1977 New York Yankees Player Development

Director of Player Development and Scouting - Jack Butterfield

JACK BUTTERFIELD
"Jack Butterfield, formerly the baseball coach at the University of Maine and the University of South Florida, joined the Yankee staff over the off-season as the team's Director of Player Development & Scouting. Jack heads the Yankees' scouting bureau and oversees the operation of all the club's minor league teams."

-1977 New York Yankees Scorebook & Official Magazine


YANKEE FARM CLUBS
AAA
Syracuse, New York
International League
Manager - Pete Ward

AA
West Haven, Connecticut
Eastern League
Manager - Mike Ferraro

A
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Florida State League
Manager - Ed Napoleon

A
Oneonta, New York
New York-Penn. League
Manager - Art Mazmanian

YANKEE FARM CLUBS
"Both the Yanks' AAA club at Syracuse and their AA club at West Haven will be defending league championships this year. Syracuse won the Governor's Cup as International League champs, while West Haven took the Eastern League title.
The Yankee farm system once again this year will be well equipped with knowledgeable coaches and instructors. The Yankees' top two farm clubs, Syracuse and West Haven, each will individual hitting and pitching coaches. Pete Ward, who moves from West Haven to the top job at Syracuse this year, will have as his pitching coach one of the game's greatest relief pitchers in Hoyt Wilhelm. The other coach will be former major league catcher Jerry McNertney. Mike Ferraro, the new skipper at West Haven, will work with former major league infielder Sandy Valdespino and Carl Merrill, formerly the assistant baseball coach at the University of Maine. Ed Napoleon, the Fort Lauderdale manager, will have former Cincinnati pitcher Sammy Ellis as his coach, and Art Mazmanian, in his first year with Oneonta, will work with Q.V. Lowe."

-1977 New York Yankees Scorebook & Official Magazine

YANKEE FARM SYSTEM ... DEVELOPING WINNERS
"1977 was another banner year for the Yankee minor league system. The Class AA team, West Haven (Eastern League), and the Class A team, Oneonta (NY-Pennsylvania League) both swept to league titles. Syracuse (Class AAA International League) and Ft. Lauderdale (Class A Florida State League) did not fare as well but showed some excellent prospects in the mold of former Yankee minor leaguers Thurman Munson, Roy White, Ron Guidry, Ken Clay, Dell Alston and Mickey Klutts.
Mike Ferraro's West Haven team finished at 86-62, a .623 winning percentage, and capped the season with a three-game sweep of Three Rivers, Quebec for the championship. West Haven was led by Jerry Narron's 30 home runs, Don Castle's 23 and Garry Smith's 22. On the mound, Jim Lysgaard led the way at 13-6, followed by Dave Rajsich (8-2), Doug Melvin (8-3), Jim Curnal (7-2) and the number one draft choice, Steve Taylor (4-1).
Art Mazmanian, Manager of the Year in the NY-Penn League, led his Oneonta Yankees to a regular-season finish of 48-23 (.676).In the best-two-out-of-three series with Batavia, Oneonta proved itself the class of the league with a two-game sweep. Dwayne Gray, Jeff Tillman and 17th round draft choice Ken Baker were the top hitters. The key to the Yankees' success, however, was the pitching staff, as only two hurlers posted ERAs above 3.00. Mike McLeod (9-2, 2.91), Paul Semall (8-4, 2.37), Chris Welsh (8-5, 2.24), Jamie Werly (7-3, 2.54) and Byron Ballard (6-2, 2.98) paced the staff.
Syracuse, under Pete Ward, missed the playoffs on the last day of the season despite leading the league in batting. The Chiefs were plagued by the recall of many key players to New York and received fine performances from Larry McCall (16-7, 2.10), Dave Bergman (.315), Darryl Jones (.332), Dave Moates (.310) and Gene Locklear (four home runs in one game).
Manager Ed Napoleon lost many fine players from last year's second place Ft. Lauderdale club. Still, he got fine performances from fifth round pick Nat Showalter (.362), third round choice Joe Lefebvre, and pitchers Mark Softy, Tom Kibbee and Jose Alcantara."

