RALPH HOUK (Manager)
HOUK: THE MAN AND THE MANAGER
"Most people would be tempted to regard the manager of a last-place ball club who refuses to accept player help as either crazy or lacking in judgment. That's what Ralph George Houk did in late May of 1955 when he was managing the Denver Bears in the American Association in his first job as a pilot.
To accept help at that time would have meant that Houk was second-guessing himself. And the man who has undertaken to follow in the most successful managerial footsteps in baseball history- those left by Casey Stengel with the New York Yankees- refuses to second-guess himself under any circumstances.
Houk's refusal to accept player help in 1955 came some ten days after major league cutdown time when a minor league roster is substantially set for the season. William O. (Bill) DeWitt, new Cincinnati general manager and then assistant general manager of the Yankees, had made a hurried trip to Indianapolis to meet with Houk and suggest player purchases which could relieve the 7-25 last-place standing of Houk's Bears. Houk emerged from the hotel meeting room with beads of perspiration on his forehead.
'Boy, that was a close call,' Ralph told this Denver baseball writer, who was waiting with pencil poised to record the player transactions he was anticipating.
'Bill wanted to grab the phone right this minute and buy four new players. I don't want any new ball players. I just want time to work out our problems with the ones we have.
'I picked these players in the spring and at cutdown time and I believe in them. I don't want any help.'
Time confirmed Houk's judgment. By midseason, Denver's youngsters were causing consternation among the league's upper crust. And by August 3 the gang which included such future big leaguers as Bobby Richardson, Woodie Held, Marv Throneberry, Whitey Herzog, Ralph Terry and Don Larsen had bounded into first place for a brief stay. The year before the Yankees' Triple-A club, then at Kansas City, had finished seventh.
Houk's aversion to second-guessing goes deeper than just not doing it to himself. He never second-guesses his players. The 41-year-old new manager of the Yankees has a logical explanation. 'I don't do things without a reason,' he tells you earnestly. 'So if it doesn't pan out, why should I second-guess myself? I do something because I think it is the best thing I can do under the circumstances.'
This philosophy is one of several qualities that endear him to players under his command. In his three years at Denver- the only managerial experience of his long baseball career- Houk commanded effort, respect and loyalty from his players that bordered on idolatry.
Ed Donnelly, a volatile left-handed pitcher who twice in one season was punched in the nose by an angered Houk insists: 'He was the greatest guy I ever played for. I felt like I'd go to the end of the world for him. He treated you like a man, not a kid.'
Jim DePalo, fighting the pain of a gimpy knee and a sore arm that eventually cut short a promising relief-pitching career at 26, said: 'My biggest regret is leaving Houk- he's the greatest. In fact, I wouldn't have even tried to get out there on the mound the way I'm hurting if it wasn't because I want to help Ralph. He knows as much baseball as any guy I've ever known and he handles his men better.'
The list could be expanded to include many players currently with the Yankees but publication of their remarks now could embarrass them since they will again be under Houk's wing come spring training.
The Yankees recognized Houk's potential qualities of leadership early in his career. Otherwise they wouldn't have hung on so long to a man who caught only 91 games for them in eight American League seasons as an active player. At the time they tapped him to manage the Denver club the Yankees knew only of his significant war record which saw him advance from a private to a major, receiving a Silver Star citation and a battlefield promotion for heroic action during the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. At the time Ralph was a somewhat bitter young man, having only a few weeks previously lost his first wife during childbirth.
The rank of major with Houk emerged from the war resulted in the nickname by which he generally is called by his Yankee associates. Quite frankly, it is a nickname Houk doesn't particularly relish. When he came to Denver, he asked people to call him simply 'Ralph' in the hope he could reestablish his given name. But he has only been partly successful in this effort and chances are he will always be known as 'The Maj' in New York.
The off-field aspects of managing don't appeal much to Houk, who makes public appearances and speeches only because it's an integral part of his job. His talks in the early days of his managerial career were marked by the almost grim seriousness with which he attacked his new job.
But by the second year at Denver humor had started creeping into his talks. He wowed 'em in mid-winter of 1956 just after coming to Denver fresh from a second-place finish in the Puerto Rican winter league where he had been named manager of the year.
'It was a five-team league,' Ralph explained. 'Two of the managers were fired during the season. Another finished below me. The fourth one hit a sportswriter. That left me with the award.'
It is in the clubhouse and dugout where Houk's abilities are in sharpest relief. Many of his days as a catcher were spent in the Yankee bullpen warming up pitchers. Unlike many catchers consigned to bullpen duty, Houk didn't waste all his time cracking jokes and telling tall tales. When he wasn't actually warming up a pitcher he spent the eight years in the Yankee bullpen studying baseball, analyzing managers' moves and tactics, learning the minute details of every playing position. He knew that managing was what he wanted to do and he wanted to be ready.
Houk's fiery temper boils up quickly in the heat of a ball game, especially when he thinks he has been wronged by an umpire or an opposition player. But the temper seemingly never affects his judgment or dictates his moves in the game. No matter how trying the circumstances in the game he never panics and most of the time he follows through all the way on his preconceived plan as far as the handling of pitchers is concerned.
Houk's managerial tactics varied according to local conditions and the temperament of the opposing manager. In Denver where light air and fast ground produced higher scores, Ralph scorned use of the bunt. Such a miserly weapon was almost never employed at home, even in tie ball games in late innings unless it was the last of the ninth. On the road, Houk played it more like other managers but his association with Yankee power tactics wasn't hard to detect.
He was ever planning to exploit the other manager. One particular pilot, for example, came from the school that believed in quick pitching changes even early in the game. So Ralph concentrated hard on having his team 'up' for the opener of a home series against this particular club. 'Boys, if we can win this first game we'll win 'em all because so-and-so will use up his whole staff trying to stop us,' he'd tell his club. Most of the time it turned out that way.
