The Major, The Captain & I - resurecting the Yanks

[OldYankFan]

May 13 1970

I have 3 Newspapers in front of me. The Newark Star Ledger….

Yanks Trade for Injured Outfielder.
Nettles “May never play again” Cleveland Insiders Say

The New York Daily News…

Yanks Mortgage Future
Trade young talent for questionable Indian

Long Island’s Newsday…

Why? Yanks Moves Perplex Experts
Yanks bring in another, for crowded Outfield

I have not impressed the papers again. I honestly think that the Yanks have been making bad trades for so many years, the writers just assume every move is a bonehead one.
I head out to the stadium early and sneak in the players entrance to avoid the reporters. I haven’t visited the clubhouse for a while, so since I’m down here I drop in.

The first thing I notice as I walk into the clubhouse is a big cake on the table. Looking at the cake is a crowd of players and a couple of coaches are pounding Third Base coach, Dick Howser, on the back. Dick is not much older than some of the players. He turns 32 today. Dick had an eight year career with the Indians, Yanks and A’s. He took over as the Third Base coach from “The Old Crow” Frank Crosetti last year. Dick is real sincere young man. He says he can’t wait till after the game to get to the cake, and heads to the coaches’ room to change.

Then I saw something I still have a hard time believing. Sparky Lyle walks over to the table, pulls down his pants, and sits on the cake! Jaws drop all over the room. Then from the corner locker, comes this near hysterical laughter. It’s Mel Stottlemyre. The normally quiet pitcher is having a fit. Tears rolling down his face as he pounds on a locker, laughing. Soon the whole room, even me, can’t contain the laughter. Only Lyle, sneaks off into the shower. The coaches rush in to see what the ruckus is. The look on Howser’s face is priceless.

The first place Tigers are in town and we are on National Television for the Game of the Week. Before the game the camera’s focus on a group of fans in the box seats near 3rd Base, all wearing sombreros, and whooping it up for Celereno Sanchez.

Mel Stottlemye goes up against “The Fat Man” Mickey Lolich. A battle of the two teams’ aces. Mel looks like he is still laughing as he jogs in from the bullpen to take his warm ups.

The two pitchers lock up in an epic dual, Bobby Murcer works a walk in the bottom of the 2nd but is stranded when Ralph puts on the hit and run and Sanchez pops out. In the 3rd Mel singles, moves to second on an error and 3rd on a deep fly to right. But Munson grounds out to end the inning.

Not till the fourth does Detroit get a base runner when Chuck Scrivener grounds a hard 2 out single to right. Norm Cash follows with a pop out.

In the bottom of the sixth Ron Hansen singles to left. Thurman Munson chases him to third with a single up the middle. Lolich battles to get out of the jam, striking out Roy White and getting Danny Cater on a pop up. But Bobby Murcer does not let him off the hook, bouncing one over the 3rd base bag scoring a run.

In the eighth Mel gives up his second base runner on a one out walk to Bill Freehand. Danny Cater takes a hit away from Jim Northrup on a line drive and Sanchez makes a beautiful back-hand stab of Don Werts shot down the line to end the inning.

Mel finishes a dominating one hitter by fanning Dick McAuliffe and Al Kaline.
1-0 complete game 1 hit shut out. Wow.

During the postgame interview, Mel says he has never felt looser in his life. I wonder if we need more birthday cakes.

Game two, Denny McClain and Ron Guidry keep up the pitching magic. The number of sombreros in the stands has multiplied, after last nights TV exposure.

Detroit gets to Guidry in the 3rd with a Dick McAuliffe solo homer. The Yanks finaly touch up the former 30 game winner in the eighth on Munson’s double and Roy White’s RBI single.

In the ninth Willie Horton slams a Lindy McDaniel fastball into the right field stands.
2-1 Detroit wins.

Game 3 and Joe Verbanic is all smiles when the Yanks rally from 3 down to score 5 off Earl Wilson. Sparky Lyle, nails down save number 6. Yanks win 6-3

The team gets a day off and then heads to Baltimore, after knock Detroit our of 1st we are a game over 500 again.

