A NEW ERA IN YANKEE HISTORY
"A warm welcome to Yankee Stadium! As the Yankees continue the defense of their American League pennant, a new era dawns in Yankee history. No team in organized sports has a more dramatic or more successful history. The Bombers have won 25 pennants and 18 World Championships ... both are records ... in the last 40 seasons.
And now as the new era opens, the Yankees are under new field and office leadership. New General Manager H. Roy Hamey and Field Manager Ralph Houk have the same goal as previous Yankee administrations ... the best in baseball ... more pennants on the center field flagpole here at historic Yankee Stadium.
Co-owners Dan Topping and Del Webb have been operating the Yankees since the end of World War II and the Yankees have won 11 American League pennants and eight World Series in that short span of time. And the Yankee owners and their management intend to continue bringing the fans the best baseball anywhere, in the game's best-known ball park.
Since the opening of Yankee Stadium in 1923, more than 50,000,000 fans have attended Yankee games, World Series contests, professional and college football, championship fights, religious and fraternal functions and other events.
So a welcome ... and come back often."
-1961 New York Yankees Official Program and Scorecard
"A new era in Yankee history begins to unfold in this 1961 baseball season. Proud of our heritage ... proud of our 25 American League pennants and 18 World Championships, the New York Yankees of this year and the future will be looking ahead.
With new front office and field management, new stars and new hopes, the Yankees of this new decade are dedicated to bringing fans more of the best in baseball in the game's finest ball park ... Yankee Stadium, traditional 'Home of Champions.'
We have had a glorious past, with more championship teams and more great stars than any other team in any sport. But there will no living on our laurels. The Yankees invite you, our fans, to join us in the bright and happy future of Yankee baseball. To this, we have dedicated the 1961 Yankee Yearbook."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
WELCOME TO THE WORLD SERIES
Yankee Stadium October 1961
"The New York Yankees are happy to welcome you to the World Series. Of the 26 Series in which the Yankees have been the American League representatives, 24 have been played here in Yankee Stadium. In the Yanks' 25 previous Series, many individual and club records have been set. This year, new World Series marks are sure to be established.
The 1961 season was one of the most dramatic in New York's long and glorious baseball history. The fabulous home run race between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in pursuit of Babe Ruth's 34-year-old record, coupled with the record smashing home run pace of the Yankee team as a whole highlighted Ralph Houk's first season as Yankee manager."
-Official Souvenir Program of the 1961 World Series
YANKEE STADIUM MONUMENTS AND PLAQUES
"The famed monuments and plaques which honor five departed greats in Yankee history can be seen out near the left center field flagpole. The three monuments in front honor Henry Louis Gehrig, Miller James Huggins and George Herman 'Babe' Ruth. The plaques to the rear, on the center field wall, pay tribute to the late General Manager Edward Grant Barrow and the late Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
FIRST OF 25 ... 40 YEARS AGO
"Just 40 years ago the New York Yankees, then playing in the old Polo Grounds, won their first American League pennant. No baseball expert in 1921 could have foreseen the remarkable string of victories that was to follow. In the 40 seasons that have passed, the Yankees have gone on to win a record 25 American League flags and 18 World Championships."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
THREE YANKEE HEROES
"Yankee heroes throughout the Series were three who helped bring the Yankees back to a three-game tie at Pittsburgh. Mickey Mantle drove in two key runs; Bobby Richardson hit two triples and drove home three runners while Whitey Ford pitched his second consecutive complete-game shutout. In the second game of the Series, Mantle hit two homers right-handed, the second clearing the centerfield fence, first time ever done by a right-hand hitter at Forbes Field."
-The New York Yankees Official 1961 Yearbook
POWER PERSONIFIED
"With one of the most sensational half-season slugging exhibitions in baseball annals, the Yankees may be headed for major league record-shattering home run performances. The Yankees' goal, of course, is not home runs ... but victories in their struggle to retain their American League championship. The 1960 Bombers set a league mark of 193 homers, but the current Yanks are headed for new heights that may carry them past the major league record of 221.
Principal sluggers in the power parade are Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Bill Skowron and Yogi Berra. The major league leaders are Mantle with 32 and Maris with 35 as of mid-July. When Babe Ruth hit his record 60 in 1927, Lou Gehrig hit 47. Maris and Mantle may top this combined record of 107."
-1961 New York Yankees Official Program and Scorecard
NEW PITCHERS BOLSTER YANKEES FOR LATE SEASON PENNANT DRIVE
"Roland Sheldon, Bud Daley, Hal Reniff, Tex Clevenger and Al Downing are newcomers to the Yankee pitching corps this season. And young Bill Stafford was added late last summer. All this indicates that more of the Yankee pitching staff is new.
This unusual procedure of rebuilding while still winning has been accomplished in less than a year.
Sheldon, a raw rookie who broke into pro ball last June with Auburn in the Class-D New York-Pennsylvania League where he posted a 15-1 record, has made the spectacular jump from D to the majors ... and he's done it as a big-league winner. He pitched consecutive shutouts at the Stadium before the All-Star break and had moved into Manager Houk's starting rotation. Rollie, 24, is a former University of Connecticut basketball and baseball star from Woodstock, Conn.
Daley, a 28-year-old left-hander, was obtained by General Manager Roy Hamey just before the June trading deadline. To acquire the two-time All-Star, the Yankees sent Art Ditmar and Deron Johnson to the Athletics. Daley won 16 games in each of the last two seasons at K.C. After becoming acclimated to working for a contender, Daley moved into regular rotation with outstanding success.
Clevenger, of course, was acquired for relief work, as was young Reniff who was brought up from the AAA Richmond farm club. The recent promotion of Al Downing may be a repeat of the Sheldon story.
The 20-year-old southpaw from Trenton, N.J., signed his first pro contract with the Yankee organization last fall and had worked in just 12 professional games with the Binghamton Triplets of the Class-A Eastern League where he was 9-1. He had averaged a strikeout an inning with the Trips and his minor league manager predicted that he would help the Yankees this year."
