"Ruben Amaro was acquired in a trade for Phil Linz last winter to assure the Yankees qualified defensive shortstopping while young Bobby Murcer was gradually breaking in following Tony Kubek's enforced retirement. Ruben was doing his job when an early-season collision with Tom Tresh in Baltimore sent Amaro to the hospital for surgery on his right knee and a long spell of inactivity while he recuperates in his Philadelphia home.
A fine shortstop and all-around infielder, Ruben was a welcome addition to the Yankee team and his absence was a tough early season blow. A Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner in 1964, Amaro is the son of an outstanding Mexican outfielder."
-The New York Yankees Official 1966 Yearbook
Originally signed by St. Louis Cardinals, 1954.
Traded to Phillies for outfielder Chuck Essegian, December 1958.
Received Gold Glove as outstanding National League shortstop, 1964.
Acquired by Yankees from Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Phil Linz, November 1965.
His father, Santos Amaro, was a star outfielder and manager in Cuba and Mexico for 26 years.
-1966 New York Yankees Press-TV-Radio Guide
"One of the N.L.'s top fielding shortstops since 1960 with the Philadelphia Phillies, Ruben was acquired by the Yankees in exchange for infielder Phil Linz on November 12, 1965. He injured his right knee on April 16 and was placed on the disabled list following surgery."
-1966 New York Yankees Scorecard and Official Program
Phils' Castoff Hardly Fits Pin-Striped Legend But
ONLY AMARO CAN SAVE YANKS!
"Gene Mauch bumped into his old arch-enemy, Johnny Keane, recently. Naturally, as any guy who had bought a used car from a neighbor, Keane fell to discussing Ruben Amaro.
'He's got to be my shortstop,' the manager of the Yankees said. 'I'm going to give him the full shot.'
'Well, you saw enough of him when you were in the National League to know Ruben can really cut it with the glove,' said the Phillies' manager, who had swapped Amaro to the Yankees for Phil Linz. 'And you'll be surprised. He'll pick up some runs for you at the plate.'
'He'd better,' said Keane with a touch of grimness. 'Now that Kubek's gone, he's all I have at short. He'd better come to play 162 games.'
It is irony that Amaro should find job security in Yankee Stadium, inheritor of the Crosetti and Rizzuto kingdom, after all the years of shuttlecock with the Phils. A mild, limpid-eyed man with a .220 past, Ruben does not exactly fit the pin-stripe legend. When the No. 3 shortstop of a National League team becomes the man of the moment in the Bronx, time and reputations are out of whack.
Now comes the first harbinger of spring. The Audubon Society, eagerly throwing out popcorn for robins and cardinals, will be disappointed. The harbinger is a man named Jimmy the Greek, who operates a Las Vegas gambling hall and has given the odds on the 1966 baseball tournaments. The Greek has a word for the Yankees- miserable.
'Baltimore, 3-1,' says J. the Greek. 'Minnesota, Chicago and New York, 4-1. Kansas City, 1000-1.'
Gad, is nothing sacred? This country was built on certain pillars of truth- for one, that a man could make a sure living betting on Notre Dame, Joe Louis and the Yankees. Now Notre Dame has been known to lose, Joe Louis is a paunchy golfer and the Yankees are poor scuffling peons, hustling meanly in the pack. Good-bye, verities of childhood.
Funny thing, when Jimmy the Greek says 4-1, he has one foot in the past. It is like fearing that Ben Hogan or Sam Snead will win the U.S. Open. The Yankees, who read on paper like a casualty list from a 20-car crackup on the expressway, don't look that strong. It is a sentimental shock to see them disparaged, but if the Yankees win a pennant John Keane will need more miracles than exist in all the Ben Casey scripts.
Instead of Murderers' Row, they've got a row of stretchers. Except for Tom Tresh and Cletis Boyer, there isn't a starter who doesn't cause Keane some doubt. And Keane might flip a few coins figuring where they'll play. The only talent on the roster who is in a state of good ascension is Mel Stottlemyre. Good pitcher, this skinny gum-chomper, but hardly the basis for a new dynasty.
Roger Maris doesn't know whether he can swing a bat in anger after a hand operation. Ellie Howard is 36 and recovering from work on his arm. Whitey Ford is a question, as is the sore-armed Jim Bouton. Joe Pepitone's attitude has been as worrisome as his playmates' problems with bone and muscle. And Mickey Mantle, 34, a refugee from his sixth operation in 15 seasons, could see his ill-starred greatness at an end before spring training is over, a thick-muscled stallion finally caught in time's cul-de-sac.
Mantle played only 65 games last year, and if handed all the jobs the press has suggested for 1966, he'll be too bone-tired to stir. Playing first base and being a full-time pinch hitter are among the suggestions. 'Mickey will play the outfield- as far as he thinks he can go,' says Keane, who now knows how a New York power blackout feels.
Obviously, it is time for baseball to move to save the Yankees. They are whipped at the box office by the Mets, and another such disaster would set up nervous vibrations. It happened in Brooklyn and Boston and Philadelphia and the Polo Grounds and Milwaukee, didn't it? Would CBS be too noble to padlock Yankee Stadium and shift the whole, sad pageant to Seattle or New Orleans or Tokyo or maybe even Milwaukee?
There will have to be a Save the Yankees draft, with everybody chucking a few healthy athletes to preserve the hungry, lame sharecroppers in the Bronx. The first act of Spike Eckert, the baseball commissioner, should be to gather a CARE package for John Keane. He could start with the slogan, 'Don't laugh, boys, the poor devils are dying.'
Meanwhile, Ruben Amaro has a job. He could start on Opening Day with ringing oratory: 'I did not become shortstop to oversee the liquidation of the Yankee empire.'
Amaro spent years trying to beat Bobby Wine, and now he has to whip the whole American League. May be easier."
-Sandy Grady, Philadelphia Bulletin (Baseball Digest, April 1966)
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