. Casey was adroit at filling holes in RF. Cliff Mapes gave what he could until Hank Bauer came along. McDougald arrived and could play anywhere and hit too. Then the Comet arrived to dazzle everyone, but that was mitigated by DiMaggio's retirement the same year. Mantles career is well-known. I will just say that in 1956, he was at a peak that few have ever known. Pitching was not a strong suit it seemed to me coming out of WWII. I was surprised the Yanks were able to win in 47. Reynolds was there the next year, and seemed to extend the rotation more than his one in four starts. Raschi was very good. Casey would cobble together a rotation. When Ford arrived, they had what I thought was a good rotation. Kucks, Gorman came along. I am undoubtedly forgetting some. Kuzava saved the 52 Series. The hard throwing lefty reliever was great in the late 40's. Spec Shea deserves a mention. Can't forget Eddie Lopat. Casey used him like an orchestra leader, always seeming to know how to get 5 or 6 innings out of Eddie, and get him out of there with a lead. Tommy Byrnes had a world to talent, but not good control. But, Yeah, they won 5 WS in a row. it was a phenomenal run. Those recollections are solid gold BillyBones. I think you got most of them. Irv Noren was in there too, and your mention of Tom Gorman reminded me of the similarly named Tom Morgan, who had a long career. Toward the end of that five year run Andy Carey came up. He was much ballyhooed and played a decent third base, but Casey just didn't like him. Spud Chandler was still around on Casey's first Yankee team. He was another outstanding pitcher. You probably recall Tiny Bonham, but he left before Stengel arrived. Two players who found later fame elsewhere, Jackie Jensen and Lew Burdette, played briefly for Stengel in the early 50s. You're living history here BB. Keep it coming! |
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Post by inger on Jul 23, 2023 19:02:32 GMT -5
Pipps; Thanks for your latest response. Yes, the AL in those years was quite sharply divided between usually 4 pretty darned good teams, and 4 who had no chance. The latter were the White Sox, A's, Browns and Senators. The other 4 were competitive, at least. The Tigers won in 45, the Red Sox won the pennant in 46, then besides the Yankees, the Indians in won in 48 and the pennant in 54. I am pretty sure that any other duo than the Stengel/Weiss pair would never have won the 5 in a row. The rest of the top of the league was that strong. Yes I saw those players. DiMaggio was incomprable. He hit the ball so hard, so often, that I sometimes felt he was snakebitten with deep shots that died 430 feet away, or shots right at the 3B or SS. Rarely, it seemed , did he swing and miss. Then on defense, he was unmatched, certainly at that time if not still unmatched. Any praise ever written of him as a ballplayer was not without merit. I loved Charlie Keller. I'm glad you think he should be in the HOF. Some good players were just finishing their careers then, Charlie and Tommy Clutch. Rizzuto was a phemon at SS. Clearly better than anyone in the AL defensively. A smart, smart, player too. The best bunter I have ever seen. I thought Johnny Lindell was going to be another Jimmie Foxx when he first came up. He looked the part, but pitchers seemed to work him over with off-speed and breaking balls. Yogi always looked like a good hitter, but was raw personified behind the plate. Dickey helped him a lot, and Yogi was an excellent athlete, even if he didn't look it. Bobby Brown could have been good if baseball was his first love. Jerry Coleman was steady at 2B, but quite a fall-off from Joe Gordon with the bat. Joe Collins at 1B was a drop from Henrich. Casey was adroit at filling holes in RF. Cliff Mapes gave what he could until Hank Bauer came along. McDougald arrived and could play anywhere and hit too. Then the Comet arrived to dazzle everyone, but that was mitigated by DiMaggio's retirement the same year. Mantles career is well-known. I will just say that in 1956, he was at a peak that few have ever known. Pitching was not a strong suit it seemed to me coming out of WWII. I was surprised the Yanks were able to win in 47. Reynolds was there the next year, and seemed to extend the rotation more than his one in four starts. Raschi was very good. Casey would cobble together a rotation. When Ford arrived, they had what I thought was a good rotation. Kucks, Gorman came along. I am undoubtedly forgetting some. Kuzava saved the 52 Series. The hard throwing lefty reliever was great in the late 40's. Spec Shea deserves a mention. Can't forget Eddie Lopat. Casey used him like an orchestra leader, always seeming to know how to get 5 or 6 innings out of Eddie, and get him out of there with a lead. Tommy Byrnes had a world to talent, but not good control. But, Yeah, they won 5 WS in a row. it was a phenomenal run. Billy, I’m always curious about the man Yogi beat out for the catching job in ‘48 or ‘49, Gus Niarhos. He drew an amazing number of walks, winding up a 9 year career with only one HR, a .252 BA and a .390 OBP. Do you recall anything about him? … |
