"It's an annual game played by pros and amateurs alike. The idea is to pick against the Yankees, using such illogical reasons as prejudice, bitterness, envy or just plain spite. But it should be stated that no such capriciousness influenced the choice here. Predicting that the Yankees will finish second in 1965, not first, was based on careful analysis and logic, the logic of the brand employed by the greatest of all hunch players, Leo Durocher.
Actually, the Yankees showed signs last year that their dynasty is crumbling, or at least that the gap between them and the rest of the league has closed up considerably. Only a great stretch drive and a sudden Baltimore collapse enabled them to win their 29th pennant.
Erosion hasn't exactly set in in the infield, but it no longer has the formidable look of previous years. Pepitone, at first, was no ball of fire at the plate with his .251 average, and manager Johnny Keane will expect a better all-around performance from him this season. Second baseman Bobby Richardson is no graybeard at 29, and he'll continue to spark now that he's decided against premature retirement. Injuries kept Tony Kubek out of the lineup much of last season, but he should work his way back into good playing form. Clete Boyer continued to make the eye-popping plays at third last year, but his batting average has dwindled so it makes you wonder what will happen if the slump continues into this season. This may be the time that the Yankees take fuller advantage of Phil Linz's versatility.
The Mickey Mantle-Roger Maris-Tom Tresh outfield packs plenty of punch and sound defense, and won't be affected in any detrimental way by Mantle's vacating center field.
Elston Howard still has the bounce and desire of a youth and he plays ball that way, which leaves the Yankees in the best possible condition as far as their first-string catcher is concerned. Young Jake Gibbs, if he doesn't run out of fingers, may move in ahead of Johnny Blanchard as the understudy.
Nobody will know how Whitey Ford's arm operation came out until the nifty lefty tries to pitch in earnest. If it is impaired, so are the Yanks' chances of repeating. You don't go around replacing Whitey Fords like you go out to buy a new car. Mel Stottlemyre was no flash in the pan and he, Bulldog Jim Bouton and Al Downing round out the starting rotation. Roland Sheldon, who picked up a curve and learned control last season, will probably be the fifth starter. It's in the bullpen where the Yankees are hurting. Pedro Ramos is a good one, but he's not going to be able to do for an entire season the kind of whitewash job he did last September. Behind him there are Pete Mikkelsen, who was effective early in the season, Bill Stafford, Hal Reniff, Steve Hamilton, Tom Metcalf, and rookies Gil Downs and Gil Blanco.
You can bet Keane will change things around his way the first chance he gets."
-Jack Zanger, Major League Baseball 1965
1965 Yankees Depth Chart
C Elston Howard
1B Joe Pepitone
2B Bobby Richardson
3B Clete Boyer
SS Tony Kubek
LF Tom Tresh
CF Roger Maris
RF Mickey Mantle
UTILITY:
Johnny Blanchard
Phil Linz
Duke Carmel
Hector Lopez
PITCHERS:
Whitey Ford Mel Stottlemyre
Al Downing Pedro Ramos
Rollie Sheldon Steve Hamilton
Jim Bouton Pete Mikkelsen
Bill Stafford
-Jack Zanger, Major League Baseball 1965
"Winning has become a habit for the players in pinstripes. Yet if Whitey Ford has trouble this year, the Yankees may find themselves spectators at the 1965 World Series. Winner of 216 games for the Yankees over 13 successful seasons ... victor in more World Series games than any other pitcher ... holder of the best won-lost percentage through 1964 (.720) in baseball history. No matter how the Yankee picture is examined, or how many efficiency experts the new owners, CBS, call in, the Yankees' future rides on how well Whitey Ford has recovered from his shoulder surgery of last fall.
Bothered by both a bad hip and a sore shoulder, Whitey still won 17 games and was the big earned run man on the staff of last year's league champs. Can Ford, at the age of 36, continue to be the mainstay of the New York pitching staff? Only time and another pennant race will tell.
Johnny Keane is the fourth manager to build a staff around Whitey. First, there was Casey Stengel, who came to depend on Ford in the mid-'50s when the Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi, Ed Lopat triumvirate broke up. Then it was Ralph Houk, who put him on an every-fourth-day working regime with outstanding success. Last year it was his ex-battery mate, Yogi Berra, who watched in admiration as his pal lost the first game, then won 10 in a row. Whitey also tied the Yankee record for shutouts in a season with eight.
Mickey Mantle, runner-up for MVP honors for '64, enters this season as the biggest home run hitter among active players. He also enters as a right fielder, in deference to his weak underpinning. Tom Tresh, playing with Mantle and Roger Maris in the outfield, experienced his worst slump since making it as a Yankee regular.
The infield, once rated as the best anywhere, hit with muted bats for the most part. Only Bobby Richardson maintained his pace of the previous year and he wasn't any .300 threat. Collectively, the infield had an unimpressive combined batting average of .244. Joe Pepitone, the first baseman who could wind up in the outfield as he moves along in his highly promising career, dipped from .271 to .251, but he hit 28 homers and drove in 100 runs. Catcher Elston Howard - the only .300 hitter on the club besides Mantle - made a big jump from .287 to .313.
