RIP Phil Linz

Hopefully he'll be buried with his harmonica

 

Paraphrasing from Jim Bouton's Ball Four:

Linz plays harmonica on the bus after team drops doubleheader.

Yogi: "Knock it off!"

Linz to Mantle: "I didn't hear him. What did he say?"

Mantle: "He said to play it louder."

RIP

 

This was said more than just in Ball Four - always get a kick out of it.

Interacted with Lindsay on many different occasions - lovely person. Rest easy, Linz

 

There's a story that Linz gets pulled over and the officer asks to see his license. Cop looks it over and tells him, "Hey, it says here you're supposed to wear glasses when you're driving."

Linz says, "No, it's OK. I've got contacts."

Cop replies, "Look, buddy, I don't care who you know. It says here you've gotta wear glasses when you're driving."

 

Wasn't he a co-owner of Mr. Laff's, a pretty popular NYC hangout? Pretty solid utility infielder his first three seasons, hit two homers in the 1964 World Series, then the bottom fell out. From what I've read about him, a fun guy who sounds like a natural Seattle Pilot.

Photo had to be taken during the Mayor's Trophy Game, because they're in Mets' unis at old, old Yankee Stadium.

 

Bouton: “If you can make ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ sound like a dirge, he did.”

 

Someone asked Berra’s granddaughter about the photo in Twitter. It turned out that the Phillies had traded Linz to the Mets the day before the Mayor’s Trophy Game, so there was also the reunion aspect to the photo op.

 

NYT obit with a "where are they now" video profile

Phil Linz, Unlikely Baseball Celebrity, Is Dead at 81 - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

 

As I remember the Ball Four version of the story is a bit more detailed. And in setting this up for younger (under 60 or so) readers they need to know the following. Joe Pepitone, the first baseman of the 1964 team, was touted in the press as the next superstar of the Yankees. He also had a reputation for milking any on field injury for television. So if a foul ball hit him on the foot invariably he would go down in agony and the trainer would come out and Pepitone would get lots of television time.

So Linz follows the instructions of Mantle and plays the harmonica louder. Berra comes to the back of the bus and tells Linz to shove the harmonica up his ass. Linz tells Berra to do it himself and flips the harmonica at him. Berra swats it away and it hits Pepitone on the leg. Pepitone immediately drops to the floor, grabs his leg, and goes into his televised injury routine.

 

In Ball Four, it was implied/indicated/hinted that the incident kind of broke some of the tension and the Yankees, who were about five games out, started playing better and won the pennant.

 

Getting Pedro Ramos from the Indians a week later didn't hurt either. He went 1-0, 1.25 in 13 games, finishing 11 games and saving eight. He also had 21 strikeouts, no walks and a .60 WHIP in 21 innings. He seemed ancient at the time because it was his 10th MLB season, but he was only 29.

Unfortunately for the Yankees they didn't get him until Sept. 1 and he was ineligible for the World Series against St. Louis, which they lost in seven.

 

As usual, I love all the Ball Four references. It's my favorite book of all-time.

Read it yet again recently, but did it as a companion to Mitchell Nathanson's Bouton bio, which I also enjoyed. I'd love a proper Bouton documentary, but feel like it needed to be done 5-10 years ago when Jim was around and still could handle it.