Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 143

press conference, was granted and on October 18th, 1960, Topping and Stengel appeared before the microphones. After Topping evaded questions from the press about whether Stengel had been fired, Stengel took the microphone, and when asked if he had been fired, stated; "Quit, fired, whatever you please, I don't care." Topping stated that Stengel was being terminated because of his age, 70, and alleged that this would have happened even had the Yankees won the World Series.

Two days after dismissing Stengel, the Yankees announced the hiring of Houk as his replacement; stating that part of the

reason for Stengel's firing was so that New York would not lose Houk to another team. Stengel returned to Glendale, and spent the 1961 season out of baseball for the first time since 1937. He turned down several job offers to manage, from the Tigers, San Francisco Giants, and the expansion Los Angeles Angels. He

spent the summer of 1961 as Vice President of the Glendale Valley National Bank, which was owned by members of Edna Stengel's family.

As part of baseball's expansion in the early 1960s, a franchise was awarded to New York, to play in the National League beginning in 1962, and to be known as the New York Mets. It was

hoped that the new team would be supported by the many former Giant and Dodger fans left without a team when the franchises