-1961 New York Yankees Official Program and Scorecard
NEW YORK YANKEES SPRING TRAINING FAMILY TEAM PHOTO
Yogi Berra
Carmen Berra
Clete Boyer
Marilyn Boyer
Valerie Boyer (age 5)
Stephanie Boyer (age 2)
Jim Bronstad
Jo Ann Bronstad
Ken Bronstad (age 2 1/2)
Jim Coates
Ruby Coates
Jimmy Coates (age 2 1/2)
Jane Lee Coates (age 1 1/2)
Art Ditmar
Jane Ditmar
Debbie Ditmar (age 4)
Jon Ditmar (age 2)
Jim Hegan (coach)
Clare Hegan
Pat Hegan (age 13)
Cathy Hegan (age 6)
Ralph Houk (manager)
Bette Houk
Bobby Houk (age 11)
Roger Maris
Pat Maris
Susan Maris (age 3)
Roger Maris, Jr. (age 2)
Danny McDevitt
Betty McDevitt
Bobby Richardson
Betsy Richardson
Robert Richardson III (age 3 1/2)
Ronald Richardson (age 2 1/2)
Christine Elizabeth Richardson (age 3 months)
Bill Short
Dottie Short
Ralph Terry
Tanya Terry
Lee Thomas
Jo Ann Thomas
Deron Thomas (age 2)
Bob Turley
Dollie Turley
RECORD YANKEE ATTENDANCE
"The Yankees continue to be the greatest draw in all of sports. In city after city, the Yankees are setting attendance marks. The Yankees have attracted the top crowds of the season in Minnesota, Chicago and Los Angeles and helped Detroit to a new all-time series record of 147,712.
Right here in Yankee Stadium, the slugging defending champs attracted 74,246 (plus more than a thousand servicemen free) on the Fourth of July when the Tigers were here for two games. It was the largest crowd here in 14 years. The early July homestand per date average was well over 33,000. The clubs meet again for the last time this year in New York on Friday night, September 1, Saturday afternoon, Sept. 2, and Sunday afternoon, Sept. 3."
-1961 New York Yankees Official Program and Scorecard
YANKEE STADIUM PARKING FACILITIES
"The New York Yankees are continually seeking improved parking for Stadium fans. Some additional parking areas have been obtained in recent seasons and the Yanks will continue to improve this service in the future.
Yankee-operated parking lots as always assure fans of wide aisles between rows, easy access to and from parking lots at all times, and courteous treatment by the parking attendants- all part of a program for the convenience of Yankee fans.
All regular Yankee parking lots will be in operation again this year, providing excellent parking at a uniform price of $1.00 both at the Stadium and north and south of the Stadium. The lot at 164th Street and River Avenue is especially convenient for fans driving through the North Bronx, and the lot at 151st Street and River Avenue (opposite the Bronx County Jail) is particularly convenient for fans driving from Long Island, Manhattan and the South Bronx.
Once again, as an added convenience for fans driving to Yankee Stadium, the Polo Grounds parking lot will be open every day this season from 8:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M., and until after the close of any night event at Yankee Stadium."
-1961 New York Yankees Official Program and Scorecard
Yankee Parking Lots:
-South side of 157th St., Ruppert Place to Cromwell Ave.
-between Cromwell and River Avenues on 153rd St.
-163rd-164th Streets, between River and Gerard Avenues
-151st St. and River Ave., opposite Bronx County Jail
Privately Owned Parking Lots:
-West side of River Ave., between 151st and 153rd Streets
-West side of River Ave. and 157th St.
-East side of River Ave., North of 153rd St.
-West side of Ruppert Place, between 157th and 158th Streets
-East side of River Ave., North of 151st St.
-East side of River Ave., 164th-165th Streets
-East side of River Ave., South of 162nd St.
-Farmer's Square-Cromwell Ave Roadway, and West of 151st St. Viaduct, opposite Bronx County Jail
Garages:
-Cromwell Ave. and 157th St.
-East side of River Ave., South side of 158th St.
-East side of River Ave., North side of 157th St.
-East side of River Ave., South side of 157th St.
-North Side of 158th St., between River and Gerard Avenues
-East side of River Ave., corner of 158th St.
-1961 New York Yankees Official Program and Scorecard
FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE ... FOR A BETTER BALL GAME
1. Gambling or wagering of any sort at Yankee Stadium is strictly prohibited.
2. Any spectator who goes on to the playing field during a ball game is violating an American League rule and will be ejected from the Stadium.
3. The management requests that spectators refrain from throwing missiles on the field.
4. Patrons in the lower grandstand front row boxes are asked not to drape clothing over the box railing.
-1961 New York Yankees Official Program and Scorecard
AMERICAN LEAGUE UMPIRES
1 Berry
2 Paparella
3 McKinley
4 Hurley
5 Stevens
6 Honochick
7 Soar
8 Napp
9 Flaherty
10 Chylak
11 Runge
12 Umont
13 Rice
14 Stewart
15 Drummond
16 Smith
17 Kinnamon
18 Schwartz
19 Linsalata
21 Carrigan
Supervisor of Umpires - Cal Hubbard
1961 YANKEES YEARBOOK AND PROGRAM ADVERTISEMENTS
-The American Tobacco Company: Pall Mall-Herbert Tareyton-Tareyton-Lucky Strike
-AMF Pinspotters: Bowl where you see the AMF magic triangle.
-Ballantine Beer: Bubbling with Pride at Sponsoring the New York Yankees on Radio and Television for 15 Straight Years
-Ballantine's Scotch Whisky: The more you know about Scotch, the more you like Ballantine's.
-Beech-Nut Gum: It's Flavor-ific.
-Beefeater: The imported English Gin that doubles your martini pleasure.
-Camel: The best tobacco makes the best smoke!
-Canada Dry Ginger Ale: Spectating is more sparkling with Canada Dry Ginger Ale.
-Chemical New York Trust Company: The Bank That's Pledged To Serve You Better
-Chesterfield Cigarettes
-Chevron
-Coca-Cola: Be Really Refreshed! Have a Coke!
