Yankee4Life

Billy Martin As a player on the great New York Yankees teams of the 1950s and later as a manager with five different major-league clubs, Billy Martin was known to be brash, bold, and fearless. He played the game hard and made no excuses for the way he handled himself on or off the field. Many people, including his off-and-on boss, George Steinbrenner, considered Martin a baseball genius for the intuitive way he managed his teams. Asked about Martin’s prowess as a field general, former Yankees manager Casey Stengel, who had known Billy since his minor league days in Oakland, told The Sporting News in an interview printed on August 23, 1975: “He’s a good manager. He might be a little selfish about some things he does and he may think he knows more about baseball than anybody else and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was right.” Asked why he thought so highly of Martin as a player, Stengel replied, “If liking a kid who never let you down in the clutch is favoritism, then I plead guilty.” As difficult, irascible, and pugnacious as he was, Martin commanded respect as a manager. In 1987, in a poll of 600 former players, he ranked eighth among some heavyweights – behind Stengel, Joe McCarthy, Walter Alston, John McGraw, Connie Mack, Earl Weaver, and Al Lopez, and ahead of Whitey Herzog, Sparky Anderson, and Tommy Lasorda. Billy started out playing baseball on the sandlots around Berkeley, and while in high school joined up with the Oakland Junior Oaks, an amateur club sponsored by Oakland’s Pacific Coast League team. Showing his proclivity for a good fight, Martin was spending his free time boxing in the amateur ranks in the San Francisco/Oakland area. Martin batted.250 in his first big-league season and, aside from 1955, never hit over .267. His forte was his consistent defense and his ability to come up with big hits in crucial situations. The Yankees captured their fifth consecutive pennant in 1953 and again squared off against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series. New York came out on top in the first two contests, but Dodgers ace Carl Erskine cooled off the Yankees’ hot bats in Game Three with a 14-strikeout performance. After the game Erskine told the United Press, “It’s hard to believe but players like Phil Rizzuto and Billy Martin give me a lot more trouble than hitters like Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra. You just can’t strike out Rizzuto and Martin. At least I can’t anyway.” The two teams split Games Four and Five and the stage was set for Martin’s heroics in Game Six. In the bottom of the ninth inning, he smacked a base hit off Clem Labine, plating Hank Bauer with the game-winning run. It was the Yankees’ fifth consecutive world championship. Martin’s 23 total bases in the six-game series eclipsed the old record of 19 set by Babe Ruth 30 years earlier. Billy collected 12 hits, including two home runs, two triples, and a double. His 12 hits also tied the mark for a seven-game Series. His .500 batting average, five extra-base hits and two triples tied the record for a six-game Series. He received the Babe Ruth Memorial Award, given to the best player in the Series. Martin discovered that his reputation as a brawler and carouser was not ingratiating him with Yankee management and, most importantly, general manager George Weiss. After a much-publicized brawl at the Copacabana nightclub in New York, Martin was traded to the Kansas City A’s in a seven-player deal. Martin initially accepted the deal as standard baseball business, but later stopped talking to Stengel over what he perceived to be his manager’s not fighting hard enough to keep him on the team. In the spring of 1962, Martin lost the second-base job to rookie Bernie Allen and was released by the Twins. Although the Kansas City A’s had expressed an interest, Billy decided it was time to retire as an active player and pursue other interests on and off the field. A fair hitter who always seemed to come through in the clutch, Martin finished his career with a .257 batting average. He made the All-Star team in 1956. Steady with the glove, he usually showed above-average range. In his five World Series (28 games), Martin collected 33 hits, two doubles, three triples, five home runs, and 19 RBIs while posting a .333 batting average. Martin succeeded Cal Ermer as manager of the Twins in 1969. In his first year the team went 97-65 and finished in first place in the newly formed American League West division. The Twins’ opponent in the first best-of-five American League playoffs was the Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore swept the Twins in three games, and Martin was criticized in the press for some of his decisions during the series. For example, he started pitcher Bob Miller in the third game; Miller was knocked out of the box in the second inning. When Twins owner Calvin Griffith asked him why he started a pitcher who had a 5-5 record during the regular season, Martin told him, “Because I’m the manager, that’s why.” The rash comment led to Martin’s firing a few days later. When Texas Rangers owner Bob Short heard Martin was available, he told Whitey Herzog, his current manager, that he would fire his grandmother for the chance to hire Billy. A few days later, Short fired Herzog and hired Martin, leading to the deposed Ranger manager’s reply: “I’m fired, I’m the grandmother.” The Rangers had lost 100 games or more in the previous two seasons, but under Martin they won 84 games and finished in second place in 1974, his first full year with the team. Texas signed a number of high-priced free agents The next year the team struggled during the first half of the season, and on July 20, 1975, the new owner, Brad Corbett, fired Martin. On August 1 Billy was hired as the manager of the New York Yankees by owner George Steinbrenner, replacing Bill Virdon. The Yankees responded well to Martin, and the next season they led the American League East, defeated Kansas City in the American League Championship Series, and faced Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine in the World Series. The New York bats fell silent in the Series; they scored only eight runs while losing four straight games. The 1977 campaign was tumultuous for the Yankees as Martin feuded with owner Steinbrenner and newly acquired superstar Reggie Jackson. Martin, in the first year of a $100,000 contract, was rumored to be on the chopping block for most of the season. In 1978 Martin made disparaging comments about Steinbrenner and Jackson: “One is a born liar and the other convicted.” Not surprisingly, he was forced to resign on July 24. But he was rehired in 1979 and then fired at the end of the year after the Yankees failed to reach the playoffs for the first time since 1975. During his tenure as a major-league manager, Martin’s off-field exploits were legendary; he got into fights with team officials, bar patrons, a cab driver, a marshmallow salesman, various fans, and two of his pitchers. After leaving the Yankees in 1988, he remained on the team’s payroll as a special consultant. A short time later, rumors began to circulate that Billy would return to manage the Yankees in 1990. In the early evening hours of December 25, 1989, Martin’s pickup truck skidded off an icy road near his country home in Fenton, New York, and plummeted 300 feet down an embankment, flipping over and landing on its right side. The 61-year-old Martin was killed in the accident, and his good friend from his days in Detroit, Bill Reedy, was seriously injured. The two had been drinking at a local bar, and Martin allowed Reedy to drive his truck home that evening.

