What do you want for Sparky Lyle?

The infielder with whom Richie Ashburn had the translation problem was shortstop Elio Chacon. (He became a Met when original owner Joan Payson was impressed seeing him steal home during the 1961 World Series for the Cincinnati Reds; she insisted they draft him when his name turned up on the expansion draft lists.) On short flies to left center, Ashburn, left fielder Frank Thomas, and Chacon would converge, but any time Ashburn tried to call him off Chacon would grin, thinking it meant for him to take the ball, and plow into Ashburn. Desperate, Ashburn sought out teammate Joe Christopher, a black outfielder who spoke fluent Spanish, and asked him how to say "I got it." Yo la tengo, said Christopher. Ashburn couldn't wait. Sure enough, along came another short fly to left. In came Thomas. In came Ashburn. Out went Chacon. Yo la tengo! Yo la tengo! Ashburn screamed. Chacon stopped on a dime.

Frank Thomas plowed into Ashburn that time.

The Marv Throneberry triple is a legend in early Met lore - but he got called out when Chicago Cub first baseman Ernie Banks called for a throw over and stomped on the bag. Coach Cookie Lavagetto stopped Stengel by saying, "Forget it, Case. He didn't touch second either." That's when Stengel made his quip about seeing Throneberry standing on third.

Postscript: There were two men on base when Throneberry whacked the triple. They were barely back to their bases, and Throneberry and Stengel barely back to the dugout, when the next Met in the lineup, second baseman Charley Neal, bombed one off the upper deck facade for a three run homer. Casey hopped out of the dugout in a split second, standing athwart hysteria yelling Stop!, and Neal froze like he'd been shot with a nerve drug. Then, Stengel pointed to first base and stamped his foot. Only then did Neal dare to begin running the bases. He saw Stengel point likewise to second while he rounded first. Manager and flummoxed bomber repeated the same routine until Neal crossed the plate properly. The Polo Grounds crowd went ballistic with glee over that one.

The Cubs eventually won the game, 8-7. The Cub shocker of the day: a rookie outfielder, none too small and none too powerful (he'd make the Hall of Fame in due course for reasons having nothing to do with the long ball), launching one where only two men previously (Joe Adcock, 1953 Milwaukee Braves; Luke Easter, 1948 Homestead Grays) had ever gone yard in the Polo Grounds: 483 feet straight out, into the center field bleachers, flush to the facade of the elevated center field clubhouse. He ran around the bases like he had a hellhound on his trail - because he mistook the umpire's home run sign to mean that if he motored it, he'd have an inside the park home run. Lou Brock, who hit the stupefying blast, to this day dines out on that story. The following day, the Braves were in town, and Henry Aaron belted one to practically the same spot!

In 1963, it was Jimmy Piersall who shuffled around the bases backward on a home run - it was the 100th home run of his career. The crowd shrieked and a lot of people carped over the stunt, but Casey Stengel got a kick out of it. "What's wrong with it? He didn't run to third base first, did he?" Piersall, for his part, wasn't always so thrilled about Casey. "That man's forgotten more baseball than I'll ever know," Piersall cracked, "and that's the problem - he's forgotten it."

Some vintage Stengelese:

Blanchard! Do you see them white lines? Do you know what them lines are for? They are there to hit the ball on. An' those other ballplayers are all out there in the middle, they are called fielders. - To Jim Marshall, a Mets first baseman, before he stood in to hit. (Stengel often confused Marshall, a stocky lefthanded hitter, with lefthanded hitting reserve catcher/pinch hitter extraordinaire Johnny Blanchard, whom Stengel had managed in his final Yankee season.)

Do you know they are going to tear this joint down year after next? Well, you keep pitching low like that to that fella and you'll give them a head start on the right field seats. - To Met pitcher Roger Craig, after Craig surrendered a second homer of the game to San Francisco Giants strongman Willie McCovey.

Now, go out there and pretend you're pitching against Harvard. - To Met pitcher Ken MacKenzie, a Yale graduate.

And in left field, in left field we have a splendid man, and he knows how to do it. He's been around and he swings the bat there in left field and he knows what to do, and he's got a big family and he wants to provide for them, and he's a fine outstanding player, the fella in left field, and you can be sure he'll be ready when the bell rings and that's his name - Bell! - Presenting his opening day starting lineup to a reporter and struggling to remember the name of left fielder Gus Bell.

Viva la France! - To Danny Napoleon, a rookie outfielder, after Napoleon got a game-winning hit for the Mets in 1965. (This is the same Danny Napoleon, by the way, whom Curt Flood immortalised: He'd be ugly even if he was white.)

You tell the Youth of America, "Here is the opportunity." And the Youth of America says, "Where is the money?" - On his frustration over the early Mets' inability to convince more younger prospects to cast their lot with the Mets.

I got a lot of keys to a lot of cities. But this one I'm gonna use to open up a new team. - Upon receiving the key to the city in New York.

Here's a question for you: Which one of you clowns thinks he'll still be here tomorrow? - On catching some of his Yankee players playing "20 Questions" on the team train after a mistake-laden loss, 1950.

Just let me stay here five minutes. This is the only chance I'll get to spend some time with this guy without him busting up a ball game on me. - On visiting a traveling version of Madame Tussaud's famed wax museum, and coming upon a wax likeness of Stan Musial, in early 1963.

You can forget that other fella. You can forget Waddell. The Jewish kid is the best of any of them. - On Sandy Koufax. ("That other fella" is believed to have referred to Walter Johnson.)

Boy never saw concrete before. He thinks I was born sixty and started managin' right away. They never think we did anything before we done it. - After laughing hysterically when, trying to show a very young Mickey Mantle how to handle Ebbets Field's famous angled right field wall in a World Series against the Dodgers, he told Mantle, "Now, when I played here-" and Mantle cut him off laughing uncontrollably, before blurting out, "You played here?"

Get your runs now - Father Time is coming! - To his Yankee players, in the early innings of a game against the St. Louis Browns, after he spotted Satchel Paige warming up in the bullpen. (Paige's few seasons in the majors saw him working predominantly as an effective - and entertaining - relief pitcher. Stengel, who liked and admired Paige, was always amused at the speculation surrounding Paige's actual age.)

So there's too many of them? Goddammit, give me an All Star lineup of nine of 'em and let me manage. - On blacks in the majors, mid-1950s.

If I'm gonna get buggered, I don't want an amateur holding the Vaseline pot. - Warding off a second umpire while arguing with a first, mid-1950s.

Robi'son was a great player in his time. But now everybody knows he's Chock Full O'Nuts. - Responding to criticism by Jackie Robinson, who worked for the Chock Full O'Nuts coffee company his first few years out of baseball.

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