"The football Giants announced their imminent departure for the swamplands of New Jersey and if the City of New York doesn't come through with the funds (said to be $24 million) to buy Yankee Stadium and refurbish the venerable old park that Ruth built, the Yankees could follow suit. The way the Yankees have been playing of late, the city fathers must be thinking, 'Why sink good money into a lost cause?' But what every faithful Yankee fan feels in his bones is that if the Bronx Bombers will only start winning, as was their tradition not too long ago, the Yankees and Yankee Stadium will be forever.
Therein lies the problem. The team the Yankees fielded last year was certainly not of championship caliber and from the looks of it, the Yankees of '72 won't be much better. What did the Yankees do to bolster themselves during the off-season? They acquired utility infielder Bernie Allen from the Texas Rangers and another infielder, Rich McKinney, from the White Sox. To get these two questionable assets the Yanks gave up two young lefthanders, Terry Ley and Gary Jones, and 14-game winner Stan Bahnsen. For a team with only one legitimate sock-it-to-'em star, Bobby Murcer, the Yankees seem to be satisfied with very little.
Where the Yankees hurt the most is in the infield. McKinney is expected to fill the opening at third base. He hit .271 with the White Sox last year in 114 games while playing right field and second base, although he was originally signed as a shortstop. But Manager Ralph Houk says he's certain McKinney can handle third.
'I think he's going to be one helluva hitter. He hurt us. We couldn't get him out.'
But the fact that McKinney had good days against the Yankees is no evidence of his potential. We'll have to wait and see.
Until someone comes along to unseat him, Horace Clarke will be the Yankees' second baseman; he's been there for the last five years. There's a slim chance he could lose his job this year if Fred Frazier, a top glove man who hit .261 with Syracuse, is ready. But the 20-year-old infielder is probably still a year away. At shortstop Jerry Kenney is being given the edge. Kenney improved his hitting last year (from .193 in '70 to .262) and is being moved back to short after experimenting at third the last couple of years. Bernie Allen can sub at second and third, and Gene Michael will serve a general utility role. Michael, 33, was fine at short last year but Houk feels he will be of more value as an infield sub, allowing others to rest on occasion.
First base is being awarded to Ron Blomberg, a sensation when he came up to New York last summer and went on to hit.322 after batting .326 at Syracuse. Battling for jobs are Frank Baker and Danny Cater. Cater expected to be traded over the winter, and according to Yankee sources really doesn't fit into the picture. But he is insurance at first and third.
The outfield is two-thirds settled. Bobby Murcer gets better every year in center and Roy White is good in left. It is expected that switch-hitter Rusty Torres, a .290 hitter with Syracuse last year, will win the right field job. He could share it with Felipe Alou, however, who can also fill in at first. If Torres doesn't work out then the Yankees will resort to returning Blomberg to right, possibly platooning with Ron Swoboda, the ex-Met who was traded to Montreal last year and then returned to New York with the Yankees.
Thurman Munson was the league's top defensive catcher last year with his .998 percentage. Jake Gibbs retired, so behind Munson are John Ellis, also available for infield duty, and rookie George Pena, the Triple A Catcher of the Year in the Topps balloting. At Syracuse Pena hit .284 with 22 homers and collected 78 RBIs.
A year ago the Yankee pitching looked pretty impressive on paper. But this season the outlook isn't so bright. Mel Stottlemyre is still one of the best right-handers around, but he hasn't been able to rise above the rest of the team of late. Fritz Peterson will be trying to regain his stature as a 20-game winner. The third and fourth spots should be filled by two hard throwers, lefthander Mike Kekich and righthander Steve Kline. Jack Aker and Lindy McDaniel, both hopefully recovered from their off-years in 1971, head the bullpen while Gary Waslewski, a 30-year-old righthander, is a good middle relief man. Other help is expected from Rich Hinton, the 24-year-old lefthander acquired from the White Sox (it's expected he could be a sensation as a starter one day), and Jim Magnuson, another White Sox refugee whom the Yankees picked up in the draft last November. Youngsters who will be battling for a major league job are Alan Closter, Roger Hambright and Loyd Colson."
-Brenda Zanger, Major League Baseball 1972
IN BRIEF
Probable 1972 Finish: 5th (East)
Strengths: Murcer and White producing runs, Stottlemyre pitching, and Munson behind the plate.