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Post by BillyBones on Jul 23, 2023 21:40:29 GMT -5
Pipps; Thanks for your latest response. Yes, the AL in those years was quite sharply divided between usually 4 pretty darned good teams, and 4 who had no chance. The latter were the White Sox, A's, Browns and Senators. The other 4 were competitive, at least. The Tigers won in 45, the Red Sox won the pennant in 46, then besides the Yankees, the Indians in won in 48 and the pennant in 54. I am pretty sure that any other duo than the Stengel/Weiss pair would never have won the 5 in a row. The rest of the top of the league was that strong. Yes I saw those players. DiMaggio was incomprable. He hit the ball so hard, so often, that I sometimes felt he was snakebitten with deep shots that died 430 feet away, or shots right at the 3B or SS. Rarely, it seemed , did he swing and miss. Then on defense, he was unmatched, certainly at that time if not still unmatched. Any praise ever written of him as a ballplayer was not without merit. I loved Charlie Keller. I'm glad you think he should be in the HOF. Some good players were just finishing their careers then, Charlie and Tommy Clutch. Rizzuto was a phemon at SS. Clearly better than anyone in the AL defensively. A smart, smart, player too. The best bunter I have ever seen. I thought Johnny Lindell was going to be another Jimmie Foxx when he first came up. He looked the part, but pitchers seemed to work him over with off-speed and breaking balls. Yogi always looked like a good hitter, but was raw personified behind the plate. Dickey helped him a lot, and Yogi was an excellent athlete, even if he didn't look it. Bobby Brown could have been good if baseball was his first love. Jerry Coleman was steady at 2B, but quite a fall-off from Joe Gordon with the bat. Joe Collins at 1B was a drop from Henrich. Casey was adroit at filling holes in RF. Cliff Mapes gave what he could until Hank Bauer came along. McDougald arrived and could play anywhere and hit too. Then the Comet arrived to dazzle everyone, but that was mitigated by DiMaggio's retirement the same year. Mantles career is well-known. I will just say that in 1956, he was at a peak that few have ever known. Pitching was not a strong suit it seemed to me coming out of WWII. I was surprised the Yanks were able to win in 47. Reynolds was there the next year, and seemed to extend the rotation more than his one in four starts. Raschi was very good. Casey would cobble together a rotation. When Ford arrived, they had what I thought was a good rotation. Kucks, Gorman came along. I am undoubtedly forgetting some. Kuzava saved the 52 Series. The hard throwing lefty reliever was great in the late 40's. Spec Shea deserves a mention. Can't forget Eddie Lopat. Casey used him like an orchestra leader, always seeming to know how to get 5 or 6 innings out of Eddie, and get him out of there with a lead. Tommy Byrnes had a world to talent, but not good control. But, Yeah, they won 5 WS in a row. it was a phenomenal run. Those recollections are solid gold BillyBones. I think you got most of them. Irv Noren was in there too, and your mention of Tom Gorman reminded me of the similarly named Tom Morgan, who had a long career. Toward the end of that five year run Andy Carey came up. He was much ballyhooed and played a decent third base, but Casey just didn't like him. Spud Chandler was still around on Casey's first Yankee team. He was another outstanding pitcher. You probably recall Tiny Bonham, but he left before Stengel arrived. Two players who found later fame elsewhere, Jackie Jensen and Lew Burdette, played briefly for Stengel in the early 50s. You're living history here BB. Keep it coming! Thanks for those additions. I knew as I was writing that I was forgetting some. Yeah, Jackie Jensen. I hated the trade. Has any writer shed any light on what caused the Yankees to trade him? I had gone into the service about then, and that story is kind of a void for me. It seems a shame that they didn't keep him. What a tandem he could have been with Mantle. I remember Irv Noren with the Senators, and then with the Yankees. Irv seemed to me to come up small when needed, but