-Coming Attraction: CHICAGO WHITE SOX (with Minnie Minoso, Roy Sievers, Al Smith, Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox)
-Coming Attraction: DETROIT TIGERS (with Al Kaline, Norm Cash, Rocky Colavito, Bill Bruton and Jake Wood)
-Duke of Durham Filter King
-Ehlers Coffee: Leads the Coffee League in Flavor and Satisfaction
-Elsie Ice Cream Specialties: Elsie says: try my ice cream.
-Esquire Boot Polish: Leading the League in Shoe Shines!
-Four Roses: The Good Life includes Four Roses.
-Garcia y Vega: Connoisseur's Choice Since 1882
-GGG Clothes: Sold At America's Finest Stores. Always A Perfect Hit.
-Gottfried Frankfurter Rolls: New York's Finest!
-Great Western New York Champagne: On the ball for 100 years!
-Gulden's Mustard: Tops at home plate! Great on Franks!
-Infrarub: How does Roger Maris relieve sore aching muscles?
-J.W. Dant Charcoal Perfected Whiskey: Charcoal magic enhances every drop ... 10 years aging makes it perfect!
-Kent: You'll feel better about smoking with the taste of Kent.
-Knickerbocker: Satisfy your beer thirst better.
-L&M Filters
-Lano Wax: Touch of Magic
-Longchamps Restaurants: After the Game ... For Great Food and Great Drinks
-Marlboro: Make Yourself Comfortable - Have A Marlboro
-Mutual Of New York Weather Star Signals
-Newport: Newport refreshes while you smoke.
-New York's Top Taste Team: Chesterfield Cigarettes-L & M Filters-Oasis Filter Cigarettes-Duke of Durham
-Northeast: Most Jets To Florida
-Oasis Filter Cigarettes
-Old Gold Spin Filters: Old Gold Spin Filters spin and cool the smoke naturally ... to give you ... the best taste yet in a filter cigarette.
-Old Spice: Men who 'live' outdoors ... choose smooth, skin-soothing Old Spice After Shave Lotion.
-Palmolive Rapid Shave: For The Fastest, Smoothest Shaves Possible
-Park & Tilford: The Finest Tasting Whiskey Of Its Type
-Parliament: Why is Parliament's 1/4 inch recess so important to you? Because tobacco tastes best when the filter's recessed.
-Seagram's 7: Say Seagram's and be sure.
-Seagram's Extra Dry Gin: Top of the League in Dryness
-Schenley: After the game enjoy Schenley- the only whiskey with whipped-in smoothness.
-Schraft's: Our Proudest and Finest for You to Give
-Sinclair: At Sinclair We Care ... About You ... About Your Car
-Stahl-Meyer: These frankfurters are hickory smoked!
-Sweet-Orr: The Quality Leader In Work & Casual Wear. An All-Star Selection For 90 Years.
-Top Brass: Moisturized To Stop Dry Scalp ... Medicated To Fight Dandruff ... No Greasy Build-Up!
-White Rock: Lighter, Livelier
FROM DIMAGGIO TO MANTLE: EPIC OF THE GREATEST YANKEE ERA
The Heroic Skills Of The Two Men Who Contributed Most To The No. 1 Success Of SPORT'S Lifetime. But It Didn't Come Easily For Either
"A vivid color picture of Joe DiMaggio and his son, Little Joe, decorated the cover of the very first issue of Sport Magazine. This was 1946, DiMag's first year out of the Army. He was separated from his first wife, his financial affairs were tangled and he was having trouble adjusting to civilian life, to his new boss Larry MacPhail, and to the absence of Joe McCarthy, who had resigned as Yankee manager shortly after the season's opener.
The 'bad' year is really a true measure of DiMaggio. This was Joe's 'bad' year: a .290 batting average (seven additional hits would have moved him to .304), 25 home runs, 95 runs batted in and a slugging percentage of .511. What percentage of major-leaguers active today wouldn't settle for such a 'bad' year?
DiMaggio himself considered it a 'bad' year, but Joe was always the perfectionist. 'After all,' he told me when I was ghosting his autobiography, Lucky To Be A Yankee, 'I have to consider it a 'bad' year because the Yankees didn't win the pennant.' It wasn't his own average that bothered him as much as it was the fact that the Yankees didn't win the pennant. The Yankee Clipper always thought in terms of the team, not himself as an individual. It was the first time in his professional career he failed to hit more than .300. The next time he failed (1951) he quit.
DiMaggio had been on six pennant winners in the first seven seasons he played with the Yankees, and he was on four more in the five seasons following 1946. In 1951 he handed the baton to Mickey Mantle, who has carried on in center field for the Yankees ever since, his value to the team emphasized in much the same telling manner in which DiMaggio's was- American League championships. The Yankees have won eight pennants in the decade Mantle has been with them.
The Opening Day of the 1951 season, when DiMaggio and Mantle played together, represented a strange array in the Yankee outfield. Joe was in his accustomed place in center, Jackie Jensen was in left and Mickey was in right. 'The Yankee outfield,' observed Red Smith in the New York Herald-Tribune, 'represents a combined experience of 1,685 games in the American League, 1,640 of them by DiMaggio.' And it was true, of course. Jensen had played 45 games in 1950, Mantle none.
And after the game, Mantle, who had piled up praise all through spring training, was asked how he felt about his first big-league game. 'All right, I guess,' was the hesitant reply of the 19-year-old, 'but Joe had to yell at me a lot.' Quickly DiMaggio explained it was only because of the crowd of 45,000 that he had to yell at Mantle. 'The kid was all right,' said the Clipper, practically a rave notice coming from him. 'I appreciate what he's going through. I had played before large crowds in the Pacific Coast League before I came to the Yankees, but Yankee Stadium is something special and don't ever let anybody tell you differently.'
Actually, the 45,000 fans who watched Mantle in his debut against the Red Sox in that opening game in 1951 were more people than had seen him play in his entire first season (1949) with Independence, Kansas, in the Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri League.
