1960 Profile Luis Arroyo

 EL ZUDO DE TALBABOA

That's Enrique Arroyo, The Pudgy Lefty From Puerto Rico, The Freshman 'Stopper' On The Cardinals' Staff

"Luis Enrique Arroyo thumbed slowly through the pages of the Houston, Texas, telephone directory.

'What's going on, Yo-Yo?' he was asked.

'I'm trying to find Mrs. Willey's phone number,' Arroyo answered. 'I may need a room I had last year.'

Only a couple hours before, the St. Louis Cardinals had played the Chicago White Sox in an exhibition game in the Texas city. Yo-Yo Arroyo had been pounded freely.

Seven hits in four innings, not to mention bases on balls and an apparent lack of 'stuff' had caused him no little dismay. And, among top officials of the Cardinals, the consensus was that the pudgy Puerto Rican southpaw still wasn't ready for the major leagues.

'I thought for sure they would leave me in Houston,' Arroyo now laughs about the incident.

And he still wasn't so sure when he got back from St. Louis that he might not wind up in the Texas League where he had been an impressive pitcher for Dixie Walker (a Cardinal coach this spring) in 1954.

Eddie Stanky, still manager of the Cardinals, was fuming. Everyone had told him that Arroyo was quite a pitcher; that Arroyo could win in the National League. But in 18 innings of exhibition work, Arroyo had been pounded hard. His control was terrible, and when he did get the ball over the plate, the enemy hit it for distance.

When the exhibition schedule was completed, Arroyo had an unimpressive earned run average of 7.00.

Seven games of the National League schedule had been played and Arroyo had warmed the bench, fidgeting, squirming, wondering when he'd get the news- 'Back to Houston.'

Then it came. Stanky pointed to him and announced, 'You're pitching the game in Cincinnati.' It would be his first start for the Cardinals, his first chance in the majors.

In the very first inning, he almost got his ticket to Houston- and Mrs. Willey's rooming house.

Johnny Temple, the pesky leadoff hitter of the Redlegs, opened the inning with a single. Arroyo uncorked a wild pitch and Temple reached second base. Wally Post stood with this bat on his shoulder and took four straight wide pitches.

Gus Bell didn't move as Yo-Yo missed with three straight pitches for ball three.

'For criminy sakes, Dixie' Stanky directed Walker, 'go out there and talk to that guy. He's driving me crazy.'

All spring Walker had told everyone, 'Arroyo will be all right. That fellow can pitch.' But now it was time that Arroyo should prove it.

Walker, the soft-spoken Alabaman strode to the mound.

'Look here, Luis, there's no sense in you being so nervous out here. You've been pitching like you're scared all spring.

'Now either you do or you don't. That's all there is to it. Start throwing that ball like you did last year, and if you get it over, you'll get them out. I know that. Now get going!'

Luis got going. He struck out Bell, and Temple helped when he tried to steal third and was thrown out. Ted Kluszewski grounded out and Yo-Yo still was in the major leagues.

It's important, of course, that he stayed for seven and two-thirds innings in that game, gave up five hits, walked six, but then Herb Moford went to his rescue in the eighth inning, and between them, they had a shutout, 3-0.

It was after that game that Yo-Yo became the 'stopper,' the pitcher who could bring a losing streak to an end. The Cardinals had lost seven straight when Arroyo turned in a five-hitter and beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-3.

They lost three more, Arroyo won. Another three-game losing streak was halted by the pudgy Puerto Rican.

Nearly four months after Yo-Yo had looked up Mrs. Willey's phone number, he was leading the National League in earned runs. He had ten victories at mid-season against three defeats.

And then, when Leo Durocher, manager of the New York Giants and the National League All-Stars, started picking pitchers for the annual classic, Luis Enrique Arroyo was one of several selected for the mid-summer game.

It was with great surprise that Arroyo received the announcement that Durocher had picked him for the All-Star Game.

'How come he took me?' Arroyo asked in a puzzled manner. 'Why, he's always on me, riding me good when I pitch against the Giants.'

'That's because he always picks on the good players, Yo-Yo,' Stan Musial, his more illustrious teammate, told him.

Yo-Yo more or less guffawed, poked Musial in the ribs as the slugger went on his way.

'You know, there's my favorite. In my book, he's the best. He always has a new joke for me, him and Red (Schoendienst)- they're great guys.'

It was then that Arroyo, who had never seen too many major leaguers in action, picked his favorite pitchers- the fellows he'd like to follow in the majors.

'I was always crazy to see Robin Roberts. He's great. He knows how to pitch.'

And who was his favorite southpaw?