Houk is one of the boys but there is never any doubt as to who's the boss. During his Denver days the skipper was always in the front lines whenever trouble brewed.
Late in the 1957 season in which Denver won 32 of its last 38 games in an unsuccessful pennant fight before sweeping 12 of 15 playoff and Junior World Series games, the Bears had a crucial series with St. Paul in Denver. Houk suspected that it was no accident when St. Paul pitcher Stan Williams, now a Dodger mainstay, bored Jim Pisoni in the ribs with a fast one. It made Ralph even madder when he suspected that St. Paul manager Max Macon prompted the Saint bullpenners to advance menacingly toward the diamond as tempers flared.
Later in the game with Denver's Rance Pless at bat, Macon shouted to the mound: 'Stick in his ear! Stick it in his ear!' A couple of 'brushback' pitches followed but Pless eventually was retired without being hit and took his position at third base, with Macon standing nearby on the coaching lines. A few hot words later the normally mild-mannered Pless and Macon were going at it and a free-for-all boiled up in a jiffy.
Houk shot out of the Denver dugout at breakneck speed with only one thing on his mind: take out Macon.
'He literally jumped over me to get at Macon,' recalls Donnelly. 'And he really gave him a going over.'
Macon complained he had trouble with his neck all through the following winter. The St. Paul skipper insisted he never saw Ralph coming. That would be understandable in view of the speed with which he shot across the diamond.
In all fairness, it should be reported that Macon was overmatched. A lady fan leaned over the box-seat railing and swatted Max several times in the face with a purse loaded heavily with feminine baubles.
Twice during the stormy 1957 season, Houk had to handle unhappy incidents stemming from Ryne Duren's notorious inability to handle beer.
The first one occurred in Louisville where Houk bailed Duren out of jail after Ryne was blackjacked by an unseen plain clothes detective in a hotel coffee shop after becoming involved in an altercation with a band leader. The disturbance had started earlier in the evening in a nearby night club.
Houk stoutly defended his star pitcher at the police station. 'They were just in a fight,' he angrily told a reporter who asked it he planned any disciplinary action. 'It can happen to anyone. He wasn't out past curfew.' Asked what the curfew time was, Houk snarled, 'That's my business. Now you just go away and write a story, a great big story.' Later in the summer Houk succeeded in manipulating things so that all charges against Duren were dismissed.
After Denver's final game triumph at Buffalo in the Junior World Series, Duren and Donnelly became involved in a fuss on the bus taking them to the airport over whether Duren rightfully or wrongfully poured beer in Donnelly's 'good luck' ten gallon hat.
A few punched flew before Houk suggested that neither the bus, nor the airplane which they were about to board, was the proper place to settle such matters. He suggested the pair retire behind a nearby hanger and settle it there. The two pitchers then decided they were teammates with no real differences and agreed to call the whole thing off- much to the relief of pilots of their private plane.
Houk's troubles with Duren the following year with the Yankees were all too thoroughly publicized at the time of the disturbance on the Yankee victory train carrying the team from Kansas City to Detroit.
Houk, then a Yankee coach, was credited with a clear-cut decision after opening an inch gash over Duren's eye when the latter crushed a cigar that happened to be in Ralph's mouth at the time. Ralph considered this unseemly conduct and was perturbed by such uncouth treatment to a pretty good cigar.
There won't be any more colorful Stengelese in the Yankee dugout from now on, but the place won't lack for managerial color with Houk."
-Frank Haraway, Baseball Digest (Baseball Digest, February 1961)
"With Casey Stengel gone, there is speculation over who will manage the American League teams in the annual All-Star Games next summer. If the Commissioner follows the pattern set in recent years, Ralph Houk, successor to Stengel, will get the honors. After Charlie Dressen walked out of his job with the pennant-winning Dodgers in 1953, Walter Alston, his successor, was named the National League's pilot in 1954."
-Baseball Digest, February 1961
"The Major takes baseball's toughest job, replacing the legendary Casey Stengel. This task doesn't frighten this tough-minded, combat-hardened veteran who earned his officer's commission on the battlefield in World War II.
Born in Lawrence, Kansas, Houk has had the full Yankee treatment as a catcher, coach, and pilot of the AAA Denver Bears. He helped develop much of the present club while piloting Denver to playoff berths and also filled in as field boss last year when Casey was ill. He was a Yankee part-timer for eight years, finishing with .272 lifetime.
Houk has been promised a free hand in choosing coaches (which he has done) and making decisions on ballplayers. He begins 1961 on the spot since anything short of the pennant will not make the Stengel ousting look good."
Don Schiffer, The Major League Baseball Handbook 1961
THE RALPH HOUK NOBODY KNOWS
"There are less attractive jobs in major league baseball than managing the Yankees, to be sure, but it's difficult to imagine anyone stepping into a tougher spot than does Ralph Houk as he replaces the fabulous Casey Stengel. The challenge of continuing the incredible success the Yankees enjoyed under Stengel (10 pennants and seven World Championships in 12 years) is only part of the picture; more demanding, perhaps, is the task of succeeding a man who has become a legend in his own lifetime.
How does one go about meeting such a complex challenge? How does one begin to compete for the attention of those who have been charmed and entertained by one of the great sports personalities of all time? How does one handle these unseen challenges, these intangibles that have made the name Stengel one of the most famous in baseball?
Dan Topping and Del Webb, the co-owners of the Yankees, obviously are convinced that Houk has the credentials for handling this herculean assignment. Yet, one wonders, what are his qualifications? Certainly not his unimposing major league record of 91 games scattered over eight seasons; nor his three years as a minor league manager, however noteworthy. And how in the name of Babe Ruth can you pick a man who never hit a major league home run to manage a club that has this weapon as a trademark?
