Tag / George Steinbrenner

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Book 51 (of 52) – Yogi

Yogi: A Life Behind The Mask – Jon Pessah

Lawrence Peter Berra was born on May 12, 1925 in St. Louis, the third child of Italian immigrants who wanted to try and make a living playing baseball.  When the hometown Cardinals passed on him, Berra started playing in the local American Legion league, where he picked up a nickname: Yogi.  After serving with the Navy in World War II, Yogi Berra made his mark with the New York Yankees.  Over his career, he won 3 MVP awards, appeared in a record 14 World Series. and won 10 championships.  After his playing career, he managed and coached for both the Yankees and the Mets.  When he was fired by George Steinbrenner 16 games into the 1985 season, Berra vowed to never enter Yankee Stadium again as long as Steinbrenner owned the team.  14 years later, Steinbrenner apologized and mended fences, bringing Berra back in to the fold, where he would remain until his 2015 death.

I feel like for baseball fans of my era, Yogi Berra’s accomplishments on the baseball field were blunted by his reputation off of it, that of the bumbling goofball who says funny things.  In fact, until fairly recently, I didn’t even know that he had coached with the Astros for 5 seasons following his fallout with the Yankees in 1985.  Reading through this biography, I learned that Berra was not just along for the ride for Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle’s championship teams, but was instead the driving force that bridged those two eras and kept the Yankees the champions of the American League for all but 3 seasons of his career.  I have a newfound respect for Berra and his place in baseball history.

 

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#84 – Floyd Bannister

Floyd-Bannister-02Name: Floyd Bannister

Rank: 84

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 1983-1987

Floyd Bannister signed with the White Sox as a free agent on December 13, 1982, much to the chagrin of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who was not used to losing out on free agents that he was interested in.  The signing quickly paid dividends for the White Sox and Bannister, who won a career high 16 games as the White Sox ran away with the AL West crown, earning their first post-season berth since 1959.  Bannister started and lost game 2 of the ALCS, going 6 innings and giving up all 4 runs in the White Sox 4-0 loss to the Orioles.

Bannister, and the White Sox, faltered somewhat in 1984, with his ERA jumping up to 4.83.  1985 was more of the same, with an ERA at 4.87 and finishing with a losing record of 10-14.  Bannister rebounded in 1986, posting a 3.54 ERA in 28 starts despite finishing the year with the same 10-14 record.  Bannister tied his career high with 16 wins in 1987, finishing the year with a 3.58 ERA.  Following the season, with the White Sox in full rebuilding mode, Bannister and Dave Cochrane were traded to the Royals for Greg Hibbard, Melido Perez, John Davis, and Chuck Mount.

Bannister’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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by jim

The Boys Of Zimmer

zimFormer Cub manager Don Zimmer passed away Wednesday evening.  A baseball lifer, Zimmer started his career in professional baseball in 1949 and wore a uniform until earlier this year, when he underwent heart surgery and, sadly, never left the hospital.  Zimmer first came to the Cubs as a player in 1960.  He left for the Mets in the expansion draft after the 1961 season.

In 1984, he returned to the North side as third base coach when his high school pal Jim Frey was named manager.  The Cubs surpised everyone by winning their first division title and heading to the post-season for the first time since 1945.  When Frey became the team’s general manager following the 1987 season, he hired Don Zimmer to be his manager.  One year later, the so-called Boys of Zimmer led the Cubs to their second divisional title in 6 seasons.  In 1991, after demanding a contract extension from Tribune executive Donald Grenesko, Zimmer was fired.

After leaving the Cubs, Zimmer bounced around a bit as a coach before teaming up with Joe Torre in New York for their string of 4 World Series titles in 5 seasons starting in 1996.  He left the team in 2003 after, what else, an argument with George Steinbrenner.  He had spent the last decade as a senior advisor for the Tampa Bay Rays.  Starting in 2008, he was the last member of the Brooklyn Dodgers to still hold a field position.

After 66 years in baseball, Don Zimmer leaves behind many friends and admirers.  Nearly everyone involved in the game has a story about Zimmer, and they’ve all been retold over the past few days.  Somewhere, I’m sure Zimmer would enjoy sitting around a clubhouse being part of those retellings.