Yankee4Life

I really do not know what you mean here. When I installed this mod seven years ago it caused me no problems.

Because you need to download all six parts.

So what? You get better seats at home and you don't have a loudmouth Sox fan (s) screaming at you that the "Yankees suck" for nine innings. That happened to me when I was at Fenway Park. I get it. Now there shouldn't be Yankee talk in here?

Updated to 6-27 ...This has not been a very good season for Yankee baseball as it nears the completion of the third month of play. Time does fly even when they are playing bad. Any way you care to look at their situation it all ends up back to one thing and it’s that they simply are not that good of a team. They are not a good hitting team because they mostly have right-handed hitters who always are swinging for the fences and are usually striking out. When I was a kid and played on youth baseball teams the bigger kids in the league would always go for the home run when they were up at bat and they didn’t care if they won or lost just as long as they hit a couple balls farther than anyone else. That’s how I view the Yankees. Clint Frazier and Gleyber Torres have turned into easy outs because they rarely hit and the catching situation is terrible and I don’t care one bit that Sanchez has begun to hit a little. The only way this team wins is by hitting home runs and they haven’t done a lot of that this year either. The pitching? Where do you start? Remember last year all we heard was now that the Yankees got Gerrit Cole that was all they needed? That didn’t take long at all to prove that was more hope than actual fact. You need a pitching staff to win and with people like Jameson Taillon backing you up you won’t be going far. I do realize it is a long season and anything can happen but these three months are more than I care to deal with. This team makes me want the off season to come quickly so spring training can start up and then the Yankees will be the Yankees like old times because they’ll be in first place in the grapefruit league standings and it will last all the way until Opening Day, when reality hits again. ...Back in 2019 Aaron Hicks signed a seven-year, seventy million dollar contract extension with the Yankees and all he’s done since then was shaft them with another over inflated and long contract that has provided no dividends. His contract situation is comparable to Giancarlo Stanton’s in that they are both for too many years and for too much money but since Stanton’s is more of a load it attracts more attention. But Hicks is Stanton’s equal when it comes to being hurt and this year he has him beat because he will be missing the remainder of the 2021 campaign due to season-ending surgery on his wrist. At the start of the season Hicks was on the active roster, a fact that amazed Yankee fans because they weren’t in the habit of seeing him in the lineup but then because of an incident involving a young kid named Daunte Wright, a twenty-year-old who was shot and killed in Minneapolis by the police Hicks decided that he didn’t want to play and did just that with Aaron Boone’s blessing. Hicks is hardly out on the field anyways unless you count pre-game warm ups and here he finding another reason not to play. And I am not trying to ignore or look past what happened to this kid at all but Hicks felt that he would have a hard time going out to play baseball with the knowledge of his death on his mind. I understand up to a point. Daunte Wright is not a family member of Hicks and he should have held a video conference on Zoom either before or after the game to let the press know how he felt but instead he boycotted the game with the Yankees blessing because the Yankees knew that if they did not let him do this the fall out from it on the all mighty Twitter would have crucified them and they would be labeled “racially insensitive” simply by insisting that their employee go to work. ...Last month in a game against the Twins with the White Sox barely holding onto a 15 - 4 lead, Chicago rookie Yermin Mercedes hit a solo home run on a 3 - 0 count to give the White Sox some breathing room as they hung on to a 16 - 4 nail biter against Minnesota. White Sox manager Tony Larussa was the first one upset with what Mercedes did because of an unwritten rule in baseball that says you keep the bat on your shoulders late in the game when you are on the right side of a blowout. Unwritten rules are just that. You won’t find them anywhere in the rule book but they carry just as much weight as the ones that are in there. Larussa apologized to the Twins and as expected there was a lot of backlash because of what he did. Larussa, at age seventy-six has been accused by some as being “out of touch with the game” like C.C. Sabathia so ardently put it. Larussa may be seventy-six but Chicago did not hire him to manage because of that. Sabathia is just an outspoken and foul-mouthed ex-player who by the time he is Larussa’s age will not be able to fit in a uniform let alone be involved in the game. A similar situation happened last year with Fernando Tatis, Jr. San Diego was beating Texas 10 - 3 late in the game and he hit a grand slam home run to put the game out of reach 14 - 3. Padre manager Jayce Tingler was not happy with his star shortstop because that same unwritten rule was broken. Former Oakland A’s pitcher Darold Knowles, who once commented about teammate Reggie Jackson said that “there wasn’t enough mustard in the world to cover that hot dog.” The same can be said about Tatis, Jr. The guy points up to the sky more than a preacher does on Sunday mornings on his pulpit. So the game has changed. That’s obvious to anyone. It’s more of a look-at-what-I-did and less of a team game. But you can’t blame people like Larussa for trying to teach the right way to play the game even to people who are in it for themselves. ...What is it with baseball players forgetting to touch all bases this season after hitting home runs let alone with all the bad base running? In a matter of days it was a Royals prospect in AA ball who did everything right after his home run except touch home plate. Bobby Witt, Jr. Is the offender’s name and he swore he touched home after what he calls his “trademark skip” when he hits a four-bagger. Instead of skipping he couldn’t just touch home and then shake his teammates hands for a job well done? And up in the major leagues the same thing happened but without the skipping. Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, returning to action after a sixty-day stint on the disabled list, homered in the first inning against the Dodgers but his trip around first cost him because he stepped around first base instead of on it because he was too busy watching the ball. Well, you can excuse that. He was on the disabled list for so long that he thought maybe they changed the rules. Base running has been something else. I mostly watch the Yankees unless they get me so angry that I switch over to the Minnesota Twins of all teams to see how bad they are doing and with the way the Yankees are playing this year I’ve seen more Twins games than I care to. The Yankees lead baseball in running into outs. At least they lead the majors in something besides excuses. Gary Sanchez does not get on base much but when he does he manages to look someone wandering around the airport looking for the gate he’s supposed to be at. But that team is not the only one that manages to look stupid when they’re on base. I saw a Phillies game recently where Travis Jankowski, who, sent into a tight game as a pinch runner in the bottom of the ninth against the Nationals with no one out, managed to get himself picked off second base. After that the next two Phillies went down easily and Washington won. Running the bases correctly isn’t focused on much anymore when all these guys care about is trotting around them. Now they can’t even do that right. ...I would love to talk to the guy that is in charge of writing the headlines on the front page of MLB.com because I’d like to remind him that there are other players to feature and talk about instead of Shohei Ohtani. ...Maybe it’s just me but those new City Connect uniforms that the White Sox are wearing are going to be eventually worn by all the best-dressed gangsters on the south side of Chicago. ...Walk a mile in Old Scratch’s shoes, Dept: Some time back a rapper named Lil Nas X (whatever that means) launched a controversial pair of what he named “Satan Shoes” because they had a bronze pentagram, an inverted cross and a drop of real human blood and astonishingly enough they sold out in a matter of minutes despite being priced at $1,018 a pair. Only 666 were made (666, get it?) and if any of you wannabe gangsters out there with one thousand dollars burning in your pocket wants to try to get one somewhere you can forget it because Nike filed a trademark lawsuit and won an injunction against the rapper and a company named MSCHF, a New York-based art collective that combined to make the shoes. These modified sneakers were made by using the Nike Air Max 97s as a model, without the pentagram, cross and blood of course. This stands out as one of the few things Nike has done right in recent years. ...The passing last month of Tawny Kitaen did not cause much talk or discussion about celebrity deaths because first of all she wasn’t that much of a celebrity and second of all the last few times she was in the news was for spousal abuse, drug possession and driving under the influence. It was the spousal abuse nineteen years ago that got her the most headlines and that was because she attacked former Angels pitcher Chuck Finley. After that she was just another has-been who couldn’t even get a job as a greeter at Walmart. The 1980’s were her salad days as she was the cover girl on two of Ratt’s albums, making videos for and dating and eventually marrying Whitesnake singer David Coverdale and starring in 1984’s Bachelor Party, playing the role as Tom Hanks’ fiancé. A terrible actress, she did her best work on the Ratt albums and the music videos because she didn’t have to talk. All she had to do is look slutty and if you could have given Oscars for that she’d have won one. ...For obvious reasons I have been trying to fill my time by doing things that are a lot more relaxing than watching a certain team play baseball and that has lead me to watching past seasons of Blue Bloods. Not a bad show although Tom Selleck will always be Magnum to me. Anyway, I am watching the shows and almost every episode I keep hearing the word “bodega.” I had no idea what one was although I was starting to get a pretty good idea. It turns out a bodega is a small corner store or market that sells groceries. We have them here in Upstate New York too but around here we don’t call them bodegas. We call them small corner stores or sometimes 7 - 11. 😄 ...Say it isn’t so, Dept: Ted Nugent, whose views on politics are as bad as his music recently contracted the corona virus even though he has kept on insisting that Covid-19 was a hoax and was not a real pandemic. The hoax got him so sick that he couldn’t get out of bed for a few days. No matter though because there was enough blame to be thrown around as long as none of it was on him. When you walk around without a mask on and ignoring every safety instruction given out then you are just asking to get this thing. Well, he got it. ...Marjorie Taylor Greene, the woman that all Republican men fantasize about late at night recently compared the mandate set by Speaker Nancy Pelosi that all representatives had to continue wearing face masks on the chamber floor to the treatment that Jewish people received during the years that Nazi Germany was in power. I would really like to know what history book she read when she was growing up because it sounds like she believes the Jews were all locked in a room without having the ceiling fans on and anything else that happened to them was just hearsay. I don’t know what is worse - that she actually had some people believing what she says whether it is this in particular or anything else she says or if the next thing out of her mouth is going to make this look tame in comparison. ...I think I have it figured out why Republicans hate Liz Cheney so much. She doesn’t think or talk like them because she is intelligent. She doesn’t say that what happened on January 6th should be downplayed and ignored. In fact, she states the opposite and that right there along with the refusal to bow to Trump makes her persona non grata for the GOP. No wonder why she had to be removed. She was a constant reminder to the rest of them how things really are. ...Besides divorcing Kanye West (now who didn’t see that coming?) Kim Kardashian is studying for the bar exam so for the next time she needs a lawyer to represent her in her next divorce all she has to do is look in the mirror. California, as well as three other U.S. states, offers a path to passing the bar without attending law school by "reading the law," or apprenticing with a practicing lawyer or judge. This is probably the only way she’ll get her law degree because her grades were not good enough to get into Harvard. ...Can you believe that one week from today is the Fourth of July? If dogs had calendars that day would be their D-Day. Watch over your furry friends next week and have a wonderful holiday.

