Posted on 06/05/2007 8:43:04 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule
Clete Boyer, the sharp-fielding third baseman who played on Yankees teams that won five consecutive pennants in the 1960s, died yesterday in Atlanta. He was 70.
The cause was a stroke, said his brother Cloyd, a former major league pitcher.
When the Yankees played the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1964 World Series, third base was a Boyer family affair.
While Clete, who played 16 seasons in the major leagues, was at third for the Yankees in the ’64 World Series, his brother Ken, often an All-Star, played third base for the Cardinals.
“When they asked my mother who she was rooting for in the Series, she told the media, the fellow on third base,” Clete Boyer once told The Tulsa World.
Cloyd Boyer had pitched for the Cardinals and the Kansas City Athletics, appearing in the majors in the late 1940s and ’50s. Clete and Ken became the only brothers to hit home runs in the same World Series game when each homered in the Cardinals’ 7-5 victory in Game 7 of the ’64 Series.
Ken was the better hitter, but Clete excelled in his own right.
“He came up during the Brooks Robinson era and didn’t get as much attention because of Brooksie, but he could play third base,” Yankees Manager Joe Torre, a teammate of Boyer’s with the Atlanta Braves in the late 1960s, recalled yesterday in Chicago. “Great arm.”
Robinson was a perennial Gold Glove winner with the Baltimore Orioles. It took a move to the National League for Boyer to finally win a Gold Glove, in 1969 with Atlanta.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
RIP ol pal!
RIP Clete. My first year of following baseball was 1969 living in Georgia and rooting for the 1969 Atlanta Braves. I probably still have my 1970 Braves yearbook somewhere with Clete Boyer in it. That teams had Boyer, Aaron, Cepeda and Rico Carty.
I read a quote from Bobby Richardson the Yankees second baseman from back then. Richardson said in all those years Boyer only made one bad throw to second base.
I still remember my 1960 Cletus Boyer Yankees baseball card.
He and brother Ken of the Cards played opposite each other in the ‘64 Series.
Boyer , Bouton , Ford , Howard , Mantle , Maris , Richardson , Kubek , etc...Phew !
And they both hit home runs in the same game !
Whitey Ford was a remarkable pitcher.....heck, there are so many.....good times.
a gun, even from his knees. ranks just behind brooks as the greatest fielding third basemen I have seen.
Boyer , Bouton , Ford , Howard , Mantle , Maris , Richardson , Kubek , etc...Phew !
I was a kid watching those Yankee games with those incredible players on TV. If I recall right, it was Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese calling the games. What an incredible era for a young kid to get hooked on baseball. Unfortunately, as time went on, the game changed for the worse. These days, I usually don’t even watch until the World Series starts.
Boyer and the Yankee talk has me remembering the 1961 season when Mantle and Maris were battling not only for the HR title , but also for breaking Ruth’s record . During the last month or so I recall getting up extra , extra early to snag the Hartford Courant before my Dad so I could see what the latest was . Very thrilling for a 9 year old who couldn’t even see these guys play live on TV because out in eastern CT all we got was the Red Sox on our old Motorola with beat up aerial . The only time I got to see them play was at my Grandparent’s house on Long Island when we stayed with them in summers . I did get to Yankee Stadium once or twice as a kid , and it must have been around 1961-62 . Talk about a thrill !
Where’d you live ?
Hey , I was a Red Sox fan ! Red Sox were the only game in town on our TV in eastern CT . I remember having a Frank Malzone glove when I played Little League .
bobby richardson was my favorite along with mickey. was there anything better than listening to those series games on a transistor during the DAYTIME at school? (only when a cool teacher set up a black and white I guess!!!).
I retire in 19 months and one of the “not to miss” places on my slow, leisurely,(sometimes) lap around the country is the yankee stadium. can’t wait. fenway and HOF are also on the map.
RIP Clete!
A Yankee fan since the 1950s.
Boyer, Kubek, Richardson, Moose Skowron, Yogi Berra,
Mantle, Whitey ford, etc.
Boyer was a great third basemen.
Ha, when I read the story, I was thinking “what, ATL had a baseball team in 1969?” Gosh, I feel *old*!
I knew of the Boyer family as a longtime Cardinals fan, through Ken, so somewhat followed Clete’s career back then, though I hated the Yankees with a passion, lol. Stan the Man was “my man” - and still is - so the ‘64 Series, while great for the Cards, was kind of a letdown for me, with my hero gone.
Seems to me the Boyer boys were from the general vicinity of SW Mo around Rte66, so I will add my RIP to the thread for Cletis. Condolences to the family.