Mickey Mantle may have provided the answer recently in one of his typically laconic statements when he said, 'He has the respect of the players.'
There you have the crux of Houk's reply to the challenge. There you have the armor Houk will wear as he battles to push the Stengel genius-image into the past while he himself is writing a new chapter in Yankee history. Mantle is the core of the Yankees, the player the rest of the Yankee players look up to; he is the one person who can lift the club into high gear or drop it into mediocrity. As Mantle goes, so go the Yankees. Perhaps it would be well to listen to him.
'You get a feeling about people,' Mantle says. 'The feeling we have about Houk is one of respect. Ralph understands that a team is made up of 25 players; he knows that if he gets them all pulling together, then no one will beat them. Even as a coach, he made us respect him. Now that he's the manager, he should make us respect him even more. No manager, no matter how good he is, can hit for you or catch a ball for you. The real good managers do something more important ... they command respect.'
Topping undoubtedly had these qualities in mind when, upon announcing Houk's appointment, he said, 'Houk is a born leader of men. His war record alone would recommend him, but he proved to us that he knows how to handle men when he managed in Denver.'
Houk's service record is truly noteworthy. After graduating from Officer Candidate School, Houk proved himself so able a leader on the battlefield in World War II that he was promoted to captain. A Silver Star and a Purple Heart are among his decorations. He was discharged as a major, which since has become the nickname by which many of the players know him.
During the war, Houk led several patrols into enemy territory. His subordinates believed in Houk and followed him. Not surprisingly, then, the men who played for Houk while he was managing at Denver developed a similar belief.
How does this 41-year-old Kansas native compare with the grizzled, shrewd, 70-year-old Stengel? They have two things in common- their dedication to baseball and their hatred of defeat. Even here, however, their approaches differ.
Baseball is Stengel's lifeblood, a legend to be perpetuated. Casey will sit for hours talking baseball, mostly about the old days. It is difficult to mention a person Stengel hasn't managed or played with. Houk, too, will sit and talk baseball by the hour, only the talk will be about today and tomorrow. What happened yesterday matters little, except as a guide to avoiding repeating mistakes.
While Stengel hates to lose, his hatred is of a passive nature and he soon forgets. Not so with Houk. Defeat today starts Houk to planning on how to avoid it tomorrow. The two differ in other respects as well. Where Stengel was impetuous, Houk is thorough; where Stengel moved on the spur of the moment, Houk moves quickly yet cautiously- and he arrives at his decisions by design.
As Stengel grew older he grew less tolerant of youth and its mistakes. Casey's lack of patience in his last few years was a deterrent to ambitious youngsters moving up to the Yankees. He would criticize rather than counsel. Houk is patient. He gains the trust of the young players and soon they believe in him. He builds their confidence and treats them the same as if they were veterans.
There were times when Stengel, not realizing it, cut the heart out of his players. Incidents that involved Norm Siebern and Hector Lopez are good illustrations.
On July 4, 1959, Bob Turley had a no-hitter until the ninth inning when the Senators' Julio Becquer looped the ball into short left field for the only hit of the game. Asked later if Siebern should have caught the ball, Stengel snapped, 'Certainly, most anyone would.'
Siebern sat in front of his locker with tears trickling down his face. He was convinced he had cost Turley no-hit fame.
Early last season Lopez spent a month on the bench after dropping a fly ball. Then Stengel was hospitalized briefly and Houk had to drop his chores as first base coach and take over the managing. Houk returned Lopez to the lineup and a few days later Hector threw to the wrong base, costing the Yankees a tight game.
Asked about Lopez's misguided throw, Houk simply smiled and said, 'Lopez knew where the play should have been made, but he was gambling to trap the other runner. You can't fault a man for trying.'
Unlike Siebern, Lopez didn't feel like his world had ended. He knew he had made a mistake, but he didn't have to read about it in the papers.
Stengel often would jump all over a player, bawling him out in front of everyone. Houk will never berate a player in public; he'll chew him out in the privacy of the manager's office instead. Professional ballplayers appreciate this type of thoughtfulness.
Stengel introduced the unorthodox two-platoon system so successfully that many others copied it. It was a vital part of the Yankees' strategy but it got out of hand because of Casey's flair for showmanship. Stengel began to feel he would disappoint his followers if he didn't juggle lineups and batting orders from day to day.
The players were the victims of these changes, many of them living in a state of confusion. Casey thrived on the confusion, however; he delighted in confounding everyone with his myriad maneuvers. He lived on it and the publicity it brought, but the players silently resented it. Houk doesn't believe in confusion. He believes in a planned attack, altering plans, but not players, from day to day. Houk thinks each man has a role to perform and that players stay happy and interested by knowing their jobs.
Stengel played the game by ear, manipulating as he went along. He loved to pull the unexpected, then later give a logical explanation for it. Moves often were made in meaningless situations, but they set up later discussions. Houk plays it systematically, probably because of habits developed as an Army officer. As a patrol leader, Houk made his plan before starting and improvised only when altered conditions forced a change.
As their managerial attitudes differ, so do their personalities. Stengel is an extrovert and delights in putting on a show. No cameraman ever conceived an off-beat picture idea that Stengel turned down, as the picture file in any newspaper office will attest. It was difficult to tell whether Stengel was really angry when he argued on the field. Sure, he was perturbed when he ran out onto the field in protest, but by gesture and action, he milked the occasion for full mileage. He knew the crowd loved it and he had to put on a show for them.
Houk is not an introvert, but neither is he an exhibitionist. When he battles an umpire, he isn't acting ... he means it. He is battling for his club, not just to delight the crowd. A vexed Houk doesn't even know the crowd is there. Houk's volatile temper, in fact, provided his most memorable moment as a player. He was catching a vital game late in the 1949 season against the Red Sox, who were battling the Yankees for the pennant. When umpire Bill Grieve ruled Johnny Pesky safe on a close play at the plate, catcher Houk went into orbit. He put on one of the wildest rows in Stadium history.
