WHEN BLANCHARD ALMOST TOOK A WALK
His Wife Talked Him Out Of Quitting The Game in 1960
"Unsung Johnny Blanchard, who wouldn't have played but for Mickey Mantle's ailment, was a World Series star last fall.
But just one year and two months before, this modest athlete was willing to walk out on the Yankees because he felt he wasn't being treated fairly.
Blanchard had just learned that with Yogi Berra and Elston Howard, the No. 1 and No. 2 catchers, both injured, Casey Stengel was considering taking Jim Hegan, the 40-year-old bullpen coach, off the inactive list so he could work behind the plate.
John, the team's third-string catcher, disgustedly slammed his mitt into his locker, dressed in bitter haste and, as he stormed out of the Yankee clubhouse, turned to growl something at Ralph Houk, then a coach.
'It's not right,' Blanchard muttered to Houk. 'When the Old Man overlooks me for a 40-year-old coach, then it's time for me to quit. I had to wait ten years to get up here and I'm not going to wait maybe ten more years to maybe get a chance to catch. If I can't play now, I'll never be able to. So I'm going home.'
When the tall, 27-year-old Minneapolis native arrived at his New Jersey home, he told his wife of his intentions.
'What's the use?' John moaned. 'The Old Man won't give me a chance.'
'Nancy, my wife, calmed me down,' Blanchard recalled recently. 'She told me to relax and think things over before making any kind of decision. 'Don't do anything rash, honey,' she said. 'Wait and see what happens. Maybe it isn't as bad as you think. And don't say anything to anybody.'
'The next day, as I was leaving for Yankee Stadium, she cautioned me again. 'Remember,' she reminded me, 'we need the money.' '
Almost the first person Blanchard saw when he reached Yankee Stadium was Houk.
'Look at the lineup card,' the Yankee coach said meaningfully, his blue eyes twinkling.
Blanchard looked and saw his name.
'I'll never forget that day as long as I live,' John says. 'We were playing Detroit in a doubleheader. I caught both games. We won the first in 14 innings, 3-2. I drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded single. We won the second game in ten innings, 2-1. I hit a home run in the ninth to tie the score.'
'I never asked Houk about it and he has never mentioned it to me,' says Blanchard, 'but I feel he had something to do with my getting the chance. He's that kind of guy. I'd go out and bust a gut for him.'
In the dressing room after the final game of the World Series was over, Blanchard said, 'I'm so numb with happiness I can't smile. I'm going home (Golden Valley, Minn.) and just sit around about two weeks thinking about the Series.' "
-Fred Russell, The Nashville Banner (Baseball Digest, February 1962)
"The most explosive of all 1961 pinch hitters was Johnny Blanchard, the spare-time catcher-outfielder who personally won five games with long-distance blows. He crashed a career high of 21 home runs and also had his best bag of RBIs (54) last year. His homer (as pinch swinger, naturally) tied the third game of the '61 Series
Born in Minneapolis, he was a Yankee for a brief trial in 1955 and returned in '59 after additional seasoning at Birmingham and Denver.
-Don Schiffer, The 1962 Major League Baseball Handbook
"It took John Blanchard a long time, but when he 'made' it with the Yankees, he made it big!
The husky, handsome Minnesotan was perhaps the most dangerous hitter in the league last year. He drove in 54 runs with only 74 hits. Twenty-one of those hits were home runs. He hit four pinch homers and, in one streak, tied a record by hitting four homers in consecutive times at bat, including a pair in pinch-hitting roles.
John came into his own under his former minor league manager, now the Yankee skipper, Ralph Houk. The more he played, the greater his confidence. Each spring, John came to camp worried whether he would be sent back to the minors or traded. Houk made him his number-two catcher behind Howard, used him as his key left-handed pinch hitter, and had John available for spot work in the outfield and at first base.
His outstanding pinch-hitting heroics carried over into last October's World Series. In the key third game, with the Yankees trailing Bob Purkey by a 2-1 score in the eighth inning, Blanchard hit a first-pitch pinch homer, making it possible for Roger Maris' ninth-inning homer to win the big game, 3-2. In World Series play (two Series, nine games), Blanchard has hit for an amazing .429 average.
Now, at the age of 29, and at last an established star, Blanchard figures prominently in the Yankee plans for 1962."
-The New York Yankees Official 1962 Yearbook
John Edwin Blanchard (C) #38
Born February 26, 1933, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, resides in Golden Valley, Minnesota. Height: 6-1 weight: 200. Bats left, throws right.
Married and father of two boys, Tim (2 1/2) and Paul (6 months).
-The New York Yankees Official 1962 Yearbook
Tied major league record by hitting four home runs in four consecutive times at bat, two as a pinch hitter, 1961.
Tied World Series record for most home runs hit in a five-game Series (2), 1961.
-1962 New York Yankees Press-TV-Radio Guide
"After two seasons in the background, John Blanchard finally emerged as one of the Yankees' many stars during the 1961 campaign.
The 29-year-old backstop had a fine minor league record and would have probably moved into a first-string catching job with any other big league club, but Yogi Berra and Elston Howard were there and John had to wait for his chance. When it finally came Blanchard made the most of it.
Injuries to the aforementioned receivers in 1960 gave Johnny his first solid chance, and last season he became the club's No. 2 receiver, as Yogi moved to the outfield.
In 93 American League contests, the 6' 1", 197-pounder bombed opposing hurlers for 21 home runs and a solid .305 batting average. He drove in 54 runs and made his 74 hits good for 149 bases.
Johnny tied a major league record by hitting four home runs in four consecutive trips to the plate and barely missed hitting No. 5, a high fly ball deep to right field against the White Sox at Yankee Stadium.
The Minnesota slugger hit pinch four-baggers to give the Yanks an important pair of victories over the Red Sox during the middle of the season. Big John came through with another key pinch homer in the third game of the World Series to give the Bombers the drive that carried them to victory.
Blanchard broke into Organized Ball with the Yankees' Kansas City farm club in the American Association in 1951. He was an outfielder at the time and has spent some time on picket duty for the Bombers, as well as a brief stint filling in at first base.
In 1952, with Joplin of the Western Association, John batted .301 and was the loop's home run king with 30. After two seasons in the armed service, Blanchard returned to the diamond.
He was the Eastern League's HR king with 34 while playing for Binghamton in 1955 and appeared in one late-season contest for New York.
After a one-year hitch with Birmingham (Southern Association) and two terrific years with Denver (American Association), Blanchard was ready for the majors. Many clubs tried to induce the Yanks to trade them the lefty slugger, but New York held on to him.
In 48 games in 1959, John hit only .169 and had two homers. In '60 he was in 53 games, batted .242 and sent four balls out of the lot.
But when Elston Howard was injured in the Series, Blanchard showed his true colors under fire. He rapped Pittsburgh pitching for a .455 mark and earned his varsity shot.
With Johnny now a tried and proven veteran, the Yankees have just one more name ready and set in their new Murderers' Row."
-The 1962 Jay Publishing New York Yankees Yearbook
"John Blanchard has a .429 batting average in two previous World Series, including two home runs and five RBIs. A word of caution to the Giants: John did not have as robust a season at the plate in 1962 as in '61, but he swings a dangerous bat, does an acceptable job spelling Howard and Berra behind the plate and serving as an outfielder when called upon."
-Official Souvenir Program of the 1962 World Series (Yankee Stadium)
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