1956 Yankee of the Past: Lefty Gomez

"Lefty Gomez, the Yankees' great lefty of the '30s, owes much of his popularity to his ability to tell a good story on himself.

Like the time he went in to pitch with a runner on first, and with his windup, the runner stole second. McCarthy warned the rookie to watch the runner. Gomez wound up again and the runner stole third. Again the conference, again the windup, and the runner was safe with a theft of home.

'And that was the longest windup in history,' Gomez confesses. 'I wound up in St. Paul.' "

-John Mooney, Salt Lake City Tribune (Baseball Digest, May 1956)

THERE'S NO PURE POWER PITCHER NOW

Gomez Last To Get By With Only Fast Ball

"On the Yankees' train from Boston to New York this spring, the talk ran to pitchers, mostly because the radio finally beat the static and was telling about the tough luck defeat of Cleveland's Herb Score.

'That makes two he loses 1-0 and the season ain't two weeks old yet,' said Yogi Berra. 'The kid is snakebit.'

Casey Stengel said, 'I don't wish the fellow any more tough luck but if he has any I hope it's against us. He's hard to lick.'

Bill Dickey said, 'Score is like all great pitchers in one respect. The best you can get from them is a run here and there, sometimes none at all. What I mean is that you never get a big inning.'

'Hank Greenberg says Score is a ringer for Lefty Grove,' Hank Bauer said.

'No,' Dickey said. 'A little bit like Grove but no ringer for him. Got that full, wide delivery but doesn't blow you down like Grove did. Score is best when he's curving you.'

'Score showed me a pretty good fast ball,' Irv Noren said.

'Sure he's got a fast ball,' Dickey said, 'but he's no Grove or even a Feller.'

Whitey Ford said, 'Whattaya mean, Bill, when you say Score is not even a Feller with his fast one? You don't mean Feller wasn't as fast as Grove?'

Dickey said, 'That's right. That's just what I mean. I get tired hearing about Feller being the fastest in his time, but he wouldn't have been the fastest thing since Walter Johnson. Feller was the fastest in his time, but he wouldn't have been the fastest in Grove's time.'

'Maybe you were more impressed with Grove because he was a left-handed pitcher and you were a left-handed batter,' a baseball writer suggested to Dickey.

'Listen, I'm not talking about I hit against Grove,' Dickey said. 'What I'm talking about is how fast his ball used to come in there compared to Feller's.

'I'm not talking about the viewpoint of a man with a bat on his shoulder,' Dickey continued. 'I'm talking about as their batterymate. I'm the only man who ever caught both Grove and Feller in All-Star Games and that's why I say Grove was faster.'

'They were both power pitchers, Bill,' said Jim Turner, the Yankee pitching coach. 'There's nobody around like that anymore. Nobody who can blow you down for nine innings.'

'Sometimes Mr. Mack would use Grove for relief,' Dickey said, 'and there was no sense going up to the plate. When he knew that he only had to pound that ball in there for a couple of innings, you could hear more of it than you could see.

'Our guy Larsen is winning because he gave up trying to blow the ball past everybody and worked on his change-up,' Turner said.

'That's right,' Dickey said, 'and you should know because you kept screaming at him to stop being so proud and mule-headed about his fast one.'

Turner said, 'Look at the other pitchers who win in our league and none of 'em tries to overpower you. Pierce has got a good fast ball, but he gets you out on his change-up. Whitey Ford wins with good junk.'

Casey Stengel said, 'Look at them Cleveland fellers. That Lemon can throw that ball hard but he just keeps putting it around your knees and dares you to hit it.'

'Early Wynn mixes 'em up the best,' Turner said. 'He's got that fast ball, everybody knows, but he just uses it like a gun at your head to keep you respectful. Mostly he's just curving that ball up there or giving you his knuckler. He works around the plate like a guy doing hemstitching and never gives you anything much good to hit at.'

'The last pitcher I saw who could get by only with a fast ball was Gomez,' Dickey said. 'He didn't have any curve, never did develop one. He would just keep pumping that fast one.

'Gomez was a big winner because his fast ball was alive. He always aimed at the heart of the plate and never got one over the middle, because the thing would sort of snap, crackle, pop like the loose end of a live wire. So he missed the middle and kept hitting the corners, which made him a great pitcher and he should be in the Hall of Fame.' "

-Shirley Povich, Washington Post (Baseball Digest, July 1956)

STRUCK OUT AGAIN

"Lefty Gomez, a great pitcher but a big out as a hitter when he was in the baseball headlines, has a 13-year-old son, Gary, who is a pitcher-outfielder for Durham (Conn.) High School. The youngster affects an open stance at the plate. Lefty tried to change Gary's batting style to help him pull the ball. 'But Pop, I've read your clippings,' the youngster protested."