'To my dying day,' Houk still insists, 'I know Pesky was out. The way I had the plate blocked it was impossible for him to touch it.' Several years later, Pesky served as a coach for Houk at Denver, and naturally, the play was discussed, but Houk adds, 'The bum still wouldn't admit he was out.'
Stengel is a gay blade whether at a party or in a conversational jamboree. Casey MUST be the life of the party ... the center of attraction, the hub around which everything revolves. Many times he has interrupted someone brash enough to speak and rasped, 'Now wait a minute.' He'd go on to monopolize the conversation.
Houk, too, likes to be with a convivial gathering. He'd rather laugh at stories told by others, however. He'll take his turn carrying the conversational ball, but he'll also pass off to others, too.
The new Yankee manager knows full well what he is getting into. Oddly enough, little has been said regarding Houk's ability to replace Stengel ... most of the press seems more concerned by whether he can take over as a source of material. 'There's only one Casey Stengel ... I'm Ralph Houk,' says the man who must, for a while, live in the genius-image created by his predecessor.
Can he handle the Yankees? There should be no problem, especially since the players already respect him. Many managers never gain the full respect of their men ... Houk is fortunate in having it even before he assembles his club for spring training. Can Houk meet the challenge engendered by Stengel's remarkable record, by Casey's popularity with press and public, by Casey's dynamic personality and showmanship?
I say that he can. He started the day he was appointed manager. Ralph walked into a press conference peopled by many writers warm to Stengel, but cool to Houk and said, 'I am no 'yes man': I will run the team on the field, deciding who will play, where and when. I will decide who pitches and who relieves. I will take full responsibility for the team.'
Even the disbelievers suddenly saw Houk in a new light. They knew then what Mantle meant when he said, 'We respect him.'"
-Jim Ogle, Dell Sports Magazine Baseball, April 1961
"When Ralph Houk succeeded Casey Stengel to the coveted position as manager of the New York Yankees last fall, it marked the culmination of 22 consecutive years in the Bombers' organization. At the age of 19, Ralph started his professional baseball career with Neosho in the Yankee farm system. He progressed in the organization prior to four years out for distinguished war service.
A year at Beaumont resulted in the Major's promotion to the Yankees in 1947. Playing behind the redoubtable Yogi Berra, Houk got into only 91 major league games as a player. He served as a coach in 1953, 1954 and in 1958, 1959 and 1960 and as the very successful manager of Denver in 1955, 1956 and 1957.
When he took over as pilot this spring, he left no doubt that he was running the Yankee training camp. Ralph, now 41, instituted numerous innovations and immediately captured the respect of his players. Yankee fans will like and respect Ralph Houk, too. He will prove a worthy successor to the likes of Miller Huggins, Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
Ralph George Houk (MGR) #35
Born August 9, 1919, in Lawrence, Kansas, resides in Saddle River, N.J.
Married and father of three.
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
"When Ralph Houk was named manager of the Yankees this past October 20, succeeding Casey Stengel, he said:
'I feel extremely proud to be chosen for this job. I hope I can give New York the kind of team it deserves because the men are there to make it a great team. The Yankees are not dead.' And anyone who knows the powerfully-built native of Lawrence, Kansas, is well aware that he says just what he means.
Though a veteran of only 91 games as a catcher spread over eight seasons with the Bombers, Houk has been regarded over the years as one of baseball's best brains.
Houk, who is 5' 11" and scales 190, was discovered by the late Yankee scout Bill Essick and started his career in Organized Ball in 1939 with Neosho of the Arkansas-Missouri loop. He played with Joplin, Binghamton and Augusta before enlisting in the Army as a private. He came out of the service as a major in the Rangers, receiving a battlefield commission. He was awarded, among other citations, the Silver Star for heroic action in 1944 in Luxembourg.
After the war, he performed with Kansas City and Beaumont before joining the Yankees in 1947. He remained with the parent club through the 1954 campaign, except for short tenures with the K.C. American Association farm in '48 and '49.
Houk piloted Denver for three seasons (1955-56-57), finishing second twice and third once, before coming back to the Stadium as a coach under Stengel in '58.
The new Yankee pilot lives in Saddle River, New Jersey., with his wife, Bette, and three children- Donna, 19, Dick, 17, and Bobby, 11. Ralph's hobbies are fishing and hunting."
-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
FATHER OF THE YEAR
"Ralph Houk, Yankee manager, was named Sports Father of the Year at an early-season luncheon at the Waldorf. He was the third Yankee to receive the designation in recent years, Mickey Mantle and Bob Turley being previous winners. Yankee announcer and former shortstop star Phil Rizzuto was named Radio Father of the Year."
-1961 New York Yankees Official Program and Scorecard
HE DIDN'T HOLD HIM ON
"The fantastic 1960 World Series is played every day in the Yankee press room and a hot argument always develops on whether Rocky Nelson was holding Mickey Mantle on the bag when he fielded a ground ball hit by Yogi Berra.
Ralph Houk, the pleasant and alert manager of the Yankees, called the play right.
'Nelson was playing just behind Mantle along the line,' he maintained. 'If he had been holding him on, he never would have been able to field Yogi's ground ball.'
This is exactly right. Nelson fielded the ball, tagged first and then started to throw to second, only to discover Mantle coming back while Gil McDougald was scoring."
