1959 Yankee of the Past: Clint Courtney

"Few, if any, players in baseball have more drive or a greater determination to win than Clint Courtney. Behind the plate, he's tough and merits his nickname- 'Scrap Iron.'

In 1952 Clint won the Sporting News Rookie of the Year award. In 1956, he was the top defensive catcher."

-1959 Topps No. 483

SENATORS' RUGGED INDIVIDUALIST

Clint Courtney Still Has Tabasco Sauce In His Blood

"Among the last of the rugged individualists is Clint Courtney, the Washington catcher. It wouldn't be surprising if Dr. George A. Resta, the Senators' physician, finds a mixture of Tabasco sauce and hot peppers every time Courtney's blood count is taken.

Somebody said it couldn't be done- but Courtney proved it could. This has reference to eyeglasses. No catcher in big league history had ever worn glasses before Courtney came up with the Yankees in 1951. But it's proved no deterrent to the fiery Louisianan.

It wasn't too long ago that a ballplayer wearing glasses was considered a freak, and this ancient superstition did much to hurt Clint's early career.

'That,' he drawls, 'and the fact that I was tryin' to beat out a pretty good catcher with the Yanks- fella by the name of Yogi Berra.'

Clint is a man of many enthusiasms. His idol has always been Rogers Hornsby, for whom Coutrney played in 1950 when he was at Beaumont with Gil McDougald, who, since then, has made the varsity.

'Why,' says Clint, 'me and that McDougald done tore that league apart. I think by midsummer we drove in 100 runs each.'

The record book says Courtney drove in 79 for the whole season with Beaumont in 1950. Maybe Clint was in 'partnership' with McDougald, who did drive in 115 runs, so between them they almost had 200 runs batted in.

But Courtney's enthusiasms are less boasts than they are signs of his tremendous aggressiveness. He put his aggressive temperament to work several times and was involved in some notable fisticuffs during his early career.

For some reason, Clint always picked on the Yankees. It may have been a subconscious resentment against the champs for not realizing his great value. Courtney retired from the fight business when he tangled with Bob Cerv, the Kansas City muscleman, then with the Yankees.

Courtney always is a man of definite opinions. For instance, the Senators wanted to put him on the grievance committee. He declined with the words: 'If I got somethin' to say, I say it right then. We got too many lawyers in baseball right now.'

Clint has yielded a grudging respect for manager Cookie Lavagetto, who now rates second only to Clint's patron saint, Hornsby.

He was one of the few men loyal to Hornsby when the latter was fired summarily in Boston while managing the sad St. Louis Browns. Ironically, the incident which precipitated the sacking of Hornsby occurred at Yankee Stadium, and involved Courtney's former teammate, McDouglad, who also had been one of Hornsby's boys.

It seemed that McDougald, playing third base, went into the stands for a foul ball. Bill Veeck, then boss of the Browns, was watching the game. He thought McDougald had been 'helped' by a spectator and that Hornsby should protest the game.

The fabulous 'Rajah,' one of the game's immortals, was not a man to take suggestions easily. He icily informed Veeck that he, Hornsby, would decide such things. Hornsby refused to protest and was fired.

'Hornsby was a tough man,' Clint concedes, 'but I never argued with him. I always said 'Yes, sir' and 'No, sir' to him.'

It's a trait of Courtney's character that although he did show his manager respect, he never called him 'Mister.'

Courtney is a shrewd businessman when he isn't playing baseball. Alone, he has developed one of the finest ranches in Louisiana and is a successful horse breeder and cattleman.

One of Clint's particular pets is Pedro Ramos, the Cuban pitcher who also happens to be the fastest runner on the Washington squad. Clint will match his protege against any sprinter in the big leagues, and is always hurling challenges, on Ramos' behalf, to other ball players.

There was the time a couple of years ago when the Senators and Cincinnati Redlegs were traveling north together. Courtney became involved in a friendly argument with Birdie Tebbetts, the Cincinnati manager, who was lauding the speed on his club.

'You pick yo' man,' drawled Courtney, 'and I guarantee my boy Ramos will beat him.'

One word led to several and Tebbets picked his third baseman, Don Hoak. 'Ramos won't have a chance,' commented Birdie. 'Hoak will leave him far behind.'

'If he does,' replied Courtney, 'he's gonna have to put them feet down awful regular.'

