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By now everyone is familiar with my background in baseball. My Yankee roots are long and strong but something happened between 1964 and 1976. The Yanks became ordinary never to me mind you but to the rest of baseball. I rooted harder then ever during these years but was always disappointed. Oh there were bright spots during the sixties. Roy White was a nice player and this new kid named Murcer was certainly a talent who early on looked to be the next great Yankee succeeding Mantle. However, soon I realized Bobby was just going to be a good player. Then there was Bahnsen and Munson winning ROY awards and certainly that brought hope. Mel and Fritz won 20 a couple of times so I had some ammunition for the kids in elementary school, but never enough I mean after all I was a Yankee fan. Where were the championships? Where were the games on National Television? How come Curt Gowdy or Howard Cosell were never talking about my team? The baseball
gods were ending the sixties with one of the cruelest jokes
ever played on a teenager. The Mets won the World Series in
1969. Oh my God! Please not the Mets. I could have taken
anyone else winning but the Mets. Why God? What had I done
so terrible that you would allow such a thing to happen? To
add even more irony to this already festering tragedy was
the fact that in 1969 my Dad was given season box seats to
….you guessed it The Mets. I went to almost every game. I
watched the Expos beat them in their first ever baseball
game with guys like Coco Laboy and John Boccabella. I saw
Bob Moose no-hit them. I saw Jimmy Quails break up Seaver's
perfect game. These were the good days. I saw the Black cat
run by the then first place Cubs dugout who had 4 future
Hall of Famers and would reverse momentum in the Mets favor
for the rest of the year. I watched as they won 100 games
and swore the powerhouse Orioles were going to dismantle and
dismember Seaver, Koosman and Gentry. The history books will
tell you I was wrong, but what they won't tell you is I was
the only person in Shea Stadium sitting when Agee made those
two catches. I was there when Swoboda thought he was Roberto
Clemente and robbed Brooks of a sure hit and killed an
Oriole uprising. How about J.C. Martin getting hit in the
back on a throw from Etchebarren which opened the door for
another "lucky win". How about Al Weis hitting a homer? What
about Clendenon coming off the scrap heap to be named World
Series MVP? All I knew about baseball was crashing and
burning. Their would be no escaping this win, Met fans were
crawling out of the wood work and half ass Yankee fans were
now singing the praises of the Amazin's. Things would have
to get better.
Things began to change when a gentleman by the name of Steinbrenner bought the club from CBS for about 10 million dollars and vowed to return the Yankees to greatness, I believed him. I thought great! Just what we need a guy with a chip on his shoulder and money in his pocket. Of course the money part meant basically nothing at the time until Curt Flood challenged the reserve clause and was able to play out his contract and make his own deal. Thus free agency was born. The Yankees acted quickly with free agents, which helped because "those Mutts" won the NL flag again in 73 and I don't think I could withstand the onslaught of another Amazin' championship. Thankfully Oakland prevailed in that series as I breathe a sigh of relief that could be heard in the deepest part of "Death Valley", which by the way was being shortened as the Old Stadium was being re-modeled. Where would the Yanks play their games? Oh no don't tell me? Yup, Shea stadium. The team was actually improving every year, Gabe Paul the GM had made a trade for a guy by the name of Nettles in 73 and followed that one by attaining Chris Chambliss both deals were made with Paul's former Cleveland Indian club. As it turned out however we almost won the pennant in 74, but came up a couple of games short to the Orioles, but we were in it till the last weekend in Milwaukee. Things were looking up. Then with
Free Agency becoming part of baseball Mr. Steinbrenner
pulled a major deal. He signed Jim "Catfish" Hunter, a guy
with a resume that rivaled our own Yankee greats. I mean wow
we were getting the 3 time World Series champion Oakland A's
best pitcher for nothing. In 75 he won 25 games and the
Yanks became instant contenders. They challenged long and
hard only to lose to the hated BoSox. Boston had two
wonderful rookies named Lynn and Rice who proved to be too
good for the Yanks, but you could see that our owner meant
what he said when he said he was going to reinstate Yankee
pride.
