Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 148

manager of the Mets on August 30th, replaced by Wes Westrum, one of his coaches. The Mets would again finish in last place.

“Most people my age are dead at the present time.” - Casey Stengel, in his final years.

By 1971, Edna Stengel was showing signs of Alzheimer's disease, and in 1973, following a stroke, she was moved into a nursing home. Casey Stengel continued to live in his Glendale home with the help of his housekeeper. Stengel himself showed signs of senility in his last years, and during the final year of his life, these increased. In his last year, Stengel cut back on his travel schedule, and was too ill to attend the Yankees' Old Timers Day game in August 1975, at which it was announced that Billy Martin would be the new team manager. A diagnosis of

cancer of the lymph glands had been made, and Stengel realized he was dying. In mid-September, he was admitted to Glendale Memorial Hospital, but the cancer was inoperable. He died there on September 29, 1975.

The tributes to Stengel upon his death were many. Sportswriter Maury Allen wrote; "He is gone and I am supposed to cry, but I laugh. Every time I saw the man, every time I heard his voice, every time his name was mentioned, the creases in my mouth would give way and a smile would come to my face." Richie Ashburn, a