Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 119

not hit by Babe Ruth. That honor, with great irony, would fall to the aging reserve outfielder Casey Stengel.

After the Yankees won Game 2 at the Polo Grounds, the Series returned to Yankee Stadium for Game 3. Stengel won it, 1–0, on a home run into the right field bleachers. As the Yankee fans booed Stengel, he thumbed his nose at the crowd and blew a kiss toward the Yankee players, outraging the team's principal owner, Jacob Ruppert, who demanded that Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis fine or suspend Stengel. Judge Landis declined, saying; "A man who wins two games with home runs may feel a

little playful, especially if he's a Stengel." The Yankees won the next three games to take the Series; but Stengel batted .417 in the six games, completing his World Series career as a player with a .393 batting average.

“It's lucky I didn't hit three home runs in three games, or McGraw would have traded me to the Three-I League.” - Casey Stengel on being traded by the Giants to the Boston Braves.

On November 13, 1923, twenty-nine days after the World Series ended, Stengel was traded to the perennial second division dwelling Boston Braves with Dave Bancroft and Bill Cunningham for Joe Oeschger and Billy Southworth. Stengel had enjoyed his time in New York and was initially unhappy at the trade,