'Ed Lopat,' he came right back. 'I saw him this spring and was disappointed in the way he throws, the stuff he had. But I wasn't disappointed in the way he threw what he had. He threw it where he wanted.'

Arroyo's career wasn't always successful. There was the time, in 1952, when he turned up with a sore arm while he was with the Cardinals' American Association farm club, then at Columbus, Ohio.

During the spring, after several games had been postponed because of rain, Harry Walker, his manager there as well as now, scheduled a workout at a high school gymnasium.

Yo-Yo took part, worked real hard for twenty minutes or so, took his hot showers and walked out into a cool mist. He failed to put on a coat or jacket.

Some 24 hours later, Arroyo had a sore arm. The pain was terrific and not until late the next season did it begin to show signs of getting better.

It was about this sore arm that Arroyo chided an Eastern baseball writer this season. The writer insisted on obtaining the story as to how Arroyo had regained his strength.

So Yo-Yo started out, telling about a little man in Puerto Rico who had told him to get some leaves from a particular native tree; that the leaves applied in a hot poultice would cure the arm. And sure enough, it worked, Arroyo told the writer.

But when the story appeared in print, and the St. Louis writers started to verify it, Arroyo had a big laugh.

Here's what he related:

'The fellow, he stayed around for two or three hours, trying to find out how my arm got all right. I tried to sleep, but he kept right on talking.

'Finally, I say to myself, 'I fix him, I throw the bull.' Good story, eh?

'Yeah, good story, but not true.'

It was after the sore arm that Arroyo claims that he became a pitcher.

'Before the arm went bad, I threw much harder. After, I tried for control. I put the ball now where I want it, almost every time.

'Gus (Mancuso), the Cardinal scout, taught me how to throw a better curve ball. He worked with me at Houston and taught me to throw the curve ball low. It's one of my best pitches now.'

But enemy hitters still think Luis can throw a fast one, one that does tricks as he pitches to left-handed hitters; one that looks like a screwball to right-handers.

Down in Puerto Rico, the five-foot, eight-inch 178-pounder is quite a hero and the newspapers elaborate on his conquests. He's 'Tite,' a Spanish takeoff on his middle name of Enrique, and 'El Zudo De Talbaboa,' meaning simply, southpaw from Talbaboa, a town near his home of Penuelas in Puerto Rico.

Yo-Yo got his start in baseball in the Puerto Rican professional league, quitting school in the ninth grade and accepting a $500 bonus from the Ponce club.

'I was only the second player ever to get a bonus from the league,' he tells proudly.

And in the spring of 1948, the Ponce club financed a trip to Florida for Arroyo, sending him to a baseball school conducted by George Stirnweiss, the former Yankee infielder.

Bob Doty, president of the Greenville, South Carolina, club, saw him, liked what he saw, and signed him. When Doty transferred to Greensboro, North Carolina, that same year, Arroyo went with him.

It was in the Carolina League where the fans nicknamed him 'Yo-Yo.' He won 21 games in 1949, and in 1950 he was drafted by the Cardinal organization.

He won only seven games in the next two seasons and then came the sore arm.

But things have happened fast since then. He started the 1954 season with Columbus, Ga., in the Sally League where he won eight, lost six and had an earned run average of 2.49 when Houston put in a call for him.

He won eight, lost only three the rest of the year, struck out 130 Texas League hitters in the 115 innings he pitched, and turned in a no-hitter against Dallas, the second of his career. The other was against Burlington in 1949 when he was with Greensboro.

Arroyo didn't lose this year until June 1- after he had won six straight. Home runs by Jackie Robinson of the Dodgers and Gail Harris of the Giants cost Arroyo his first two losses, 5-4 and 2-1.

The Cubs shellacked him for good in his third defeat. 'That game was in the daytime, but I showed 'em and I beat 'em, too, in the daytime,' he said about that one. That was when he beat them, 7-2.

That's a far cry from that night in Cincinnati when he was thinking about his ticket to Houston, which caused Birdie Tebbetts, Cincinnati manager,  to say afterward, probably in a mood of disgust about losing, 'That guy will be back in the minors before the first of July.'

Well, there's nothing minor about the major league All-Star Game, and Tebbetts later altered his opinion about Yo-Yo after the southpaw had beaten Cincinnati for the third time.

'I'd say he's looking like one of the league's better left-handers, who, I'm sorry to say, will be around all year, at least.'

And probably then some."

-Ellis Veeck, Baseball Digest, September 1955

WHAT A RELIEF

"Just in the nick of time, the Yankees picked up little Luis Arroyo, veteran Puerto Rican southpaw with the tantalizing screwball. Arroyo has had several previous major league trials and was quite effective for a spell with the Cardinals and Pirates. But he improved his screwball at Jersey City and has proved quite a 'relief' to Manager Casey Stengel.