Biggest Needs: a third baseman, bullpen help, and improved all-around hitting.
1971 finish: 4th
-Brenda Zanger, Major League Baseball 1972
1972 Yankees Depth Chart
C Thurman Munson
1B Ron Blomberg
2B Horace Clarke
3B Rich McKinney
SS Jerry Kenney
LF Roy White
CF Bobby Murcer
RF Rusty Torres
UTILITY:
Bernie Allen
Gene Michael
John Ellis
Felipe Alou
Ron Swoboda
Danny Cater
PITCHERS:
Right-Handed:
Mel Stottlemyre
Steve Kline
Lindy McDaniel
Jack Aker
Gary Waslewski
Left-Handed:
Fritz Peterson
Mike Kekich
Jim Magnuson
Rich Hinton
Alan Closter
-Brenda Zanger, Major League Baseball 1972
PITCHING
"Ralph Houk chortles every time he studies the 1971 pitching statistics that show his New York Yankee staff with 67 complete games, only four less than Baltimore's four 20-game winners accumulated.
There is, of course, another way of looking at those numbers and that is that Houk may have been a bit hesitant about going to his bullpen. And the way the Yankee relievers performed, you couldn't really blame him.
First the good side of the Yankee pitching story - the starters. They are headed by veteran Mel Stottlemyre, who was 16-12 with a 2.87 earned run average last year, and lefty Fritz Peterson (15-13, 3.05). Behind those two, but not far, are Steve Kline (12-13, 2.96) and Mike Kekich (10-9, 4.08).
The Yankees are confident in that quartet to have traded Stan Bahnsen, a 14-game winner, during the winter. It's behind those four that the problems lie. Two years ago, the Yankees got sensational relief from Lindy McDaniel and Jack Aker and finished second in the AL East. Last year, McDaniel and Aker slumped and the Yankees finished fourth. The slip was not coincidental.
New York hopes for a comeback from the two relief artists and has added some young arms to help them. Counted on as bullpen men are Alan Closter and Roger Hambright, both of whom did well in short trials last year, as well as newcomers Jim Magnuson and Rich Hinton."
-Hal Bock, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1972 Edition
HITTING
"New York's attack holds a great deal of promise, much of it located in the outfield. The Yankees have two outstanding hitters out there and they think they may have another about to arrive.
In left New York has Roy White, who has hit .290 or better in each of the last three years. White set a record with 17 sacrifice flies last season, proving that even his outs were productive.
In center there's Bobby Murcer, who blossomed into a full-fledged star last year, batting .331, second-best in the league. Murcer had 25 homers and 94 RBIs - both figures tops among those hitters who finished in the top 10 in the American League.
In right Houk plans to use young Rusty Torres, who hit .290 with 19 homers at Syracuse and .385 in nine games with New York at the end of the season.
That frees Ron Blomberg, who arrived in New York with a splash last summer, for first base duty. Blomberg hit .322 with seven homers in 64 games and will probably share first with old pros Danny Cater (.276) and Felipe Alou (.288). Cater can also work at third where the Yankees plan to use Rich McKinney (.271 at Chicago).
Catcher Thurman Munson (.251) gives the Yankees a solid backstop with Johnny Ellis (.244) available to share the load. It adds up to a sufficient offense."
-Hal Bock, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1972 Edition
FIELDING
"This could be a problem area. Second baseman Horace Clarke is no wizard at the double play. Cater is a liability with the glove at third and not much better at first. Blomberg is a question mark as is Torres. White and Murcer get the job done while shortstop Gene Michael and catcher Munson are more than adequate."
-Hal Bock, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1972 Edition
OUTLOOK
"Houk, the eternal optimist, sees the Yankees challenging for the flag. An honest appraisal must place them a bit lower than that but certainly better than last year's disappointing fourth. And if he comes up with the bullpen he seeks, who knows, Houk might even be right."
-Hal Bock, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1972 Edition
"The Yankees are in the sixth year of their five-year plan which was to have achieved a pennant. Instead, it has resulted in retrogression, rather than improvement or even culmination of the goal. To point out stagnation is not to demean ... rather, to lament.
The situation of New York, AL style, has deteriorated. The ills of the neighborhood in the Bronx, the ball park which was once an edifice but now has become a community problem and the seven-year limbo into which the team has fallen all bring into focus that there is trouble, not in River City, Music Man motif, but at River Avenue, where former circus manager Michael Burke presides over a crumbling dynasty.