Red Ruffing “That Ruffing is a wonder,” Hall of Fame slugger Jimmie Foxx once said. “Always in there winning that important game for you.” Indeed, Charles “Red” Ruffing was the epitome of a big-game pitcher. A key starter for seven pennant winners with the Yankees, Ruffing won seven of his nine decisions in World Series play. In his postseason career, Ruffing posted a 2.63 ERA and helped New York win championships in 1932, 1936-39 and 1941. During the Yankees’ four consecutive title seasons from 1936-39, Ruffing won at least 20 games each year. Ruffing will forever be identified with the Yankees dynasty, but he started his career with the rival Red Sox in 1924. After posting a 39-96 record in seven years with the Red Sox, Boston traded him to the Yankees during the 1930 season for Cedric Durst and $50,000. In 15 seasons with the Yankees, Ruffing was 231-124. Born in Granville, Ill., Ruffing lost four of the toes on his left foot in a mining accident as a youth. The accident hastened his transition from the outfield to the mound, but he remained dangerous with a bat in his hands. In 1932, Ruffing threw a complete game shutout and hit a 10th-inning home run to give the Yankees a 1-0 win against the Washington Senators. In 1935, he led the Yankees in both wins (16) and batting average (.339 in 109 at-bats.) He finished his career with 36 home runs and a .269 batting average. Ruffing was the consummate competitor on the mound. He led the American League with 25 complete games in 1928, and led the circuit with five shutouts in 1939. In 1932, he paced the AL with 190 strikeouts. He worked at lest 220 innings in every season from 1928-40.