-Frank Gibbons in the Cleveland Press (Baseball Digest, June 1961)
The Yankees' Ralph Houk on what burns him most as a manager:
"The sight of a pitcher going up to the plate and trying to get a base on balls. If the opposing pitcher is any good at all, he hasn't got a chance. I want our pitchers to try to do something positive. If a pitcher just meets the first pitch that's over the plate, something could happen. The ball might go through for a hit. An infielder could boot it. There's something sickening about a pitcher who gives himself up when he goes to bat. "
-Baseball Digest, June 1961
The Yankees' Ralph Houk:
"Pitchers generally aren't giving as many intentional passes now as they did years ago. Then the pass was used a lot to set up double plays. But today, with almost anybody liable to hit a homer, the intentional pass can boomerang and hurt you real bad. So managers are more cautious about using it."
-Baseball Digest, October 1961
"The 1961 season climaxed 23 years in the Yankee organization for Ralph Houk. It was a long, continuous climb up the ladder. But now he's made it ... with a championship club in his first year as skipper.
Ralph had his work cut out for him, no doubt about it. Following in the footsteps of the successful and popular Casey Stengel, who had won 10 pennants in 12 years, was no easy task. But Houk succeeded with an outstanding individual performance as manager. He won the confidence of the players, then of the press. He rebuilt his pitching staff after the season had started; moved Yogi Berra to the outfield on a full-time basis, gave Whitey Ford more frequent work, and developed opportunities for other players.
Houk thus became the first freshman manager in 15 years (Eddie Dyer with the Cardinals in 1946) to win his league pennant and first in the American League in 27 years (Mickey Cochrane of Detroit in 1934).
A hero of World War II, the Major never distinguished himself as a player, serving as a utility catcher behind Berra. But his leadership qualities were recognized and he prepped at Denver as a manager from 1955-57, returning to the Stadium as a coach in 1958."
-1961 World Series Official Souvenir Program
MEET THE YANKEES NEW BRAIN TRUST
"Manager Ralph Houk's coaching staff are Jim Hegan, bullpen and catching coach; Wally Moses, first base coaching box and batting tutor; Frank Crosetti, third base signalman and infield coach; and pitching coach Johnny Sain.
Houk has been in the Yankee organization since 1939, when he was only 19. This will be Ralph's 23rd straight season with the Yankees, including four years out for distinguished military service."
-1961 New York Yankees Official Program and Scorecard
"The 26th Yankee championship team, managed by Ralph Houk, has a coaching staff long on experience. Each is a specialist in his field.
Frankie Crosetti is completing his 30th year with the Yankees, the longest consecutive service on the team. This will be his 20th World Series (eight as a player, 12 as a coach). Frank has participated in a record 99 Series games as a player and coach and has been eligible for 108 Series games up to this classic.
This is Johnny Sain's first year as Yankee pitching coach. He starred with the Bombers for three seasons after a brilliant career with the old Boston Braves. He won 20 games four times with the Braves.
Wally Moses, a veteran American League batting star, also is in his first season as a Yankee coach. This is his tenth season as a big league coach, following 17 years as an American League outfield star.
Jim Hegan joined the Yankees in mid-season of 1960 as bullpen coach and catching instructor. He spent most of his career as a defensive catching standout with the Cleveland Indians, playing in two World Series and in All-Star competition.
Earl Torgeson was picked up as a free agent in mid-season and filled in as a pinch hitter and utility first baseman until he retired to the coaching ranks two months ago."
-1961 World Series Official Souvenir Program
FRANKIE CROSETTI (Coach)
"The 1961 season is Frank Crosetti's 30th consecutive as a Yankee. After 17 years as an infielder, Cro turned to coaching and he has served as third base signalman since 1949. All told, he has been a Yankee in a record 19 World Series. Frank played in 1,682 American League games and in 29 Series contests with the Yankees."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
Frank Peter Joseph Crosetti (CH) #2
Born October 4, 1910, in San Francisco, California, resides in Stockton, California.
Married and father of two.
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
"Third base coach Frank Crosetti celebrates his 30th straight season with the Yankees in 1961. He was one of the American League's top shortstops upon coming to the Bombers from the San Francisco Seals in 1932 until the advent of Phil Rizzuto in 1941.
The 50-year-old father of two, a Yankee coach since 1947, has appeared in seven World Series and one All-Star Game. Crosetti is the holder of several major league and Series records."
-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
JOHNNY SAIN (Coach)
"A great career as a star right-hander for the old Boston Braves for whom he won 20 or more games four times was followed by three good years as a Yankee. John helped the Braves to the 1948 pennant with 24 wins, and also was a member of the Yankee team that won a fifth straight pennant in 1953.
The Yankees' new pitching coach pilots his own Bonanza plane."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
John Franklin Sain (CH) #31
Born September 25, 1917, in Havana, Arkansas, resides in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas.
Married and father of four.
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
"Returning to the Stadium as Yankee pitching mentor is Johnny Sain, Bomber relief ace of 1952-53-54. The 43-year-old, 6' 2" 205-lb. former right-handed pitcher took a leave of absence from his Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, automobile agency to join the Yankees.
Sain, who hurled in the majors from 1942 through 1955 with the Boston Braves, Yankees and Kansas City A's, was a KC coach for a brief period in 1959. He's married with four children.
Besides winning 20 or more games four times, he led the National League in 1946 and '48, teaming with Warren Spahn in the latter year to pitch the Braves to the pennant."
-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
Johnny Sain, asked if he was surprised when Manager Ralph Houk picked him as the Yankees' pitching coach:
"I would have been surprised if he hadn't. We had been together a lot, years ago, in the Yankee bullpen. Ralph had set his sights on being a manager. I hoped to be a coach. He knew that he and I thought alike on baseball. We had the same basic ideas and theories."
