CASEY STENGEL WOULD HAVE LOVED SABATHIA'S GUTS

Former Yankee pitcher Art Ditmar once said of his manager Casey Stengel, "Casey, he would do anything to win.  Anything to win.  If I had to pitch nine days in a row, I would.  If he had to play Mickey (Mantle) with a bad leg, he would play him, because he knew he was the best and he wanted the best in there." (Read HERE.)  It's my opinion that Joe Girardi and the Yankees don't always subscribe to Mr. Stengel's philosophy.

Last week, CC Sabathia resisted Girardi and the Yankee decision to disable him.  CC's protests aside, last Monday night, the Yankees squared off against the Texas Rangers with the best record in the American League on the line and with CC Sabathia on the disabled list, against his will.

The Yankees came away with an 8-2 win over the Rangers in what would have been Sabathia's start had he not been dispatched to the 15-day disabled list.  David Phelps and the newly acquired Derek Lowe pitched wonderfully that night, and in so doing, they partially vindicated the Girardi-Cashman decision.  If all goes according to plan, Sabathia will miss only one more start and the Yankees could escape his absence with minimal damage in the won-lost column.

The CC injury is described his elbow problem... stiffness and soreness. Yesterday he threw a bullpen session and according to Jack Curry of YES, it went well, read HERE. The next step is another bullpen on Tuesday and there is a good chance CC could be activated next Friday. Bottom line, when you throw a baseball as hard and as frequently as CC, it would be miraculous to never feel soreness and stiffness. Believe me, it'll happen.  But back to that night the Yanks put him on the DL for a second... Sabathia contends that he tried to argue his way out of the visit to the disabled list, but Girardi and Cashman insisted that he shut down for the 15-day period.

Sabathia is equally emphatic that he plans to pitch on August 24th against the Indians, the day he returns from his mandated assignment to shut-down status.  CC seems like an old school player and I applaud the courage of his convictions.  The man wants to be on the mound in what has become a tight AL East Division race.  Baltimore continues to press the Yankees and Tampa Bay seems to always be there as they move ever closer to the Yanks in the standings.  You can tell by his comments last week that CC wants to be on the mound to help his team! Remember, he said this:  "I didn't want to go on the DL...This was not my decision... I felt like I stated a good case... Cash wasn’t having it though. But I definitely did everything I could to not go on the DL." (Read Mark Carig's full piece HERE.)

CC has demonstrated his "can-do" attitude in the past.  Who can forget how Sabathia almost single-handedly carried the Milwaukee Brewers into the playoffs in 2008.  Sabathia consumed major innings, even with short-rest, as he worked to ensure the Brewers' participation in the playoffs that season.  Casey Stengel would have loved CC and he would have used him frequently!

(In Photo: Art Ditmar-left, Stengel, Bobby Shantz)

As Art Ditmar intimated in his comments about Stengel's desire to win, Casey almost always put his best players on the field as he made every effort to give the Yankees a shot at victory.  Stengel inserted Mickey Mantle into the lineup for all seven games in the 1960 World Series.  Mantle was playing despite a sore shoulder that did not allow him to get his bat into proper hitting position.  Setting pain aside, Mantle batted .400 for the Series.  He was 10 of 25 with 3 home runs and 11 RBI.  He scored 8 runs and for good measure, he slugged .800.

Mantle took 25 at bats in the 1960 World Series, the second highest total of his career.  The total could have been even higher had the Pirates not walked Mickey 8 times.  The 8 walks were a career high for Mantle in World Series play.  Mantle blasted two of the longest home runs of his career.  One home run sailed 50-feet over the head of Pirate center fielder Bill Virdon and left Forbes Field.  Virdon characterized the Mantle home run as "the granddaddy of all time."  Virdon also said, "It had to go six hundred-feet."