Don’t forget Moose Skowron (who IIRC also played with the Orioles), Yogi Berra, and the indispensible utility man Bob Cerv. I used to love watching the Saturday games with my Grand-Dad. Ole Diz’ croonin’ the “Wabash Cannonball.”
I think I still have a ball that Clete’s brother Ken signed for me back in the early sixties.
May they now enjoy many warm sunny afternoons together. RIP, Clete and Ken.
I remember watching Ford break Babe Ruth pitching record for pitching scoreless innings in a World Series.
Ole Diz! Every time I buy a red onion at the grocery store, I think of Ole Diz talking on and on during Cardinals games about “big fat Bumoodah (Bermuda) onions” and how much he loved to just bite right into ‘em.
My dad picked up on that and from that time onward, that’s what red onions were, in our house. Ole Diz’s “big fat Buhmoodah onions”!
Yogi was a great catcher and the best bad ball hitter.
He was my fav. on the Yankees.
I became a Yankee and Mickey Mantle fan in 1964 when I bought my first packs of baseball cards. My first game I listened to on the radio was Mel Stottlemyre pitching in the 64 World Series when I was in the fourth grade. I’ve been a Yankees fan ever since. I would add Tom Tresh and Elston Howard to your list!
As I finished my last post, my Padres just beat the Dodgers.
In 1998 When my Yankees played my Padres in the World Series I leaned towards my Pads but not by much.
yes, Tresh & Howard were very good players.
You want to feel older? Atlanta had a baseball team in 1966...Joe Torre was the catcher and Eddie Mathews hit over thirty homers!
The Yankees were great that year. I follow the Padres this year, I have Adrian Gonzalez on my fantasy team! I see it was a pretty good game!
Two more I remembered from the old Yanks. Joe Pepitone and Al Downing!
I would have thought that Clete Boyer would have been older than 70. I wish we would hear more about our old heroes some other way than by their deaths.
I have been a Yankee fan since 1957 or 8 when they played the braves. We used to get half days off from school during the World Series. I still remember watching the Yanks on TV when they lost to the pirates in 1960 WS when Maz hit that homer. But it was the potential DP ball that hit Kubek in the throat that did the Yanks in in that game which made the homer in the 9th possible. I was NOT a happy camper that day.
I was too young to get in on those years. Would have loved to have seen some of those games.
Not becoming a Yankee fan until 1964 meant I had to suffer through the following years leading up to their next appearance in the 1976 Series when they were swept by the Reds. boo hiss! I despised “the big red machine”!(they were good,tho) But the Yanks have put together some great teams since then!
RIP, Clete Boyer. One of the great old ballplayers from my childhood.
The present day players can’t hold a candle to them as far as character is concerned.
He pitched one inning in an Old Timers game in the Astrodome in the summer of '66. Many of the players were from the 30s such as Hank Greenberg and Diz. Some of the pitchers served up easy stuff but Diz got the 3 batters he faced out. Mantle jerked one over the left field wall. I always get a charge out of having seen Dizzy Dean and Mickey Mantle play in the same game.
you can listen to the final game (7) of that ‘64 series by going to mlb.com and following the links. it is a free sample of an offering of many old time radio and television broadcasts. (these cost a bit but are worth it to big time MLB fans)
ATL is still a “new” team to me, lol. I remember Torre with the Cards, but Milwaukee before that. Heh, I don’t adapt well to “change.”
Gave away all my hundreds of baseball cards in 1964, anyway - so wasn’t as up on the players after that.
I’m a subscriber of mlb.com so I can watch the current games on my computer each nite. I wonder if there are many old games archived on there? I need to check that out! thanks!