maybe that was just me. Bob Cerv came up too, and one of the funny Stengel stories I heard was Casey and Cerv alone in the dugout before a game, and Casey said "One of us has been traded to Kansas City". If I might answer inger on Gus Niarhaus (sp). I don't remember him to speak of, except some with Baltimore. I do remember Charlie Silvestri well, and hated those games because it meant not seeing Yogi. Charlie cashed a lot of World Series checks just like the rest of the players. Yogi was easy to like, being rather small, but a tough out, and good defense. I think I may have seen catcher Jim Hegan before he got traded to Cleveland where he was a starter for many years. I do remember Gerry Priddy before he got traded away. The Yankees seemed to supply talent to the rest of the league, but Weiss generally kept the best. |
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Post by pippsheadache on Jul 24, 2023 5:30:14 GMT -5
Those recollections are solid gold BillyBones. I think you got most of them. Irv Noren was in there too, and your mention of Tom Gorman reminded me of the similarly named Tom Morgan, who had a long career. Toward the end of that five year run Andy Carey came up. He was much ballyhooed and played a decent third base, but Casey just didn't like him. Spud Chandler was still around on Casey's first Yankee team. He was another outstanding pitcher. You probably recall Tiny Bonham, but he left before Stengel arrived. Two players who found later fame elsewhere, Jackie Jensen and Lew Burdette, played briefly for Stengel in the early 50s. You're living history here BB. Keep it coming! Thanks for those additions. I knew as I was writing that I was forgetting some. Yeah, Jackie Jensen. I hated the trade. Has any writer shed any light on what caused the Yankees to trade him? I had gone into the service about then, and that story is kind of a void for me. It seems a shame that they didn't keep him. What a tandem he could have been with Mantle. I remember Irv Noren with the Senators, and then with the Yankees. Irv seemed to me to come up small when needed, but maybe that was just me. Bob Cerv came up too, and one of the funny Stengel stories I heard was Casey and Cerv alone in the dugout before a game, and Casey said "One of us has been traded to Kansas City". If I might answer inger on Gus Niarhaus (sp). I don't remember him to speak of, except some with Baltimore. I do remember Charlie Silvestri well, and hated those games because it meant not seeing Yogi. Charlie cashed a lot of World Series checks just like the rest of the players. Yogi was easy to like, being rather small, but a tough out, and good defense. I think I may have seen catcher Jim Hegan before he got traded to Cleveland where he was a starter for many years. I do remember Gerry Priddy before he got traded away. The Yankees seemed to supply talent to the rest of the league, but Weiss generally kept the best. Jensen was traded to Washington for the aforementioned Irv Noren. The Senators in turn traded him to Boston for Mickey McDermott. Stengel said that the trade of Jensen was the worst deal the Yankees made during his time there. With Ted Williams and Jimmy Piersall, he was part of the best AL outfield of the 1950s. All I can come up with is that Jensen's constant discomfort with the travel involved with baseball, along with his well-publicized fear of flying, might have made the Yankees believe he didn't have the right temperament for the game. Just guessing. He did get out early. Scooter used to mention Gerry Priddy now and then. They were a minor league double play combo and Priddy was supposed to be the one with the great potential. Better than Gordon. Didn't quite work out that way. That is a hilarious line from Casey to Bob Cerv. I remember him saying about Don Larsen "He should be good, but he ain't." I could just imagine Aaron Boone saying something like that about Sonny Gray. Slight correction BillyBones -- it was Charlie Silvera, not Silvestri. You're probably thinking of Ken Silvestri. Yeah, Silvera got his annual World Series check for being an unobtrusive third catcher for all those years. "One of us just got traded to Kansas City." That’s going to make me laugh for the rest of the day. |
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Post by BillyBones on Jul 24, 2023 10:20:59 GMT -5
Thanks for the corrections, Pipps. Silvera, of course. I can only plead old age for my mistakes. Priddy went on to have a nice career, as I'm sure you know. There is such a wealth of baseball knowledge here. Thank you all for the conversation. Those surely were the days when it was fun to be a Yankee fan. Regards to all.