Father of five children, 'Tite' (as he is called) resides in Ponce, P.R. He is 34 years old."

-1960 New York Yankees Official Program and Scorecard

"Little Luis Arroyo, a former Pirate, was purchased from Jersey City late in July. His screwball, control and pitching know-how made him a valuable left-handed relief man for manager Stengel. He posted a low earned run and hits-per-inning average and steadied the pitching staff for the run on the pennant. The native Puerto Rican had flashes of success in earlier National League trials with St. Louis, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh."

-1960 World Series Official Souvenir Program

1960 Profile: Johnny James

L-R. Workhorse reliever appeared in 70 games, started none, for Richmond (3A) for 9-6 and 2.06. K'd 84 in 132 IP. Most games pitched in International League. Seven years in Yankee chain, third with Richmond. English-Irish. Married. Born Bonners Ferry, Ida., resides Pacific Palisades, Cal.

Scouting Report: "Has relief possibilities in majors but probably will never make it as starter, except in spots. Stuff only average, but has rubber arm and good guts."

Baseball Digest, March 1960

"The most impressive rookie in the Yankees' spring training camp at St. Petersburg this past spring was Johnny James. He was the unanimous choice of Yankee writers for the James P. Dawson Memorial Award, presented annually to the best prospect in camp. He was presented with a beautiful engraved Wittnauer Watch, a product of the Wittnauer-Longines Watch Company, by Manager Casey Stengel at the close of spring training. Now it's hoped that he will team with Ryne Duren to give the Yankees baseball's best relief team. 

In 1959 at Richmond, Johnny pitched in 78 games, all in relief, and posted an amazing ERA of 2.06. Prior to this year, James appeared in one major league game. Against Washington late in the 1958 season, he induced Clint Courtney to rap into a triple play."

-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook

John Phillip James (P)     #53

Born July 23, 1933 in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, resides in Pacific Palisades, California. Height: 5-10, weight: 160. Bats left, throws right.

-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook

"Signed off the USC campus in 1953, Johnny James had been a journeyman pitcher in the Yankee organization until last season.

Hurling for the International League Richmond Virginians, the 5'10" righty appeared in 70 games and posted a brilliant 2.06 ERA. He was named to the I.L.'s all-star team and struck out 84 batters in the 132 innings he worked.

During his travels in the farm system, James played for Boise, Modesto, Binghamton and Birmingham, as well as Richmond. The Bonner's Ferry, Idaho, native, who'll be 27 in July, now makes his home in Pacific Palisades, California.

Johnny appeared in one game for the Yankees in 1958. During his lone major league stint- which lasted three innings- he got Clint Courtney to hit into a triple play.

James should make an ideal relief partner for Ryne Duren this summer."

-New York Yankees 1960 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)

1960 Profile: Eli Grba

"Big Eli Grba (pronounced Gerba) was an effective pitcher for the Richmond farm club when he was brought up to the parent Yankees after the first All-Star Game last summer. He was used as a spot starter and relief man; won his first start against the champion White Sox. But control bothered him late in the season and reduced his effectiveness.

This spring, the 25-year-old bespectacled right-hander from Chicago was working hard and effectively to gain a post on the Yankee club. He has the tools to be a big help. Last winter he starred for Valencia of the Venezuelan League."

-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook

Eli Grba (P)     #18

Born August 9, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois, where he resides. Height: 6-2, weight: 208. Bats right, throws right.

-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook

"The 6'2" Chicago native returned to the baseball wars last summer after a two-year hitch in military service and earned a promotion to the varsity after half a season in Richmond.

Before entering service, righty Eli Grba (pronounced Gerba) had been the property of the Boston Red Sox. He broke into Organized Ball in 1953 with Salisbury and in subsequent seasons toiled for Corning, San Jose and San Francisco.

With the International League Virginians, Grba posted a 5-1 mark and had a 2.83 ERA. In 86 innings his strikeout total (72) more than doubled his bases on balls (26).

In 19 appearances with the Yankees, mostly as a middle inning reliever, Eli compiled a 2-5 record. He beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-4, in his first starting assignment on July 19. His control wasn't nearly as sharp in the American League and his ERA ballooned to 6.48 as he issued 39 passes in 50 innings while fanning only 23.

Eli will be 26 in August."

-New York Yankees 1960 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)

"This is Eli Grba's first World Series. Brought up from Richmond early this season after an impressive start with the Yankees' No. 1 farm club, the bespectacled right-hander was helpful as a spot starter and relief man.

