Joe Nuxhall, a lefthander who pitched his first major league game 1 1/2 months short of his 16th birthday and who was a prominent part of the  Cincinnati Reds’ scene both as a player and broadcaster for 60 years, passed away while hospitalized for treatment of pneumonia.  Nuxhall was awaiting surgery to insert a pacemaker, and was suffering from a recurrence of cancer since September.

AP Writer Terry Kinney provides background on Nuxhall’s playing career for Yahoo sports;

Brought up by Cincinnati to pitch during World War II — just out of junior high classes, he unraveled at the sight of Stan Musial in the on-deck circle — Nuxhall worked more than six decades for the Reds. He continued to pitch batting practice into the 1980s and was a member of the team’s Hall of Fame.

While he won 135 games, it was on the radio where he became best known. On a franchise filled with Hall of Fame players and big personalities, Nuxhall might have been the most popular of all.

“This is a sad day for everyone in the Reds organization,” outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. said in a statement. “He did so many great things for so many people. You never heard anyone ever say a bad word about him. We’re all going to miss him.”

Reds owner Bob Castellini said Friday that “Joe exemplified everything baseball’s all about, from the mound to the broadcast booth.”

At 15 years, 10 months, 11 days old, Nuxhall was big for his age. He was 6-foot-3 and his parents let him join the Reds when school let out.

Nuxhall spent most of the time watching from the bench, assuming he’d never get into a game. The Reds were trailing the St. Louis Cardinals 13-0 after eight innings when manager Bill McKechnie decided to give the kid a chance.

Nuxhall was so rattled when summoned to warm up that he tripped on the top step of the dugout and fell on his face in front of 3,510 fans at Crosley Field. He was terrified when it came time to walk to the mound.

“Probably two weeks prior to that, I was pitching against seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders, kids 13 and 14 years old,” he recalled. “All of a sudden, I look up and there’s Stan Musial and the likes. It was a very scary situation.”

Nuxhall walked one and retired two batters before glancing at the on-deck circle and seeing Musial. Nuxhall unraveled — Musial hit a line-drive single, and the Cardinals scored five runs as the young pitcher lost his ability to throw a strike and failed to get another out. In all, he walked five and threw a wild pitch in two-thirds of an inning.

“Those people that were at Crosley Field that afternoon probably said, ‘Well, that’s the last we’ll see of that kid,”‘ Nuxhall said.

The Reds sent him to the minors, but eight years later he was back with the Reds. Nuxhall spent 15 of his 16 big league seasons with the Reds, going 135-117 before his retirement in 1966.

Baseball Library provides this bit of history on Nuxhall’s career;

He won a career-high 17 games in 1955, leading the league with five shutouts, and pitching 3-1/3 scoreless innings in the All-Star Game. He began having arm trouble in 1960, was traded to the A’s in 1961, and hooked on with the Angels briefly in 1962. A lifetime .198 batter with 15 home runs, in 1961 he hit .292 and contemplated continuing his career as a pinch hitter/first baseman. But he bounced back as a pitcher, returning to the Reds for the 1962 stretch drive and going 5-0. In 1963, he was 15-8, with a career-low 2.61 ERA. Nuxhall retired just before Opening Day 1967, to make room on the roster for rookie Gary Nolan.

Nolan, by the way, went on to be the ace of the staff during the Big Red Machine days of the mid-70’s.

I remember Joe Nuxhall; he beat the Phillies in a number of games in the 1950s both with his pitching and his hitting.  In one memorable game in 1958 written up on this blog, Nuxhall pitched the last 2 2/3 innings of a wild game with the Phillies won by the Reds by a 12-11 score.  The “the ol’ left-hander” gave up but one hit while striking out three to emerge as the winning pitcher in that game.  Nuxhall went 12-11 with a 3.79 ERA for the 1958 season.

Nuxhall was with the Reds when Pete Rose began his career in 1963.  Nuxhall hit 15 career homers, including 3 homers each during the  1953,  1954 and 1955 seasons along with a career high 14 RBIs in 1955.

AP’s Kinney also recounts Nuxhall’s post-playing years;

Nuxhall started doing radio broadcasts, describing games in a slow-paced, down-home manner that caught on with listeners. Marty Brennaman became the play-by-play announcer in 1974, and the “Marty and Joe” tandem spent the next 28 seasons chatting about their golf games, their gardens and some of the biggest moments in franchise history.

