Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 138

In spite of the defeat, Stengel was given a new two year contract at $75,000 per year.

By the mid-1950’s, Stengel was becoming a national figure, familiar from television broadcasts of the Yankees on NBC's “Game of the Week,” and from managing in most World Series and All-Star Games during his tenure. National magazines such as “Look” and “Sports Illustrated” did feature stories about him, and his turn of phrase became known as "Stengelese." The magazines not only told stories about the manager's one liners and jokes, but recounted the pranks from his playing days, such

as the grapefruit dropped from the plane and the sparrow under the cap. People across the country grew enamored of the grandfatherly fellow with the funny looks and fractured speech, with a knack for winning.

The Yankees won the pennant again in 1955, breaking open a close pennant race in September to take the American League. They played the Dodgers again in the World Series, which the Dodgers won in seven games. The Dodgers won Game 7, 2–0, behind the pitching of Johnny Podres. Stengel, after losing his first World Series as a manager, blamed himself for not instructing his hitters to bat more aggressively against Podres. Billy Martin

stated; "It's a shame for a great manager like that to have to lose."