A native of Chicago, Ill., Eli was obtained from the Boston organization during his period of minor league development."

-1960 World Series Official Souvenir Program

1960 Profile: Ralph Terry

1959

April 24: With A's, beats Tigers, 10-1, on six hits.

May 3: Downs Red Sox, 7-3, on 8-hitter.

May 26: Traded to Yankees with Hector Lopez for Johnny Kucks, Tom Sturdivant and Jerry Lumpe.

July 1: Shuts out Orioles, 4-0, on four hits.

July 17: Loses 2-hitter to White Sox, 2-0.

September 10: Holds A's to four hits in 11-1 victory.

Comment: "Terry had an off year but pitched better than his record indicates and rates high in Yankee plans for the future."

-Joe Sheehan, Dell Sports Magazine Baseball, April 1960

"Ever since the Yankees won the services of lanky Ralph Terry in competition with the Cardinals, the Oklahoman has given the impression he was going to be a big winner. Eventually, the Yanks traded him to K.C. where he was an 11-game winner in 1958. He was re-obtained from the A's last summer in the big deal that also brought Hector Lopez to the Yanks. Despite several brilliant games, Terry's overall Yankee record was disappointing.

Now with the added weight obtained with winter-time military duty, Ralph hopes to make it 'big' with the Bombers. He has a double incentive ... for he'll marry a TWA hostess in October."

-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook

Ralph Willard Terry (P)   #23

Born January 9, 1936 in Big Cabin, OK, resides in Chelsea, OK. Height: 6-3, weight: 194. Bats - right, throws - right.

-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook

"Back for a second whirl with the Bronx Bombers, 24-year-old Ralph Terry was the center of a controversy before ever donning a big-league uniform. In 1954 there was some discrepancy over who Terry belonged to, the Yanks or the St. Louis Cardinals. The commissioner ruled in favor of New York and the 6'3" Oklahoman was dispatched to Binghamton. He had an 11-9 record in his first year of Organized Ball and split the following season between Denver and Birmingham.

A 13-4 ledger at Denver in mid-season 1956 earned Terry a trip to New York. In three games he took one win and two setbacks and was rattled for a 9.69 earned run average.

The Yankees sent Terry to Kansas City in '57 in the Billy Martin for Harry Simpson deal. At the time the Bombers needed help in their battle for the flag and they reluctantly let Ralph go to their K.C. cousins.

He was 5-12 in '57 and 11-13 in 1958. In the latter season, Terry fanned 134 in 217 innings.

Last season the Yanks and A's made another trade- which in itself is certainly not news- and Terry was back in the pin stripe. His record was only 5-11, but Ralph showed enough for the Yanks to figure on him as being one of their front line hurlers this season.

A bachelor, Ralph has moved from his native Big Cabin to Chelsea, both in the Sooner State."

-New York Yankees 1960 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)

"Ralph Terry started and finished the season in brilliant form. Only an ineffective mid-season spell marred what has otherwise been his best year to date in the big leagues. In this season's finale with Baltimore, a key game, Ralph pitched perfect ball for 6 2/3 innings and narrowly missed a no-hitter on eighth and ninth inning singles.

At 24, hard-throwing Terry is a bright Yankee prospect."

-1960 World Series Official Souvenir Program

1960 Profile: Bobby Shantz

"Things have been rough for Bobby Shantz since his fabulous year of 1952 when his 24-7 record earned him the American League's Most Valuable Player award. He's had arm and shoulder difficulties, muscle injuries to his side, etc. But the game little southpaw has pitched some great ball each year.

Despite early-season miseries this spring, Bobby hopes to bounce back and continue where he left off when injured last August. He had retired the last 16 men he faced, fanning seven of the Red Sox at the Stadium.

Shantz won the ERA title in 1957 with a 2.45 mark and has copped the Rawlings' Gold Glove Award for fielding in each of the last three seasons."

-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook

Robert Clayton Shantz (P)     #30

Born September 26, 1925 in Pottstown, PA, resides in Ambler, PA. Height: 5-6, weight: 152. Bats - right, throws - left. Married and father of two boys, Robby (6) and Teddy (2), and one girl, Kathy Ann (4).

-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook

"When little Bobby Shantz is on the mound, he gives the team a fifth infielder. Shantz has been presented with the Gold Glove Award for the past three seasons as the outstanding fielding pitcher in the majors.

Only 5'6", Bobby broke into Organized Ball with Lincoln of the Western League. He led the Class A circuit in wins (18) and strikeouts (212) in his only season of minor league play and was up with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1949.