I can't even get to sleep because of this team.

You too. People give this guy crap because he has no faith in the current edition of his favorite team and if you think about it is he wrong? This is a Yankee team that only Yankee haters love to see. They don't play up to their potential, a lot of them are overrated and over hyped, they don't hit and when they do they don't hit in the clutch, they can't run around the bases without looking like fools and they have a catcher who is down right terrible but right now is excused for that because he is hitting a little right now. Yes, he quits on them early. Maybe because he has no patience left. Maybe because he's seen this song and dance too many times so why put himself through it again? Maybe. I don't know for sure because I never asked him. In my case I hate this team. From Judge all the way down. The son of a *&$@! has one good game and everything is right in the world and everyone is happy. F*** him. Tonight he goes 0 for 4 but at least he didn't strike out. I guess you got to consider that a good game for him. No one hits. Frazier is doing nothing. What's his excuse now, too much playing time? I want this team to win as much if not more than any Yankee fan around but I am tired of seeing the same crap every day and hearing Boone's same excuses.

Me too. Those dirty *&^%$ need to be taught a damn lesson - especially that Devers.

Haha hahaha!!!! That was good.

I don’t have faith in them either. I am happy for them when they win games but with the talent they have they should be winning a lot more than they have been.

I think this team worries him very much. I can say the same in a way. What is this? Finally, does Aaron Judge do anything else but strike out or get hurt?

Well no, I wouldn't go as far as that.

Not that I support the Red Sox but I'd like to see them stick it in his ear sometime during tonight's game. I am not one who jumps on the newest and greatest thing in baseball.

When you are right you are right. They are going to be kissing this guy's ass as much as they do to that prick Ohtani. Just watch.

Oh my GOD!!!! Triple play!! And they won 2 - 1!!

