Manager - Johnny Keane 21
No. Coaches
35 Vern Benson
2 Frankie Crosetti
31 Cot Deal
44 Jim Hegan
No. Pitchers
28 Gil Blanco (L-L)
56 Jim Bouton (R-R)
24 Al Downing (R-L)
16 Whitey Ford (L-L)
39 Steve Hamilton (L-L)
51 Pete Mikkelsen (R-R)
14 Pedro Ramos (S-R)
18 Hal Reniff (R-R)
22 Bill Stafford (R-R)
30 Mel Stottlemyre (R-R)
No. Catchers
38 Doc Edwards (R-R)
32 Elston Howard (R-R) *
47 Bob Schmidt (R-R)
No. Infielders
42 Ray Barker (L-L)
6 Clete Boyer (R-R)
20 Horace Clarke (S-R)
10 Tony Kubek (L-R)
12 Phil Linz (R-R)
25 Joe Pepitone (L-L)
1 Bobby Richardson (R-R)
No. Outfielders
57 Arturo Lopez (L-L)
11 Hector Lopez (R-R)
7 Mickey Mantle (S-R)
9 Roger Maris (L-R)
53 Ross Moschitto (R-R)
15 Tom Tresh (S-R)
Batting Practice Pitcher - Spud Murray 55
Trainers - Joe Soares, Don Seger
* not on active roster
THE YANKEES SIX BIG MISTAKES!
"You could hear the dull thud as the Yankees hit ninth place. Metnik maniacs whooped that their dumbums would finish higher in the National League than the Yankees in the American.
Yankee lovers were only mildly embarrassed. They claimed the champions' plight was due to a series of ailments which cost the loss of the team's hardest hitters, Mickey, Rog and Ellie. They'd all be back in action ere long, they hoped. If so, come Oct. 3 it'd be the Yanks on top again.
Unprejudiced observers, including many sports writers, held the middle ground. They reminded them that Rome hadn't fallen in one day. The Yankees have won 29 pennants in 44 years, 14 in the last 16 seasons. The Yankee organization is the most consistently successful in the history of sports. It still has the brains, the experience and the habit of rebuilding fading teams. It's much too early to count the champs out. If the Yankees can hold their own until July 1 they'll give the rest of the league the pin-stripe jitters, they said.
The Yankee situation is complicated by some unprecedented factors in present-day baseball. In recent years new problems, difficult of solution, have arisen. No team has been able to solve them all. Every Yankee move has been subject to scrutiny and harsh criticism. [This article concentrates on] 'The Six Yankee Mistakes.' They are:
1. The Yankees missed the boat by not hanging on to Robin Roberts after they signed him as a free agent in the fall of 1961.
Roberts, one of the finest control pitchers of modern times, was released after a spring training trial in 1962 without ever having toed the rubber for the Yankees in a league game. He caught on with the Orioles and has had three straight winning seasons for them (10-9, 14-13, 13-7) and started off this season with four victories against a lone defeat.
During his brilliant career with the Phillies, for whom he won 234 in 14 years, including six straight 20-win seasons, Roberts had depended solely on his fast ball. Unlike other veteran hurlers such as Johnny Sain and Luis Arroyo, who developed other deliveries as their arms aged, Robin stuck to the speed which had earned him money and fame. By 1961 it was being socked over the fences and into the stands to the tune of one win and ten losses in 26 games.
Roy Hamey signed Roberts for the Yankees after the Phillies made him a free agent in the hope that he would be valuable in relief. When he showed little in spring training, the Yankees hurriedly cut him loose, figuring his waning fast ball would be battered in relief jobs. Baltimore picked him up, Roberts worked on a change-up and became a winning pitcher again, as the Yankees ruefully learned first-hand when he shut them out on six hits on May 2 [of 1965].
The Yankees probably should have exhibited more patience with an old star of Robin's magnitude, even though their 1962 team was rich in pitching, both relief and starting.
2. Critics charge that the deal which sent Ralph Terry to Cleveland deprived the Yanks of a seasoned starter at a time at a time when seasoned starters are almost as scarce as whooping cranes.
There's no doubt that Terry is a seasoned starter. He won 23 games in 1962 and 17 in 1963 when his 18 complete games topped the league. Ralph is one of the sharpest control pitchers in today's game. He has a puzzling slow curve, changes of speed and a fast ball for quick strikes when needed. He was off form in early 1964; home runs were rocketed off his change and slow stuff. He was used sparingly during midseason and failed in relief. He became the forgotten man of the staff after Mel Stottlemyre brought his speed and sinker from Richmond in August. In September Terry was traded for Pedro Ramos [as a player-to-be-named-later to Cleveland after the season].