Waite Hoyt Waite Hoyt first signed a professional contract with the New York Giants as a 15-year-old at Erasmus High School in Brooklyn. But Hoyt played just one game for the Giants before embarking on a 21-year career with seven teams. Hoyt made his name with the Yankees, helping them to win three World Series titles in the 1920s. The Yankees acquired Hoyt from the Red Sox before the 1921 season, when he was 21. He immediately validated the move by winning 19 games in each of his first two seasons in the Bronx. In the 1921 World Series against the Giants, Hoyt didn't allow an earned run in 27 innings, but still only went 2-1. Hoyt continued to be a key contributor for the Yankees throughout the decade, peaking with the Yankees' World Series championship teams in 1923, 1927 and 1928. His 22-7 mark was the best winning percentage in baseball in 1927, and he earned MVP votes in 1928 after going 23-7. Hoyt was the ace of the 1927 Yankees, often considered the best team in baseball history. Hoyt left New York during the 1930 season and would play for five teams before retiring in 1938. His best year after leaving the Yankees came in 1934, when he went 15-6 with a 2.93 ERA with the Pirates. Hoyt finished his career with a 237-182 record and a 3.59 ERA. During retirement, Hoyt became a popular broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds, where he did play-by-play for 24 years. Perhaps his most famous moment as a broadcaster came when he spoke impromptu about Babe Ruth for two hours on air after a game when Ruth's death was announced. Hoyt was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969.

John Henry "Pop" Lloyd Essential to any team's success during the deadball era was the presence of John Henry Lloyd, the greatest black baseball player during the first two decades of the century. The tall, rangy superstar was the greatest shortstop of his day, black or white, and with the exception of Honus Wagner in his prime, no major leaguer could compare with him. Wagner is reported to have said that he considered it a privilege to be compared to Lloyd. He was a complete ballplayer who could hit, run, field, throw, and hit with power, especially in the clutch. A superior hitter and a dangerous base runner, his knowledge and application of inside baseball as defined in the era allowed him to generate runs with a variety of skills. In the field he was a superlative fielder who studied batters and positioned himself wisely, got a good jump on the ball, and possessed exceptional range and sure hands with which he dug balls out of the dirt like a shovel. Lloyd's play afield earned him the nickname in Cuba of "El Cuchara," Spanish for "The Tablespoon." He was discovered in 1905 on the sandlots of Jacksonville, Florida, by Rube Foster, Harry Buckner, and Sol White, who were traveling south with the Cuban X-Giants. A year later, when the team's owner, Ed LeMarc, decided to let several of his best players go and replace them with talented youngsters, he sent for Lloyd, who was playing second base with the Macon Acmes, a semi-pro team in Georgia. Lloyd, who had joined the impoverished team as a catcher and had to resort to using a wire basket for a catcher's mask, was glad to get a chance with a top team. From the time he joined the Cuban X-Giants in 1906 until he became player manager of the Brooklyn Royal Giants in 1918, the presence of his all-around ability assured a team of being a big winner. The teams on which he played during this period was a roll call of the great teams of the era. Lloyd was a smart player who easily fit into the Foster-style of play. In the deadball era, when pitching dominated and teams played for a single run, Lloyd excelled at getting the run. He was an exceptional bunter and base stealer and, with good bat control and an excellent eye at the plate, he was expert at playing hit-and-run. Indicative of Lloyd's batting ability is that with all the talent on Foster's team, he batted in the fourth spot in the lineup. With Lloyd starring, the American Giants reigned as western champions three times during his four-year tenure with the team, and defeated the eastern champions in playoffs in 1914 and 1917. In 1921 Lloyd left the New York City baseball scene to become playing manager of the Negro National League Columbus Buckeyes and hit .336, but stayed only a single season when owner Connors brought him back to New York to replace Dick Redding as manager of the New York Bacharachs. Before the season started the Bacharachs decided to return to Atlantic City as their home base for the season, and although he hit .387, his stay there was only a season as he left when Hilldale beckoned. Later in life Lloyd was to say, "Wherever the money was, that's where I was." In his managerial capacity Lloyd was a master at instilling confidence in younger players. In these latter years he became known affectionately as "Pop" and was considered the elder statesman of black baseball even after he retired as an active player. Newspapers of 1910 referred to Lloyd's good nature by saying that he was "one comical man off the diamond," and indicated that when he quit baseball he could make good on the stage as a comedian. However, after closing out his professional baseball career, he continued as manager and first baseman of sandlot teams, the Johnson Stars and the Farley Stars, until age sixty. Residing in Atlantic City, he worked as a custodian for the post office and school system. In addition to his work he served as the city's Little League commissioner, and in recognition of his involvement with youngsters, in 1949 the John Henry Lloyd Park for baseball was dedicated in his honor. The left-handed place hitter who batted out of a slightly closed stance had an easy, powerful swing that produced a lifetime .368 average over a phenomenal twenty seven year career in black baseball. Twelve winter seasons in Cuba, interspersed between the years 1908 and 1930, show a .321 lifetime average. During his prime, island records of the 1912 and 1913 seasons show a composite .361 batting average, and in one reknowned series in 1910, against Ty Cobb's Detroit Tigers, he hit .500 to lead all hitters. John McGraw assessed the country's sociological climate while appraising his ability: "If we could bleach this Lloyd boy, we would show the National League a new phenomenon." Some historians say that he was born too soon. But in 1949 at the dedication of the Atlantic City ballpark in his honor, Lloyd expressed his thoughts. "I do not consider that I was born at the wrong time. I felt it was the right time, for I had a chance to prove the ability of our race in this sport... and we have given the Negro a greater opportunity now to be accepted into the major leagues with other Americans."