-Max Kase, New York Journal-American (Baseball Digest, August 1956)

HALF PAST - THEN THE ALARM SOUNDED

"During an Old Timers' Day a while back those two pitching stalwarts of yesteryear, Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing, became embroiled in a violent but good-natured argument.

'My homer was longer,' Ruffing kept insisting.

'You're crazy,' said Gomez. 'Mine was the longest ever hit anywhere.'

The odd part about this conversation was that they weren't disputing home run balls they'd hit but home run balls they'd thrown. Ruffing's candidate was some obscure chap- his name was too unimportant to stick in memory- who lingered in the big leagues only long enough to hit one titanic homer off Ruffing before disappearing.

'That's kid stuff,' sneered Lefty. 'Let me show you what Jimmie Foxx did to me. See that corner of the upper left field stands alongside the bullpen? Old Double-X broke seats up there on a ball I pitched to him. I climbed up there the next day to see the damage and the trip was so long it exhausted me. About three rows down from the top and in the farthest corner- well, that's where he hit it. It must be at least 450 feet from the plate and the ball was still rising when it smashed the seats.'

Lefty shook his head wonderingly.

'It was a good pitch, too,' he said. 'I got it half past him. But, oh, brother, what he did with the second half!' "

-Arthur Daley, New York Times (Baseball Digest, August 1956)

LEFT SPEECHLESS

"Lefty Gomez, the only pitcher ever to win three All-Star Games (1933-35-37) and who perpetuated his mastery over National League teams by winning six World Series games and never getting beat, worked his last big league game for Washington. That was in 1943 when the Senators were beginning to take on a strong Latin-American flavor. He went to Washington from the Boston Braves on waivers, pitched one game and lost it.

That was all for Lefty and, although he was part Castilian himself, he hung up his spikes. 'I was under a handicap at Washington,' he said. 'I could only speak English.' "

-John P. Carmichael, Chicago Daily News (Baseball Digest, September 1956)

ONE LEFTY STILL HASN'T ANSWERED

"Lefty Gomez, the star Yankee pitcher of years gone by, remembers a long ago day- before umpires were scrupulous about enforcing the 'quickie pitch' rule- when he was inspired with a sure-fire plan to handle Hank Greenberg if the slugger came to bat with men on base.

'When I get two strikes on Greenberg,' Gomez confided to Catcher Bill Dickey, 'you walk half way to the mound and I'll walk half way in. We'll turn back, count to eight, and just as you get past the plate and I get to the mound, I'll fire a pitch. Greenberg won't know what hit him.'

Dickey suggested that Gomez detail the idea to Joe McCarthy, then manager of the New Yorkers. McCarthy listened patiently, then told Gomez: 'That's fine, Lefty, just fine. But there is one thing you overlooked. How are you going to get two strikes on Greenberg in the first place?' "

-David Condon, Chicago Tribune (Baseball Digest, October 1956)

1956 Yankee of the Past: Tommy Henrich

"Tommy Henrich was in the Yankee dressing room at the Stadium receiving congratulations from players and press after he won the opening game of the 1949 Series with a ninth-inning homer against Don Newcombe of the Dodgers. The hit broke up a scoreless battle between Big Don and Allie Reynolds. A figure filbert discovered that this was the first World Series 1-0 game to be decided by a homer since 1923, when Casey Stengel, Tommy's current manager, had hit his for the Giants against Sam Jones in the third game at the same Stadium.

'I really think,' said a reporter informing Casey of the coincidence, 'that Tommy's hit was more dramatic than yours, since he made it in the ninth. You hit yours in the seventh.'

'I know,' deadpanned Stengel, 'I got nervous and couldn't wait.' "

-Tom Meany, Baseball Digest, October 1956

1956 Yankee of the Past: Joe DiMaggio

Joe DiMaggio Reveals-

INSIDE FAST BALL FINISHED ME!

Tells Secret Of Super-Play

"A runner on first, Joe DiMaggio declared, should be able to get to third base on a hit to the outfield.

'A man should try,' said the greatest ball player of his generation, 'unless the ball is hit awfully hard. You take Hank Greenberg and Tommy Henrich- they weren't too fast. Yet they could go from first to third very well. That's why Tommy was so valuable. He used to lean off first with the pitch. You've got to lean with every pitch.

'You've got to take a lead so that when the ball is caught by the catcher, you can't loaf back to first. You've got to run. It's that little extra effort, that's what gets a guy to third on a single. I wasn't a fast man. I took those big strides. On the straightaway, I wasn't that fast. I couldn't outrun most guys. For instance, Charlie Keller would lose me in a race.

'But I could get off. I didn't seem to gain momentum. I seemed to start at full speed. I was deceiving because I could run the turns on the bases and get a fast start. Going to first, I was just mediocre. I was just above the average. I wasn't slow, but I wasn't fast. When I played the outfield, it didn't appear I was moving. But I got there.