1964 Yankees were the reason as kid I came to love baseball. RIP Clete!
99-63, Finished 1st in American League
Won AL Pennant
Postseason: Lost World Series (4-3) to St. Louis Cardinals
Managed by Yogi Berra
# Pitchers Height Weight Throws Bats Date Of Birth
56 Jim Bouton 6-00 185 Right Right 1939-03-08
28 Bud Daley 6-01 185 Left Left 1932-10-07
24 Al Downing 5-11 177 Left Right 1941-06-28
16 Whitey Ford 5-10 181 Left Left 1928-10-21
39 Steve Hamilton 6-07 195 Left Left 1935-11-30
49 Bob Meyer 6-02 185 Left Right 1939-08-04
51 Pete Mikkelsen 6-02 220 Right Right 1939-10-25
14 Pedro Ramos 6-00 185 Right Both 1935-04-28
18 Hal Reniff 6-00 215 Right Right 1938-07-02
45 Rollie Sheldon 6-04 190 Right Right 1936-12-17
22 Bill Stafford 6-02 193 Right Right 1939-08-13
30 Mel Stottlemyre 6-02 190 Right Right 1941-11-13
23 Ralph Terry 6-03 195 Right Right 1936-01-09
19 Stan Williams 6-05 230 Right Right 1936-09-14
# Catchers Height Weight Throws Bats Date Of Birth
38 Johnny Blanchard 6-01 198 Right Left 1933-02-26
41 Jake Gibbs 6-00 185 Right Left 1938-11-07
32 Elston Howard 6-02 200 Right Right 1929-02-23
# Infielders Height Weight Throws Bats Date Of Birth
6 Clete Boyer 6-00 182 Right Right 1937-02-09
14 Harry Bright 6-00 190 Right Right 1929-09-22
42 Pedro Gonzalez 6-00 176 Right Right 1937-12-12
12 Mike Hegan 6-01 190 Left Left 1942-07-21
10 Tony Kubek 6-03 191 Right Left 1935-10-12
34 Phil Linz 6-01 180 Right Right 1939-06-04
25 Joe Pepitone 6-02 200 Left Left 1940-10-09
1 Bobby Richardson 5-09 170 Right Right 1935-08-19
# Outfielders Height Weight Throws Bats Date Of Birth
48 Elvio Jimenez 5-09 170 Right Right 1940-01-06
11 Hector Lopez 5-11 182 Right Right 1929-07-09
7 Mickey Mantle 5-11 198 Right Both 1931-10-20
9 Roger Maris 6-00 204 Right Left 1934-09-10
26 Archie Moore 6-02 190 Left Left 1941-08-30
43 Roger Repoz 6-03 195 Left Left 1940-08-03
15 Tom Tresh 6-00 191 Right Both 1937-09-20
All Stars
Whitey Ford
Elston Howard
Mickey Mantle
Joe Pepitone
Bobby Richardson
1964 New York Yankees
Salaries
Mickey Mantle $100,000.00
Ralph Terry $38,000.00
Pedro Ramos $21,500.00
Bud Daley $21,000.00
Phil Linz $14,000.00
Rollie Sheldon $9,500.00
Pedro Gonzalez $8,000.00
” I still remember watching the Yanks on TV when they lost to the pirates in 1960 WS when Maz hit that homer. But it was the potential DP ball that hit Kubek in the throat that did the Yanks in in that game which made the homer in the 9th possible. I was NOT a happy camper that day.”
I will never forget that day as long as I live . I was 8 and had just gotten home from school . My Mom had the game on and she was a Yankee hater . When Mazeroski hit the home run my mother got so excited and screamed so loud that her false teeth fell out ! No lie ! LOL !
there are about 10-15 archived games available for each decade starting with the thirties. scroll over the audio-visual tab on MLB’s home page and in the drop down menu click on “baseballs best” and away you go! fascinating stuff to us true believers huh?
You got me there. I don’t remember that at all. Diz was here a lot - I didn’t move back here until June 1966, but we had come down for a couple of the first Astrodome games the year before.
I think, but am not certain, my first Astrodome game after moving back to Houston was probably a Cardinals game that summer of 66. I’d remember if I ever saw Ole Diz and my homeboy the Mick on the field at the same time. Can’t believe I missed something like that.
The old Buffs had been a STL farm team, as had the Tulsa Oilers, where I came from, so I was STL all the way.
I remember the classic line by Phil Linz the Yankees utility
player at the time, “Play me or keep me”.
Fleer or Topps?
Mel Allen, wasn’t it dude? I heard a guy weho has written a new biography of Mel Allen being interviewed on the radio the other night during a rain delay.
remember when Gil McDougald’s hot liner ko’ed Herb Score? I’ve read that ruined both careers.
Bob Cerv. Brings bck the days when the KC A’s acted like they were the Yankees’ farm tean—Maris was another one. The KC Blues had been for years I guess.
Don’t forget RALPH TERRY.
I was listening to the KC A’s game when Clete came up for his first MLB at bat. He hit a triple. Great fielder and strong arm. And a pretty good hitter. Wish he would have stayed in KC for his entire career.
Lew
I had heard about a one-armed player who was in the majors during WWII. Didn't recall his name. Google brought up Pete Gray. That night the guy was fantastic--fielding, throwing and batting with one arm. The glove usually ended up on his shoulder when he threw. I recall he got more applause than the other stars.
Topps.
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