1955 Yankee of the Past: Jim Delsing

"Jim was the best fielder among the regular outfielders in the American League in 1954. In 108 games his percentage was .996. He made only one error in 227 total chances.

He batted .248 for 122 games. This included 24 doubles, two triples and six homers among his 92 hits and he batted in 38 runs.

Jim began in baseball in 1942 with Green Bay and first hit the majors with the Chicago White Sox in 1948. He played for the Yankees and St. Louis Browns, too."

-1955 Bowman No. 274

"One of the finest fielders in the majors today, Jim was also a top hitter in the clutch last season. Collecting a homer, double and three singles in three pinch-hit appearances, he was the high man in the American League with a .385 pinch-hitting average.

Breaking into baseball in 1942, Jim worked his way through the minors and joined the Yankees in '49. In '50 he was traded to the Browns."

-1955 Topps No. 192

1955 Yankee of the Past: Harry Byrd

"Harry became an Oriole in a winter deal that involved many Yankees and Orioles. He was in 25 games for the New Yorkers in 1954, winning 9 and losing 7. He had two fine years with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1952 and 1953, and if he can regain that form he can be a valuable addition to the Orioles' staff.

He began in baseball with Martinsville of the Carolina League and first came to the majors for a brief stay at the start of the 1950 season. He was 15-15 in 1952 and 11-20 in 1953. These records were with weak-hitting teams."

-1955 Bowman No. 159

1955 Yankee of the Past: Lew Burdette

 "Lew's earned run average in 1954 was the National League's second best. He got into 38 games, winning 15 and losing 14. His ERA was a low 2.76. He worked 258 innings and gave up 224 hits. Lew walked 62 men [1.20 WHIP] and struck out 29. He pitched four shutouts.

Lew began in baseball as a member of the New York Yankees and played in their farm system until he hit the majors with the parent team at the end of the 1950 season. The Braves acquired him in a trade with New York."

-1955 Bowman No. 70

1955 Yankee of the Past: Jim Brideweser

 My Advice To Youngsters

"My advice to youngsters is to play baseball as much as possible and see as many games as you can, looking for playing techniques that improve your baseball.

Since a player's participation is limited, it never hurts to get an education so that you will have a job to fall back on when your playing days are over. In most cases, an education makes a better ball player."

-Jim Brideweser, 1955 Bowman No. 151

1955 Yankee of the Past: Don Bollweg

 "Don was used a lot in pinch-hitting roles during 1954. He appeared in a total of 103 games, 71 of which he played at first. His batting average was .224. His 60 hits were good for a total of 90 bases, and he had 15 doubles, three triples and five homers to his credit. He batted in 24 runs and scored 35.

Don began in organized baseball in 1942. He has played in the majors with the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees and Philadelphia A's. In 1952, with Kansas City (then a Yankee farm club), Don hit .325 and was named the American Association's Most Valuable Player."

-1955 Bowman No. 54

1955 Yankees of the Past: Yankees "Throw-Ins"

YANK "THROW-INS" OFT PROVE STARS

"That bespectacled Bill Virdon, the St. Louis Cardinals' prospect, led the International League in hitting last season should interest major league fans not only because of Virdon's potentialities. You may remember he was one of George Weiss' throw-ins to satisfy the Cardinals and complete the deal through which Enos Slaughter became a Yankee.

It is also a reminder that the Yankees, in picking up their last three name veterans from the National League, put up more than mere folding money to get them.

The Giants (1949) and the Pirates (1950) gave up Johnny Mize and Johnny Hopp, respectively, for the Yankee dollar only, but for Johnny Sain, Ewell Blackwell and Slaughter the champions also had to put Yankee ball players on the line.

Having trouble with the gate in Boston, Lou Perini, the Braves' owner, liked the $50,000 the Yanks offered for Sain, but held out for Lew Burdette and got him in the deal on August 29, 1951.

A year later, when the Redlegs traded Blackwell to the champions, they insisted on getting four players, including pitcher Johnny Schmitz and outfielder Jim Greengrass, in addition to $35,000.

