GUY-DING SPIRIT
"There are more than statistics to the colorful career of Vernon (Lefty) Gomez. For instance, there's the story of the 'breaking in' of Red Rolfe, now manager of the Detroit Tigers, who came straight to the New York Yankees from Dartmouth. Gomez and his hurling mate, Red Ruffing, made a good team when it came to needling rookies, and both happened to be heroes in the eyes of Rolfe.
He gratefully heeded the pair when they volunteered advice that Manager Joe McCarthy liked spirit and 'holler' from his players. 'When I give you the sign,' Lefty kindly offered, 'give out with the old college yell. It'll make a hit with Joe.'
'EE-yah, atta boy,' Red yelled.
An inning later, a Yankee erred in the field. Again Lefty nudged Rolfe. The redhead imitated a Comanche on the warpath. When it happened the third time, McCarthy exploded.
'You crazy so-and-so,' he fumed. 'Get out of here and into your clothes. You make too much noise.' "
-Fred Russell in the Nashville Banner (Baseball Digest, January 1952)
THE GOINGS-ON OF GOMEZ
He Still Wins in the Big Laugh League
Almost a decade has elapsed since Vernon Louis (Lefty) Gomez pitched his last big league victory, but the anecdotes about him continue to pop up. Here are some more collector's items (Baseball Digest, March 1952):
"Dick Kryhoski, the St. Louis Browns' first baseman, tells of his apprenticeship in Binghamton, N.Y., under the tutelage of Lefty Gomez.
Gomez was coaching third base, Kryhoski was a base runner on first and Binghamton had another runner, a rookie, on second. On a hit to right field, everybody started at top speed.
The rookie rounded third, started for the plate, then paused to make sure he had correctly interpreted the coach's signal to keep going. He hesitated, glanced back at Gomez, wavered, saw a throw coming in, and slid back to third. At the same instant, Kryhoski, who had passed second at full stride, flung himself headlong in a beautiful slide and zoomed into third.
Gomez gazed morosely upon his two stalwarts occupying one base.
'Oh, what the hell,' he said resignedly. And he slid in to join them."
-Red Smith in the New York Herald-Tribune
"Another time Gomez tangled with another great southpaw of the American League, Lefty Grove. Grove shot three sizzling fast ones past the eccentric Yank hurler. Goofy didn't even see the pitches, but to the amazement of the umpire, he protested the third strike indignantly, insisting, 'The explosion of that one sounded low to me!' "
-Jack Strausberg, in the book 'Now I'll Tell One.'
"Gomez was pitching to Jimmie Foxx when the burly slugger was at his peak with the Philadelphia Athletics. Foxx was flexing his muscles and squeezing the sawdust out of his bat while Gomez shook off each sign catcher Bill Dickey gave. Dickey finally came out to the mound and demanded, 'Well, what do you want to throw?'
'Nothing,' admitted Goofy, with a shrug.
When Gomez first joined the New York Yankees he had a lot of trouble with his teeth. The club sent him to one of the best dentists in New York and paid the bills. But the dental work didn't improve his pitching and he was farmed to St. Paul.
A teammate, watching him pack, offered sympathy.
'Don't worry,' said Lefty. 'I'll be back. You don't think they'd turn me loose with $1,500 worth their teeth in my mouth, do you?' "
-Bob Wilson in the Knoxville News-Sentinel
"Signals didn't mean much when Gomez pitched. Bill Dickey was telling how he and Lefty worked signals out. 'It was simple,' said Dickey. 'I would hold my mitt on my knee. If I wanted a fastball, I'd cover my knee completely. If I exposed part of my knee, that would call for a curve. But it didn't make much difference. Lefty threw what he liked anyway.'
Dickey recalled a time when Lefty was getting hit hard.
'Lefty called me in for a confab. 'I think they're wise to our signals,' he said. 'Wise to our signals?' I replied. 'I don't know what you're going to throw. You don't know what you're going to throw. How do you figure they know?' ' "
-Bob Wilson in the Knoxville News-Sentinel
"Rosy Ryan, now Minneapolis general manager, recalls a Gomez episode of 1930. Rosy was pitching for Milwaukee and Gomez, who had been with the San Francisco Seals the year before, was pitching for St. Paul. When the Saints came to town he invited a couple of old acquaintances, Johnny Grabowski and Oscar Roettger, to accompany him to a lakeside place to dinner. John and Oscar brought Lefty along.
Said Ryan: 'We get out to the place and are enjoying the cold cuts and a couple of flagons of Milwaukee's finest prohibition product while waiting for the steaks, when we notice Gomez is missing. Then all of a sudden from the lake we hear a lot of whooping and splashing. The three of us rush over to the noise and there is Gomez thrashing about in the water.
'Grabby hollers, 'Blankety-blank, there's 150,000 bucks of Jake Ruppert's dough out there in that lake. If we lose him, nobody'll have a job. Let's get busy.'
'So we pull Lefty out and ask him what the deal is, and he just grins and says: 'Well, I came from the Seals, so I thought I ought to act like one.' ' "
-Bob Beebe in the Minneapolis Tribune
"Like everyone else, Joe DiMaggio used to get a laugh out of Lefty Gomez, the quick-witted pitching star when the two were teammates. Shortly after he joined the New York Yankees, DiMag was telling Gomez somewhat querulously:
'People are always coming up to me and asking where I get my power.'
'Listen, Joe,' advised Lefty. 'That's no cause for complaint. The time to get worried is when guys come up to you and ask you where your power WENT!' "
-Al Abrams in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Baseball Digest, April 1952)
MISSED TRAIN? NO STATION!
"Lefty Gomez dropped into Yankee Stadium and fell into reminiscing with his former teammate, Joe DiMaggio.
'I never missed a train,' insisted DiMaggio.
'I missed one,' Gomez admitted, 'and I believe it was the first year I was with the Yankees. We were leaving for Detroit and I went to the Pennsylvania Station instead of the Grand Central. By the time I discovered my mistake the train carrying the ball club was gone. When I finally reached Detroit, Joe McCarthy bawled me out something awful. He figured I stopped somewhere for a beer.
' 'How was I supposed to know there were two stations in New York?' I told him. 'We had only one station in my home town, Rodeo, California.' ' "
-Hy Goldberg in the Newark News (Baseball Digest, July 1952)
IN A JUG-ULAR VEIN
"Once during spring training the New York Yankees were scheduled for an exhibition game against a team whose first baseman was having alimony trouble with his former wife. Lefty Gomez was asked what he thought of the prospect that the first baseman might be in jail by the time the game started.
'Well,' he answered, 'it'll be an awful long throw for the shortstop.' "
-International News Service (Baseball Digest, October 1952)
THAT GOMEZ AGAIN
"Arky Vaughan, the former Pittsburgh Pirates star, was having one of his big years, and before the All-Star Game the American Leaguers, who were going over the best way to pitch to the National League batters, were deep in an argument as to the safest way to handle Arky. They had all sorts of opinions and were hot at it when Lefty Gomez, who hadn't been in on the conversation, spoke up.
'Why don't you stop wasting your time?' Lefty said. 'You've used up ten minutes trying to figure out something the National League hasn't been able to do in three months.' "
-Chester L. Smith in the Pittsburgh Press (Baseball Digest, October 1952)
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