-1977 World Series Official Program


SCOUTING
Major League & Special Assignment Scout - Birdie Tebbets (Anna Maria, Florida)
Howard Cassady (Lutz, Florida)
Al Cuccinello (Elmont, New York)
Whitey Ford (Lake Success, New York)
Tom Greenwade (Willard, Missouri)
Epy Guerrero (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)
Roy Hamey (Tucson, Arizona)
Clyde King (Goldsboro, North Carolina)
Donald Lindberg (Anaheim, California)
Wayne Morgan (San Jose, California)
Bob Neiman (Anaheim, California)
Frank O'Rourke (Hillside, New Jersey)
Herb Raybourn (Balboa, Canal Zone, Panama)
Grover Resinger (Eolia, Missouri)
Jax Robertson (Bay City, Ohio)
Jerry Walker (Ada, Oklahoma)
Jack Warner (Inglewood, California)
Dave Yoakum (Orlando, Florida)

1977 YANKEE SPRING TRAINING SCOUT SIGNINGS
Al Cuccinello: Dell Alston (1973)
Atley Donald: Ron Blomberg (1967), Ron Guidry (1971), Ed Ricks (1972)
Pat Gillick: Gil Patterson (1975)
Randy Gumpert: Dick Fleshman (1974), Bob Polinsky (1973)
Tuffie Hashem: Roy White (1962)
Myron Hayworth: Ken Clay (1972), Lamar Hoyt (1973), Jerry Narron (1974)
Clyde Kluttz: Jim Beattie (1975)
Don Lee: Kerry Dineen (1973), Dennis Irwin (1972), Bob Kammeyer (1972)
Lou Maguolo: Dave Bergman (1974), Larry Murray (1971)
Buster Mills: Doug Heinold (1973)
Tom Morgan: Terry Whitfield (1971)
Wayne Morgan: Randy Niemann (1975)
Frank O'Rourke: Greg Diehl (1974)
Jim Quigley: Dell Alston (1973)
Steve Souchock: Mike Heath (1973), Denny Sherrill (1974)
Jack Warner: Rich Anderson (1972), Mickey Klutts (1972)
Gene Woodling: Neal Mersch (1973), Thurman Munson (1968)


SPRING TRAINING INSTRUCTORS (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida)
Manager - Billy Martin
Yogi Berra (coach)
Cloyd Boyer (coach)
Bobby Cox (coach)
Mike Ferraro (West Haven manager)
Whitey Ford (special instructor)
Elston Howard (coach)
Dick Howser (coach)
Mickey Mantle (special instructor)
Ed Napoleon (Ft. Lauderdale manager)
Pete Ward (Syracuse manager)


1977 YANKEES YEARBOOK "ON THE WAY UP"
Dell Alston (OF)
Jim Beattie (RHP)
Dave Bergman (1B)
Mike Heath (C)
Doug Heinold (RHP)
Dennis Irwin (C)
Larry Murray (OF)
Gil Patterson (RHP)
Ed Ricks (RHP)
Denny Sherrill (SS)

YANKS' #1 DRAFT PICK
"Steve Taylor, the Yanks #1 draft pick this year in the June Free Agent Draft, ran up some pretty good numbers for the University of Delaware, where he was named a first team University Division All-American.
Steve, a 6-4, 200-pound right-handed pitcher, was the winningest single-season pitcher in the history of baseball at the University of Delaware, running up a 12-1 mark for the Hens. He had a 1.59 ERA and struck out 114 batters in 102 innings. Steve finished the 1977 season with three Delaware pitching records. His 12 wins are the mark for most wins in a season. His three shutouts equal the record for most shutouts in a season, and his 11 complete games are a new record as well. His 12 wins also made him the fifth winningest pitcher in the nation, and his 114 strikeouts placed him 11th.
Taylor, a 21-year-old native of Newark, Delaware, has joined the Yanks' Fort Lauderdale club in the Florida State League."

-1977 New York Yankees Scorebook & Official Magazine

YANKEE MINOR LEAGUE ALL-STARS
"Speaking of All-Stars, 11 Yankee minor leaguers made their league teams. At Syracuse, ace pitcher Larry McCall, infielder Greg Pryor and outfielders Dave Moates and Darryl Jones made the International League team. In the Eastern League, West Haven was represented by Jerry Narron and Garry Smith. Oneonta placed five men on the NY-Penn League All-Star team - pitches Mike McLeod and Chris Welsh, infielder Dan Schmitz and outfielders Ken Baker and Benny Lloyd."

-1977 World Series Official Program

YANKEE MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE MONTH
"Three of the Yankees' farmhands were named Player of the Month during the 1977 season. Outfielder Darryl Jones at Syracuse was named the International League Player of the Month for June. Teammate Dave Bergman received the same honor for the month of August, and Jerry Narron of West Haven was named the Eastern League's Player of the Month, also for August."

-1977 World Series Official Program