The 34-year-old southpaw, who hails from Pottstown, Pa., stayed with the A's until the Yankees acquired him in 1957. In 1951 he won 18 and in 1952 he had the greatest year of his career.

That season he won 24, tops in the league, and lost only seven for a .774 percentage (the best in the American League). On this fine showing, Shantz took the Most Valuable Player award.

In the 1952 All-Star Game, Bobby worked one inning and fanned Whitey Lockman, Jackie Robison and Stan Musial in order.

Plagued by arm trouble, Shantz appeared in 16 games in 1953 and in only two contests in 1954. With the shift of the A's to Kansas City, Bobby's arm came around. He had fair seasons in 1955 and 1956, being used as a reliever and spot pitcher.

Shantz came to the Bronx along with Art Ditmar in Feburay 1957 in a package deal that included Tom Morgan, Mickey McDermott and Irv Noren. In his first season with the Yanks, Shantz won 11 and lost five while winning the American League ERA crown with a 2.45 mark. He has had seasons of 7-6 and 7-3 since then, making the trade a good one for a pitcher who was supposedly through.

A good hitting pitcher, Bobby, his wife and three children now live in Ambler, Pa. He is a partner in a bowling alley in Philadelphia."

-New York Yankees 1960 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)

WHEN YOUR LET-UP LETS YOU DOWN

"The Yankees' Bobby Shantz was discussing the let-up pitch. 'I'm again having trouble locating it,' he said this spring. 'You know, you never have to worry about where your fast ball goes. If not delivered right it usually goes out of the park. But that let-up pitch can go haywire and mess up everything.'

In Bobby's case, it certainly can. That is an oddity about his pitching. In some of his greatest years, such as in 1952 when he won 24 games for the Athletics and again in 1957 when, as a Yankee, he led the American League with a 2.45 earned run average. Shantz's success was attributed by many to his exceptionally fast ball and sharp curve. It repeatedly surprised batters that a little guy could throw a ball that hard.

'But it was the let-up pitch,' explains Bobby, 'that really did the trick. Without it those big hitters would have leveled on my fast ball in no time. The let-up pitch throws them off balance.

'However, to be effective it not only has to be thrown with exactly the same motion as the fast ball but it also must be under perfect control.' "

-John Drebinger, New York Times (Baseball Digest, May 1960)

"Little Bobby Shantz, the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1952 when he posted a 24-7 record with the Athletics, proved a mighty valuable relief man for the Bombers this season. He did not start a game for the Yanks this year. Once again, he was among the lowest on the staff in ERA.

For the past three years, Shantz has been named the outstanding fielding pitcher in the A.L."

-1960 World Series Official Souvenir Program

1960 Profile: Jim Coates

1960 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR

"One of the pleasant late-season surprises of 1959 was the pitching performance of tall Jim Coates, the 27-year-old rookie fireballer. Big Jim, a reliever most of the year, was spectacular when he got a chance as a starter and closed with six victories and an earned run mark of 2.97.

A native of Farnham, VA, Jim began with Olean in 1952. He received additional schooling at Joplin, Binghamton, Norfolk, Birmingham and Richmond. Now that he has proved that he can win with the Yankees after two previous trials, Jim looms large in the '60 picture."

-Don Schiffer, 1960 Mutual Baseball Annual

"Most experts predict that pitching will be the key to whatever success the Yankees may achieve in 1960. One of the major reasons for optimism over Yankee pitching prospects is the anticipated 'arrival' of Jim Coates.

Coates has been a Bomber mound prospect of the first order for several years. Major injuries prevented his expected big league development until last year. Then he was brought along slowly to assure a strong arm and the development of a curve and change-up go with his fine fast ball. He won his last four decisions of 1959 to post a 6-1 record and an impressive 2.88 ERA.

Back in his freshman year of 1952, lanky Jim fanned 223 in 226 innings. Now after a long period of development, it looks like the 27-year-old from the quaint-sounding town of Village, Virginia, finally is going to make it. His strongest booster is his tutor, pitching coach Ed Lopat."

-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook

James Alton Coates (P)     #39

Born August 4, 1932 in Farnham, Virginia, resides in Village, Va. Height: 6-4, weight: 180. Bats right, throws right. Married and father of one boy, James Alton, Jr. (1 1/2), and one girl, Jane Leigh (6 months).

-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook

"Jim Coates was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal Yankee picture last season, his first in the American League.

The 6'4" righty had a 6-1 record for New York and his ERA was a fine 2.88 in the 100 innings he worked. His control was good with 64 strikeouts more than offsetting the 36 walks issued by the 180-pound Virginian.