[OldYankFan]

May 23 1970

While the Tigers head north to play the Red Sox, the Yanks board the bus and drive south to Baltimore. The Orioles are lurking just behind the Red Sox and Tigers and are looking to make their move. Memorial Stadium has never been our favorite place, it is, the spot that Roger Maris tied Babe Ruth’s single season homerun record. Since then we are better off staying away.

Phil and Frank describe the action on WMCA 570 on the AM dial. Once again Mel Stottlemyre draw the opposition ace, Jim Palmer.

Big Boog Powell draws first blood with a solo homer leading off the second. In the third Mark Belanger scampers to second when Sanchez fires one wild past 1st. Mark scores on Merv Rettenmund’s single. 2-0

Top of the Fourth and “Holy Cow that kid Munson, hits his 3rd homer of the year.” and one out later “Its deep to center, Holy Cow, Bobby Murcer ties the game up. Munson and Murcer the new M&M boys!” You got to love Phil.

In the bottom of the eighth, Brooks Robinson singles, Boog Powell doubles and Davey Johnson hit’s a sac fly all off Lindy McDaniel. Final score 3-2

Game 2 Ron Guidry gives up just 3 runs, but Dave McNally gives up just one. That was bad, but even worse Curt Blefary took a really strange swing when pinch hitting for Guidry in the eighth. He ran it out holding his elbow. Doc says it’s a severed ligament. Curt will be out 7 months. He was hitting a solid .277 and playing nice defense. He also was our 3rd catcher. So now Ralph will have to be much more careful using Munson and Gibbs. Also Curt was one of those few productive members of the left hand platoon.

I put a call in to Loren Babe in Syracuse, I have him send Jerry Kenny to meet the team in Baltimore. Jerry was a regular last year, very versatile, he has played short, third and the outfield in the bigs. Jerry was hitting .271 in Syracuse, he hit .257 with no power with us last year.

Game 3, the Mike Cuellar pitches well Joe Verbanic does not. Jerry Kenny arrives and gets 2 hits and is caught stealing. Final 5-1 in a Oriole sweep.

Back home we hope to get back on track against the Cleveland Indians. Stan Bahnsen against fireballing “Sudden” Sam McDowell. With the score tie at 3 in the 5th inning, Jerry Kenny, Danny Cater and Bobby Murcer string together three singles to take the lead.
John Cumberland pitches three shoutout innings for the save. Yanks 4-3

Game 2 53,000 fans watch Mel Stottlemyre hold the Indians to one run while the Yanks score 5 off Dean Chance and Jim Kern. Yanks 5-1

Game 3 Ron Guidry gets tagged with his second loss of the season, as the Indian offense explodes for seven runs. Tribe 7-4

We head to Washington to play a Senators. The Divison is real tight Red Sox, Tiger 1 back, Orioles 3 back, Senators 3 ½ back , we sit in fifth 7 games off the pace.

The Senators sweep us. As George Burnet beats Verbanic 8-1, Bob Humphreys over Mel 7-3 and Old Joe Coleman goes all the way over Fritz Peterson 5-1. The less said the better.

We are 4 games under 500 and it feels like 1969 again.

[boomboom]

Wow! I don't know what to say. Hope you keep reading.

You have a good writing style which makes it fun to read! As what Michaelg123 said, keep up the great work!

[OldYankFan]

May 30 1970

It was a beautiful day for a slugfest. As the Boston Redsox, Pete Ward, and 55,770 fans all converge on Yankee Stadium. Joe Verbanic and Ray Culp start but it doesn’t much seem to matter who is pitching, it is a hitters day. The Sombreros are flying as Celereno Sanchez has 3 hits in five trips, Bobby Murcer also has 3 hits two of them doubles, Ron Blomberg seems to have grown accustom to the bigs now, he also goes 3 for 5 with two doubles. Danny Cater has a bases clearing Triple as Reggie Smith dives for a line drive that gets by him and rolls all the way to the wall. Munson and Lyttle also double giving the Yanks 7 extra base hits. Reggie Smith hits 2 home runs and Big George Scott rumbles around to third on a triple when Bobby Murcer plays hide and seek with the ball among the monuments in centerfield. But the hitting star of the day is…. (you guessed it) Pete Ward. The bane of my existence goes 3 for 4 with a walk, 2 homeruns and 7 RBI.