Jim Gentile The Yankees grabbed all the headlines in 1961. Roger Maris set the new single-season home run record with 61. Mickey Mantle hit 54 home runs himself and was neck and neck with Maris for much of the year. Maris and Mantle finished first and second in the American League MVP voting, respectively, and the team won 109 games, cruising to a World Series championship. Yet meanwhile, over in Baltimore, Jim Gentile was making history of his own. The sophomore sensation was overshadowed by the M&M Boys, but he did things at the plate that neither Maris, Mantle, nor anybody else had done before. Gentile hit a grand slam in consecutive innings on May 9 against the Twins, the first time that ever happened. He went on to hit three more grand slams that year, setting an A.L. record and tying the major league record (since surpassed by Don Mattingly and Travis Hafner). Gentile clubbed 46 home runs and drove in 141 runs. It was in his contract with the Orioles that, if he led the A.L. in RBIs, he would get a $5,000 bonus. Nearly half a century passed until it was discovered that Maris was erroneously given an extra RBI in a July 5 game against the Indians. This reduced Maris from 142 RBIs in 1961 to 141. Thus, in 2010, Gentile received his $5,000 bonus from the Orioles. He ended up being a special guest of the team at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in August of that year. What was about to transpire absolutely shocked him. “I didn’t know about it,” he said. “They had invited me back to do what we call the suites. You go back there for two days and you go up into the suites and you go around and sign autographs for the people in the suites and so they invited me to do that and while I was there, they said ‘Hey, we’d like you to throw the first ball out,’ and I said ‘Okay.’ So I walk out and a girl walks me out to the mound and I said, ‘Do you have a ball?’ She said, ‘No.’ I see the ball there on the mound and I said, ‘How about this one?’ She said, ‘No, that’s the game ball.’ So, I turned to home plate and I figured the catcher has one. I turned to home plate and there was nobody at home plate. … So here comes Lee MacPhail’s son out with one of those big golf-type checks worth $5,000. That was the first I’d heard of it. I almost fainted, for Pete’s sake.” Though he spent just four seasons in Baltimore, the Orioles inducted Gentile into their Hall of Fame in 1989. He played in six All-Star Games, making both teams every year between 1960 and 1962. Gentile specified the first 1961 All-Star Game as the one that stood out to him. It was held on July 11 in his hometown of San Francisco. Gentile’s 1963 season was his last in Baltimore. He continued to display his power, hitting 24 home runs with 72 RBIs in 145 games, but his average fell off to .248. The team went 84-78, an improvement over 1962. Following the season, he was shipped to the Athletics with $25,000 for Norm Siebern. The Sporting News described the swap as “hitting consistency, speed and hustle [Siebern] for defense, power and color [Gentile].” Gentile was also described as “entertaining” and “fiery.” In a nine-season career, Gentile batted .260 (759-for-2922) with 179 home runs, 549 RBI, 434 runs, 113 doubles, six triples, and three stolen bases in 936 games.