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Post by inger on Jul 24, 2023 10:23:50 GMT -5
Thanks for the corrections, Pipps. Silvera, of course. I can only plead old age for my mistakes. Priddy went on to have a nice career, as I'm sure you know. There is such a wealth of baseball knowledge here. Thank you all for the conversation. Those surely were the days when it was fun to be a Yankee fan. Regards to all. Always great to read you BillyBones. You may have forgotten more about this sport than I’ll ever know. You are much appreciated on this forum… |
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Post by pippsheadache on Jul 24, 2023 15:31:00 GMT -5
Thanks for the corrections, Pipps. Silvera, of course. I can only plead old age for my mistakes. Priddy went on to have a nice career, as I'm sure you know. There is such a wealth of baseball knowledge here. Thank you all for the conversation. Those surely were the days when it was fun to be a Yankee fan. Regards to all. I would hardly call that a mistake, BillyBones. More like a typo. And Ken Silvestri did play sporadically for the Yankees just before Charlie Silvera came up. I remember Silvestri as a coach for the Phillies in the late 50s. Anyway, I wanted to bloviate a bit on Jerry Priddy, who had a rather tragic life albeit of his own making. You are right, he did have a nice career, largely forgotten, and not much of it with the Yankees, where he was for awhile considered the best prospect in their system. Priddy and Rizzuto were a joined-at-the-hip double play combo, playing together for three years in the minors before being brought up to the majors. Inseparable on and off the field. In 1939, playing for the Kansas City Blues, they were the keystone and most valuable players of a team that went 107-47. Kansas City of the American Association was what we would today call AAA (then the high minors were AA, and teams had more than one of them -- the Yanks had another in the International League with the Newark Bears.) Normally, a season like that would have gotten them promoted to the big leagues. But unfortunately for Jerry and Phil, the 1939 Yankees were one of the greatest teams of all time, going 106-45 and winning their fourth straight championship. Their DP combo of Joe Gordon and Frankie Crosetti were not only good, they were 24 and 28 years old respectively. Not much room to maneuver. So Priddy and Rizzuto went back to Kansas City in 1940, not only fielding spectacularly but with Priddy batting .306 and Rizzuto batting .347. During their three years together in the minors, Jerry batted .321 and Phil batted .334. Fortunately for their careers, the 1940 Yankees fell to third place, and Crosetti had a terrible year. This led the Yankees to trade first baseman Babe Dahlgren, move Gordon to first, and start the two rookies at second and short. Gordon and Crosetti were popular with their teammates, so Jerry and Phil were not exactly met with open arms. Scooter took the hazing stoically -- eventually Joe DiMaggio adopted him and that gave him some protection -- but Priddy was very cocky, confronting Gordon in spring training and telling him how much better of a player he was. They both got off to rocky starts, and a month into the season Gordon was back at second and Crosetti at short. Crosetti soon got injured, giving Phil his job back, where he hit .307 and played outstanding defense. Priddy, however, wound up riding the bench as Gordon had his typically good season. Priddy complained constantly to Joe McCarthy and demanded to be traded, which he was, to Washington, early in 1942. He proceeded to butt heads with Senators manager Ossie Bluege, telling him at one point "you don't like me, and I don't like you." Later he went to the St. Louis Browns and finally the Detroit Tigers, where a serious leg injury ended his career at age 33. Bill James pointed out that Priddy's career was very similar to that of Bill Mazeroski, both at bat and in the field. Priddy was a wizard at turning double plays -- in fact he made more putouts per game than ANY second baseman of the 20th century, minimum 1,000 games. He turned more double plays per game than any second baseman in history other than Maz and Bobby Doerr, both of whom are in Cooperstown. Phil Rizzuto, modest and humble as always, repeatedly said that Priddy was a better player than he was. Priddy was from Los Angeles and had bit parts in several baseball movies and got to know a lot of celebrities. After his baseball career, he tried unsuccessfully to become a golf pro, then started a public relations company. None of these ventures worked out. In the early 1970s, in a fit of desperation, he attempted to extort $250,000 from Princess Cruise Lines by claiming to have placed bombs on one of their ships. In return for the ransom, he said he would reveal the location of the bombs. Of course he was caught when he showed up to retrieve his money. He was convicted of extortion but because he had a lot of famous friends vouching for his good character he wound up serving only about five months in prison. But his life didn't get any better, and he wound up dying from a heart attack at the age of 60 in 1980. Even after his extortion scheme, The Scooter never turned on his friend. He supported him publicly, and I can remember hearing him on broadcasts more or less chalking it all up to financial desperation that caused him to go out of control. |
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Post by pippsheadache on Jul 24, 2023 15:36:01 GMT -5
Just an aside on those 1939 Kansas City Blues. On June 12 of that year, the Yankees came to town for an exhibition game against their farm team. Relenting to the clamoring of the crowd that was calling his name, Lou Gehrig agreed to make a brief appearance and started the game, grounding out to second base in the first inning before going to the bench. It was his last appearance as a player.
He went from Kansas City to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, where he got the diagnosis that he was afflicted with ALS.