-Baseball Digest, June 1961
WALLY MOSES (Coach)
"OL' MAN MOSE MUCH ALIVE
At 40 He's AL's Oldest Player
"As the oldest active player in the American League, Wally Moses comes in for a lot of good-natured ribbing on and off the playing field. But the Philadelphia Athletics wouldn't part with him on an even-up swap for half the outfielders in the majors.
They think ol' Man Mose is quite a guy- and the people behind the scenes know it.
Although he grudgingly admits to forty years on this year, Moses is still the fastest runner on the A's and manager Jimmie Dykes rebuked an inquisitive bystander, who wanted to know if Moses was an active coach, thusly:
'Whatta you mean coach? Moses is a better ball player right now than most of those high-priced hotshots,' snapped Dykes.
His teammates not only have a high regard for Moses' playing talent, but they look upon him as the final authority in batting technique. The A's and practically every player in the league have sought his advice on bashing horsehide- and that includes the mighty Ted Williams.
The record doesn't bear it out, but Moses is one of the best hitters ever seen at Shibe Park. From the minute he landed on Connie Mack's pay roll in 1935, to the time he was traded to the Chicago White Sox seven years later, Wally beat a merry tattoo on the fences. During his stay in Philadelphia, Moses built up an eye-filling lifetime average of .317.
Watch any warm-up session of the A's and you'll notice the hitters- and some smooth stroking veterans included- asking Moses for advice at the batting cage. And surprisingly enough, Wally seems to have the right answer. In his book, hitting is an art and he loves to help the youngsters.
Yet practically nobody recalls that Moses was one of the greatest base stealers in modern baseball. He broke Eddie Collins' record in Chicago by swiping fifty-six bases during the 1943 season and finished up the final two weeks on a gimpy leg.
What Moses likes to remember almost as much as his hitting is that during his larceny spree he was thrown out only twelve times. 'And eight of those times, I was running on a missed hit and run sign,' he says.
Dykes has some large plans for Moses this season. The biggest is that he will be used strictly for spot playing with enough rest to prevent the leg weariness which is bound to crop up in a performer who has been in the big time for seventeen seasons. But Moses doesn't mind.
'Dykes knows how to get the best out of me- and I might be able to help the ball club,' he says.
Moses played for Dykes before- with the White Sox- and while he thinks Jimmie is one of baseball's finest people, he would rather forget all about Comiskey Park and the Windy City.
The old-timer was acknowledged as one of the better hitters until he went west. There the average took a nasty tumble because, as most American Leaguers will attest, 'that Lake Michigan wind makes a .200 hitter out of the best of them.'
The only complaint Moses has for his stay in Chicago concerns the 1942 season- his first in that town. 'I hit the ball better than I ever did in my life,' he says, 'and I wound up that year with a .270 average. That's rough but I was lucky to have Dykes as my manager and he knew the score.' "
-Ray Kelly, condensed from the Philadelphia Bulletin (Baseball Digest, May 1951)
"Wally Moses, who coaches at first base for the Dykesmen, was born October 8, 1910, in Uvalda, Georgia. He came up to the Athletics in 1935 and has been a big leaguer ever since. Wally still holds the record for stolen bases for the White Sox, having pilfered 56 one year while playing for Dykes there. He also still holds the record for home runs by a Philadelphia player hitting from the left side, having smacked four-masters in one season.
In the 1946 season, while playing for the Boston Red Sox, he made five consecutive hits, which is believed to be a record. The popular Wally ended an outstanding playing career in 1951 with the Athletics and immediately joined the coaching staff. He is considered one of the best teachers in the game."
-1954 Philadelphia Athletics official yearbook
HE'S NEW YANK BAT COACH, BUT WHAT A STANCE!
Moses Stood Sideways, Yet Hit .417 In World Series
"Some years ago the Giants' high management saw the light of Leo Durocher's reasoning about the successful quotient of nice guys and hired Durocher as their field manager, instead of a nice guy named Mel Ott.
Ott went out to teach the Giants' farm system about hitting. He told them how it should be done; about the level swing, the wrist snap, the proper stance and step.
Generally, some time during the lesson, Ott would step and hit a few to the edge of the horizon. Generally, about the second time he kicked his right foot into the pitcher's face and whaled another ball into orbit, he'd realize he was kicking away all the verbal wisdom he'd been imparting to the kids.
'Just don't do anything I do and you'll be good hitters,' he'd tell the kids, because he'd suddenly be struck by the horrifying possibility of youngsters trying to imitate the unorthodox style that has produced more homers than any other ever exhibited in the National League.
Ott would laugh about it after he'd dismissed the class. In fact, he'd enjoy an inward chuckle about the whole batting coach business. Ott was one of the legion of baseball men who believed that hitters are made by destiny; all a coach can do is give destiny a shove.
All this is brought up because Wally Moses knows the same truths and among his new duties as a Yankee coach will be advising the batters. Of course, teaching the Yankees to hit is like carrying coals to Scranton and nobody knows this better than the fellow who brought a particularly peculiar stance to the A's in 1935.
'I just gradually got into that thing,' he says. 'I really never did notice it 'til I got to the big leagues and everybody said I had an awkward looking stance.'
Old A's fans will never forget 'that thing.' Wally stood almost sideways in the left-handed batter's box. His right foot was well on its way to first base. He was the only batter in baseball who could see the pitcher without turning his head. He held the bat below waist level and between pitches, he swung it to and fro like a golfer taking a practice swing before teeing off.
By the time he swung into a pitch, though, his right foot had been brought around to a point where when Wally finished his step, it landed in the inside corner of the box. And the bat was lifted during the golfer's backswing to a plane where it swung true and level at the ball.
The truth of the performance was that only Wally's preliminary motions were unorthodox. At the moment he connected he had the level swing of all solid hitters.
'The main thing with a fellow's stance is that it be natural,' Wally believes more strongly than ever. 'It may look awkward to somebody else, but it will be all right to him.'