Nuxhall retired as a full-time radio broadcaster after the 2004 season, the 60th anniversary of his historic pitching debut. Since then, he was heavily involved in charity work, especially his scholarship and character education programs.

He had surgery for prostate cancer in 1992, followed by a mild heart attack in 2001. The cancer returned last February, when he was preparing for spring training in Sarasota, Fla.

Nuxhall called some games last season even though his left leg was swollen by tumors. He was hospitalized again this week.

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“The Scooter,” diminutive shortstop and leadoff hitter Phil Rizzuto, of the Yankees’ golden era teams which won 11 pennants and nine World Series between 1941 and 1956, passed away in his sleep late Monday night while fighting a bout with pneumonia.

AP baseball writer Ben Walker highlights both Rizzuto’s playing career and his 40 year distinguished broadcasting career for Yahoo sports;

Rizzuto was the oldest living Hall of Famer. He played for the Yankees throughout the 1940s and ’50s, won seven World Series titles, was an AL MVP and played in five All-Star games.

Rizzuto later announced Yankees games for four decades and his No. 10 was retired by baseball’s most storied team.

“I guess heaven must have needed a shortstop,” Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said in a statement. “He epitomized the Yankee spirit — gritty and hard charging — and he wore the pinstripes proudly.”

At 5-foot-6, Rizzuto was a flashy player who could always be counted on for a perfect bunt, a nice slide or a diving catch in a lineup better known for its cornerstone sluggers. He played 13 seasons alongside the likes of Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle in a career interrupted by Navy service in World War II.

“Phil was a gem, one of the greatest people I ever knew — a dear friend and great teammate,” said Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, who frequently visited Rizzuto in his later years.

“When I first came up to the Yankees, he was like a big — actually, small — brother to me. He’s meant an awful lot to baseball and the Yankees and has left us with a lot of wonderful memories,” he said.

Rizzuto was equipped with a productive bat, sure hands and quick feet that earned him his nickname and a mention on his Hall plaque that he “overcame diminutive size.”

A leadoff man, he was a superb bunter, used to good advantage by the Yankees teams that won 11 pennants and nine World Series between 1941 and 1956.

“He was a Yankee all the way,” Indians Hall of Famer Bob Feller said.

“Phil could hit, he could run, he was good on the basepaths and he was a great shortstop. He knew the fundamentals of the game and he got 100 percent out of his ability. He played it hard and he played it fair,” he said.

Born in Brooklyn, Rizzuto tried out with the Dodgers and New York Giants when he was 16, but because of his size was dismissed by Dodgers manager Casey Stengel, who told him to “Go get a shoeshine box.” Rizzuto went on to become one of Stengel’s most dependable players.

A Rizzuto bunt, a steal and a DiMaggio hit made up the scoring trademark of the Yankees’ golden era, and he played errorless ball in 21 consecutive World Series games. DiMaggio said the shortstop “held the team together.”

Rizzuto came to the Yankees in 1941 and batted .307 as a rookie. After the war, he returned in 1946 and became the American League MVP in 1950. He batted .324 that season with a slugging percentage of .439 and 200 hits, second most in the league. He also went 58 games without an error, making 288 straight plays.

He led all AL shortstops in double plays three times and had a career batting average of .273 with at least a .930 fielding percentage. He played in five All-Star games.

Rizzuto remembered Aug. 25, 1956, as a day he thought was the “end of the world,” the day Stengel released him to make room for clutch-hitting Enos Slaughter in the pennant drive.

Rizzuto then began a second career as a broadcaster, one for which he became at least equally well known. His voice dripped with his native Brooklyn.

In his decades on the radio and TV, Rizzuto’s favorite phrase was “Holy cow!” He trotted it out when calling Roger Maris’ record-breaking 61st home run in 1961 and the saying became so much a part of him, the team presented him with a cow wearing a halo when they held a day in his honor in 1985. The cow knocked Rizzuto over and, of course, he shouted, “Holy cow!”

In an age of broadcasters who spout statistics and repeat the obvious, Rizzuto loved to talk about things like his fear of lightning, the style of an umpire’s shoes or even the prospect of outfielder Dave Winfield as a candidate for president.

He liked to acknowledge birthdays and anniversaries, read notes from fans, praised the baked delicacies at his favorite restaurant and send messages to old cronies. And if he missed a play, he would scribble “ww” in his scorecard box score. That, he said, meant “wasn’t watching.”

His popularity was such that at a recent auction a Rizzuto cap embedded with a wad of chewing gum sold for more than $8,000. In the New York area, Rizzuto’s antics became a staple for TV ads.

