Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 106

in the minor leagues, Stengel reached the major leagues late in 1912, as an outfielder, for the Brooklyn Dodgers. His six seasons there saw some success, among them playing for Brooklyn's 1916 National League championship team. But he also developed a reputation as a clown. After repeated clashes over pay with the Dodgers owner, Charlie Ebbets, Stengel was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1918. However, he enlisted in the Navy that summer, for the remainder of World War I. After returning to baseball, he continued his pay disputes, resulting in trades to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1919 and to the New York Giants in 1921. There, he learned much about baseball from the manager, John McGraw, and had some of the glorious moments in his career, such as hitting an inside the park home run in Game 1 of the 1923 World Series to defeat the Yankees. His major

league playing career ended with the Boston Braves in 1925, but he then began a career as a manager.

The first twenty years of Stengel's second career brought mostly poor finishes, especially during his managerial stints with the Dodgers from 1934–1936 and Braves from 1938–1943. He thereafter enjoyed some success on the minor league level, and Yankee general manager George Weiss hired him as manager in October 1948. Stengel's Yankees won the World Series five consecutive times from 1949–1953, the only time that has been achieved.