Coates broke into Organized Ball with Olean in 1952 and worked his through the Yankee chain with stops at Joplin, Binghamton, Norfolk, Birmingham and Richmond. He had a 'cup of coffee with New York in 1956, working two innings in an unimpressive fashion.

At Richmond in 1957 and 1958, he turned in ERAs of 2.63 and .2.79, respectively. The latter season saw him appearing in only eight contests because of arm trouble. However, he showed last season that the miseries are no longer in his soup bone and certainly rates as one of the key men in the Bronx Bombers' pitching setup for the current campaign.

Jim is married and has two children. The Coates make their off-season home in Village, Va."

-New York Yankees 1960 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)

"Jim hopes to duplicate his first-half performance during the last half of the 1960 season. He ran his winning streak to 13 games (four from last year and nine in a row this season) before losing to Boston.

The 6'4" right-hander from the quaint-sounding community of Village, Va., has been a Yankee prospect since 1952. Injuries have hindered his development but he's been a winner this year and hopes to contribute a Yankee pennant in October."

-1960 New York Yankees Official Program and Scorecard

THE ANGRY SUCCESS

"Jim Coates lost a game in May, 1959. "Eleventh inning ... I was throwing relief against Cleveland, two out. I passed Colavito because first base was open. Then Power hit a home run. Second pitch. Inside fast ball.'

It was more than a year later and the Virginian with a hawk-like nose and deep-set grey-blue eyes hadn't lost a game since then, four straight in the remainder of the 1959 season and, at the moment when he was sitting in the lounge of the Yankee Stadium clubhouse, nine more in a row.

For a change, Coates wasn't mad at anyone. Jim admits that once upon a time he was baseball's angriest young man. Even now, when to his own surprise everything seems to be rolling in his favor, he gets mad once in a while. In a recent game a batter rolled to the box. Jim leaped on the ball with his gloved hand and when he tried to take it out of the glove it stuck in the webbing. Whereupon Jim finally extricated it and banged it on the ground. This was a surprising display of temper for a pitcher who has made good at the relatively old age of 28.

One might be able to trace the causes of Jim's rages to certain events in his past. For example, Jim was the township hero in Farnham, a hamlet not far from the mouth of the Potomac River. He had been unbeatable as a soft-ball pitcher, and he wasn't easy to hit as a semipro hard-ball flinger. A 19-year-old kid gets the idea that he has the world licked after he tosses a few low-hit games, and hears the townsfolk cheer him and big league scouts come around to look him over and sign him up. 

Well, suh, none other than the Yankees got him to put his signature to a contract. Off he went in the spring of 1952 to Olean, N.Y., in the Pony League. He threw as hard up there as down home, but the difference was that the pros didn't swing at his wild stuff. They waited and waited and waited.

Jim walked the first batter on four pitches. He walked the second batter on four pitches, and the third batter, and the fourth- and the manager, Right Fielder Bunny Mick, came over to the box. He turned to Jim's catcher, whose name Jim forgets. 'Move your target a few feet from the plate,' he said. 'Maybe Coates can't see you too good and will fool us and throw a strike.'

Coates walked the next two batters on eight pitches. He was getting mad, not at Bunny Mick, but at himself. There was quite a crowd in the ball park, and they were hooting him. Mick called time.

'Take me out!' Jim demanded. 'I don't have it today.'

'Well, you might as well find it today as next week,' Mick told him. 'You're going to pitch until you get them out.'

Jim walked 13 batters in that horrible inning. He walked 17 before the game ended, proving that he regained a little control later on.

'I couldn't sleep that night,' Jim says. 'I still hate Mick for doing that to me. I don't blame the batters for waiting. They wanted to swing, but some of my pitches were four feet away from the plate. It was my fault, I suppose.'

Jim could throw hard. He was hard-muscled, lean and always in fine physical condition. He worked wintertimes as a lumberjack in the woods around Northumberland County, felling pine trees that were reduced to shavings for excelsior. He had himself a gun and some rabbit and bird dogs, and he spent his spare time in off-seasons shooting quail, hare, deer and wild ducks.

The Yankees didn't give up on him. They kept him on their minor league list, Norfolk to Joplin to Binghamton to Norfolk again. Jim kept getting madder and madder. It wasn't the bus trips or the long summers in small towns. He was mad at himself because he handed 161 bases on balls out in Joplin. He just couldn't get his ball over the plate. Moreover, every time the Yankees would move him up a link in their chain, he'd pitch 'something awful.' It would be the opening game of the season in Binghamton and the other team would make seven runs in one inning, four on bases on balls.