I can see how the low battery would be a hindrance for you but I have to wonder about those updates that you said looked a little odd. What were they if you can remember and do you have something called Malwarebytes? It’s a good program that helps keep your system safe. I am glad that everything is working well now.

Then try all the answers and see what sticks!

Mark Koenig Mark Koenig made his major league debut for the Yankees on September 8, 1925, at the age of 21, entering the game as a defensive substitute for shortstop Pee-Wee Wanninger in a 5–4 win against the Boston Red Sox. During his rookie season the following year, he posted a batting average of .271 and struck out just 37 times in 617 at bats, a statistic which his manager Miller Huggins looked highly upon. Defensively, he committed the most errors among all fielders in the American League and most errors by a shortstop with 52. Nonetheless, he had the AL's third highest range factor at shortstop of 4.99 and made a league-leading 470 putouts. In the postseason, the Yankees advanced to the 1926 World Series, where they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. In the crucial Game 7, Koenig made an error when attempting to field a double play opportunity in the fourth inning. This eventually led to the Cardinals scoring in what turned out to be the winning run in a 3–2 victory. Koenig was subsequently criticized by fans for being responsible for Yankees losing the game and, ultimately, the series. Koenig was penciled into the two-hole spot in the Yankees' 1927 Opening Day lineup, with Earle Combs batting in front of him at leadoff and Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel and Tony Lazzeri batting behind him. This lineup, which was utilized in that order throughout the majority of the season, was given the nickname "Murderers' Row". Many sports analysts, baseball writers and fans consider the 1927 team the greatest baseball team of all time. Although he was dismissive of the role he played, Koenig contributed to the team's success as he batted .285 and amassed 150 hits, 11 triples, 99 runs scored and 62 runs batted in. However, he once again led the league in errors with 47, but compensated for this by recording the highest range factor at shortstop (5.61) and third most assists at shortstop (423). He was also part of history when, after hitting a triple, he was the only Yankee player on base when Babe Ruth hit his milestone 60th home run, setting a new single-season record. The Yankees advanced to the World Series that year, where they swept the Pittsburgh Pirates. Koenig performed impressively throughout the series, batting a team-leading .500 and committed no errors in 24 total chances. In 1162 games over 12 seasons, Koenig posted a .279 batting average (1190-for-4271) with 572 runs, 195 doubles, 49 triples, 28 home runs, 446 RBI, 31 stolen bases, 222 bases on balls, .316 on-base percentage and .367 slugging percentage. He finished his career with a .933 fielding percentage playing primarily at shortstop, third and second base. In 20 World Series games, he batted .237 (18-for-76) with 9 runs, 3 doubles, 1 triple and 5 RBI.

How are you going to buy a "cheap code" from Amazon to get your game to work? No, I don't have any answers except to tell you that you are posting this in the wrong thread. This is for Windows 10 only.