The way I see it there is no honor in that. I honestly believe that Ritchie is at the point where he can't get behind this team because of what he saw last year and so far this year. They play good then suddenly bad and good for a little while and right back to being bad. That's what killed them last year and so far they are carrying on that same habit in 2021. Look for as many positive things you may want to find but you have to admit this is not a team even close to winning it all, despite of all the grand talk they do in February and March. That being said, yesterdays victory was one that really made me happy because I saw them scoring runs without hitting a lot of home runs. I mean even Stanton hit an opposite field single and Frazier is starting to wake up. So, I'm hopeful.

You know what? F*** them. It's about time something bad happens to them instead of the Yankees. We lose Kluber but not Taillon? What the hell?

You know, I have to agree. Just because they won this series -very impressively I may add- it has not changed how I feel about them one bit. I’m hopeful that they do well but right now I have no confidence in them at all and I say that because of how they have been playing since Opening Day. Simple as that. I’d like to see them play as well as -no, make that BETTER- than the Rays. They have it in them. Tampa trades Blake Snell over the winter and Tyler Glasnow is out for a considerable amount of time but those guys keep winning because they approach the game better. And I am still not sold on Gary Sanchez even though he is starting to hit again. The POS has done nothing for years now except strike out and average a passed ball a game and now because he hits a few home runs and gets some hits all is forgiven? Not with me.

Very impressive three-game series they played. So they DO have it in them to play good ball. I hope they keep it up.

Easy money that this guy beats the Yankees with a key hit later on this year.

Mike Ford was traded to the Rays on Thursday for cash considerations and a player to be named later. NOW WATCH him start hitting!

Oh, I agree. Don't get me wrong because I'm happy that they won but my opinion has not changed. Which brings me to their farm system. Take this guy here, please! This is Deivi Garcia and he’s the latest of over hyped and under performing Yankee “prospects.” As long as these prospects don’t have to swing a bat or pitch they’re great. Garcia’s roster spot should be taken away from him until he learns how to pitch. In 1/3rd of an inning two days ago this jackass gave up four walks. Are there any Yankee prospects that actually can pitch?

Yes sir. You're right on both accounts. 👍

If they traded Judge I wouldn't cry about it. He does his best work on the disabled list anyway.