'I was fetchin' to quit in '55, when the same thing happened, a wallopin'. But I was playing for Birmingham in the Southern Association then and the manager, Phil Page, really began to show me somethin' about the curve and change-up. So they moved me back to Binghamton, and I had a real good season.' Jim's record was 13-8, with an impressive 2.77 ERA.

'So they sent me up to Richmond in AAA ball in '56, and there I met Eddie Lopat,' says Jim, and his face lights up as he talks about the one-time Yankee Junkman. Like Larry Sherry, of the Dodger organization, Coates had been ticketed as a wild man with a temper. Lopat went to work on the temper first.

'There's no use blowing up when you put men on bases,' Lopat told Jim. Eddie was then managing Richmond. When Jim's control wavered, or batters began to tee off on his fastball, Eddie, unlike Bunny Mick, would call time for the purpose of speaking soothing words to his over-tense young pitcher.

'Besides,' says Jim, 'Eddie began to tinker with my stride. He shortened it. He made me put more weight on my left foot so that I couldn't bring up my left knee in front of my face. As I reared back, I could see the plate plain as anything and my control got better.

'And he kept tellin' me to put that curve over for strikes. What I mean is, a pitcher that can throw a curve with a two-and-one or three-or-two count can be a winning pitcher. So my catcher at Richmond would call for a curve when I was behind, and now and then I got my man on it. It sure was fun.'

Well, suh, Jim Coates was getting older, and although he didn't do so well at Richmond in 1956, a dismal 6-12, the Yankees brought him up to New York for a look-see. Casey Stengel's experts look and saw, and sent Jim back to Richmond for 1957.

By that time, he was boiling again. Richmond was down home in Virginia and no more than 50 miles away from those woods and home-cooking. But Jim, to his surprise, had it that year, 'it' being control. He led the International League in strikeouts with 161, yielding only 86 passes- a statistic which is of vital importance, for a two-to-one balance of strikeouts over walks over walks is a major league pace.

Jim apparently was ready for a real trial with the New Yorkers. He had a curve now, a change-of-pace, and that really good fast ball. His tutors decided that something more was needed.

'They gave me a slider, and in training camp at St. Petersburg in 1958, I worked and worked on it. It was a Thursday in Richmond that May. The team was going to Columbus the next day and they told me I'd pitch batting practice there. I never did.'

Jim was sort of warming up in the bullpen when something went snap in his elbow. He blames it on the slider. Whatever the cause, his arm began to 'ache something horrible.' He couldn't lift his arm. The club physician examined it and decided that immobilization was needed and Jim wore a cast for 18 days.

On the 18th day, the cast was removed, but the arm was no better. Jim was handed a ticket to New York and rushed to the Stadium. Dr. Sidney  Gaynor, the Yankee physician and an orthopedic specialist, took X-rays.

'They didn't show anything,' Jim says. 'No one knew what the matter was. It wasn't bone chips or arthritis or anything like that. Dr. Gaynor told me to lay off for two months. In August I came back and pitched a little relief. All that winter I took hot water treatments and then exercised my arm. Casey Stengel told me to take things easy in 1959 spring training- and not to throw that slider, if my life depended on it.'

While the Yankees were in spring training that spring, your correspondent interviewed Johnny Johnson, minor league supervisor, about likely rookies in the Yankee chain. 'Coates?' said Johnson. 'He could be a great pitcher, but he had a bad sore arm last season.'

Well, suh, it was another year and the arm ached no longer. The Yankee pitching staff wasn't doing so well in 1959, what with Bob Turley losing and Whitey Ford getting his knocks. Jim Coates was kept. He worked relief in a few lost games and managed to rescue one. Cleveland defeated him. He was mad at the world that night. Think of it- his eighth season of organized ball and he wasn't getting anywhere. His name surely was on the cut-down list. He wouldn't last longer than June 15.

It was about time for the angry young man's luck to change. By one of those mysterious acts of fate, the Yankees began to score runs behind him like mad. He won four more games before the season ended, for a 6-1 record, 2.88 ERA. He even won two complete games, among the 37 in which he appeared.

Casey Stengel won't admit it, but one of his cardinal rules is to stick with the hot players, those who have been doing the most for him at any given moment. Jim Coates didn't necessarily fit into that category last spring. Eddie Lopat, promoted to pitching coach of the Bronxites, frankly admitted that he wasn't satisfied with Jim's curve. Jim had long overcome his panic when the curve went astray. He was able to use it in early season starts because it cut the plate at critical moments.

This was a gain but Jim might not be the subject of this profile if his mates hadn't backed him up with anywhere from 11 to 15 runs per game. He was a winner, but no one knew whether he had it, or just was a lucky stiff.