In Terry's defense it can be said that as a control pitcher he needed regular fourth-day starts and didn't get them. Birdie Tebbetts put him in the starting rotation this spring and he's winning once more. He made monkeys out of the crippled Yankees on May 5, blanking them on only three hits on 70 pitches and in 1:40 elapsed time three days after Robin Roberts had shut them out.
Pete Ramos is a fast ball workhorse. He is 30 to Terry's 29. He has pitched mostly for tailenders and four times led the league in defeats and once led in the sad department of yielding home runs, 46 of 'em.
Why, then, swap Terry for Ramos?
Let's go back to Sept. 1, 1964. The Yankees were reeling after a miserable August. The Orioles and White Sox were breathing down Yogi Berra's neck. Alone on the pitching staff, Stottlemyre was turning in consistent wins. The relief corps was in shambles. And Yogi had lost confidence in Terry [after inexplicably not starting Terry regularly during the season].
The deal was made. Ramos was jubilant as he put on his Yankee uniform. He appeared in 13 games during the season's final four weeks and was credited with seven saves. The Yanks shot up from third, three games back, to their fifth consecutive pennant. In 22 innings of relief, Pete yielded just three runs and 13 hits, fanned 21 and gave nary a base on balls.
The name of Pete Ramos should be inscribed in letters of gold on the 1964 flag. And, if he had been eligible [acquired before September 1], he might have been the savior of the world's championship for the Yankees.
Despite this, critics charge that one month of Ramos wasn't worth a lifetime of Terry. Ramos could, of course, take the wind out of their sales with future performances.
3. Critics charge that too many changes have been made in the top ranks of the organization during the past six years.
Since 1960 the Yankees have had three general managers and four field leaders compared to only three general managers and, omitting 1930 and 1946, only four field leaders in the previous 40 years. In other words, the most stable organization in baseball has been become unstable in its upper ranks, to the detriment of the team.
Whatever the publicized reasons for the dismissal of George Weiss and Casey Stengel, these changes were due to a clash of personalities. The retirement of Roy Hamey, Weiss's successor, was forced by Hamey's poor health.
As Stengel's successor on the field, Ralph Houk quickly demonstrated his genius in team leadership. His popularity with players, press and public was unparalleled in Yankee history. Young, dynamic, baseball-wise, a thoughtful planner, a leader who commanded his players' respect and loyalty, he was the hero of three pennant-winning campaigns. As a result, some critics say he should not have been snatched from the bench and upgraded to the general managership.
Ralph was the logical candidate for the G.M. post. He had been in the organization since 1939 as player, coach and manager in the minors and majors. His outstanding executive ability [sic] had been proven again and again. His mastery of details and his ability to make quick decisions are unquestioned. Critics claim, however, he would have been even more valuable as a field manager for a few more years.
Contrary to some opinions, Yogi Berra's promotion to managerial duties was not a countermove against Ol' Case's Metnik popularity. As dean of Yankee players and destined Hall-of-Famer, Yogi deserved the chance to prove himself as a team leader. He failed, although his 1964 team won the pennant and carried the Cardinals into a seventh World Series game before succumbing.
The most severe criticism of the Yankee organization stems from what Yankee-haters call Yogi's 'cold-blooded' ouster. These back-biters would have it both ways. They say Yogi wasn't smart enough to be named manager and was too smart to have been fired. Yogi himself [seems] to share their point of view. In 1963 he frankly admitted he wasn't sure he knew how to manage. In 1964 he said he had done the best he could and would like to try again. He was an experiment as a manager and since experiments may be costly in terms of long-range baseball planning, his ouster was in the cards.
Enter Johnny Keane, veteran manager, as Yankee pilot. Not even the crabbiest Yankee-hater has yet blamed Johnny for the Yanks' early season woes.
4. Critics charge the Yankee organization moved too slowly in trying to find replacements for aging veterans. They insist that the physical crackup of players who had been around from ten to 15 years should have been anticipated.
Twenty-one of the 25 players on the 1964 team were still on the roster as the 1965 season began and such key members of the 1960 aggregation as Ford, Mantle, Maris, Kubek and Richardson were still carrying the lead. This is in sharp contrast to the Branch Rickey theory of unloading big stars one year before they figure to start going to pieces.
