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N0KFQ > TODAY 31.08.12 00:03l 65 Lines 3023 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Aug 30
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Aug 30, 1965:
Casey Stengel retires
On this day in 1965, New York Mets Manager Casey Stengel
announces his retirement, ending his 56-year career in
professional baseball. The 75-year-old Stengel had broken his hip
in a fall the previous month, and was instructed by his doctor
that resuming the duties of manager would take too great a toll
on his health.
Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel made his big league debut as an
outfielder with John McGraw's New York Giants in 1912. He
parlayed his guts and guile at the plate into a 14-year playing
career in the National League. His greatest moment as a player
came in the 1923 World Series with the Giants. With two outs in
the ninth inning, Stengel won Game 1 with an inside-the-park home
run. He also hit a game-winning homer in Game 3, and for the
series, Stengel hit an impressive .417 with two home runs and
four runs batted in, though the Giants lost to the Yankees four
games to two. For his career, Stengel hit a respectable .284,
with a .393 average in his three World Series appearances.
Stengel's real fame came as a manager. Though he had only
middling success with the Brooklyn Dodgers (1934-1936) and Boston
Braves (1938-1943), he managed to score a job with the New York
Yankees in 1949 to replace the retiring Joe McCarthy, the
winningest manager in major league history. Where he had
previously managed only struggling teams, Stengel now had a
roster of great players at his disposal. He made great use of
platooning players, sitting right-handed hitters against
right-handed pitchers and vice versa. His record of 1149 wins
versus 696 losses with the Yankees over the next 12 seasons was
among the greatest in managerial history, and included 10
American League pennants and seven World Series victories. After
a heartbreaking loss in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series to the
Pittsburgh Pirates, however, the Yankees replaced the 70-year-old
skipper with Ralph Houk, believing Stengel was simply too old to
manage. Stengel responded: "I'll never make the mistake of being
70 again."
In 1962, the New York Mets, an expansion team, hired Stengel as
manager. That team went 40-120, the worst record in major league
history. They simply did not have good players, but Stengel held
on for four seasons, trying to craft a contender out of a mix of
young players lacking major league skill and washed-up veterans.
All the while, the "Ol' Perfesser," as he as known, confounded
and amused the press with his trademark doublespeak or
"Stengelese," including lines like, "They say it can't be done,
but it don't always work." It was no use, however: the Mets
remained a losing team, and Stengel, exhausted by a long career,
could sometimes be found napping on the bench.
Stengel was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in
1966. His record of five World Series victories in a row from
1949 to 1953 remains a standard for excellence in the major
leagues.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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