Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 144

moved to California after the 1957 season. There were rumors through the 1961 season that Stengel would be the manager, but he initially showed no interest in managing a team that, given the rules for the expansion draft, was unlikely to be competitive. George Weiss had been forced out as Yankee general manager and hired by the Mets. He wanted Stengel as manager, and after talks with the Mets principal owners, Joan Whitney Payson and M. Donald Grant, Stengel was introduced as Mets manager at a press conference on October 2, 1961.

“Look at that guy. He can't hit, he can't run, and he can't

throw. Of course, that's why they gave him to us.” - Casey Stengel, on a player obtained by the Mets in the expansion draft, who remains anonymous due to the myriad of possibilities.

Weiss was convinced his scouting staff would make the Mets a respectable team in five to six years, but in the interim New York would most likely do poorly. He hoped to overcome the challenge of attracting supporters to a losing team in the "City of Winners" by drafting well-known players who would draw fans to the Polo Grounds, where the Mets would initially play. Thus, the Mets selected a number of over the hill National Leaguers, some of whom had played for the Dodgers or Giants, including Gil

Hodges, Roger Craig, Don Zimmer and Frank Thomas. Selected before them all was journeyman catcher Hobie Landrith; as