Willie Horton A standout on the sandlots of Detroit, Willie Horton became the first black superstar for his hometown Tigers and spent parts of 15 seasons with the team. A tremendously powerful right-handed slugger, Horton was one of the strongest men in the game and launched 325 homers in his career. Extremely popular in Detroit, Horton worked in the Tigers front office after his playing career, where he helped bridge relations between the club and the African American community. Called up by the Tigers at the tail end of the ’63 season, Horton came through in his first two pinch-hit at-bats and finished the season with a 6-for-10 stretch against the Orioles. Willie made a name for himself during spring training in 1964 when he led the team in home runs and drove in 18 runners. On Easter Sunday, he clubbed a ninth-inning, pinch-hit homer more than 420 feet to deep center field to win the first game of a doubleheader, and hit another game-winning homer in the second game. His play—and his weight—caught the attention of manager Charlie Dressen. The Tigers skipper stripped more than 20 pounds from Horton’s frame during the spring, after the youngster reported weighing 222 pounds. “He looks like a natural hitter to me,” Dressen said. “Willie throws good, and he can run.” His spring heroics earned Willie a spot on the Tigers’ roster, and he began the season platooning with veteran Bill Bruton in left field. But Horton struggled, especially against off-speed pitches, and slumped to an 8-for-59 start (.136 with no home runs). In mid-May, the Tigers shipped Horton to Triple A Syracuse, where Willie felt more comfortable playing every day, slugging 28 homers and batting .288 with 99 RBI for the Chiefs. His efforts earned him another late-season call-up to Detroit. In his final game of the season, Horton clubbed a home run against Milt Pappas in Baltimore. While playing winter ball in Puerto Rico in early 1965, Horton received tragic news. Both of his parents were killed in a New Year’s Day car accident in Albion, Michigan. Horton quickly flew home to attend the services. The youngest child, Horton had been particularly close to his father, who had been in the stands at Tiger Stadium when his son hit his first major league home run, victimizing Robin Roberts. Overcoming the death of his parents, Horton lost his usual off-season weight during the spring and made the big league club. “Whatever I do this year, I’m doing for my dad and mother,” Willie said. He began the 1965 season as Detroit’s fourth outfielder. But his hot-hitting quickly won him the left field job from Jim Northrup and earned him a spot on the American League All-Star team. In 143 games, the 22-year-old batted .273 with 29 homers and 104 RBI, finishing eighth in Most Valuable Player Award voting. During an East Coast road trip to Washington and Boston in May, Horton socked six homers in four games, each of the blasts traveling more than 400 feet. “Willie the Wonder” had arrived on the big-league scene. Having established that he could hit right-handed pitching well enough to be in the lineup on a daily basis, Horton was entrenched in the starting lineup for Detroit in 1966. Once again he put up big offensive numbers, driving in 100 runs on the strength of 27 home runs. An ankle problem hampered him in 1967, but Willie still managed 19 homers and 67 RBI in 122 games. With the Tigers battling into the final weekend in a four-team race for the pennant, Horton hit homers in the first inning of the first games of doubleheaders on the last two days of the season to help defeat the Angels. However, Detroit lost the flag by one game. That season, Horton thrust himself into the Detroit riots, fleeing Tiger Stadium in uniform to address the irate crowds in the streets of fire. Showing tremendous courage, Horton pled with Detroiters to calm the violence, but his efforts were in vain, and the city burned for nearly a week. Horton was the most consistent bat in the Tigers’ lineup in the magical 1968 season. In a season dominated by brilliant pitching performances, Horton’s .285 average was fourth in the league, and his 36 homers were second to Frank Howard’s 44. In the World Series against the Cardinals however, it was Willie’s right arm that won him eternal fame with Detroit rooters. In the fifth inning of Game 5, with Detroit trailing 3–2 and St. Louis threatening to extend its lead, Lou Brock tried to score standing up on Julian Javier’s single to left field. Horton fielded the ball and fired a one-hopper to home plate. Freehan caught the ball and tagged Brock to swing the momentum in Detroit’s favor. The Tigers came back to win the game, 5–3, and captured the final two games to win the title. Horton batted .304 with six runs scored and three extra-base hits in the Series victory. In contrast with the previous season, 1969 was filled with disappointment for Horton. Mired in a 4-for-35 slump on May 15, Willie left the team midgame and disappeared for four days due to “personal pressures.” When he came back, he had lost more than $1,300 in pay and was admonished by Detroit General Manager Jim Campbell. On June 28 in Baltimore, Horton pulled up at second base on a double and tore thigh muscle in his right leg. The injury forced him to miss 10 games and relegated him to the bench for seven more. He played the final weeks of the season with a sore right hand. Nonetheless, Horton still managed 91 RBI and 28 home runs. Detroit returned to the postseason in 1972 