The Yankees didn't have a 20-game winner last year. Jim Bouton was tops with 18, dipping from 21 in 1963. Ford had a 17-6 record, and behind him was Al Downing with 13-8 and Ralph Terry with 7-11. Based on total number of games started, Mel Stottlemyre and Rollie Sheldon weren't in the top four. Each had a dozen starts. Stottlemyre, however, is the hurler with the finest potential in years for the Yankees.
New York has felt the absence of a big bullpen man ever since the departure of little Luis Arroyo, the left-hander who helped win the 1961 flag. Various men have tried to fill the bill since, and the Yankees have even sought to train specialists along these lines. Prominent among these is Pete Mikkelsen, who appeared in 50 games and had a 7-4 record. Others who worked in the bullpen with the bespectacled right-hander were Hal Reniff, Bill Stafford and Steve Hamilton, but Mikkelsen was the only man specifically trained for the task. His progress will be carefully noted around the league. Also available in the bullpen is Pedro Ramos, who came from Cleveland late in the season to prove the big stopper. His career in the past had not been particularly distinguished either in Cleveland or in Washington, where he was the losingest pitcher in the AL for four years running.
The principle change the Yankees made this season is in management, from the plush front office where CBS money and efficiency now reign, to the dugout where Keane replaces Yogi Berra. And this year, as usual, the Yankees are the team to beat. Figures of the past three or four decades prove it, even if '64 lacked sparkle."
-Allen Roth, 1965 Baseball Guidebook
"The best managing job in baseball traditionally is with the New York Yankees. It may still be the best - but new manager Johnny Keane is likely to find it no utopia.
Keane is the crinkly-eyed gentleman who stunned baseball in October by quitting as Cardinal manager after winning the World Series. He did not like the way he had been treated - so he walked out on a healthy raise.
He also walked into the Yankee job soon afterward. Yankee president Dan Topping is sure to treat Keane with more respect than did beer baron Gussie Busch in St. Louis. The Yankees know how fortunate they are to have hired Keane. The Yankees' popularity was quite low last fall after general manager Ralph Houk fired Yogi Berra for a series on undivulged sins. Hiring anybody less respected than Keane could have multiplied the bad feeling for the Yankees.
That feeling has been developing for several years. The firing of Casey Stengel in 1960 was a classic mistake. Houk won three pennants but hardly excited a nation of baseball fans. Berra was nationally popular and his firing was naturally unpopular. The sale of the Yankees to CBS soured more people. Then long-time Yankee announcer Mel Allen was let go and no reasons were given.
And, of course, the Amazing Mets outdrew the Yankees by 427,000 fans last season. The Mets, with Casey, Yogi, Spahn, Shea Stadium and the exciting National League, seem to foil the Yankees at every turn, only by sheer luck. When the Yankees passed out free tickets to cabbies in New York's Columbus Circle last summer, the Met family laughed along with the public.
Keane is responsible for none of this. He can probably change little of it. Yet he is liable to run into tensions and problems that he never anticipated or encountered back in St. Louis. His main problem there was winning a pennant.
Winning the American League pennant is not an automatic function of the Yankees. It only seems that way once in a while. Keane is likely to find it not so easy this year. But, then again, there doesn't seem to be any other team that can take the pennant away from the weaker-than-usual Yankees.
The Yankees are not a well club. They showed considerable weaknesses last year, although they did manage to rally to the pennant in a patented September push.
The pitching is shaky. Whitey Ford, with the highest winning percentage in baseball history (.720), underwent arm surgery last fall. At 36, he must be considered doubtful.
Three young pitchers - Jim Bouton, Al Downing and Mel Stottlemyre - must carry the load if Ford is unable to help. Pedro Ramos may be almost as good in relief as he was last September. But the second-line pitching is hardly even mediocre.
Elston Howard may be the best catcher in baseball; he is also 35. John Blanchard is still second-string and he has ceased exciting people.
Joe Pepitone drove in 100 runs last year but his fielding at first base was sloppy and he hit only .251. He still needs calming down. Bobby Richardson (.267), Tony Kubek (.229) and Clete Boyer (.218) all had sub-par years. Phil Linz (.250) was not always an outstanding replacement, either.
Mickey Mantle revealed in the World Series that he can no longer play the outfield very well. His legs just do not perform well. He can still hit - .303, [35 home runs] with 111 RBI last year - but may be a defensive liability, even switched to right field.
Roger Maris may have to play center field. Tom Tresh hit .246 last year but should do better. Hector Lopez is a fine fourth outfielder, and the Yankees even have a fifth outfielder this year - Duke Carmel. Drafted from Buffalo, the Met farm team, last fall, Carmel might play some center field if Mantle is incapacitated.
Many of the younger stars should be expected to improve this year, particularly if rumors about their dissatisfaction with Berra had any validity. But the men who had the best years - Howard and Mantle - are getting old and the farm system has not been producing.
Keane is a good manager and should be able to pull things together with the Yankees. He may have more trouble with the tarnished Yankee image, which he is not responsible for."