Never mind Mantle's bad legs, he played the 1960 World Series with the bad shoulder as well, and still he performed like the champion that he was.  In part, he accomplished these things because Casey put his name on the lineup card every day in spite of Mantle's pain and injury.

Unfortunately the Yankees lost Game 7 and that Series to the Pirates.  Mantle could not do it alone.  The ultimate irony is that they lost because Stengel did not follow his own philosophy when it came to choosing starting pitchers in that 1960 Series.  Art Ditmar started game one and game five over Whitey Ford.  Ditmar failed to make it out of the first inning in game one and lasted only 1.1 innings in game five.

The Yankees lost the 1960 World Series and Stengel was fired all because Ditmar pitched twice while Whitey Ford sat.  For once Stengel had failed to put his best player in the lineup.  I remember it all too well.  Fifty-two years later it still hurts me to think about it.  Joe, Brian, are you listening?

--Frank Gentry, BYB Writer

Twitter: @yankeefrank23



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THE ART OF ART DITMAR

Speaking to my friend David about Art Ditmar, you'd think he was the shining light and driving force behind the New York Yankees in the late 50's, early 60's. He wasn't, but he was a pretty good pitcher with a couple tough breaks while on the Bombers. The first break was being overshadowed by an already talented rotations during his years in pinstripes. The second was losing 2 World Series starts in terrible fashion, yet, Art Ditmar did what every great New York Yankee does in their career; He tried to compete and tried to win, every time. That's all you could ask for and that's why David loved Art Ditmar so much.

Art Ditmar was a right handed pitcher and quite good, for a short amount of time. More importantly, he was quite consistent which makes for a heck of a pitcher, especially when you are in a rotation that consisted of greats like Whitey Ford, Don Larsen, Bob Turley, Ralph Terry and Bobby Shantz. Yes, Art Ditmar was in rotations with those guys and because of it, he didn’t get to pitch a lot during his stay in New York. He did however get 15 wins, a career high for him back in 1960.

(In Photo: Ditmar, left, Casey Stengel, Bobby Shantz, right)

Ditmar had 3 pitches, his fastball, slider and curveball. His fastball was by far the best of the 3 pitches. During his span with the Yanks, Ditmar won 47 games. Those years were from 1957 to 1961. During that 5 year span, Ditmar was apart of 1 World Championship team, and that happened in 1958 against the Milwaukee Braves. As far as American League pennants are concerned, the Yankees won in 1957, 1958, 1960. In the 1960 World Series though, Art Ditmar started and lost both Game 1 and Game 5 for the Yankees. Those 2 games he put an absolutely horrible display only pitching 1/3 of an inning in Game 1 and 1 1/3 in Game 5. Horrendous doesn’t even begin to describe it. The story goes like this, Casey Stengel wanted Ditmar to start Game 1 instead of Whitey Ford because he thought Whitey would be a better matchup in Yankee Stadium. Read it HERE. We all know what happened, the Yankees lost that World Series to the Pirates 4 games to 3.

Ditmar played 9 years in the Major leagues. During that time, he first played for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1954 and compiled an American League record high 22 losses. After that season, he went to the Yankees and then to the Athletics again, this time to the Kansas City Athletics from 1961 and 1962. His career numbers are 72-77 with a 3.98 ERA and 552 strikeouts.

The most interesting tid-bit I found out about Art Ditmar is something that really isn't about Ditmar at all. It's about Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra. Back in 1954, Art was with Philadelphia Athletics and he defeated the Yankees 8-6 in the last game at Shibe Park in Philly. This was before the team moved to Kansas City. the nugget comes here; In that game, Yogi Berra played his first and only game at third base and Mickey Mantle played shortstop for the Yankees. That's right...Mickey Mantle.

So, while Art Ditmar doesn't have an outstanding career in pinstripes, he sure has a unique one. And while there are thousands of Yankees players over the years, everyone has a favorite or one they loved to watch play. I guess that one for David, was Art Ditmar... and that's alright by me.

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