while Willie suffered one of his most frustrating seasons, hitting .231 with 11 homers in 108 games. He reported to spring training overweight and fought hard to shed the pounds, but never got on track, and suffered foot and shoulder ailments that hampered his effectiveness. Following that disappointment, Horton arrived at spring training in 1973 in good shape and focused on a return to form. He did just that, hitting .316 in 111 games, spending much of the season among the batting leaders in the league. Now 30 years old, Horton continued to have troubles with his legs, especially after the All-Star break, which limited his playing time. “By the fourth inning my legs are so stiff the way it is that I can hardly move,” Willie said. Horton also injured his wrist when he ran into a wall chasing a fly ball, but he credited his new roommate, veteran slugger Frank Howard, with helping him have one of his better seasons. He was also helped by a new daily exercise regimen that involved a broom handle Willie called “the wand.” Yet despite the broom handle, his nagging legs bothered Horton again in 1974, and in early July, after nearly a month without hitting a homer, he was shut down and underwent knee surgery. Even though he had been unable to run very well all season, Horton had managed to hit .298 with 47 RBI in 72 games. In April he was involved in a bizarre incident at Fenway Park when he lofted a high foul fly directly over home plate that struck a pigeon. The bird landed at the feet of Red Sox catcher Bob Montgomery. On the next pitch, Willie singled. With the retirement of Al Kaline following the 1974 campaign, Horton was now an elder on the club. Having always been sensitive to his status in the clubhouse, Horton aimed to have a big 1975 and boost his salary into the $100,000 mark that Kaline had received. Spurred by that possibility, Horton stayed healthy all season for the first time in six years. Manager Ralph Houk helped the situation by using Horton exclusively as a designated hitter. Horton played in 159 games and set career marks at that time for hits and at-bats. His 92 RBI were 32 more than any other Tiger, and his 25 homers were nearly double that of any of his teammates. He was named DH on The Sporting News’ AL All-Star team. Though he was not sure at first if he would like being a DH, Horton warmed to the role as the season wore on. Horton’s tenure with his hometown team came to an end early in the 1977 season. After going 1-for-4 in left field on opening day against the Kansas City Royals, he sat on the bench until he was traded to the Rangers five days later. With a backlog of outfielders and Staub at DH, the Tigers shipped their slugger to Texas for reliever Steve Foucault. Willie packed his bats and his helmet (he wore the same helmet throughout his career, having it painted when he changed teams) and joined his new club. It began an odyssey for Horton that took him to six different teams in three seasons. In the off-season, Horton tested the free agent market for the first time and received his long-sought-after two-year deal—with the Mariners. In Seattle, as a veteran on an expansion club, Willie found a comfortable environment and enjoyed playing for manager Darrell Johnson, who inserted Horton’s name in the lineup every day. Willie rewarded Johnson’s confidence, slugging 29 homers with 106 RBI, a career best, and earning American League Comeback Player of the Year honors. Seattle fans fell in love with 36-year-old Horton, dubbing him the “Ancient Mariner.” Facing his former Tigers team June 5, 1979, Horton belted a ball at the Kingdome in Seattle that disappeared in the roof in left-center field. Initially ruled a home run—the 300th of his career—it was changed to a single when it was determined that it had struck a speaker. The next game, Horton hit his for-real 300th homer off Detroit’s Jack Morris. With a two-year extension in his pocket, Horton got off to a dreadful start in 1980, and without a home run to his credit and his average languishing below .200, he sat for two three-game stretches during May. Later he spent two stints on the disabled list with a hand injury. He finished his 18th season with a .221 average and just eight home runs. He entered the off-season knowing he would have to fight for a job on the Mariners, but that didn’t matter on December 12, when he was dealt to the Rangers as part of an 11-player trade. After spring training in 1981, Horton was released by Texas. In 2000, he was brought back into the Tigers organization by owner Mike Ilitch as a special adviser, and he still serves the team’s front office today. A bronze statue of Horton taking a mighty swing is located at Comerica Park beyond the left-field stands, and Willie is the only non-Hall of Famer to receive that recognition. His uniform number 23 was also retired by the club. On September 27, 1999, the final game was played at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. As part of the postgame festivities, former Tigers ran onto the field in uniform and took their positions. When Horton ran into left field, he was greeted with a tremendous ovation from fans who appreciated his 15 seasons and 262 home runs wearing the Detroit uniform. Willie Horton, the slugger who starred for the 1968 World Champions, the little kid from the streets of Detroit, the teenager who belted a homer nearly out of the ballpark, the strong man who shattered bats with brute strength, broke down and cried like a baby.