DiMaggio was quite a prop to Mickey in that first season. By shouted directions Joe moved him into position for the hitters, and when Mantle started after a ball the Clipper 'talked ' him into the catch, much in the fashion of a man in the control tower 'talking' a pilot into a landing.
On high flies to right-center, DiMaggio frequently allowed Mantle to make the catch, although he could have taken the ball himself without any extraordinary effort. Joe believed this enabled the rookie to build up his self-confidence.
DiMaggio never doubted Mickey's potential and never begrudged Mickey the headlines. 'The kid has power to either side and great speed,' Joe said. 'The longer he plays, the less pressure will be on him. I don't see how he can miss.'
In that first year, Mantle and DiMaggio were separated for a while when Mickey was sent to the Kansas City Blues in the American Association. In his brief stay there, Mickey got all the evidence needed to show him he was capable of big-league success. He played 40 games with the Blues, driving in 50 runs, with 11 homers and a .361 batting average. He left the Yankees on July 15 and was recalled on August 8 to finish out the season and play in the World Series against the New York Giants.
DiMaggio had a further chance to observe Mantle in 1952, Joe's first year out of baseball. DiMaggio had a pre-and post-game television show during Yankee home stands then, and he was on hand as Mickey took over his old position in center field. Joe saw him hit 23 home runs and tie for the lead in double plays by American League outfielders. He was convinced the young man was going to be around for a while.
There were no regrets on Joe's part when he left baseball. Dan Topping and Del Webb, the Yankee co-owners, would gladly have signed him again for $100,000- the first authentic six-figure salary for a ballplayer (no matter what you may have read elsewhere), but DiMag's mind was made up.
'I told some of the writers in the training camp at Phoenix in 1951 that it might be my last season, but they thought I was just kidding,' Joe said. 'My right knee had been giving me trouble for a couple of years and both shoulders were bothering me. My swing was hampered and I couldn't get around on the ball.
'Where I was fooled, though, was that I really thought I could make my last year a good one. I had the crazy notion of bowing out in a blaze of glory. Instead, I had a bad one (.263). I guess the reflexes just weren't there anymore.'
It must be mentioned, though, that DiMaggio bowed out fittingly- as a member of another world championship Yankee team. He left behind him a record that Mantle will have to do some hustling to equal- ten pennants and nine world championships in 13 active seasons.
When I was assigned to write this story, I spoke with Mantle in the Yankee locker room. I asked Mickey if DiMaggio had given him any advice since 1951.
'No,' said Mantle, no word waster he.
'Did you ever ask him for any advice?' I said.
'No,' said Mantle, sticking to the script.
Coincidentally, I met DiMaggio as I was leaving the clubhouse. Joe had been invited to the game that day by Topping. I told Joe of the two quick 'nos' I had just received from Mantle.
'Well, that would seem to take care of that, wouldn't it?' Joe said, grinning. 'Actually, I never volunteered any advice to Mickey or any other ballplayer. Sure, when he came up as a green kid, I tried to help him in the outfield, but that's different than presuming to give unasked advice to a recognized star.'
As a matter of fact, DiMaggio himself never sought advice from anybody once he reached the major leagues. In 1947, when Charlie Dressen was coaching at third for the Yankees, he was considered a master at 'reading' the pitchers. Charlie would use whistle signals to relay his information to the hitters, but he was cooly rebuffed when he tried to pass along his tips to DiMaggio.
'I prefer to rely on my own eyes,' DiMaggio said.
DiMaggio and Mantle were involved in one of the strangest of all World Series plays in their one year together. It was at Yankee Stadium in the fifth inning of the second game against the Giants.
Willie Mays lifted a routine fly to right-center. Both Mantle and DiMaggio started for the ball. Mickey got under it and suddenly fell to the ground as though shot. Joe quickly reached over Mickey's form and caught the ball. Then he bent over to help Mantle, who had torn two knee ligaments.
'I was afraid he was dead,' DiMaggio recalled recently. I shouted 'Mick! Mick!' and he never moved a muscle or batted an eye. Then I waved to our bench to send out a stretcher. Incidentally, one of the strangest things about Mickey's collapse was nobody came from our bench. I'd thought they'd all be running out there.
Standing tall in the column of statistics for the 14 years from 1947 to 1960 is the record the Yankees piled up from 1949 through 1953. Five times they won the World Series in those years, a consecutive streak of championships that may never be duplicated. DiMaggio played on three of those teams- 1949, 1950 and 1951- and Mantle played on three- 1951, 1952 and 1953.
Although Joe McCarthy, Bill Dickey and Bucky Harris were the Yankee managers from 1946 through 1948, the great Yankee era of SPORT's lifetime will be remembered mostly as the Casey Stengel era. Casey came to the club in 1949, billed as a clown, and he left in 1960, billed as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) managers in baseball history. Over the 15-year stretch from 1946 through 1960, the Yankees finished first 11 times, second once, and third three times. They won eight World Series.
It was an era of great teams, anchored by DiMaggio and then by Mantle, but including a cast of players who were all stars in their own rights. It was the era of Charlie Keller, Johnny Mize, Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi, Ed Lopat and Phil Rizzuto. It was the era, too, of Yogi Berra, Billy Martin, Whitey Ford, Hank Bauer and Bill Skowron.
Memories are many of the Yankee players and the Yankee victories. Who can forget DiMaggio in 1947 rebounding from the 'bad' year by carrying the Yankees to a World Series victory and winning the Most Valuable Player award? Who can forget Phil Rizzuto, the Scooter, fielding at shortstop with all-consuming skill, running the bases with flash and daring, and contributing timely base hits in the world championship run of 1950? Phil won the Most Valuable Player award that year.
There was Berra, embarrassed by his still-to-be-sharpened catching skills in the 1947 World Series, but working hard, 'learning all of Bill Dickey's experiences' to paraphrase Yogi, and coming on to be one of the most consistent clutch hitters of all time. Yogi has three MVP awards on his trophy shelf. And you can't forget the men who came and went, staying at Yankee Stadium only long enough to polish off their careers with glory-filled championship contributions. There were Johnny Mize, pinch-hitter supreme, Johnny Sain, the old-pro pitcher, and George McQuinn, the surprise star first-baseman of 1947, to name a few.