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Post by BillyBones on Jul 24, 2023 21:06:22 GMT -5
Thanks for the corrections, Pipps. Silvera, of course. I can only plead old age for my mistakes. Priddy went on to have a nice career, as I'm sure you know. There is such a wealth of baseball knowledge here. Thank you all for the conversation. Those surely were the days when it was fun to be a Yankee fan. Regards to all. I would hardly call that a mistake, BillyBones. More like a typo. And Ken Silvestri did play sporadically for the Yankees just before Charlie Silvera came up. I remember Silvestri as a coach for the Phillies in the late 50s. Anyway, I wanted to bloviate a bit on Jerry Priddy, who had a rather tragic life albeit of his own making. You are right, he did have a nice career, largely forgotten, and not much of it with the Yankees, where he was for awhile considered the best prospect in their system. Priddy and Rizzuto were a joined-at-the-hip double play combo, playing together for three years in the minors before being brought up to the majors. Inseparable on and off the field. In 1939, playing for the Kansas City Blues, they were the keystone and most valuable players of a team that went 107-47. Kansas City of the American Association was what we would today call AAA (then the high minors were AA, and teams had more than one of them -- the Yanks had another in the International League with the Newark Bears.) Normally, a season like that would have gotten them promoted to the big leagues. But unfortunately for Jerry and Phil, the 1939 Yankees were one of the greatest teams of all time, going 106-45 and winning their fourth straight championship. Their DP combo of Joe Gordon and Frankie Crosetti were not only good, they were 24 and 28 years old respectively. Not much room to maneuver. So Priddy and Rizzuto went back to Kansas City in 1940, not only fielding spectacularly but with Priddy batting .306 and Rizzuto batting .347. During their three years together in the minors, Jerry batted .321 and Phil batted .334. Fortunately for their careers, the 1940 Yankees fell to third place, and Crosetti had a terrible year. This led the Yankees to trade first baseman Babe Dahlgren, move Gordon to first, and start the two rookies at second and short. Gordon and Crosetti were popular with their teammates, so Jerry and Phil were not exactly met with open arms. Scooter took the hazing stoically -- eventually Joe DiMaggio adopted him and that gave him some protection -- but Priddy was very cocky, confronting Gordon in spring training and telling him how much better of a player he was. They both got off to rocky starts, and a month into the season Gordon was back at second and Crosetti at short. Crosetti soon got injured, giving Phil his job back, where he hit .307 and played outstanding defense. Priddy, however, wound up riding the bench as Gordon had his typically good season. Priddy complained constantly to Joe McCarthy and demanded to be traded, which he was, to Washington, early in 1942. He proceeded to butt heads with Senators manager Ossie Bluege, telling him at one point "you don't like me, and I don't like you." Later he went to the St. Louis Browns and finally the Detroit Tigers, where a serious leg injury ended his career at age 33. Bill James pointed out that Priddy's career was very similar to that of Bill Mazeroski, both at bat and in the field. Priddy was a wizard at turning double plays -- in fact he made more putouts per game than ANY second baseman of the 20th century, minimum 1,000 games. He turned more double plays per game than any second baseman in history other than Maz and Bobby Doerr, both of whom are in Cooperstown. Phil Rizzuto, modest and humble as always, repeatedly said that Priddy was a better player than he was. Priddy was from Los Angeles and had bit parts in several baseball movies and got to know a lot of celebrities. After his baseball career, he tried unsuccessfully to become a golf pro, then started a public relations company. None of these ventures worked out. In the early 1970s, in a fit of desperation, he attempted to extort $250,000 from Princess Cruise Lines by claiming to have placed bombs on one of their ships. In return for the ransom, he said he would reveal the location of the bombs. Of course he was caught when he showed up to retrieve his money. He was convicted of extortion but because he had a lot of famous friends vouching for his good character he wound up serving only about five months in prison. But his life didn't get any better, and he wound up dying from a heart attack at the age of 60 in 1980. Even after his extortion scheme, The Scooter never turned on his friend. He supported him publicly, and I can remember hearing him on broadcasts more or less chalking it all up to financial desperation that caused him to go out of control. Pipps: Just incredible information on Gerry Priddy. I am quite sure, after thinking about it, that I never saw him in a Yankee uniform, but that my memory of him probably came from the Senators or Tigers. At that time my gold standard for a 2B was Bobby Doerr, and I wished the Yankees had him, although I liked Gordon too. Phil was being humble indeed to say that Priddy was a better player than he was. On those 40's teams, I thought the real star power and importance went right up the middle. DiMaggio, then Dickey, and then Rizzuto. I think the Yankees could have lost any other player and still been good, but losing one of those three would not be replaceable. Of course all careers come to an end, and it is remarkable that Mantle was there to replace Joe and Yogi to replace Dickey. There was no real replacement equivalent to Phil until Jeter came up, in my view at least. |
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Post by kaybli on Jul 25, 2023 0:51:27 GMT -5
We finally got a picture of young inger! 