Repeating these truths and directing enough traffic at first base to put Wally with the second pennant winner of his career (he was a .417 Series hitter with the Red Sox) is the goal of his life. Wouldn't he like to be a manager someday?
'That's the last thing I want to be, a baseball manager,' Wally declares. 'There's too many headaches in that. There's too many guys second-guessing you- I like to be out on the field and be active; that's the part of the game I enjoy. You look at all those managers; they look pretty beat up. It's an awful strain. Life's too short. It's good money, but I don't think it's worth the money.'
There never was a man who played harder than Moses. He could do it all, hit, run, field, throw. He was an all-out battler, but never a trouble seeker. But sometimes trouble finds the peace lover, as it did the day Red Jones, the umpire, didn't like the spoken word as it reached him from the White Sox dugout. Jones ordered the bench cleared. Every player moved except Moses.
'You don't mean me, too, do you Red? I've never been thrown out of a game in my life. I didn't say a word,' Wally pleaded.
'Wally,' Red told him, 'it's just like raiding a place where they think gambling's going on. The good people are taken along with the bad.' "
-John Dell, Philadelphia Inquirer (Baseball Digest, February 1961)
"A major leaguer since 1935, this is Wally Moses' first year as a Yankee. He is serving Ralph Houk as batting and first base coach. In 17 American League seasons he hit a robust .291 in 2,012 games. He has been a big league coach since 1952.
On May 2, 1945, Wally came to the plate while playing for the White Sox and apparently received a great ovation. Then it was announced: Italy had just surrendered."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
Wallace Moses (CH) #36
Born October 8, 1910, in Uvalda, Georgia, resides in Philadelphia, Pa.
Married and father of one.
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
"A newcomer to the Bombers this season is Wally Moses, first base coach. Although a stranger to Yankee flannels, Moses has been on the major league scene since 1935, when he joined Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics, being purchased from Galveston. The former American League ace flychaser stands 5' 10", weighs 161, is married and has one child. Moses, who was born in Uvalda, Georgia., October 8, 1910, makes his home in Philadelphia.
He led the junior circuit in doubles in 1945 and tied for the lead in triples in 1943. After retiring as an active player, Wally coached the A's from 1952 through 1954; the Phillies from 1955 through 1958; and the Reds in 1959 and 1960."
-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
JIM HEGAN (Coach)
"A major league catcher - and a good one- for 18 years, Jim Hegan joined the Yankees in mid-season last summer. In two World Series for Cleveland, Jim caught all 10 games for the Indians. As a player he handled such outstanding pitchers as Bob Feller, Bob Lemon and Early Wynn. Now he serves as catching and bullpen coach for the American League champions."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
James Edward Hegan (CH) #44
Born August 3, 1920, in Lynn, Mass., resides in Lakewood, Ohio.
Married and father of three.
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
"Boss of the bullpen is rangy Jim Hegan, who came to the Yankees on July 29, 1960, succeeding Bill Dickey, who left because of illness. Hegan, born August 3, 1920, in Lynn, Mass., lives in Lakewood Ohio, with his wife and two children. He's 6' 2", weighs 195.
Rated one of the finest catchers during his active days, Hegan was behind the bat in three no-hit games while with the Cleveland Indians: Don Black's victory over Philadelphia, July 10, 1947; Bob Lemon's triumph over Detroit, June 30, 1948; and Bob Feller's third no-hitter, July 1, 1951, against Detroit. Jim pulled an unassisted double play in the contest of June 21, 1949."
-New York Yankees 1961 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
JOE DIMAGGIO (Spring Training Instructor)
"Joseph Paul DiMaggio was the last of the 'big' Yankee guns. The Yankee Clipper was one of the classiest of all time in his 13 seasons. He had a .325 lifetime average and ran off a fantastic streak of hitting safely in 56 consecutive games (1941). He was one of the finest outfielders, had a powerful throwing arm and was an inspirational leader."
-1960 Mutual Baseball Annual
SPUD MURRAY (Batting Practice Pitcher)
"Here's a new face in the Yankee Yearbook. More questions are asked about this uniformed man than anyone wearing the famed Pinstripe. He never appears in a game. He's not even on the Yankee roster. But during the long hours of practice, he will be seen on the pitching mound and doing valuable chores.
He is Meredith W. Murray, who wants to be known only as 'Spud.' Murray is the Yankees' batting practice pitcher and wears No. 55. He has control and a rubber arm and gets the ball in the strike zone for the hitters to take their daily practice cuts. Spud was a minor league pitcher."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
Spud Murray (CH) #55
Born October 28, 1928, in Media, Pa., where he resides. Height: 6-4, weight: 190. Bats right, throws right.
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
EARL TORGESON (Coach)
TORGESON - THROWBACK TO THE PAST
All He Needs Is A Handlebar Mustache
" 'All that fellow Torgeson needs is a handle-bar mustache and he could pass himself off as one of the old-time Baltimore Orioles.'
That was a fan's comment recently about the Boston Braves' first baseman, and he was right. Earl is out of the roaring 1890s on the playing field and to a generation of spectators used to modern baseball of high batting averages and banjo singles and quiet, unobtrusive gestures on the field, the man looks out of date. Torgy belongs back in the era when batters could hit behind the runner and slide and steal bases and, if needed, throw a punch.
Did the general manager of the Braves, John Quinn, think Torgy was of the old-fashioned school?
'Definitely,' said the old man, 'he's not only old-fashioned but old school tie. And I think he has real spectator appeal. Even I get a charge out of watching him lift up his hat by the button after he hits a home run. All he has to do is get into a streak and he'll be a sensation.'