Despite his qualifications, Rizzuto was passed over for the Hall of Fame 15 times by the writers and 11 times by the Veterans Committee. Finally, a persuasive speech by Ted Williams pushed Rizzuto into Cooperstown in 1994.

Williams, a member of the committee, argued that Rizzuto was the man who made the difference between the Yankees and his Red Sox. He was fond of saying, “If we’d had Rizzuto in Boston, we’d have won all those pennants instead of New York.”

“I never thought I deserved to be in the Hall of Fame,” Rizzuto once said. “The Hall of Fame is for the big guys, pitchers with 100 mph fastballs and hitters who sock homers and drive in a lot of runs. That’s the way it always has been and the way it should be.”

Rizzuto is survived by his wife, Cora, whom he married in 1943; daughters Cindy Rizzuto, Patricia Rizzuto and Penny Rizzuto Yetto; son Phil Rizzuto Jr.; and two granddaughters.

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It seems like Phillies’ reliever Mike Zagurski always manages to find himself in the middle of late-inning bullpen adventures, usually resulting in Phillies losses.  Today’s loss to the Washington Nationals is a prime example.

In the 7th inning, starter Adam Eaton managed to get himself into a one out, 2nd and 3rd pickle.  Reliever J.C. Romero was inserted and got the 2nd out.  But then shortstop Felipe Lopez singled off of Romero to drive in 2 runs and narrow a 5-2 Phillies lead to 5-4.

After Jose Mesa managed to extract the Phils from the 7th with no additional damage, he got himself into his own 2 on, 1 out pickle in the 8th inning.  Enter Zagurski, who got leftfielder Ryan Church to fly out to leftfield for the 2nd out.  But then, Zagurski served up a plum which catcher Jesus Flores took ballpark driving in 3 runs to give the Nationals a 7-5 lead.  The Phillies got a run in the 9th, but left late-game leftfielding replacement  Michael Bourne stranded on 3nd base and catcher Carlos Ruiz on 1st as 3rd baseman Abraham Nunez grounded out to 2nd base to end the game giving Washington a 7-6 win in what should have been a Phillies sweep.

Fortunately, Pittsburgh, the Phils’ next opponent helped out by beating the  Mets.  And Atlanta was defeated again by San Francisco.   Thus the Phillies maintain position, 5 games behind the NL East leaders and 1 game behind the 2nd place Braves.. 

Washington scored first with 2 runs in the first inning off of Eaton, the 2nd run scoring on 3rd baseman Wes Helm’s fielding error.  

2nd baseman Chase Utley singled in a run for the Phils in the 1st.  In the Phillies’ 3rd, 1st baseman  Ryan Howard gave them the lead at 3-2 on a two out, 2 run blast to centerfield.  It was Howard’s 29 homer and 84th and 85th RBIs of the season.

The Phillies loaded the bases in the 5th inning as rookie lefthander John Lannan was ejected from the game for hitting Utley and Howard consecutively.   After the game, X-Rays found that the All Star 2nd baseman suffered a broken hand as a result of being hit.  The AP recap for Yahoo sports reports more;

Utley finished the game, going 2-for-4, but X-rays afterward showed he broke a bone in the hand.

Utley planned to see a specialist on Friday to determine the first step in his recovery.

“As breaks go, it’s not that bad of a break,” Utley said. “It’s definitely disappointing.”

Utley, batting .336 with 17 homers and 82 RBIs, didn’t think he’d be sidelined for a month.

“I think it will be sooner than that,” he said.

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said Abraham Nunez likely will replace Utley at second base.

“Chase is a big part of this team,” Manuel said. “He’s one of our best players, both on defense and offense. We’re going to fight our way through this.”

Following the two hit batsmen, centerfielder Aaron Rowand was safe at first on a fielding error, loading up the bases on  reliever Chris Schroder.  Leftfielder Pat Burrell then drove in 2 more runs with a single to center and Eaton and the Phillies had a short-lived 5-2 lead which would evaporate in the 7th inning.  Burrell was 3 for 4 for the game.

Nationals’ reliever John Rauch who held the Phils scoreless in the 7th and 8th innings was awarded the win, his 6th against 2 losses.  Closer Chad Cordero racked up his 20th save.  Jose Mesa, to whom 2 of the 3 runs were charged on Flores’ homer, was charged with the loss.

Adam Eaton was rocked in the 1st inning, but settled down retiring the Nationals in order in the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings before running into trouble in the 7th inning.