All that and extra innings too. The score is tie at eleven in regulation, and Jack Aker gets some help from the defense as Sanchez starts a 5-4-3 double play. In the bottom of the inning the Red Sox reliever Vincente Romo is fooling nobody with his junk as Lyttle, Murcer and Blomberg string together 3 singles to win the game 12-11. I’m exhausted from yelling. So are the fans.

The next day is another tight game as Stan Bahnsen and Gary Peters hook up. The Yanks are up 3-0 before Stan runs out of gas. The Sox score one in the 5th and four more in the 6th as John Cumberland can’t quite close the door on a rally when Ralph pulls Bahnsen. The Yanks hang one run on reliever Lee Stange in the ninth but Vincente Romo gets the final out with the tying run on and Jim Lyttle at the plate. 5-4 Boston

Game 3, Mel Stottlemyre dominates on a four hit shut-out. The Yanks have no problem with Sonny Siebert and company and score six times. 6-0 Yanks.

The Sox leave with just a two game lead over the hard charging Orioles. The Tigers and Senators are still right behind those two, and we are going to Kansas City, Kansas City here we come.

Fritz Peterson is not sharp but, he didn’t have to be, the Yanks bomb Jim Rooker. Final 13-5 Yanks

Joe Verbanic’s ERA balloons to more than 10.00 and he drops to 1-5 on the year. The Royals’ Wally Bunker shuts us out 6-0

Game 3 Ron Guidry’s pitching and Danny Cater’s homerun go to waste when Lindy McDaniel gives up 2 in the ninth and the Royals win 6-5.

Horrible news, Stan Bahnsen was not scheduled to pitch in the Kansas City Series so Ralph let him stay home. He stayed out late one night came home and tripped over that mitt shaped chair and fractured his hip! He will be gone 3 months, at least. Dave Pagan is summoned from Syracuse and stuck back in the rotation. I had been considering bring Pagan up to replace the ineffective Verbanic. Well that won’t happen now.

[OldYankFan]

June 2 1970

At Yankee Stadium the Brewers are in for a 3 game set.

Game 1, Mel Stottlemyre locks in a pitching duel with Phenom Jerry Bell. In a 2-2 game in the seventh Roy White comes through with a clutch 2 out hit to deliver Stick Michael and the winning run. Yanks win 3-2

I am checking the Standings for the end of May …

AL EAST
Boston 34-19
Baltimore 32-24
Detroit 31-23
Washington 30-24
New York 25-28
Cleveland 17-39

AL WEST
Oakland 42-13
Milwaukee 26-28
California 24-31
Minnesota 23-31
Chicago 22-32
Kansas City 20-34

NL EAST
Philadelphia 33-24
New York 32-24
Pittsburgh 28-27
Chicago 26-28
St Louis 23-31
Montreal 21-33

NL WEST
San Francisco 40-16
Atlanta 34-22
Cincinnati 31-24
Los Angeles 25-28
Houston 22-33
San Diego 14-39

...before game two of the Brewers series as Clyde Kluttz stops in with his list for the amateur draft.

“I think this is a pretty accurate assessment.” Clyde told me as he hands me the list, “Those extra scouts helped a lot, we got to eyeball a whole lot a kids this past month.”

“Great Clyde” I looked over the list of names that meant almost nothing to me, and the accompanying information that could mean the world.

“Oh by the way” Clyde said with that twinkle in his eye “ I hired a couple of roving instructors for the minor leagues. you know the ones that you got authorization for.”

“Yeah?” I said “and…”

“Nobody special” Clyde deadpanned “but you might have heard of them… Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle.”

“Yeah,” I also deadpanned, “I might of heard of them.”

Game 2 The Yanks pound 4 Milwaukee pitchers for 10 runs, while Fritz Peterson cruises for a complete game 10-1 win.

Game 3 Bobby Murcer hit’s a 3 run homer off Marty Patin and Joe Verbanic pitches his best game giving up just one run. Sparky Lyle gets the save. 3-1 Yanks. The second series sweep for us of the year.