River Avenue is where the Yankee Stadium is situated in the Bronx- in case you're from Iowa or just the Hackensack Meadows in New Jersey, where the Yankees will likely follow the grid Giants in the unlikelihood that the City Council of New York will [not] condone a grant of $24 million and up for rehabilitation of the ancient ball park.
Burke, Yankee president and resident genius on behalf of CBS, the conglomerate which owns the ball club, had hoped to get the city fathers to finance major improvements. Burke, who once managed the Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey Circus, was half of a tandem of handsome gray show horses with Mayor John V. (for vacancy) Lindsay, in an effort [to sell] the financially-plagued metropolis on the idea of remodeling the 'House that Ruth Built.'
Ruth, of course, being the Babe whose line of procession was to come to include Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, the mantle of Mickey and the current reigning rapper of baseball, Bobby Murcer.
It seemed that the Bombers were on their way back to the top in 1970 when they finished second in the East and over the million mark in home attendance for the 25th straight year with 1,136,879.
They made the million-mark again last year with 1,070,771, the decrease being attributable to a fourth-place residence and a drop from the 93-69 record to 82-80. They surpassed the .500 level only by fortune of a forfeit on the final night in Washington.
So, what's ahead for the Yankees- except New Jersey- assuming Governor William Cahill can maintain his role as Pied Piper and lure the grid Giants and Yanks to the Garden State by financing a $200 million sports complex across the Hudson River?
Well, a winter ago they stood pat and who could fault them with a team which finished second in its division and won more games (93) than any but three other of the clubs in the majors?
This time, however, they had no reason to molt.
The Winter meetings produced the greatest market volume in baseball history. In all, at least 70 players changed uniforms and the galaxy of stars who went on the block never has been equaled in one off-season. And what was the extent of the Yankee participation? They watched such superstars as Frank Robinson, Sam McDowell, Richie Allen, Gaylord Perry and Rick Monday go in trades.
And, needing any or all of such, they wound up with two lefty relief pitchers, Jim Magnuson (1-1) and Rich Hinton (3-4) from the Chicago White Sox and infielders Rich McKinney (.271), also from the White Sox, and Bernie Allen (.266) from Washington.
And they gave up a front-line pitcher, Stan Bahnsen (14-23) for McKinney, who is to be their third baseman although he never has played the position.
Anyway, this is a Yankee team which is not well prepared for the season which lies ahead. The third baseman, assuming he is healthy, never had an inning at the position before PR. The first baseman, Ron Blomberg, hit .322 as an outfielder late last season but never has played first in the majors.
Horace Clarke remains the second baseman unless Frank Fred Frazier, a rookie from Syracuse with good hands (which Clarke lacks) and a bad bat (Horace has a good one) wins the job. Gene Michael and Frank Baker again will vie for shortstop with Gene the likely one as he hits switch and better than the lefty Baker, and their fielding is about even. Hal Lanier, a conditional purchase from the Giants, is an infield handyman.
Mario Guerrero, up from Syracuse, also is a shortstop but at 22 he has 42-year-old legs and likely will wind up competing for third base with McKinney, holdovers Jerry Kenney and Danny Cater, and a kid named George Zeber if he gets free from duty with Uncle Sam in time.
Rusty Torres (.385 in nine games and a switch-hitter) might make it in right field and if he is that good, the outfield is set with Roy White (292) in left and Murcer (second in the league last year with .331) in center. Vet John Callison, ex-Cub, is a reserve and pinch hitter.
However, the infield is porous and the pitching, with Bahnsen gone, could be thin. Mel Stottlemyre, Fritz Peterson and Steve Kline are solid starters with left-hander Mike Kekich a possible bloomer. The bullpen is a joke unless elder citizens Lindy McDaniel and Jack Aker come back to the 1970 form which got second place. In 1971 they were no place. Neither were the Yankees."
-Joe Trimble, New York Daily News (1972 Street & Smith's Official Baseball Yearbook)
YANKEE PROSPECTS
"The big name for the Yankees is Rosendo (Rusty) Torres, who was named Rookie of the Year in the International League in 1971 and could win the same title in the American League for 1972. A switch-hitting outfielder with a powerful, accurate arm and deceptive power for his size, Torres was far above .300 most of the season with Syracuse before slumping to .290. He hit 19 homers, drove in 71 runs, and in a nine-game September stretch with the Yankees he hit .385, with two homers. Torres is ticketed for right field.