'My last year with San Francisco- Lefty O'Doul managed the ball club- I stole 24 bases in 25 attempts. The next year with the Yankees I stole one base. Why did I have to steal? We had fellows like Gehrig, Dickey and Lazzeri. So Joe McCarthy never gave me the steal sign. He never played for one run. He was going for the big inning.'

It is DiMaggio's theory you can teach a player most of the techniques of the sport.

'I don't think you can teach a man to hit,' he explained. 'Yet take the case of Lou Finney. He had a great year. He was a left-handed hitter who used to dribble balls to left field. All of a sudden, he started to hit like a fiend. He started to hit to right. He had that one big year.

'You can teach a guy to pull. But I don't think you can teach them to get the fat part of the bat on the ball six out of seven times. Yet a fellow like Finney will get it for a year, sometimes for a few years.'

He talked about playing the outfield.

'When an outfielder is out there,' he said, 'there isn't much to do, is there? He is out there to catch a fly ball. But he should be thinking about everything that can happen if the ball is hit to him. He should be ready. He should have every angle figured and know exactly what to do with the ball, no matter where it's hit.

'The situation changes with men on the bases. He should figure what he will do if the ball is hit to his right, his left, in front of him, behind him, right at him. He must figure, if there are runners on, can I catch the guy and where can I catch him? He must know the runner's speed. Will he take a chance with the throw? You've got to know the ball players on the other team to be able to make a decision.

'You've got to worry about the guy who hit the ball if he gets a hit and there's a man on. You must remember the guy on first base, too. We know there is a cut-off man if a runner is heading for third. But will he cut it off if the play at third is close? Suppose you miss the man at third and the guy on first takes second. You've got to have your mind made up when you get to the ball.

'One thing I'm sure about. The outfielder must have a clear mind. You can't be out there worrying about batting averages. You know, if I get another hit I'll be hitting .300. You can't take any outside problems on the ball field with you. You can't have your mind on outside problems and handle the situations that come up with base runners. One bad habit a guy can fall into is just playing automatically.'

There are ball players, DiMaggio stated, who are creative.

'Henrich made up his own plays,' DiMaggio said. 'He had a play with Phil Rizzuto. If a guy was on first and Tommy handled a base hit, he knew the guy would make the turn at second. Phil stood behind the runner, between second and third. Naturally, he was closer to second.

'The guy made a turn to draw a throw to third. Instead of throwing ahead of the runner to third, Tommy would throw right to second base. Soon as the guy stopped, Phil would break for second. In order to make the play, Phil had to beat the runner to second. He did, too, many a time.'

We discussed base runners.

'Mickey Mantle,' DiMaggio said, 'is as fast a base runner as I've ever seen. He has tremendous speed but he also knows how to take advantage of it around the bases. I've seen Mantle hit a one-skipper to second base. The guy would take his time- and be lucky if he'd get him by half a step.'

Ball players know when they're finished.

'The ball was upon me before I started to swing,' he said. 'A fast ball inside used to be my meat- boom, I'd hit it down the line. But then it went by me. It wasn't my fielding that made me give up. It was the hitting, that inside fast ball going by me.'

I asked him if he became restless now that's it's spring training time.

'No,' he said. 'I faced it. But someday I'd like to put on a uniform and see how much I really lost. I imagine I could still field well.' "

-Jimmy Cannon, New York Post (Baseball Digest, April 1956)

DIMAG'S BAT DEAD? NOW, PAUL!

"Paul Richards places some of the responsibility for the decline in batting averages on Joe DiMaggio's well developed shoulders.

'DiMaggio's stance and the way he held his bat were imitated everywhere,' says Richards, 'but that's not the way to bat. DiMaggio himself would probably have hit .700 had he copied the style of some of the other leading hitters. The batter who looks like a statue cannot swing with full effectiveness.'

A glance at DiMaggio's batting record indicates that he was not entirely ineffective. There are pitchers alive today who will testify to DiMaggio's effectiveness. He was effective enough to hit safely in 56 consecutive games in 1941 and no other player ever did that.

As for DiMaggio hitting .700 had he copied some of the other leading hitters, that can easily win top award as the overstatement of the year.

What if DiMaggio did look like a statue? It did not keep him from being the most dangerous hitter of his time.

Richards mentions a list of hitters from Babe Ruth to Ted Williams, and some before Ruth, who succeeded because 'they kept their bats alive.'

Does he mean that DiMaggio's bat was 'dead?' Contemporary pitchers often wished that it were.

Richards should know by this time that no two human beings are precisely alike. This holds especially true in baseball where there is a wide divergence of style. Players adopt the style best suited to them. It may violate all concepts of good batting form but, what of it? As long as it is the style they find most adaptable."

-H.G. Salsinger, Detroit News (Baseball Digest, July 1956)