Remembering 2 Great Yankees of the 1950's

June 2, 1993- Former Yankees Hall Of Fame 1B/PH Johnny “Big Cat” Mize (1949-1953) passed away.  (1916-1993).

Johnny finished his MLB career with a lifetime BA of .312 playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants and Yankees.  He hit 356 MLB career HR’s.  In 1949, Johnny Mize was purchased by the Yankees from the Giants for $40,000. He had the 8th best slugging percentage in  MLB history .562. Johnny had 9 consecutive .300 plus seasons. Johnny was  one of the greatest pinch hitters in MLB history, including 3 AL league  leading seasons with the New York Yankees, finishing with a lifetime  mark of .283.

2007 Sweet Spot Baseball Card

June 2, 2001-  Former Yankees OF Gene Woodling (1949-1954) passed away (1922-2001).

Gene   Woodling was purchased from the San Francisco Seals (PCL) in 1948. He would hit  the following during his New York Yankees career starting in 1949, .270, .283,  .281, .309, .306, before dropping off to .250 with missing most of the 1954 AL season with a broken arm.  Yankees Manager Casey Stengel would often platoon Gene Woodling  and Hank Bauer in OF. The New York Yankees sent him to the Baltimore Orioles in  the big 17-man trade in the winter of 1954, thinking he was washed up at  the age of 31. But he wasn’t, Gene would go on to hit .300, three more  times in the AL. Gene would finish up his MLB playing career with Casey  Stengel and the New York Mets in 1962.

Gene played for the Yankees, Orioles (twice), Indians (twice), Pirates, Senators (1961 expansion team) and  the Mets After being released as a MLB  player in March of 1963, he became a MLB 1st base coach for the Mets.

1994 Topps Archive Card of 1954 Topps  Series Cards Gene's last card as a Yankee player

Happy Birthday to Yankees MLB Coach Tony Pena

June 4, 1957- New York Yankees Current MLB Bench Coach Tony Pena (2006-2010) was born.
Tony  Pena was known for his unique style of catching. He would sit on the  ground with one knee tucked to the side while his other leg was straight  out to the other side. He could even throw out would-be base stealers  from this position with an incredibly strong arm. He ended his career  with 1,950 games behind the plate, 4th most of all MLB catchers.

Jun 5, 2010 -- 3:12AM, lionlisa wrote:

thanks mate, it will help me to learn the history

Thanks for the kind word. The older editions are archived in the Yankee Farm System forum.

Clipper