George Pena, MVP in the All-Star Game, hit .284 with 22 homers for Syracuse and will vie for the catching spot vacated when Jake Gibbs retired. Two young infielders, Fred Frazier and Mario Guerrero, will be trying for the second and third base jobs, respectively with the Yanks. Frazier hit .261 after a blazing start, and Guerrero hit .290 for Syracuse.
Left-handers Rich Hinton, acquired from the White Sox, and Rob Gardner, back for another whirl, will be bidding for relief jobs. Gardner, after winning 20 games in 1970, was traded and regained and finished at 9-5. Hinton was 8-6 at Tucson and 3-4 with the Chisox. Don Schroeder, 11-9 at Kinston with a 2.25 ERA, may be the best of the right-handed prospects."
- Bill Reddy, Syracuse Post Standard (1972 Street & Smith's Official Baseball Yearbook)
"Pitching is not something that seems to worry the Yankees, although part of it was sacrificed last winter in an attempt to bolster other problems. Manager Ralph Houk swapped Stan Bahnsen (14-12) and a couple of hot prospects to acquire third baseman Rich McKinney and back-up infielder Bernie Allen. However, Houk still has four starters remaining in Mel Stottlemyre (16-12), Fritz Peterson (15-13), Steve Kline (12-13), and Mike Kekich (10-9), plus a solid catcher in Thurman Munson and a better-than-average outfield.
Center fielder Bobby Murcer (.331 average, 25 homers, 94 RBI) finished second in the American League batting derby in 1971 and obviously has reached the stardom that was predicted for him. The same applies to left fielder Roy White (.292, 19, 85), and right field is well- if not spectacularly- patrolled by either Felipe Alou, Ron Swoboda, Ron Blomberg or rookie Rusty Torres.
But McKinney and/or Allen must improve the infield, and the relief corps also must be better than it was if the Yankees are to reclaim their past glory.
Houk especially wanted a hard-hitting third baseman and McKinney, though he was only a sometime-second baseman, might prove to fill the bill. So might Horace Clarke, who could wind up at third if his job at second is commandeered by Allen or somebody else. Veteran Gene Michael, a good fielding but light fielding shortstop, will try to fight off another challenge by Frank Baker, and it appears that Danny Cater will get some competition at first base from Blomberg as well as Alou.
More than anything else, however, the Yankees' troubles in 1971- they finished fourth, 21 games behind- were blamed on the lack of dependable relief pitching. Veterans Jack Aker and Lindy McDaniel will try to bounce back, but this early it appears more hope is directed toward youngsters Roger Hambright and Alan Closter. They could hold the key to better things for the Yankees in 1972."
-Russ Schneider, 1972 Baseball Annual Grand Slam
DRY SPELL OVER? RALPH SEES HAPPIER DAYS AHEAD by Ralph Houk
"To evaluate the Yankees' chances in the 1972 American League pennant race and the pennant chase itself, I have to look back for a moment at 1971. It was a disappointing season for Yankee fans as well as for the Yankee management. Despite this disappointment, I think our Yankees showed overall progress which was not reflected in the won and lost columns.
As manager of the Yankees, I am looking forward eagerly to the 1972 season, as I believe it is the year we can be in the thick of the pennant race. Let's take a look at today's Yankees, position by position.
Starting behind the plate ... our catching should be first rate. Our young All-Star catcher, Thurman Munson, is back and should be even better with another full year's experience behind him. Although Jake Gibbs has retired, Munson will have strong backup men. John Ellis, who was a catcher before we converted him to first base, went down to the Instructional League last fall and brushed up on his catching and we think he can do the job for us. Then we have George Pena, the International League's All-Star catcher last season when he hit 22 homers and drove in 78.
Our infield in '72 should get a big lift with the addition of Rich McKinney, plus Bernie Allen and possibly Fred Frazier, all of whom are in the new picture. We gave up one of our best pitchers - Stan Bahnsen - to obtain McKinney from the White Sox. In his first full major league season (1971), Rich hit .271 in 369 times at bat. We think Rich, who is only 25, can do the job at third base, too, and give us that extra bat in the infield. Allen has always hit well against the Yankees, and he should help our overall strength as he has played both third and second.