Torgy is perhaps the most underrated regular in the major leagues. With thousands of fans, he hasn't lived down his first year in the league when his sole hope of catching a fly ball was to have his mouth opened wide at the correct time. The spectacles he wears also cut down on his glamour and his habit of wearing high-water pants on the field doesn't endear him to the fashion trades.
Outside of his own club, Torgy's greatest admirers are Leo Durocher and Ted McGrew, present head of the Boston Red Sox scouting staff. McGrew first saw him in Class B with Wenatchee, Wash., before World War II and finally urged the Braves to buy him in 1946 when Torgy returned from the war. Durocher won't talk about Torgy publicly for fear of being hit with a 'tampering' charge, but the New York Giants' bench has heard him mutter praises of the Braves' first baseman.
In an era of individual players, Torgy is a team player. Other left-handed hitters with a runner on first base slice a single to left field, sending the runner to second base only and getting themselves a safe hit for the averages. Torgy, being of the old school, tries to pull the ball behind the runner so he [the runner] can make third base if the ball goes through the infield. The attempt frequently fails. This hurts his own average but helps scored runs generally.
Few long ball hitters are willing to, or can, steal a base. They save themselves for the big inning. Torgy is no snob about the big inning. He gets on base any way he can because he thinks, just as Eddie Stanky thinks, that this is part of the game. Torgy, a .290 hitter, drew 119 bases on balls, only three less than Ralph Kiner, and because he was on the paths so often, scored 120 runs, highest in the league.
The man is always hustling. When physically able to play and the manager lets him, he's out there charging. Two years ago he played only twenty-five games. He ruined a shoulder by diving at, and missing, Jackie Robinson in trying to break up a double play. When the shoulder was healed, Torgy rejoined the Braves in time to throw a punch and not miss teammate Jim Russell in a fistic encounter during a celebration of Torgy's return to the team. The Braves' management refused to let him play first base with a broken hand in a cast.
In spring training last year he felt he would never play again. His left arm was injured and he couldn't make the overhand throw. All he did was play 156 games and tied with Eddie Waitkus of the Phillies in accepting more chances than any first baseman in the majors. Made more errors, too, and more assists and more putouts.
General Manager Quinn, an ardent admirer of anyone who can hit curve ball pitching, chipped in this parting comment on Torgy:
'I was talking to Tommy Holmes about Torgy the other day. You know Tommy is a fine student of hitting. Tommy told me that Torgy's wrist action and hand action are the best they have ever been. I think Torgy might be ready for his biggest year.' "
-Gerry Hern, condensed from the Boston Post (Baseball Digest, May 1951)
FEATURED CAST
"Earl Torgeson, the recent White Sox acquisition who had been sort of a baseball nomad, was reminded of one of his adventures.
'Happened when I was with the Phillies,' he said. 'Terry Moore was managing the club and we're playing the Giants at the Polo Grounds.
'I'm out of the lineup. My right hand is broken and in a cast. Johnny Wyrostek is playing first base.
'We're getting beat by the eighth inning, but we got kind of a rally going. Situation seems to indicate a pinch hitter for Wyrostek, but Terry's handcuffed. No more first basemen but me, with a hand in a cast.
'I've given him an argument. We're beat anyhow. Maybe we can get back in the ball game if he uses a pinch hitter and the pinch hitter comes through. I tell him I can cut part of the cast off and make a stab at playing first the rest of the game. We can't be any worse off than we are now.
'Terry uses the pinch hitter. He makes good, and first thing you know we've knocked Johnny Antonelli out and we're leading.
'I manage to knock off enough of the cast so I can barely get my fingers in the glove far enough to keep it from dropping off. I got to first base. We get the Giants out, but I don't have a single chance.
'Now the situation gets more complicated. We had so many guys at bat in our eighth, my turn comes up in the ninth. I can't grip a bat, but I go up, anyhow. Darned if the pitcher doesn't walk me on four pitches, none of them anywhere near the plate.
'I still have to play in the Giants' half of the ninth. I don't get a single chance in that inning, either.' "
-Warren Brown in the Chicago American (Baseball Digest, September 1957)
"Earl Torgeson, who played in the 1948 World Series with the Boston Braves, now has an opportunity to participate in the Series with an American League club and embellish his .389 batting average for five games with the Braves. Torgy was a National Leaguer from 1947 to 1955 and has played with Detroit as well as Chicago in the American League.
Torgeson is rated one of the 'smart' hitters in baseball, the type who makes the opposing pitcher work the hardest. He draws a high number of bases on balls and his RBI percentage for his number of times at bat is usually among the highest in the league.
In addition to being a 'selective-type' hitter in that he compels the rival hurlers to work overtime, Torgy is rated one of the outstanding base runners in the business and a top hand defensively around first base."
-1959 Official World Series Program
Earl Torgeson, White Sox veteran, discussing trade rumors:
"First, you're an untouchable. Later, the boss is still saying you're untouchable, but you notice your name keeps popping up in the newspapers. Then you're traded. The next stage is when you're not mentioned in any trade rumors and that's when you start worrying."
-Baseball Digest, June 1960
"Veteran Earl Torgeson was signed in June as a defensive replacement for Bill Skowron at first base and as a spot starter and pinch hitter. This is Earl's 16th consecutive season as a major leaguer. He broke in with the old Boston Braves in 1947 and was in his first World Series in 1948.
The bespectacled left-hand hitter contacted the Yankees after his release by the White Sox and if the Bombers had not signed him, he intended to retire to his investment business in Chicago. But now Torgy is looking forward to helping the Yankees get into a World Series this fall. He hopes it will be his third fall classic. He served as a utility man for the White Sox in the '59 Series."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
Clifford Earl Torgeson (1B) #29
Born January 1, 1924, in Snohomish, Washington, resides in Chicago, Illinois. Height: 6-3, weight: 180. Bats left, throws left.
Father of Christine (14) and Andrew (12).
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
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