The burning question now is, will Utley’s injury derail the Phillies’ chances of catching and overtaking the Mets.  Manager Charlie Mamuel is determined to fight through this.   And Nunez is not the same no-hit player that he was in 2006.  Looking back at his stats, in 2005, he actually hit .285 in 431 at bats for St. Louis.  But he in no way approaches the power and potential of Chase Utley.  But hopefully, someone like leftfielder Pat Burrell, who has been hot over the last 17 games  

In order for Manuel to continue to challenge the Mets and Braves, job one is to tighten up in the bullpen.  With the imminent return of Brett Myers to the active roster, Mesa and Zagurski MUST GO and Romero may not be far behind.  Hopefully someone like leftfielder Pat Burrell, who has been hot of lately hitting .440 (22-for-50) with 15 RBIs in his last 17 games, can step up and pick up the mantle to help Ryan Howard carry the team until Utley’s return.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps on this and on all of Thursday’s games, click here.

On Friday, the Pittsburgh Pirates come to town for a 3 game weekend series.  In Friday’s opener, veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer is opposed by winless John Van Benschoten in the opener.

On Saturday, J.D. Durbin is opposed by lefthander Shane Youman.

In Sunday’s series and home finale, rookie Kyle Kendrick goes for his 5th win facing Pirate ace Ian Snell.
 
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on all of Friday’s games, click here.

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Last Friday, before the game between the Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals, a moment of silence was observed in memory of Henry Charles “Shag” Crawford, a longtime major league umpire, Philadelphia area resident and head of a prominent professional sports officiating family who passed away last Wednesday.  Crawford was 90 years old and passed away at the Glen Mills assisted-living facility where he had been living.

AP Baseball writer Ben Walker outlines Crawford’s career in baseball from it’s earliest days;

As a sandlot catcher, Henry Crawford was too busy playing ball to worry about the clothes he wore off the field. As a result, his pals gave him a nickname — “Shaggy.”

Later, it got shortened and the new version stuck. From the 1950s through the 1970s, everyone in baseball knew Shag Crawford.

“Let’s just say some of the things he put on weren’t always of the finest quality. He had things with holes in them, it didn’t bother him,” son Jerry Crawford said Thursday.

“He liked when people called him Shag. I think he’d want that on his tombstone as his middle name,” he said. “He liked that handle.”

In 1976, Jerry Crawford became a major league umpire. The next year, his brother, Joey, started working as an NBA official.

“Shag was very proud of what he did,” New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, who played in the NL during most of Crawford’s career, said Thursday. “Evidently his kids were pretty proud of what he did because they took after him.”

“When we were young, my brothers and my sister would go watch my dad work. I’m sure that had something to do with what we did,” Jerry Crawford said.

Joey Crawford admired his dad’s work, too.

“He loved his craft. He gave his life to it,” he said.

Growing up, Shag Crawford played baseball, football and boxed a little. He eventually made it into the minor leagues as a catcher in the Philadelphia Phillies’ system.

Crawford apparently was better at calling pitches than hitting them. Known for getting in a low crouch and resting his hands on the back of the catcher in front of him, he worked more than 3,100 games from 1956-75.

Inquirer Staff Writer Frank Fitzpatrick relates how Crawford went from sandlot catcher to high-profile major league umpire;

During a Roman Catholic High School game in the early 1950s, Roman coach Joe “Goldie” Graham was impressed by the young man working behind home plate.

“So Goldie Graham called John Stevens, who was an official of the old Canadian-American League, and told him about my father,” Joey Crawford said. “And John Stevens, sight unseen, called my dad and offered him a two-month job.

“I asked him once how he told my mother that he would be leaving for two months. He told me, ‘I didn’t say nothing. I just went.’ That was my father.”

Mr. Crawford moved up to the Eastern League and finally the American Association before making his big-league debut in 1956.

Crawford umpired in the World Series in 1961, 1963 and 1969 seasons as well as in two NLCS; in 1971, 1974, and in All-Star Games in 1959 (first game), 1961 (first game) and in 1968. He was stationed at third base on  June 4, 1964 during Dodgers’ pitcher Sandy Koufax’s third no-hitter.