How about the pitchers? Who, tell me, ever provided a team with the dramatically skilled relief pitching that Joe Page conjured up in 1947 and 1949? And who was ever much better than Allie Reynolds in the clutch, pouring fastballs past the batters with World Series money on the line? Then there was Raschi, cool, dedicated, and a consistent big winner, and there was Lopat, the junk man, lending lefthanded balance to the powerful starting rotation.
And in the years that the players faltered some, or were sidelined by injuries, there was Stengel, the master manager, juggling his lineups like a magician, coaxing maximum, and championship, performances from his squad as a whole.
Drama? How about Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, the first no-hitter ever pitched in a world championship battle? How about Mantle, walloping baseballs so far that tape measures were hauled out to measure his drives? Or Berra, destroying the Dodgers year after year in the World Series with his clutch home runs?
Color? You could write a full story on Casey alone, his Stengelese double-talk, his physical demonstrations in illustration of his verbal tales. You could also fill the pages with Yogi's quaint expressions. And you could talk long, too, about Billy Martin, the tough kid from California, who stamped his fire and fight indelibly upon the Yankee teams he played with.
Martin was the man who was closest to the big stars, a valuable friend to DiMaggio first and Mantle afterward. But Billy was never a 'coat-toucher' (a fellow who basks in other's glories). He was a star in his own right and a fellow with a sincere appreciation of baseball talent. Billy bitterly resented insinuations that he was a bad influence on Mantle or any other Yankee.
'All I know,' Martin likes to say, 'is that the Yankees won a pennant every year I played with them, and a world championship as well. So it can hardly be said that I hurt any of the players. And in 1956, when I roomed with Mickey on the road, he had his greatest season. He led the league in batting (.353), RBIs (130) and home runs (52) to win the Triple Crown and the league's MVP award. How could I have hurt him?'
That year was the one in which Mickey really arrived as a superstar. He had gotten off to a mixed-up beginning with the Yankees entirely because of his youth and inexperience. It took him a couple of years to become disentangled from the various business agents who had 'pieces' of him and it wasn't until he allied himself with Frank Scott, the former Yankee road secretary that he began to cash in on the outside money for endorsements, personal appearances and so on. In one year (1958), Mickey received $52,000 outside of baseball.
Back in 1951, I rode in a cab with Mantle from Union Station in Washington to the Shoreham Hotel the night before what was to have been the season's opener (it was rained out), and as the cab passed the illuminated dome of the Capitol, Mickey gazed at with the same awe that any high-school kid would.
'So this our nation's capital,' he murmured respectfully.
A couple of years later, I drove Mickey and Mrs. Mantle to the Henry Hudson Hotel, where they were staying. There was some small talk on the way down through Central Park, mostly about traffic, when Mantle suddenly said, 'I'll tell you one thing- this city's got a lot smaller since I first came here.' It was his way of saying that the big town no longer scared him.
Mantle's personality is unpredictable, not only to writers but even his own teammates. On the plane ride back from Milwaukee, after the Yankees had won the fifth, sixth and seventh games to capture the World Series, Mantle sat in the lounge of the plane, convulsing his teammates with one hillbilly yarn after another. He sounded like a combination of Lil' Abner and Bazooka Bob Burns.
'I never knew Mickey could be so funny,' I remarked to one of the players who had been with him for a couple of years.
'I never heard him tell a story before,' the player said.
One Sunday last May, Mantle walked into the Yankee office and asked for Andy Ryan, the man who runs the press room. Andy doubles, or rather trebles, in brass by handling mail for several players, distributing World Series films, tickets for Yankee juniors and a myriad of lesser duties. He is a busy gent.
Mantle handed Ryan a brief clipping from that morning's New York Mirror. It told of the slaying of a boy in Queens, an honor student, by another youth, who had been a problem child. The article mentioned that the slain youth had been a Mickey Mantle fan and had been looking forward to a trip to the Stadium with his dad 'so he could see his idol in action.' The story touched Mantle deeply.
'Andy,' requested Mickey, 'if you could find time this afternoon, I'd like you to write out a letter of sympathy to the parents of this boy and bring it to me to sign.'
This, you must remember, was from a player who gets so many requests for signed letters, that if he acceded to all of them he'd have time to spend only an inning or two a day in center field.
The relationship between Mantle and Casey Stengel was an unusual one. Mickey was practically his first major league star, despite the Ol' Perfesser's many years in baseball. He came to Stengel from the Joplin, Missouri team of the Class C Western Association and was switched to the outfield.
After Mantle's sensational spring training showing in 1951, Stengel made a statement that perhaps is the greatest single tribute the Mick ever received. 'The kid is jumping five classifications at once and going into a strange position,' Casey said. 'If he can make it, he's a wonder.' Mickey made it.
In 1956, when Mantle was having his greatest season, I was assigned to pick up the Yankees in Chicago to do an article on Stengel's views on Mantle. The night I joined the club, Mickey belted two long home runs in Comiskey Park, one righthanded against Billy Pierce and one lefthanded against Dixie Howell. Then the Yankees went to Kansas City, where Mantle hit one of the longest drives ever seen in Municipal Stadium. The club then traveled to Detroit.
That night on the train to Detroit, Stengel and I discussed Mantle for a couple of hours. Casey's comments on his slugger are well worth repeating.
'You can't possibly imagine all the things Mantle had to do to become a major-league outfielder, and a star at that, as quickly as he did,' Stengel said. 'When spring training opened, he didn't even know how to throw from the outfield, because he had always played the infield. The first time we taught him to lift his left leg for leverage on his throw, he fired the ball clear over the catcher's head and up against the backstop. I told him what we were looking for was accuracy, not distance.