The first test came in an important series with the White Sox early in June, when he beat the South Siders with four hits in a close game. He repeated his flash of ace right-hand form against the Kansas City  A's, yielding six hits, one a home run.

'He's getting better,' Lopat said, 'but it isn't all that. You pitch with a 15-run lead and you can't help letting up now and then. It's human nature. You say the hell with it, let 'em hit it. But winning a close game helps. There's no tonic like winning.'

Jim's fast ball moves, takes off, sinks, hops, goes to one side, gives hitters the jitters. 'The big kick is when I curve 'em silly at three-and-two,' he boasts.

James Alton Coates never had it so good. His maw and paw separated when he was a tiny tot, and he lived with his maw and his grandpaw. He lived in an off-Main Street area of these United States, where outsiders seldom come, and life goes on as it has gone on pretty much the same since John Smith wandered around the neighborhood looking behind trees for Indians, and finally getting acquainted with Pocahontas. Folks down that-a-way are country folks with pride and dignity, and there's nothing Jim would like better than to be the best pitcher north and south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Just now Jim is living up north in a rented house in Hackensack, N.J. His wife, Ruby Ann Sullivan, was a town girl Jim courted a bit when he was the town hero; he met her again when he had that good season at Richmond, and they got married. Now there's Jim, Jr., who will be a little leaguer some day, and baby Leigh, who is a girl with a name which is pronounced like Robert E.'s.

'It took a long time, on a doggone long road,' says Jim, Sr., who isn't very angry anymore."

-Charles Dexter, Baseball Digest, September 1960

"This has been a paradoxical season for lanky Jim Coates. Winner of his first nine games, he was a primary reason for the Yankees' strong early showing. Yet his earned run average was high and he was hit hard on occasion.

After a brief bout with illness, Jim came back strong with clutch performances as a starter and reliever. In nearly two complete seasons he won 18 and lost only four games."

-1960 World Series Official Souvenir Program

1960 Profile: Duke Maas

1959

June 20: Downs Indians, 10-2, on 8-hitter.

September 13: Shuts out Indians, 1-0, on eight hits.

Comment: "Maas did well as a spot starter and middle reliever. He may be in line for more work."

-Joe Sheehan, Dell Sports Magazine Baseball, April 1960

"Duke Maas has won 21 games, lost only 11 in his first year-and-a-half with the Yankees. Before coming to New York, the Utica, Michigan right-hander had an unimpressive 19-32 record with Detroit and Kansas City. His top accomplishment in his 14-victory 1959 season was five straight wins over the runner-up Cleveland Indians.

Despite a late start this spring, Duke is bidding for one of the four or five starting berths on Manager Casey Stengel's staff. He gives the club pitching depth, no matter what role he finally earns.

He's 29 years old and his full name is Duane Frederick Maas (but he answers to 'Duke')."

-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook

Duane Frederick Maas (P)     #24

Born January 31, 1931 in Utica, Michigan, where he resides. Height: 5-10, weight: 176. Bats right, throws right. Married and father of one boy, Kevin (2 1/2).

-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook

"Duke Maas reached a personal high last season when he won 14 games for the Yankees while losing eight. Prior to that, the 5'10" righty's best mark had been the 10 wins he chalked up for Detroit in 1957.

Maas, who was 29 in January, broke into Organized Ball in 1949. He spent the 1951 and 1952 seasons in military service and reported to Durham of the Carolina League following his discharge.

After stops in Wilkes-Barre and Buffalo, the Detroit Tigers called him up to the American League in 1955. He was 5-6 when the Bengals sent him to Buffalo.

After suffering seven reversals without a victory in 1956, Maas was again sent back to the minors, this time with Charleston of the American Association. His control was near perfect with the Senators as he walked only nine in 64 innings while winning six and losing three.

Detroit gave Maas another whirl in 1957. He worked 219 innings and had a 10-14 record. The A's acquired him in November of '57, along with Bill Tuttle and Frank House in a deal for Tom Morgan, Billy Martin, Lou Skizas and Gus Zernial.

Duke was 4-5 at Kansas City when he was dealt to New York in June 1958 for Harry Simpson and Bob Grim. The change was a good one, as Maas recorded seven wins in ten decisions for the Bombers.

Last season he was 14-8 and looks to improve on that mark this summer.

Married, with one tax deduction, Maas makes his off-season home in his native Utica, Michigan."

-New York Yankees 1960 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)

"Duane 'Duke' Maas had his best major league season in 1959 when he won 14 games. He saw considerably less service this year but was effective as a middle relief man in several important games. Duke, a native of Utica, Michigan, appeared briefly against the Braves in the '58 World Series."

-1960 World Series Official Souvenir Program