NY Times reporter Richard Goldstein outlines Shag Crawford’s unique style and most eventful moments umpiring in the major leagues;

When umpiring at home plate, Crawford crouched especially close to view pitches, his hand resting on the catcher’s back to keep his balance. On Aug. 22, 1965, he was in the midst of the action, trying to break up one of baseball’s most frightening melees. Still wearing his mask, Crawford is shown in photographs trying to separate the San Francisco Giants’  Juan Marichal and Los Angeles Dodgers catcher John Roseboro after Marichal hit Roseboro over the head with his bat. The battle erupted after Roseboro’s return throw to pitcher Sandy Koufax whizzed past Marichal’s ear.

Crawford’s most eventful day after that came at Shea Stadium, in Game 4 of the 1969 World Series between the  Mets and the Baltimore Orioles.

He ejected Earl Weaver, the Orioles’ manager, in the third inning for arguing balls and strikes, the first time a manager had been thrown out of a World Series game since Chicago Cubs Manager Charlie Grimm was banished in 1935.

So Weaver was not around to protest a tumultuous 10th-inning play. With the score tied, 1-1, two runners on base and nobody out, the Mets’ J. C. Martin bunted. The throw to first by Orioles pitcher Pete Richert struck Martin on the left wrist and caromed into right field, allowing Rod Gaspar to score from second base with the winning run.

A photograph later showed that Martin was running in fair territory instead of staying inside the three-foot-wide runner’s lane in foul territory as he approached first base. But neither Crawford, umpiring at home plate, nor Lou DiMuro, the umpire at first base, called Martin out for interfering with the throw, and the Orioles, being run in Weaver’s absence by a coach, Billy Hunter, did not argue for interference. If Martin had been called out for interference, Gaspar would not have scored on the play.

Crawford said afterward that Martin was either touching or straddling the foul line, and therefore running legally, even though his body was essentially in fair territory. The Mets, baseball’s doormats since their inception in 1962, went on to win the World Series in five games.

Crawford, who was born and reared in Philadelphia, umpired in the first game played at the Philadelphia Phillies’ Veterans Stadium, in 1971. When the Phillies played their last game there, in September 2003, he stood with his son Jerry, the home-plate umpire, at farewell ceremonies.

Inquirer Staff Writer Frank Fitzpatrick relates another of Crawford’s more memorable arguments, one which occurred on May 18, 1967;

Crawford called Jim Wynn’s down-the-line shot a home run.  Giants manager Herman Franks insisted it was foul, and the two men went toe-to-toe for several minutes.

Meanwhile, someone in the Giants’ dugout called Mr. Crawford a “meathead,” and the umpire tossed out outfielder Ollie Brown. Later, pitcher Gaylord Perry admitted he was the culprit.

Crawford, who was one of the founders of the umpires’ union, never earned more than $35,000 in a season while umpiring.

Baseball Almanac relates how Crawford’s umpiring career ended;

Umpires were originally selected to appear in World Series games based on their quality of work. In 1975 Shag Crawford refused his assignment to the World Series stating that a secret rotation based system had been installed instead of the earlier quality system.  In 1987 a rotation system was actually used, but in 1990 it reverted back to the merit system — except preference was given to those umpires who had not worked a World Series.

Baseball Almanac carries this classic Crawford quote which epitimizes his career which spanned 20 seasons;

“The best thing about umpiring is seeing the best in baseball every day. The cardinal rule of umpiring is to follow the ball wherever it goes. Well, if you watch the ball, you can’t help seeing somebody make a great catch… That’s what makes umpiring so much fun.”

New York Times reporter Goldstein notes;

In addition to his sons Jerry and Joey, Crawford is survived by his son Henry Jr.; a daughter, Patti Linder; a sister, Marilyn Carbone; 12 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.

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Reliever Rod Beck who carved out a career as one of baseball’s best closers was found dead on Saturday at his home of an, as yet, unknown cause.

Beck, whose major league career spanned over 13 seasons spent with the  Giants, Cubs, Red Sox and Padres, and which featured a career total of 286 saves and an appearance in the 1993 All Star Game was an imposing, menacing sight on the mound with his bushy Fu Manchu mustache. 

AP Sports Writer Greg Beacham writes about Beck for Yahoo sports;

Beck was discovered by police officers responding to a call to his home in suburban Phoenix, police department spokesman Andy Hill said Sunday. Foul play is not suspected, though the cause of death might not be known for several days.

“He was a great guy — always happy, always picking guys up,” said Giants outfielder Ryan Klesko, who played with Beck in San Diego. “I know he went through some tough times in the last couple of years, and it just crushes you.”

“Everyone in the Giants organization is deeply saddened by the loss of a dear friend,” Giants owner Peter Magowan said. “Rod Beck was a true Giant in every sense of the word, from his dedication on the field to his selflessness away from the park.”