Tomorrow is the Amateur Draft. Let’s see if our scouting pays off.

[OldYankFan]

June 3, 1970

As the team heads to Cleveland, Clyde Kluttz, Mike Burke and I get set for the Amateur Draft.

The phone rings and it’s Babe Loren the Syracuse Manager calling to tell me Ron Woods, who was working hard to get his stroke back, and in fact was hitting .385 in AAA, stepped on a bat, slipped down the dugout steps and got stress fracture of his foot. Ron will be on the 15 day DL. These things happen, I guess.

I am extremely excited about the draft. Clyde however, is not.

“A pretty weak crop of kids, if you ask me.” he said.

Mike Burke looks over the scouting reports with a confused look on his face. The kind of look I get when I look at the stock market page in the paper.

We have targeted a few players for our number one pick, OF Fred Lynn, OF Rowland Officer, C Ernie Whitt, 3b Ray Knight and pitchers Joaquin Andujar, Eric Rassmussen and Rick Williams. We all feel that these guys have solid major league potential.

Montreal start the draft with 3B Pat Scanlon. Huh, we sure liked Knight better.

We are picking ninth, and are happy as only Lynn is taken (by the Royals) from our short list. Our turn comes and we confer. Burke wants one of the three pitchers.

Clyde says “Take Office.” When I ask him why he tells me “you can’t teach speed”

I concur with Clyde and we pick Rowland Office as our first pick of the 1970 draft.

As the first round continues, Williams (Houston), Whitt (Boston) and Knight (Cincinnati) fall in quick order. Four picks ahead of us in the second round, Milwaukee takes Andujar. We hold our breath as the White Sox , Royals, and Angels pick, hoping one of our targeted players would still be left. Chicago chooses pitcher Bob Myrick, Kansas City takes first baseman Dennis Werth, and the Angels grab outfielder Dave Collins. Whew, we exhale together and make the call on Eric Rasmussen.

In the 3rd round we take Pitcher Dave Frost, in the 4th Outfielder Steve Hendersen, followed by lefty pitcher Jerry Augustine who we thought was a steal here in round 5, and finally short stop Billy Almon. A fairly balanced draft, I thought, 2 outfielders, 3 pitchers and an infielder.

We head out and make our announcements to the assembled press.
Gabe Buonauro of the Bergen Record shouts “Who got the better draft, you or the Mets?”

“We got a better player in each round.” boasted Mike Burke then he turns and whispers to me “Who the heck did the Mets pick anyway?”

“Who cares?” I whisper back.

[OldYankFan]

1970 Yankees Scorecard
Murcer, Stottlemyre, White
Cater, Blefary
Gibbs, Clarke, Bahnsen

[gizmo7878]

Great Yankee dynasty... keep up the good work.

[OldYankFan]

Great Yankee dynasty... keep up the good work.

Thank you sir, your a gentleman and a scholar, and there are so few of us left.

[OldYankFan]

June 9, 1970

YANKS: “METS DRAFT STINKS”
Burke says Yanks draft rings around Mets

I toss the copy of the Newark Star-Ledger and just laughed.

I dispatched George Pfister, our Business Manager for Player Development, to get all of our new draft picks under contract. I doubt there will be any problems, after all who would not want to play for the Yankees? Ok, well, I hope everything goes fine.

In Cleveland Mel Stottlemyre is not fine as he gives up six runs in the first inning on the way to an 8-2 loss

George Pfister calls “I got them all under contract, standard rates.”

“Any problems?” I ask

“Well,” he said “Frost and Henderson both balked, but when I told them about Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford working as instructors with our rookie league team, I think they would have paid me to sign.”
“Good job, George.” I tell him. “That gives me an idea.”

I call Carl Lundquist at UPI, Frank Eck at Associated Press and Herb Scharfman from the Sports Illustrated. I told them about Mantle and Ford working with our rookies and arranged some photo shoots with Jerry Walker the manager at Johnson City.

In Cleveland, Roy White and Bobby Murcer both hit 3 run homers and Fritz Peterson and Jack Aker hold the Indians to three runs. 9-3 Yanks win.