But, given today's circumstances, could better have been found? The time when outstanding players could be bought for cold cash is long gone. In the post-war era and especially since the majors' expansion to 20 teams from 16, players of starry caliber are in extremely short supply. The day is far in the past when a Joe DiMaggio could be found to replace Babe Ruth and a Mickey Mantle to move into the Jolter's shoes.
Gone, too, is the heyday of the farm system when Branch Rickey could trade away stars just past their peak and supplant them with fresh young talent from his minor league outposts. Worn-out veterans and competent second-flighters may still be obtained in trades or for a price when a hole must be plugged in a contender's weakening dikes, but not even Mr. Rickey could lay his hands on a Grover Cleveland Alexander.
5. Critics charge that the club's famous farm system, once the perpetual source of brilliant youngsters, is in decay. They allege that none of the present scouts is on a par with Paul Krichell, Bill Essick or Joe Devine.
It is obvious that the Yankees cannot come up with a Jerry Coleman when a George Stirnweiss starts to fade; or find a set keystone duo like Tony Kubek and Bobby Richardson in their farm system when the Rizzuto-Coleman combination is through. Fifteen years ago the Yankees had no fewer than 14 catchers in the minors waiting for a chance to play No. 2 man to Yogi Berra. Among them were Gus Triandos, Lou Berberet, Clint Courtney and, by 1951, Johnny Blanchard and Elston Howard. This year, when Howard developed bone chips in his throwing arm, the only farm replacement available was Jake Gibbs [originally signed as a third baseman], who had failed to impress in spring training. As a result a trade had to be made with Kansas City for Doc Edwards, a .225 hitter.
So what happened to deplete the Yankees' bank account of reserves? Johnny Johnson, vice-president in charge of minor league operations, the man in the best position to know [and the logical candidate to succeed Hamey as Yankee general manager], gives two principal reasons:
George Weiss, then general manager, flatly refused to compete with other major league outfits for promising farm products. At one time there were 57 men in the big leagues who were originally signed by the Yankee organization.
Johnson, who has been close to the situation for 19 years, is actually saying that Weiss's aversion to huge bonuses finally caught up with the Yankees. And with the numerous multiple deals, they ran out of tradeable farmhands.
Weiss was more positive that it was utterly ridiculous to give an untried kid a king's ransom,' elaborated Johnson, 'after Ed Cereghino (a $ 70,000 pitcher), Frank Leja (a first baseman who got $45,000) and Tommy Carroll (a shortstop who was paid $50,000) failed to get anywhere [due to the bonus rule keeping them on the major league roster for two full seasons before they could be assigned to the minors]. George was right, of course, but the way things were going a club either had to bid or see top candidates go elsewhere.'
Johnson listed Bill Freehan of Detroit and Carl Yastrzemski of Boston as players the Yankees lost with this attitude.
'We went to $30,000 with Yastrzemski,' recalled Johnson. 'The Red Sox gave him $110,000.'
Yankee president Dan Topping plunged into the bonus game with the departure of Weiss after the 1960 World Series. It is ironic that the highest bidder against the Yankees was Weiss. George felt entirely different about throwing Joan Payson's money around when he took over the New York Mets. The Yankees to date haven't had any success since belatedly entering the spending spree.
While the Yankees' bonus attitude depleted their farm stock to a greater extent than most clubs, most farm systems are below former pars. Why this condition exists is another story. Partly it has to do with the decline of minor league ball and the rise of a new generation of boys who have never seen a professional game except on TV. And also because Organized Baseball, in its effort to avoid high bonus payments, has tied itself into knots which strangle the signing and development of recruits.
6. Critics say the Yanks made a mistake in letting all the 'color' go out of the squad, that the stars are organization men, bloated plutocrats, Madison Avenue types and TV actors who rightfully belong on the CBS network.
To anyone who circulates among the present-day Yankees, their public image as a cold heartless organization is a product of the imagination. There was a time when Ed Barrow ran the club and Joe McCarthy managed when Yankee players talked in hushed tones to reporters. Beginning with Larry McPhail's regime in 1945 and continuing into the Casey Stengel era into the present, the Yankees have provided as many human interest stories as any club in baseball. And this year they're even providing stories about their mistakes!"
- Charles Dexter, Baseball Digest, July 1965
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