In 1951 Burdette was a 14-game winning pitcher with San Francisco on option from the Yankees and considered an excellent prospect.

In his first year with the Braves, he had an unimpressive 6-11 record, but the Braves as a club in their last season in Boston also were quite unimpressive.

Burdette found himself in the inspiring atmosphere of Milwaukee in 1953. Pitching mainly in relief, he fashioned a 15-5 log to become the fourth leading pitcher of the league on a percentage basis. He was seventh in earned runs with an average of 3.24. Last season he again won 15 games and was second in the earned run averages with 2.76.

Greengrass was with Beaumont, a Yankee farm, when he heard he had been traded to the Redlegs. After hitting an eye-lifting .379 with Muskegon in 1951, he was rated as one of the top prospects in the New York chain and he continued to develop at Beaumont where he hit 22 homers and plucked 101 RBI's, although batting only .276.

In 1953 Greengrass just about duplicated his Beaumont record while playing for Cincinnati. Hitting .285, he slugged 20 home runs and batted in 100 runs. Last season he hit .280, fashioned 27 homers and batted in 95 runs.

The luckless Blackwell, in slightly more than a season with the Yanks, won only three games. Looking backward at the deal, it now seems that the Yanks were gypped.

Weiss gave only money to the Pirates for Hopp, who had become an itinerant ball player after serving more than six seasons with the Cards, his first major league club. He had been with the Braves and the Dodgers before Pittsburgh sold him to the Yankees."

-Ed Pollack, Philadelphia Bulletin (Baseball Digest, January-February 1955)

1955 Yankees of the Past: The Trade with Baltimore

 A GOOD SWAP FOR BOTH

"The Orioles needed new faces to keep the turnstiles clicking. Byrd, Woodling and McDonald are big leaguers. The handful of other Yankee chattels tossed into the deal contains definite promise."

Lyall Smith in the Detroit Free Press (Baseball Digest, January-February 1955)

ORIOLES WON'T LOSE

"The Orioles hardly figure to lose. They have a first baseman in Gus Triandos who may become a hitter, and a capable if aging outfielder in Woodling. Also, they acquired a pair of starters in Byrd and McDonald. In Miranda the Orioles got no powerhouse, but the wee Cuban will play a consistent shortstop as Hunter never has done.

And the prize of the lot could be the yet unfamed catcher, Hal Smith, whose .350 batting average led the American Association in 1954."

-Francis Stann, the Washington Star (Baseball Digest, January-February 1955)

RICHARDS "HADDA" MAKE IT

"Frank Lane, the White Sox general manager, maintains it was the type of a deal which Richards had to make. 'In similar circumstances, I would have done it, too,' says Frank.

In support of such a contention, Lane's reasoning goes like this: Richards only had three ball players in Turley, Larsen and Hunter. He could finish seventh with them again in 1955. This way he winds up with nine new players, most of whom are not used to losing.

'Paul may have handed the Yanks another flag,' said Lane. 'He sure made it tough on Cleveland and the Sox. But he can't think of that. He had to try and help himself and I'd bet he wins at least ten more games next season. He got two starting pitchers in McDonald and Byrd and strengthened other positions.' "

-John P. Carmichael, Chicago Daily News (Baseball Digest, January-February 1955)

WAIT TO HANG RICHARDS!

"Horrendous as the deal may appear to them at the moment, and deaf as they may be the pleas of Richards and President Clarence Miles to hold still, for in time they will see that all is well, the notion here is that Baltimore fans give the man- meaning Richards- the time for which he asks and not hang him by the neck right now.

Admittedly, the Orioles, publicly dedicated to giving the town the best team in the shortest possible time, have dealt three young players- Turley, Larsen and Hunter- to the Yankees in return for a raft of the kind of players not usually considered desirable material in a building job, Traindos excepted. But he must know something, that Richards."

-Frank Graham, New York Journal-American (Baseball Digest, January-February 1955)