Phil Rizzuto has a field day in Game Three when Frank Baker hits his first big league homerun. “Holy Cow!” shouts Phil “It’s Frank ‘Home Run’ Baker!” referring, of course, to the Hall of Fame 3rd Baseman who stunned baseball with a record 12 homeruns in 1913.

Phil had plenty more to shout about as later in the same inning Thurman Munson hits his fourth home run of the year. The offense keeps rolling against six different Indian pitchers for a total of 12 runs. Joe Verbanic has his best outing of the year giving up just 2 runs, finally dropping his ERA to single digits. Final 12-2 Yanks.

The Yanks, Tigers and 60,500 fans converge on the Bronx for a 3 game weekend series.

Ron Guidry continues to impress everyone as he and Sparky Lyle team up again in a winning effort. Danny Cater, Stick Michael and Jerry Kenney drive in all the runs at the bottom of the order, and despite Norm Cash’s titanic home run to left the Yanks win 4-3

With a stiff breeze blowing in during game 2, no one on either side can reach the seats. But the Yanks pound out 13 hits including 3 double and a triple (by Ron Blomberg,) and Mel Stottlemyre goes the distance having a 3 run hic-up in the seventh, but otherwise pitching out of trouble all day. Final 8-3 Yanks.

In game 3, Danny Cater goes 2 for 4 and continues to flirt with .400, he is hitting .393 on the year. Danny finish 2nd to Carl Yastrzemski in the 1968 batting race. That was the “Year of the Pitcher” when Yaz was the only American League batter to hit over .300 (at 301) Cater was second at .290, that led to the lowering of the pitchers mound to bring some offence back in the game.

This game belongs to the pitchers, Mickey Lolich and Fritz Peterson both hurl complete games. Today Fritz is the better lefty as the Yanks win 3-1.

That’s 5 wins in a row and 7 of 8 in the month of June. At 32 and 29 the Yanks are 3 games over .500 for the first time in a long time. And New York is starting to take notice.

[OldYankFan]

My PR ploy works. AP and UPI run photos and stories on Whitey and Mickey down on the farm

[OldYankFan]

June 13, 1970

Following the sweep of the Tigers and before the White Sox came in, I got a call from the folks at Con Edison, the big New York utility company. They asked if they could stop by and meet with me and the Marketing department. I got Bob Fishel and set something up for 2 o’clock.

The Con Ed man (interestingly name Ed) brought along former Baltimore Oriole catcher Earl Batty. His proposal was to have a group of poor city kids come to Yankee games for free.

“How many kids,” I asked?

“A couple hundred per game.” Ed said.

“It’s a nice idea,” Bob Fishel chimed in. “But, that’s a lot of free tickets…”

“Oh, we’ll pay for the kids,” Ed said “And we have hired Earl here, he will be with the kids at each game.”

“I like it.” I said. “Great P.R., we can call them Junior Yankees or something.”

“Well,” Said Ed “Since Consolidated Edison is buying the tickets, we thought maybe we could get some recognition?”

“Sure,” said Bob, quicker on the uptake that I was, “they are your kids so how about, Con Ed Kids?”

Earl smiled and nodded.

“We’ll get a couple of players or coaches to stop by and say hello before the games.” I said, finally grasping the concept. “and a banner, that says Con Ed Kids.”

“You got a deal” said Ed, standing and shaking hands. Earl just smiled and nodded.

Game 1 against the White Sox. Danny Cater pushed his batting average up to .399 by going 2 for 3. Bobby Murcer hit two home runs and Ron Klimkowski broke into the starting rotation with his first win. Thurman Munson continues to show a lightning release behind the plate, nabbing “Beltin” Bill Melton on a steal attempt. Final Score 8-5 Yanks (six in a row)

Game 2. Danny Cater passes the .400 mark by going 2 for 3 (and a walk) again. Frank Messer made 4 references to Ted Williams one each time Cater came up. Ron Blomberg hit one out and Bobby Murcer got his 3rd in 2 days. Ron Guidry got over a rough first and got some help from Lindy McDaniel. Yanks win 7-4 (seven in a row)