'Another thing, he used to chase fly balls hit behind him with his head down. I told him he could look over his shoulder as he ran back. 'This is the big leagues,' I said. 'We don't have no plowed fields for you to run through.'
'Now lemme tell you about his fielding. His speed is incredible. Everybody talks about how Tris Speaker, which is in the Hall of Fame right now, used to play shaller (shallow) and go back for a ball. I saw Tris play and he was tree-menjous. But I must say that he went back and chased a dead ball. This kid is outrunning a lively ball. I don't think Speaker could have done it.
'When somebody mentions how far Mantle has hit a ball- and I guess he must hold the record in every park in the American League- somebody is sure to say he's hitting the lively ball. All I know is that everybody's been hitting a lively ball since about 1920 and the fences were there before this boy was born. Another thing, he'd hit .400 if it was a dead ball. With his speed, the infielders couldn't possibly throw him out on a slow grounder but there ain't any slow grounders. You don't hardly ever see them no more.'
The next morning, at breakfast in Detroit, Stengel stopped by my table. 'One thing you gotta remember,' he said. 'Everything I said last night about Mantle goes, but you must say that the greatest ballplayer I ever managed was DiMaggio. That's because Joe was an established star before I ever came to the Yankees. Mantle is the greatest ballplayer I ever had break in for me.'
There are many reports of coolness between Stengel and DiMaggio, but they were mostly erroneous rumors. Joe spent the first seven years with the Yankees under Joe McCarthy and was indoctrinated to the McCarthy system. And a darn good system it was, too, if anybody should ever drive up in a hack and ask you.
In early July 1951, a story broke that there was a raging feud between DiMaggio and Stengel because Casey had benched Joe during a game in Boston.
'I was on my way to the All-Star Game in Detroit when I read that story,' DiMaggio told me the following spring. 'I purposely got out to the ball park early to catch Casey alone in the clubhouse at Briggs Stadium. He wasn't nearly as upset about the story as I was.
' 'There was talk last year, too, that you was mad at me,' he said. 'Anybody ever asks me, all I say is, look at his record. Forget about it.' '
DiMaggio commanded nothing but respect from any manager he ever played for. At a dinner of the New York baseball writers at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in 1948, Bucky Harris, who had managed the Yankees to a World Series victory over the Dodgers the previous fall, spoke from the dais. He pointed to DiMaggio, who was seated in the audience and said, 'If it weren't for the fellow sitting out there, I wouldn't be sitting here tonight.'
Like Mantle, it took DiMaggio a long time to come out of his shell. He shied away from interviewers during his early years with the Yankees and hid behind the protective curtain of Tony Lazzeri and Frank Crosetti, his fellow Italian-Americans from San Francisco. Today DiMaggio is as poised and as polished as any of the Madison Avenue glamour boys- and a great deal more sincere.
Mantle came to pro baseball afflicted with chronic osteomyelitis of the left foot, a bone marrow inflammation dating back to an accidental kick while he was playing football with Commerce High in his native Oklahoma. He has played with the Yankees for more than a decade with the knowledge that any slide he makes might possibly be the end of his career. Yet he never has dogged it on the bases. Furthermore, Mickey has been plagued by as many day-in, day-out injuries as any ballplayer ever. But he has never let up.
Mantle's center-field predecessor, DiMaggio, had his share of injuries, too, and like Mickey, DiMaggio played frequently when he was in excruciating agony. Although Joe wasn't as fast as Mickey, he was a superb baserunner. In his final year in the Pacific Coast League (1935), Joe stole 24 bases in 25 tries.
'When I came to the Yankees,' DiMaggio said, 'McCarthy didn't want me to run and for a very sound reason. I was batting third, followed by Lou Gehrig and Bill Dickey. McCarthy figured there was no sense risking a steal with power like that coming up.'
When DiMag went for a base, he slid hard, hitting the ground with such force that he was never able to find a pair of sliding pads that protected his thighs properly. In mid-season, 1948, the Yankees announced that Joe would be rested as much as possible because of his sliding injuries. The reporters were invited to the clubhouse to examine DiMag's 'strawberries,' huge lacerations on both hips where the skin had been rubbed away, leaving raw, ugly bruises.
When the others left, I sat beside Joe's locker to have a smoke with him, commenting that, in his present condition, he would look better in a butcher shop than in center field.
'That's not the half of it,' he said moodily. 'The club is giving out the information about the strawberries as a reason for resting me, but I'll tell you the truth if you keep it quiet.
'I'm getting a bone spur on my right heel like the one on my other foot which had to be operated on last year. But keep it to yourself unless the front office announces it. We're still in this pennant race and we don't want to tip off the other clubs. I can fake it for the rest of the season.'
DiMaggio kept the Yankees in the pennant race until the next to last game of the season and on the last day, in Boston, he made four straight hits before he was removed from the game. As he hobbled to the sidelines, he received what must have been one of the greatest ovations ever tendered a visiting player at Fenway Park.
Joe DiMaggio, The Clipper, and Mickey Mantle, The Switcher, have had much in common including burning desires to win which match their great talents. It is no wonder that their overlapping careers triggered the Yankees' greatest era."
-Tom Meany, Sport Magazine (September 1961)
MARIS-MANTLE: BIGGEST DIN IN YEARS!
Yankees' Homer Twins Induce Mass Hysteria
"Seismic disturbances rocked the southwest Bronx in June. As July progressed, the temblors became more frequent. Vast throngs rushed to the scene. They staged wild demonstrations, not of fear but of joy.
All of which is a fancy way of saying that home runs by Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris & Co. have attracted huge crowds of noisy enthusiastic fans to Yankee Stadium, and indeed to any other ball park where the Yankees play. Nothing like it has been seen since the heyday of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and the other Bronx Bombers in the Tumultuous Twenties.
The cheers begin as Bob Sheppard, the erudite announcer, pronounces Maris' name over the P.A. system each time the new Yankee drool boy goes to bat. The din rises to a peak as Sheppard elegantly pronounces Maulin' Mick's name. When either slugger larrups the ball into far pastures, the entire assemblage rises to its feet and the rafters ring. When either fans or squibs to the infield, boos ride over the cheers, as in the Bambino's era of lofty home runs and furious whiffings.