-1965 Official Baseball Almanac
HEALTH KEY TO YANKS' TRY FOR RECORD SIXTH
"A major league team which has had three general managers and four field managers in five years figures to be a second-division outfit which constantly changes men at the top to divert attention from the ineptness of its men in uniform.
Believe it or not, but that is not the record of the Yankees, who have won the American League pennant for the past five seasons.
No team in history has ever won six in a row, and it doesn't seem likely to happen to this Yankee team, which will be managed by Johnny Keane. At least, uncertainty over the physical condition of outfielder Mickey Mantle and pitcher Whitey Ford make such a feat loom improbable.
The Yankees will, of course, be a potent factor in the race, but the White Sox and Orioles loom as even more formidable rivals than last season, and some of the other clubs in the league appear to have improved markedly.
Ford, who won 17 games, lost six and had a 2.13 earned run average despite some physical problems last year, underwent shoulder surgery in November. While he has been pronounced sound again, it is doubtful that, at 36, he can continue to be the overpowering Yankee ace of old. And, if Ford isn't able to take his regular turn, the champions could find their pitching problem becoming acute.
Jim Bouton (18-13, 3.02) is a reliable workhorse and young Mel Stottlemyre (9-3, 2.06) did a tremendous job after being recalled from Richmond in August, but southpaw Al Downing (13-8, 3.47) didn't fare quite as well in his sophomore season, and the other candidates for starting jobs aren't overly impressive.
They include Bill Stafford (5-0, 2.66), who may make a comeback after a winter operation to correct a breathing difficulty; Stan Williams (1-5, 3.84), the disappointing former Los Angeles Dodger; and rookie Richmond graduates Jim Brenneman (11-13, 3.41) and Tom Metcalf (3-7, 4.29).
Pedro Ramos (8-10, 4.59), whose relief pitching after he was obtained from Cleveland in September enabled the Yankees to pull out the pennant last year, will head the bullpen corps. His aides include Steve Hamilton (7-2, 3.30), Pete Mikkelsen (7-4, 3.56) and Hal Reniff (6-4, 3.13).
Just as Ford is the most important member of the pitching staff, Mantle is vital to the Yankee attack. Mickey's legs must hold up for at least 120 games. He played 143 last year, batting .303, hitting .35 home runs and knocking in 111 runs, but his defense was sub-par because of his leg trouble and he was taken out of center field.
Keane hopes Mantle can play center and shift him to right only if forced to do so. In that case, Roger Maris (.281, 26, 71), a fine outfielder, will move from right to center. Tom Tresh (.246, 16, 73), who has slipped as a hitter in both seasons since his fine rookie year in 1962, will be in left.
A draftee from Buffalo, Duke Carmel (.271, 35, 99), who can also play first, handyman Hector Lopez (.260, 10, 34) and possibly rookie Elvio Jimenez (.296, 8, 88 at Richmond) will be the spares.
The Yankees have no worries about their catching as long as durable Elston Howard (.313, 15, 84) stays healthy, and John Blanchard (.255, 7, 28) is a capable reserve.
Defensively, the Yankee infield is one of the best, but it doesn't pack too much punch outside of first baseman Joe Pepitone (.251, 28, 100). Bobby Richardson (.267, 4, 50) has been the most consistent hitter of the quartet and is a fine second baseman.
Injuries limited shortstop Tony Kubek (.229, 8, 31) to 105 games last sesaon and kept him out of the World Series. Phil Linz (.250, 5, 25), a better offensive than defensive player, is the No. 2 shortstop, with or without his harmonica.
Despite his worst average in 1964, Clete Boyer (.218, 8, 52) will hold forth again at third where he is the finest glove man this side of Brooks Robinson. Pedro Gonzalez (.277) who saw service in 80 games with the Yanks last year, will be back, and rookie Horace Clarke (.299, 5, 44 at Richmond) may also hang on as an infield sub."
-Allen Lewis, Philadelphia Inquirer (Baseball Digest, April 1965)
QUICK RUNDOWN ON THE YANKEES
Strengths: outstanding defensive infield.
Greatest Need: another strong starting pitcher.
Outlook: overhauling needed after five in a row.
-Allen Lewis, Philadelphia Inquirer (Baseball Digest, April 1965)
1965 Yankees Spring Training Depth Chart
C Elston Howard
1B Joe Pepitone
2B Bobby Richardson
3B Clete Boyer
SS Tony Kubek
LF Tom Tresh
CF Mickey Mantle
RF Roger Maris
UTILITY:
C Jake Gibbs
1B Pedro Gonzalez (2B)
SS Phil Linz (3B)
CF Roger Repoz
PH Johnny Blanchard (C)
PH Hector Lopez (OF)
PITCHERS:
Whitey Ford
Jim Bouton
Al Downing
Mel Stottlemyre
Bill Stafford
Rollie Sheldon
Stan Williams
RELIEF PITCHERS:
Pedro Ramos
Steve Hamilton
Hal Reniff
Pete Mikkelsen
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