Inger says:
"A young inger sighting. Age 26. Only about 160 pounds of prime meat. This was the first year I bowled with my dad, who is on the right. I’m the longish haired dude in the center holding the pins…
Interesting how the bowling alley and/or photographer spelled Industrial… 😂
Well before we win the league. There was an evil empire called the “Elkton Men’s Club” that were highly motivated and thought to be unbeatable, it would take us a few seasons, but once we got them we had our foot on their throats for three years. Of course that made us the unbeatable and evil team… 🤓"
Looking good inger! Bowling champion and lady killer!
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Post by inger on Jul 25, 2023 1:05:21 GMT -5
The best quality picture I have with my father in it. Most are older and grainier…
Industerial League… LOL. I never even noticed back then, or I had forgotten… I wasn’t very big, but I had power. I grew thicker through the next years as my son grew bigger and I continued carrying him around and then I took more physical work that had me outdoors a lot in my mid thirties. By then, Michael was around 130 pounds or maybe more. Still lifting and carrying him when I needed to.
My back was and still is pretty beefed up. Core muscles, legs and more the forearms than the biceps. Chest, traps, and neck. People didn’t even try to mess with me at that point.
I’m losing some of that strength now though. Slowing down. But I still picked the front end of my mower up the other day and stood it in end so I could clear something out from under the deck… (The motors in the back, lol)…
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Post by pippsheadache on Jul 25, 2023 13:32:32 GMT -5
Pipps: Just incredible information on Gerry Priddy. I am quite sure, after thinking about it, that I never saw him in a Yankee uniform, but that my memory of him probably came from the Senators or Tigers. At that time my gold standard for a 2B was Bobby Doerr, and I wished the Yankees had him, although I liked Gordon too. Phil was being humble indeed to say that Priddy was a better player than he was. On those 40's teams, I thought the real star power and importance went right up the middle. DiMaggio, then Dickey, and then Rizzuto. I think the Yankees could have lost any other player and still been good, but losing one of those three would not be replaceable. Of course all careers come to an end, and it is remarkable that Mantle was there to replace Joe and Yogi to replace Dickey. There was no real replacement equivalent to Phil until Jeter came up, in my view at least. BillyBones -- Definitely nobody was up to Rizzuto's standard until Jeter, who all-around has to be the greatest Yankee SS ever. In fact the only SS in history I might take over Jeter is Honus Wagner, taking into account the entire package. McDougald was good, but as you noted earlier moved all around. Kubek was very good when they finally settled on him at short -- a very smooth, rangy SS who also hit well before his spinal injury that came from a touch football game when he was in the military. Just too short of a career. I hear you on Doerr. Look at those Red Sox lineups from the late 40s-early 50s. Two HOFers in Doerr and Williams. Vern Stephens, an eight-time All Star who hit for power -- unheard of for a SS in those days. Johnny Pesky, a career .307 hitter at third. Billy Goodman, another career .300 hitter, playing first and third. Walt Dropo, a Rookie of the Year in 1950. Dom DiMaggio, who finished just under .300 and was an outstanding defensive player. They even had a couple of very good starting pitchers in Mel Parnell and Ellis Kinder, but they seemed to get injured a lot and the rest of the staff was a crapshoot -- Mickey McDermott, Willard Nixon, Chuck Stobbs -- names I know you would remember. But the Yankees always beat them! You probably remember Gene Bearden of Cleveland, who had the one great rookie season in 1948 when he won 20 games and did nothing afterward. You probably also remember when ex-Yankee third baseman Red Rolfe was managing the Tigers. Thanks for throwing all those names out there, it's a real education |
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Post by pippsheadache on Jul 25, 2023 14:17:37 GMT -5
We finally got a picture of young inger!
Inger says:
"A young inger sighting. Age 26. Only about 160 pounds of prime meat. This was the first year I bowled with my dad, who is on the right. I’m the longish haired dude in the center holding the pins…
Interesting how the bowling alley and/or photographer spelled Industrial… 😂
Well before we win the league. There was an evil empire called the “Elkton Men’s Club” that were highly motivated and thought to be unbeatable, it would take us a few seasons, but once we got them we had our foot on their throats for three years. Of course that made us the unbeatable and evil team… 🤓"
Looking good inger! Bowling champion and lady killer!
You look a bit like Bobby Orr in that picture Inger. And that's a compliment. |
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