The race was held in Chattanooga and Ramos, after a stumbling start, won by something like eight yards."

-Bob Addie, Washington Post (Baseball Digest, May 1959)

1959 Yankee of the Past: Gus Triandos

"Gus shattered his Oriole record for homers last season. As a catcher, he again proved to be one of the best in the business. But during the last month of the 1958 season, Gus played third base and did a good job.

He was in the Yankee organization for six years. He came to Baltimore in a mammoth 17-man trade."

-1959 Topps No. 330

"Gus's 30 homers in 1958 set an all-time Oriole record."

-1959 Topps No. 568, Topps All-Star

TRIANDOS HAS A WORD FOR IT: DESKOLO!

"Big Gus Triandos, the Orioles' Greek catcher, has a word for it: 'Deskolo.'

That's Greek for 'rough' and his way of describing what it's like to handle Hoyt Wilhelm's knuckleball.

Triandos has always insisted that catching is one of the easiest jobs in baseball. Since Wilhelm joined the Baltimore club last August, however, the easy-going, wavy-haired receiver has spent almost as many sleepless nights as a conscience-stricken embezzler on the lam.

'You would, too,' Gus said, following Wilhelm's ninth straight victory this spring, 'if you had to worry about catching the kind of stuff he throws. It's tough enough trying to catch the guy. But now it's getting so where everyone is trying to run on him.

'I have to watch to watch 'em like a hawk. If I'm not careful, some of the guys in this league will steal everything but my shindguards.'

Gus heaved a deep sigh as he picked out one of several catcher's mitts he keeps in his stall.

'I see runners going down to second base in my sleep,' he said, pounding his fist into the pocket of the mitt. 'Passed balls ... stolen bases ... wild pitches. It gets awfully depressing at times.'

Triandos then removed the mitt from his hand and demonstrated its flexibility. 'See this glove,' he said. 'It's a special one I used when a knuckleball pitcher is working. It's much looser than my regular mitts and I don't use a sponge with it.'

Gus pointed out that the glove helped immeasurably in holding on to the knuckler. At the same time, however, he hastened to add: 'Catching the ball is only half the battle. The other half is trying to grab the ball out of my glove fast enough to get a firm grip on it when a runner breaks for second. Fortunately for me, Wilhelm doesn't let too many guys get on.'

Triandos admits he worries more about committing costly passed balls than anything else. He was charged with 11 during the first two months of the season and all came while catching Wilhelm.

'I just hate to think that I'll louse up a good game with one bad inning,' Gus explained. 'I feel bad enough when I butcher things up ... as I did in one game against the Yankees when I was charged with four passed balls.

'Then, to make things worse, I got home that night and even my wife wants to know, 'What happened to you today?'

Skinny Brown is another Baltimore pitcher who throws a knuckler, but he doesn't give Triandos half the trouble Wilhelm does. That's because Brown's knuckleball usually breaks downward.

'At least I have a fighting chance to catch the ball when Skinny is working,' Gus said, 'because I have some idea where it's going. In Wilhelm's case,  your guess is as good as mine.'

As Triandos got up to go, he concluded the interview by saying: 'Everyone's been giving me too much credit for catching Wilhelm. But don't believe it. I'm no genius. Wes Westrum did it for a long time and Joe (Ginsburg) showed he could handle him, too.

'I couldn't hit Hoyt when he pitched against us with Cleveland last year. So I figure I'm pretty lucky just being able to catch him.' "

-Arthur Richman, New York Mirror (Baseball Digest, August 1959)

1959 Yankee of the Past: Sherm Lollar

"Sherm hit more homers and drove in more runs last year than during any other season in his career. He was also the top defender in the American League last year."

-1959 Topps No. 385

"The solid bat in the White Sox lineup in recent years has been the one wielded by catcher Sherman Lollar. Rated as one of the finest receivers in the major leagues, Lollar took over top billing in all departments this season. His consistent clutch hitting pulled many a game out of the fire for the Sox as he led the club in driving in 'winning' runs. Late-inning home runs by Lollar were responsible for more than half a dozen Sox wins as he approached personal highs in such important departments as runs batted in and home runs.

Manager Al Lopez has referred to Lollar's handling of pitchers as 'having a second manager behind the plate.' He has been named to the American League All-Star team in four of the last six seasons."

-1959 Official World Series Program