Norm Cash Norm Cash came to Detroit in exchange for outfielder Steve Demeter. Detroit general manager Rick Ferrell was dumbfounded when Frank Lane, his Cleveland counterpart, offered Cash for Demeter, unsure if he meant “cold cash or Norm Cash?” While Demeter’s career with the Indians consisted of merely four games, Cash became a fixture at first base in Detroit for 15 years. Lane was not through making controversial trades with the Tigers. Five days later, he sent Rocky Colavito to Michigan for Harvey Kuenn, and later in 1960, the two clubs swapped managers, Joe Gordon for Jimmie Dykes. Cash’s teammates took an immediate liking to him. A comedian both on the field and in the clubhouse, he once tried to call time after being picked off first base. In another instance, Cash was stranded on second base during a thunderstorm. Once play resumed, however, he returned to third base. The umpire was baffled. “What are you doing over there?” “I stole third,” he answered. “When did that happen?” “During the rain.” After a respectable 1960 season in which he batted .286 with 18 home runs, Cash captured the baseball world by storm in 1961. Although playing in the shadow of Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, Cash posted one of the most outstanding offensive single season records in American League history. Stormin’ Norman led the junior circuit with 193 hits and a .361 batting average. Number 25 also established personal marks of 41 home runs, 132 RBIs, and eight triples. Even more astounding, he hit .388 on the road! Facing Washington’s Joe McClain on June 11, Cash became the first Detroit player to clear the Tiger Stadium roof, hitting a home run that landed on Trumbull Avenue. Another against Boston’s Don Schwall struck a police tow truck. He was equally skilled at first base, fielding a sterling .993 as he caught dozens of long foul balls before they could fly into the stands. With Kaline’s .324 batting average and Colavito’s .290 complementing Cash in the lineup, the Tigers, led by Frank Lary and his 23 victories, challenged the Yankees for the American League pennant. The Bengals came within a game and a half of the Bronx Bombers on September 1 before retracting to finish eight behind in the standings with 101 victories. Was Norm Cash destined to become a one-year wonder? Even at the time, he knew his ’61 season was a freak, saying that everything he hit seemed to drop in, even when he didn’t make good contact. After Frank Lary injured his leg on Opening Day and Al Kaline broke his shoulder during a nationally televised game in May, it became clear that the Tigers would not again challenge the Yankees in 1962. The season was equally disappointing for Cash, who batted only .243 for the season. The 118 points shaved from his average remains a record of futility among batting champs. Cash ultimately found his swing, batting .342 in an autumn exhibition trip to Japan, but by that point, the regular season was long over. Still the 1962 season was far from a write-off for the affable Texan. Cash hit 39 home runs, including three more roof shots, as the league runner-up to Harmon Killebrew’s 48. His .993 fielding percentage was identical to his 1961 average. Cash never again cracked the .300 plateau. Years later, when Mickey Lolich asked why, he replied that “Jim Campbell pays me to hit home runs.” Indeed, Cash’s 373 home runs for the Tigers remains second only to Al Kaline’s 399 among aggregate team records. However, it soon became evident that other factors besides the maturation of expansion pitching compromised Stormin’ Norman’s batting average. Cheating in baseball was as much an issue in 1961 as it remains today, and Sonny Eliot remembers why Norm Cash called that season “the Year of the Quick Bat.” Cash was nothing if not consistent for the balance of the 1960s. He was the only American League hitter to slug 20 or better home runs each year from 1961 to 1969. In 1964, he set a record among Detroit first baseman by fielding an outstanding .997. On July 9, 1965, Stormin’ Norman hit an inside-the-park home run against the A’s at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City. The blast must have ignited Cash’s non-corked bat, as he decimated American League pitching with 23 home runs and 58 RBIs in 78 games after the All-Star break. His second-half exploits earned him Comeback Player of the Year honors, and in 1966, he was invited to the All-Star Game. Cash, once again, led junior circuit first basemen in fielding with a .997 percentage. Stormin’ Norman proved to be the exception on the 1968 Tigers as he was fighting an early season slump. On July 27, the 6-foot-0 Cash was barely hitting his weight, batting .195 on a team cruising to its first American League pennant in 23 years. In dramatic fashion, he hit a torrid .333 in his last 54 games to finish the season at .263. Included in his 12 home runs and 33 RBIs in August and September was a three-run blast against Oakland on September 14. The winning pitcher of the 5-4 decision was Denny McLain, his 30th of the season. Cash led Tigers batsmen in the World Series, hitting .385 against Cardinals pitching. Setting a dubious October record as Bob Gibson’s 16th strikeout in Game One, he redeemed himself the following afternoon, homering off Nellie Briles in an 8-1 complete-game victory for Mickey Lolich. Facing elimination in Game Six, Cash enjoyed another productive day at the plate, accounting for two of the 13 Detroit runs, tying the Series at three games. This set the stage for an historic Game Seven. The Tigers were unfazed at the prospect of facing a pitcher who specialized in winning Game Sevens, Bob Gibson. In the