The season went exactly as I had hoped, Billy in true gunslinger fashion had gotten us out to a quick lead and we never looked back. I kept envisioning a Red Sox run but it really never surfaced the Yanks were crowned Eastern Champs for the first time, and all was well in my world. I was playing in a Latin League at the time and although I spoke very "poquito" Spanish I understood that these guys were talking about "MY YANKEES", and enjoying every minute of it. Entering the playoffs against the Kansas City Royals there was no way of knowing that this team would become our new nemesis. They had a fine team led by George Brett, John Mayberry, Amos Otis and one of my all-time favorite players "Little Freddie Patek". They had a fine staff as well Dennis Leonard, Paul Splitorff, Larry Gura and the pen was led by Mark Littell and Doug Bird. They were certainly a formidable foe and anything less then our best would almost assuredly not be enough. Billy gave the ball to future Hall of Famer Jim Hunter for game one and he responded in typical Catfish style by holding the home team Royals to only 1 run en route to a 4-1 Yankee victory. It felt good to win in a game in October that mattered. After losing game 2 to Paul Splitorff (a Yankee killer) 7-3 we were heading back to the Bronx to close this thing out. After all we wanted a split, as it was only a best of 5 series. The stadium
was in all its splendor for game 3 and Dock Ellis was facing
lefty Andy Hassler. If this Yankee team had an Achilles heel
it was left handed pitching and the Royals were hoping that
little used Hassler would stymie the lefty loaded Bomber
lineup. The game started out just awful as the Royals scored
3 times in the first to defuse the emotion of the Stadium
faithful. However Ellis settled down and the Yanks came back
with 2 in the 4th and 3 in the 6th to take a 5-3 advantage.
Good ol'Pomp and Circumstance Sparky Lyle would come in to
shut the door and secure the win for Ellis and the Yanks.
The series advantage was ours again. With Hunter on the
mound and 55,000 ready to rock and roll I knew this would be
a champagne squirting evening. Nobody told the Royals. They
again took a 3-0 advantage and although we came back to make
it 3-2 we never got any closer. KC would win this one 7-4
behind Gura and Doug Bird.
When Chambliss swung the bat everything stopped, suddenly there was no sound on my busy Brooklyn Street. There was no sirens or horns beeping just the quiet of about 15 people watching a little 12 inch portable TV. I remember Howard Cosell saying "it's gone" but I held in my emotions until I was sure. I could see right fielder Al Cowens going back as far as he could then he leaped up, I watched the reaction of the police officers that were readying themselves for the bedlam that was about to unfold. When I seen the men in blue react by jumping up and down I knew it was over. The 4 seconds it took for the ball to clear the fence seemed like an eternity. Suddenly I could hear people screaming with excitement, I remember being so spent with emotion I just sat down and smiled like I had hit that homer myself. I watched Chambliss round the bases knocking down overzealous fans that had made their way on the field. It was a mob scene as you could barely see the infield, Chambliss looked to be running for his life and I reflected back to our last pennant and how happy I was for Roy White and Thurman. How bad I felt that Murcer was not there. I thought about Billy and how apropos it was that it was he who led us back to Series. I wished I were there. I wished I could have seen this first hand. As I looked around me however and witnessed the streets of Brooklyn come alive with Yankee fans new and old and a few who were just jumping on the band wagon, I assured myself that the best place to be was where I was. I had enjoyed this wonderful moment with my friends who were great Yankee fans. I was at my home and leading a celebration in my Brooklyn neighborhood that everyone would talk about for quite a while. We were back in the Show and even though we lost the series to the Reds this day will never be forgotten because it brought us back to where I always felt we belonged. See, it was never really the World Series unless the Yanks were participating.
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How ya' doin? Best sites on 'da 'net! New York Yankees Mighty Yanks The Bombers NY Yankees Downtown.com Fast Facts: Betcha' didn't know "The Old Professor" had a 54-year professional career that led him to become one of the greatest managers that the game has ever seen. Leading the Yankees to 10 pennants and 7 World titles in a 12-year span ranks as the most amazing managerial record of all time. In 1927, New York outscored its opponents by nearly 400 runs and hit .307 as a team. They also set major league records with 975 runs scored, 158 home runs, 908 runs batted in, and a .489 slugging average. "I never had to cheat, I get them with what I got." Dave Winfield Yogi Berra Everyfan.net has taken up the cause of the average NY sports fan who cannot access the Yankees on their cable system. www.everyfan.net Trivia: Mickey Mantle hit for the cycle only once in his career. When? Where? and against Who? Answer In Next Issue Have a trivia question? Email it to us and maybe we'll use it in an upcoming issue. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the brave men and women of our armed forces currently engaged in the conflicts overseas. Thank you for your service to our country and the world. God Bless You. |