Game 3 Mel Stottlemyre pitches another complete game, giving up a seeing eye RBI hit to Luis Aparicio. Danny Cater’s 2 for 5 keeps him over .400 , he is overshadowing Celereno Sanchez’s fine .335, Bobby Murcer’s .346 and Thurman Munson and Stick Micheal each hitting .303. He is also taking the heat off of Horace Clarke .197, Ron Blomberg .202 and Jim Lyttle .222. Joe Horland, Rich Gossage, and Dave Lemonds can’t contain the Yankee offense. Final 6-1 Yanks (8 in a row)

Game 4 against the White Sox and despite Fritz Peterson’s strong outing it looks like the winning streak will end here. A sac fly in the second and Bill Melton’s RBI single in the sixth against a Jerry Kenney solo homer in the seventh. Leave the Yanks down 2-1 going into the bottom of the ninth. With Gerry Arrigo, the starter still on the mound Bobby Murcer leads off with a single and then promptly steals second. Arrigo pitches too carefully to Jerry Kenney, perhaps remembering the homer, and walks him on 4 pitches. Len Boehmer pinch hits for Sparky Lyle and grounds out to first moving the runners up. With the weak hitting Horace Clarke on deck, Bill Rigney, orders Arrigo to walk “Home Run” Baker then goes out and gets his starter. Floyd Weaver comes in and Horace Clarke surprises all 58,000 in attendance by winning the game with a double to right center!
Final 3-2 Yanks (9 in a row). As the team takes it’s 36-29 record on the road to Detroit, I can only hope we can ride this streak a little longer.

[OldYankFan]

Bill Gallo's look at the High Flying Yanks

[OldYankFan]

June 19, 1970

I had a hard time not making this trip to Detroit with the team. But, Mike Burke wanted me to do some contract projections for next season. We had 14 players with contracts ending at the end of the season. Mike was concerned about the costs of their contracts, I was concerned about losing key members of the team. Mike was right about one thing, we were better off figuring out what we were doing now, so if we made a decision not to sign someone we might deal them before the trading deadline. Of course, this was no more than educated guess work on my part. So, I worked the day out with my adding machine, pencil and yellow pad. I put the list on Mike’s desk after he had left for the day and turned on the Radio to listen to Frank and Phil from Detroit.

Game 1, Mickey Lolich is one of the pitchers in baseball, but, he has not had much luck with the Yanks this year. He matched up against the kid Ron Klimkowski. In the second the Yanks grabbed a lead when Bobby Murcer got a hustle double, moved to third on Sanchez’s grounder and scored on Jim Lyttle’s sac fly. 1-0 Yanks

Klimkowski gave the struggling Tigers, who were working on a nine game losing streak, all that they could handle until the fifth, Dick McAuliffe in his strange ultra-open stance, drew a walk. Then he was replaced at first by Al Kaline who forced him at 2nd. Chuck Schrivner grounded one threw the hole for a single, Willie Horton struck out, then Norm Cash, “Cashed in a 3-0 fastball” Frank punned, for a 3 run homer. 3-1 Tigers

In the bottom of the inning Gene Michael singled stole second and scored on Roy White’s single 3-2 Tigers.

A Danny Cater double, a wild pitch and another Jim Lyttle sac fly tied the game in the seventh 3-3

With John Cumberland on in relief, Norm Cash’s single drove in Dick McAuliffe in the bottom of the seventh 4-3 Tigers

Top of the eighth Len Boehmer, who is hitting over .300 as a pinch hitter, got a pinch single, “Home Run” Baker bunted for a base hit. A flagging Lolich hung a curve to Thurman Munson and… “Holy Cow, its out of here deep in the leftfield bleachers.” Phil shouts. 6-4 Yanks.

Lindy McDaniel sets the Tigers down in order in both the eighth and ninth, for his sixth save. Final 6-4 Yanks 10 wins in a row for the Yanks, Ten losses in a row for the Tigers.

Game 2
All good things come to an end. Denny McLain looked like his old self, Ron Guidry just looked young. 6-2 Tigers. After the game I dispatch Jake Gibbs who is hitting .181 to Syracuse and bring up the “New London Strong Boy“, or so Frank Messer calls him, John Ellis. Hopefully Jake can regain his batting form, but with Munson getting the bulk of the playing time now, Jake is rusting on the bench.