Let the mighty Maris rocket four out-of-the-field drives in one day, as in the July 25 doubleheader against the White Sox, and the effect is mass hysteria. Or when the doughty Mantle pounds three, as in the August 6 twin bill versus Minnesota, it is mass hysteria plus one great riot.
Any hitsmith's chase after Babe Ruth's magic 60 has an astonishing emotional effect. When two such supermen are on the same team it's madness. New York police have been forced to erect barricades on Ruppert Place, where the clubhouse door is located, in order to protect Mickey and Roger from suffocation at the hands of their nutty admirers. Even after the two heroes have vanished from the scene, hundreds stand around, gazing in awe at the pavement which has been hallowed by their footprints.
The Mantle-Maris drive for immortality elevates long fouls into the stands to the level of honest home runs. Balls that they have actually driven out of the lot in fair territory are being hawked around town for $25 each.
The stakes for Mickey and Roger are even higher than in 1927 when the Babe won his halo. Mickey's $80,000 a year will surely increase to $100,000 in 1962; Roger's $37,500 will surely be doubled. The demand for their by-lines, endorsements, plus movie engagements, etc., should add again as much to their income-before-tax.
What has been the effect of this unique rivalry on these masters of the 38-ounce, narrow-handled bat? Fame is old stuff to Mickey. He's been a celebrity since the summer of 1950 when Casey Stengel confided to newsmen that 'we've got a feller out in the sticks who's wallopin' like he knows how to hit, name's Mantle.' The following spring the naive country boy from zinc-mining Commerce in Oklahoma arrived in New York to a publicity build-up that included everything but a hero's welcome down lower Broadway as homemade confetti showers from skyscraper windows. Mickey was single, robust, unsophisticated and with but one idea in his head- to hit the ball as far as he could.
The 20-year-old provincial could take that kind of over-attention without feeling the effects. The future star's future was clouded. He became a problem child from the start. In fact, Mickey was literally dazed by the Big City and Big Time baseball prominence. He had been a wild-armed shortstop during his brief minor league career. He had to learn the art of outfielding from scratch, with shrewd Tommy Henrich his tutor. Casey Stengel pridefully groomed him for fame; the Yankee organization watched over him like a guard at the Louvre protecting the Mona Lisa from thieves and saboteurs. His marriage to Merlyn Johnson, a schoolyard sweetheart, was in the tradition of 'Papa-know-best,' Papa being the Yankee bigwigs.
By 1956, Mickey was a triple-threat star, leading the league in batting, home runs and RBI's and a fourth department in which he excels due to his pass-gathering, runs scored.
But, even at 25, Mickey was unable to adjust himself to national publicity. He'd fret when a cool, calculating pitcher struck him out. He was a puzzle to the management, the press, his teammates and his many fans.
Give credit to Ralph Houk, the new Yankee manager, for Mickey's sudden transformation into a Ruthian-type hitter this year. Last spring the Major took Mickey aside, talked quietly to him and told him that in his estimation he was the team's leader. Outsiders scoffed. Mickey seemed too taciturn, too sullen, too quiet to act as an inspiration to his mates. However, Houk did not envisage Mickey as a noisy pepper pot or aggressive barber like Don Hoak of the Pirates. He couldn't change Mickey's personality, but he could and did flatter his pride by telling him that he was the No. 1 Yank and could lead by example.
Fortunately, another element contributed to Mickey's 1961 surge- the arrival of a rival on the scene in the person of Roger Maris. Mickey had never been able to take the mixture of cheers and boos which greet the star, whether he is Babe Ruth, Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle. Now Maris, as he began his own drive to a home run title, stood up under the salvos of jeers, hoots, catcalls and cheers that greet the batting star. Batting third to Mickey's fourth, Roger got it in the neck first. The heat was taken off the Mick.
Houk's sage counsel, Maris' competition and an external circumstance that has seldom been mentioned on sports pages combined to make the 1961 Mantle a relaxed, smiling and composed young man. The external circumstance was his previous involvement in too many extracurricular activities. Mickey was the prey of money-grubbing parasites from his first day in a Yankee uniform. In 1951 the Yankee management succeeded in prying him loose from an 'agent' with whom he had signed a contract for 50 per cent of his off-diamond earnings. In 1960 Mickey was an investor in a Dallas bowling alley and a Missouri hotel. Prior to the season he spent much time promoting both enterprises. This year he concentrated on baseball alone.
Houk points out that Mickey has always been the team leader on the diamond. Now, at last, he leads on the bench and in the clubhouse. That is to say, he no longer goes into temper tantrums, and no longer sits moodily after a poor game. He's having fun on and off the field. Recently a baseball writer barged into the Stadium clubhouse before a game and almost collided with Mickey. The switch hitter was clad in a Yoo-Hoo shirt supplied by the soft drink company Yogi Berra promotes. Mickey was chipping a golf ball into Whitey Ford's glove, while the rest of the squad stood by, goading and quipping. A few minutes later Mickey was at the other end of the clubhouse putting into an indoor putting green.
To the critics who suggest that Mickey should bat No. 3 ahead of Roger, Houk wisely replies: 'Roger is a natural left-hand pull hitter who drives to right field, advancing the No. 1 and No. 2 men when they are on base. Roger cannot be walked intentionally with Mickey up next. Mickey is a switch hitter. He gives the lineup flexibility against southpaws. His RBI potential increases with Roger on base ahead of him. His average is higher than Roger's. He works more passes. He is one of the fastest base runners in the game and always a potential threat on base. All of these factors make him a natural clean-up batter.'
Roger and Mickey are friendly rivals. They differ in almost every detail of personality and physique. Mickey is a blue-eyed blond; Roger has green eyes and an odd shade of light-brown hair. Mickey is florid; Roger is pale. Mickey is broad-cheeked; Roger is narrow-faced, with a beaky nose. Mickey is slow of speech; Roger talks fast. Mickey is hard to draw out; Roger volunteers information without prodding.