Beck saved 51 games in his first season in Chicago, helping the Cubs win the NL wild card. He had a career record of 38-45 in 704 games with a 3.30 ERA.

“He was helpful to everybody,” said Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood, the 1998 NL Rookie of the Year. “Always in a good mood, great teammate, great person. He had the closer mentality. He had a short memory. Every day he came in, he was obviously excited to be there and you could see it.”

Beck was involved in charity work with the Pediatric AIDS Foundation and other worthy causes during his time in San Francisco.

“Shooter was a hard nosed, blue-collar kind of guy that wore his heart on his sleeve, and that is what made him so endearing to baseball fans everywhere,” said Rick Thurman, Beck’s longtime agent.

“He was the utmost professional whose love for the game was only overshadowed by his passion for his family. Rod was the guy who you wanted in the foxhole with you, a warrior on the field and a teddy bear at home.”

Beck is survived by his wife, Stacey, and two daughters.

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Former Yankees 3rd baseman Clete Boyer, who routinely made diving stops and from-the-knees throws, passed away at age 70 on Monday from complications of a brain hemorrhage.

AP baseball writer Ben Walker recaps Boyer’s playing career for Yahoo sports

Boyer played from 1955-71 with the Yankees, Kansas City Athletics and Atlanta. He helped the Yankees reach the World Series in five straight years from 1960-64, when they won two titles.

Boyer’s death came on the 50th anniversary of the day he joined the Yankees, completing a dozen-player trade between New York and the A’s.

“He was a great Yankee and a tough guy. He never talked too much but he was extremely hardworking. A wonderful third baseman, and had fire in his belly,” Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said through a spokesman.

In 1964, Boyer and his brother, Ken, became the first brothers to homer in the same World Series game. They did it in Game 7, and nodded to each other as they rounded the bases.

The St. Louis Cardinals won the Series and Ken was the NL MVP that season. An All-Star third baseman, he died in 1982 at age 51.

Another brother, Cloyd, pitched in the majors from 1949-55. There were 14 children in the Boyer family.

Cletis Leroy Boyer was a career .242 hitter with 162 home runs and 654 RBIs. Decent stats, but it was fielding that became his signature.

Boyer added an air of flamboyance to a Yankees team that otherwise played with a conservative precision.

“In all my years of playing with him, he only made one bad throw to me,” former Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson said by telephone from his home in South Carolina.

“When I made the double play, I could just about close my eyes, put my glove up and the ball would be there,” he said. “I would consider him one of the best players defensively. And when we got in the World Series and the lights came up, he made those great, great plays.”

Boyer’s lone Gold Glove came in 1969 in Atlanta; he might’ve earned more had it not been for the peerless Brooks Robinson.

“He was in the Brooksie era. He didn’t get as much attention as Brooksie,” said Yankees manager Joe Torre, a former Boyer teammate with the Braves.

“Plus, he was a little goofy,” he said. “Certainly, it helps you play the game.”

After finishing with Atlanta, Boyer played in Japan. He later coached under Billy Martin with Oakland and the Yankees.

Boyer was part of an exceptional Yankees infield in the 1960s that included Richardson, shortstop Tony Kubek and first basemen Moose Skowron.

Richardson said he was with Boyer last month in New York for a reunion of the 1961 Yankees infield. “We had three or four, we looked forward to them,” Richardson said.

The Yankees beat Cincinnati in the 1961 World Series. Boyer’s best Series performance came in 1962, when he hit .318 with a home run and four RBIs in the seven-game victory over San Francisco.

Boyer made his major league debut at 18 with Kansas City. With Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and Roger Maris, the Yankees started out every season in the early 1960s as the team to beat.

“He always said, ‘I wish you could have played on the team that we had in the ’60s. We’d have won 150 games,”‘ Yankees pitching coach Ron Guidry said.

“You’d talk to Moose and he would always tell you how good a third baseman he was,” he said. “You talked to Whitey Ford and he’d tell you, ‘I didn’t have to worry about ground balls. I could pitch inside, throw breaking balls. If they hit it down the third-base line, he was going to catch it.”‘

Richardson praised Boyer’s other attributes.

“I would give him a lot of credit for being a good No. 8 hitter. It wasn’t easy in those days, with the pitcher hitting being you,” Richardson said. “He was a team player and a great teacher.

Former Yankee 3rd baseman, Clete Boyer passes away at age 70.

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