Game 3
Nothing like good pitching to get back in the win column. Mel Stottlemyre with another complete game. Munson, Michael and Murcer hit doubles, White and Clarke have triples, Danny Cater again approaches the .400 mark. 9-2 Yanks, on to the Nations Capital.

Game 1 vs. the Senators Fritz Peterson gets win number 9 and Sparky Lyle save number 9. Frank “Home Run” Baker goes deep for the second time in his career. Danny Cater is 1 for 2 and back up to .395. Final Score 5-3 Yanks

Game 2 Ron Klimkowski and Carlos Cisco go toe to toe and it is 2-2 at the end of nine innings. John Cumberland keeps the Senators in check in the 10th. In the 11th after Roy White walks, and 2 ground outs move him to third, Bob Humphreys issues intentional passes to the hot hitting Danny Cater and Celereno Sanchez. Stick Michael bloops a knuckleball into right center and two runs score. Sparky Lyle closes it out for save number 10. 4-2 Yanks in 11

Game 3, it’s a wild affair in Washington, Thurm Munson goes 4 for 5 with a double and homer. A seeming safe Yankee 10-4 lead is threatened in the ninth when Jack Aker gives up 3 runs. Sparky is summoned to pick up is third save in three days. Final 10-7 Yanks and we are on another 4 game win streak, 14 of the last 15. Holy Cow!

[OldYankFan]

June 23,1970

As the grounds crew prepares the field for tonight’s game at Yankee Stadium against the Angels, they begin hoisting the team flags on the poles around the outfield. At Yankee stadium the position of the flags on the poles indicate the position of the team in the standings. Up goes the blue flag with the red word, Boston on it, next the black flag with Baltimore written in orange, then a dark blue flag with white letters, as the breeze catches this pennant it unfurls to show… NEW YORK. 3rd place in the AL east. What the flags don’t say is we are just 4 and ½ games out of first. Just 4 and ½ games to move over to the first flag pole. Well, a guy can dream can’t he?

I guess I am not the only one dreaming, 59,978 dreamers join me in the old ball yard in the South Bronx for the first game of a four game set with the California Angels. I am still tempted to call them the Los Angeles Angels, which they were until 1965.

Mel Stottlemyre does nothing to dampen my dreams or anyone else’s. Mel tosses another complete game and earns victory number 10 on the year. Roy White blasts homerun number nine and Gene “the Stick” Michael curls one around the foul pole in right field for his first of the year. Bobby Murcer, Thurman Munson and Jim Lyttle all double and Danny Cater goes 2 for 4 but, his average stays put at .394. Final Score 8-1 Yanks. Boston loses, 3 ½ out. Dream on.

Game 2 Fritz Peterson helps stake himself to a 3-2 lead by driving in a run and scoring another. Then the wheels fall off in the seventh. In an inning that includes a triple, a bunt base hit, a hit and run play, and a throwing error by Roy White, the Angels score 3 times for a 5-3 lead. Jim Lyttle’s 1st career homer closes the gap to 5-4. California's Ken Tatum strands 2 Yanks on the base paths in the ninth for the save. Final 5-4 Angels. Boston loses but Balitmore slips by them and now has a ½ game lead. We are 4 back.

Game 3 is the kind of nightmare that we all would like to forget. In the seventh inning of a scoreless game the Angels mount an impressive 11 run uprising including 9 singles, 1 walk, a double and a homer. Klimkowski, Cumberland, and Steve Hamilton all get shelled. By the time the Yanks come to bat in the bottom of the seventh the stadium is emptying fast. Final Score 12-0 California. Baltimore wins, we are 5 back. I think I’ll stop scoreboard watching for a while.

Game 4 Young Ron Guidry goes the distance giving up just 1 run. Thurman Munson catches 3 Angels trying to steal and Roy White homers for a nice 6-1 win.

We have a day off and then head up to Beantown to take on the 2nd Place Red Sox. I got my eye on that second flagpole.