clubhouse after practice, manager Mayo Smith encouraged his players that Gibson “can be beat, he’s not Superman!” To this, Cash chimed “Oh yeah? Just a little while ago, I saw him changing in a phone booth!” Tigers hitters proved to be Kryptonite with two outs and no score in the seventh inning. Cash ignited a Detroit rally with a single off Gibson, and later put the Tigers ahead as the first runner to score on Jim Northrup’s triple. The final score was 4-1, and the Detroit Tigers were world champions. After being relegated to pinch hitting in 1970, Cash enjoyed a renaissance season playing in the Renaissance City in 1971. So torrid was his first half that spectators across Major League ballparks voted him to start the All-Star Game on July 13. Played in Detroit, it drew 53,559 spectators. American League manager Earl Weaver, however, took exception to Cash’s assignment, as he was not the reigning MVP playing for the defending World Champions. Boog Powell, Weaver’s first baseman in Baltimore, could claim both. Accordingly, Weaver, scrapped Cash from the lineup and replaced him with Powell. The roster move was not kindly received by the Detroit faithful. After public address announcer Joe Gentile introduced the National League All-Stars were announced, he began to present the American League. Starting with Weaver! Again, a cloud of boos rained over Tiger Stadium. Although Rod Carew was the next to be announced, the Twins’ second baseman did not take his place when called. Carew was apprehended by Cash and Bobby Murcer to prevent him from leaving the dugout, thereby prolonging the catcalls. Only after a prolonged interval did Carew emerge, breaking up the hecklers. When the dust cleared on the 1971 season, the Tigers had won 91 games, but finished 10 games behind Earl Weaver and the Orioles. Stormin’ Norman clubbed 32 round trippers — one shy of Bill Melton’s league lead — while driving in 91 runs, batting a respectable .283. His offensive record was enough to win his second American League Comeback Player of the Year Award. It would have surprised nobody to hear Cash proclaim, after accepting the honor, that he hoped he would win the award again next year. Cash was, however, named to the All-Star team once again in 1972, his fourth and final trip to the midsummer classic. is offensive output may have retracted, but the Tigers vaulted ahead in the standings to win their first American League East Division title. The 1974 season was a transitional one for the Tigers and their personnel. For only the second time in franchise history, Detroit finished the season in last place. Stormin’ Norman no longer held the nomenclatural monopoly when youthful infielder Ron Cash joined the Tigers in spring training. Equipment manager John Hand wanted to change the name on Norm’s uniform, but the first baseman refused. Cash exclaimed in disgust, “If the people can’t tell the difference between me and the other guy, something’s the matter!” He became even more incensed when he received a telephone call from the general manager on August 7. Batting only .228 with 12 home runs and 12 RBIs, Cash was released. “I thought at least they’d let me finish out the year. Campbell just called and said I didn’t have to show up at the park.” Norm Cash was a player who knew his baseball career would not last forever. As a player, his offseason occupations included banking, ranching, and auctioning hogs. In the early 1970s, Cash hosted a local variety show in Detroit called “The Norm Cash Show.” In 1976, he teamed with former October archrival Bob Gibson as broadcasters for ABC Monday Night Baseball. Although Cash continued to display his brand of humor, it was not appreciated by all. On-air remarks such as equating entertainment in Baltimore with going “down to the street and [watching] hubcaps rust” earned Cash his dismissal from the network. In 1978, he made his film debut with a cameo appearance in One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story. In a scene filmed at Lakeland, Cash was standing with Kaline, Freehan, and Northrup to watch LeFlore in first spring training after accepting his release from Jackson State Prison. When the others marveled at his speed, Cash chimed in with “He can’t be too fast, the cops caught him.” Cash died at the young age of 51 on October 11, 1986 when after having dinner he went to the dock to check on his boat. Unable to navigate the slippery pier in cowboy boots, he fell into the water and could not pull himself out. The next morning, he was found floating in 15 feet of water in St. James Bay. Norman Dalton Cash was pronounced dead the next day. Perhaps the most vocal and outward posthumous tribute to Norm Cash in the final hours of the ballpark whose first base he called home from the Eisenhower to the Nixon administration. A sellout crowd of 43,556 jammed Tiger Stadium on September 27, 1999 for the final game against the Kansas City Royals. Several Tigers switched uniform numbers to pay homage to players who passed before them. Paying tribute to Ty Cobb, Gabe Kapler did not wear any number at all. Rookie Rob Fick switching his number 18 for 25 to honor Norm Cash. Only Fick went one step further. The Tigers enjoyed a comfortable 4-2 eighth-inning lead when Fick crushed a Jeff Montgomery fastball for a grand slam home run. In true Norm Cash fashion, the ball nearly cleared the right field roof. Tom Stanton reports in The Final Season, a diary which paints Tiger Stadium as a metaphor for the bond between fathers and sons, that Fick “looked up in the sky and thought of my dad,” who passed away the year before. “I know that he had something to do with all this.” So did Norm Cash.