Frazier was the International League's All-Star second baseman. Only 20 years of age, Frazier is certain to offer some real competition for an infield job. If McKinney wins the third base post, Jerry Kenney will be in the running for the shortstop position with Gene Michael and Frank Baker. Baker had a bad year, but I think the 25-year-old still has the tools to make a top shortstop.
There is a lot of competition at first base with Felipe Alou available from the start, plus Ellis, Danny Cater and possibly Ron Blomberg, all in the running. Ron came up at mid-season and hit .322 in 64 games. Then he spent a few weeks at the Florida Instructional League camp brushing up on first base, his original position. We can move him back to first because Rusty Torres has made such a strong impression in his bid for the right field job. Rusty, a switch-hitter and only 23, batted .385 in nine games for the Yanks at the close of last season. He also was an International League All-Star last year at Syracuse, where he hit .290 with 19 homers and 71 RBIs. He has a great arm and is excellent on defense.
Horace Clarke, who I think is the most underrated player on our club, is our second baseman until someone can beat him out. Horace has also played some short and third in his career.
Spring training will be used to determine who plays what position in the infield. Anyway, it works out, we'll be a lot stronger than last year ... and deeper.
Our outfield situation speaks for itself. With Roy White in left field, Bobby Murcer in center; Rusty Torres, Ron Swoboda, Felipe Alou and Ron Blomberg available in right. ... we're in good shape. Swoboda did a great job for us after we acquired him from Montreal last year. Alou hit .289 for us, playing all over the outfield and at first base. Another young outfield prospect is Charlie Spikes, who hit 22 homers with 79 RBIs and .270 at Kinston in the Carolina League. He just might surprise!
And now to pitching. Our starting staff should be good again ... that is why we felt we could trade Bahnsen to get McKinney. Mel Stottlemyre, Fritz Peterson, young Steve Kline and Mike Kekich all will be back and should constitute our starting four rotation. We traded for Rich Hinton and drafted Jim Magnuson, two young left-handers from the White Sox. We think they can help us both as starters and in relief.
Our bullpen must be improved this year. There is no doubt that we lost a lot of games in the late-inning failures last season. I think both Jack Aker and Lindy McDaniel will prove much better relievers this year. And I look for pitchers like Alan Closter, Loyd Colson, Roger Hambright and Don Schroeder to be in the running. We are hoping that Jim Hardin's arm will be okay after the long rest and that Gary Waslewski will be fine again after his knee operation.
1972 spring training should be interesting with so many positions open to competition. I hope to open the season with a set lineup although I may be forced to platoon at certain positions.
We should have a much stronger 25-man roster this year. I believe our young prospects have matured enough to pick up our young stars like Murcer (who enjoyed his best season in '71 with 25 homers, 94 RBIs and the league's second highest average of .331), White and All-Star pitchers like Stottlemyre and Peterson. The combination should put us right in the thick of the American League East race.
Of course, Baltimore is still the team to beat in the American League East. But I think we have a real chance to do it. In order to beat Baltimore, I realize we have to catch and pass Detroit and Boston, both of whom finished ahead of us last season. And we have to stay out in front of the improving Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians. And I think we will.
In the A.L. West, Oakland, the defending champion, should be the favorite in a good race.
But nothing would make me happier than to see another pennant flying from Yankee Stadium. It has been a long, dry spell since 1964 and the many loyal Yankee fans are due to be rewarded ... I hope this year.
When the Yankee coaching staff meets with me at Ft. Lauderdale on February 19, we will have but one goal in mind ... to put together a Yankee club that will reach the top by next October.
See you in April. Best wishes ..."
-Ralph Houk, 1972 New York Yankees official spring training scorebook
1972 Yankees Spring Training Depth Chart
C Thurman Munson
1B Ron Blomberg
2B Horace Clarke
3B Rich McKinney
SS Jerry Kenney
LF Roy White
CF Bobby Murcer
RF Rusty Torres
UTILITY:
C John Ellis
1B Felipe Alou (CF)
2B Hal Lanier (SS)
3B Danny Cater
SS Gene Michael
RF Johnny Callison
PH - Bernie Allen (2B)
PH - Ron Swoboda (OF)
PITCHERS:
Mel Stottlemyre
Fritz Peterson
Steve Kline
Mike Kekich
Jim Hardin
Alan Closter
RELIEF PITCHERS:
Jack Aker
Lindy McDaniel
Gary Waslewski
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