Mickey is built like a blockhouse; Roger is slim, lithe, the typical athletic type. Yet Mickey is faster afoot, although Roger is far from slow. Mickey steals bases at a .750 clip; Roger seldom tries to steal. In Yankee Stadium's vast center field spaces, Mickey roams in all directions. In shorter walled right field Roger catches almost everything that comes his way, cracking into fences if he has to. Mickey's drive on base makes infielders scurry out of his way; Roger barrels into them and takes them out. On August 6 he won a game from Minnesota by knocking the ball out of the catcher's hand on a plunge to the plate.
Mickey can beat almost any drag bunt he lays down- and he lays 'em down sometimes with two strikes on him. Roger won a game from Los Angeles on August 8 with a perfect bunt toward third on a squeeze play, his own idea. It was his first bunt in many games.
Many of Mickey's home runs are tape-measure classics, ranging from 400 to 485 feet from home plate. This year he added the towering Ruthian fly ball to his repertoire. As a switcher he has splattered four-basers to all parts of the Stadium bleachers, including near dead center.
Most of Roger's drives are sharp liners to right. They take off with great speed. A few have gone into the extreme right field bleachers; most find rest in the lower right field grandstand.
Mickey sets himself at the plate, practices his normal level swing, puts his powerful body into forward motion and- bang! There she goes! He is the watching type of batter, taking many strikes, including strike three. He doesn't fuss much with the dirt in the batter's box. After two strikes he often walks away, thinks and then returns to the fray. Occasionally he asks the umpire to look at the ball.
Roger is nervous in the batter's box. He smoothes the turf with his shoes, looks down to see whether his stance is the proper width. He moves around after each delivery. Unlike Mickey he often takes a cut at a first pitch. He is a wrist hitter whose bat moves in an oblique parabola. And it moves fast, like a buggy whip.
The defense plays straightaway for Mickey, whose power through or over the infield is awesome. Defenses vary slightly for Roger but are mostly the conventional type for the left-hand pull hitter. However, in July, when Roger went on an epic home run binge, Paul Richards' Orioles and Al Lopez' White Sox experimented with something like the old Boudreau shift with Ted Williams. The shortstop played directly behind second base or to its right, crowding the second baseman into the slot and giving the first baseman the foul line.
The two stars have equal quarters in the Yankee clubhouse. Mickey occupies Joe DiMaggio's former locker at the end of the right file as one enters. It is nearest the window on that side and close to the trainer's room and the showers. Directly opposite on the left file is Roger's, which is nearest to the player's lounge. Mickey seldom sits in his wide locker space. Roger often curls up with a paperback or sprawls in the lounge.
The locker arrangement separates the two sluggers by the clubhouse's wide center space. This permits newspapermen to conduct post-game interviews with one, out of hearing of the other.
As the older and longer established star and team leader, Mickey enjoys the privilege of a one-man hotel room on tour. Roger shares a room with his old Kansas City buddy, Bob Cerv.
Mickey is up and around the clubhouse. He usually dresses quickly after a game. Roger takes his time. Mickey wears sports clothes: a fancy shirt and slacks, and goes tieless. Roger dresses inconspicuously. Mickey is small-town; Roger grew up in the city of Fargo, North Dakota. Mickey's father was a zinc miner; Roger's father is a railroad supervisor. Baseball and football outweighed books in Mickey's school days; Roger was tempted to go to college but didn't- 'I don't like books that much,' he says. Mickey hurt his leg playing football in school and contracted chronic osteomyelitis. Roger excelled in any sport he tried: football, basketball, track and baseball. He is all in one piece but has had his physical troubles, too, since becoming a big leaguer: appendicitis, a cracked rib and this year a damaged hamstring tendon in his left leg.
Both boys play intense, dedicated baseball. In a sense, Mickey has had it made for several years and, nearing 30, has reached maturity. Roger is only 27; he is striving hard to get up there with the immortals. Mickey no longer sulks. Roger has always exploded externally. He battled with Dutch Meyer, his Tulsa manager, when Meyer ordered him to practice throwing from right field to third base for one solid hour- 'I'm not going to ruin my arm,' he said and walked off the field. Roger frankly told Frank Lane, Cleveland's general manager while Roger played there, that he didn't want to double-platoon right field with Rocky Colavito. The result was his trade to Kansas City. 'I have no use for Lane,' he still says. 'And I couldn't play for Bobby Bragan, who managed me in Cleveland, although I like Bobby personally.' Roger was happy in K.C. He became even happier after George M. Weiss succeeded in prying him loose from the A's. The money is in New York- and Roger is a money player.
Mickey is socially minded and likes to travel with a crowd. He likes movies, shows, night nightclubs. Roger is not exactly a loner but he can be self-sufficient alone. Just now he is too wrapped up in making good to care for anything but baseball.
Thanks to Ralph Houk the two stars have not gone haywire in the drive to beat the Babe's 60 mark. In mid-July Ralph called their attention to the fact that both were young, that this was but one year of many in their diamond lives, and that a championship must be won.
As a result, the home run fever has been de-emphasized. Roger subsequently said: 'This game isn't all home runs. If we can go on to win the pennant I'll be satisfied never to hit another home run.' He had 41 at the time. 'I'll take 41 right at the end.'
Mickey said nothing on the subject of hitting 61. He continued to help win Yankee games with singles, doubles, triples, sensational catches- and home runs.
It's not by chance that these two outstanding stars are Yankees. Mickey, the original Yankee product, has been molded into his present super-form by long and careful Yankee schooling. Roger, who might have been the motive force in winning a 1961 pennant for Cleveland, is a Yankee thanks to George M. Weiss' long and persistent campaign to get him into the fold.
Now, bringing back memories of the Babe and True Blue Lou, they have brought baseball back to the millions who became disillusioned in recent years by the sad-sack policies of other managements. They are the best thing that has happened to the old game in many a day."
-Charles Dexter (Baseball Digest, October 1961)
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