RIP Ralph Houk

I knew Houk's nickname was Major, but I never really knew why. That's incredible. We are all fortunate for what he did off the diamond.

Interesting story I heard: although he never hit a home run in the majors, in 1947 he hit one off the foul pole during a game. Up until that point, balls that struck the foul pole on the fly were considered foul balls. As luck would have it, MLB changed that rule the very next year.

 

Bouton loved Houk as a manager, hated him as GM. Houk was briefly kicked upstairs to GM when Yogi Berra was made manager in '74.

To spirited's point about bullying the media, Houk's favorite tactic was to dress down a writer in full view of the clubhouse, then smooth things over in private later.

 

I'm just glad to see that when death knocked on Yogi's door late last week, he moved on when he the voice inside said 'it ain't over till it's over.'

 

I've read a lot of good Houk stories in other people's books. Bouton's book has been mentioned, and I liked the one about the two being the only ones in the dugout before a World Series game and Bouton saying to Houk "you know, win or lose, this is a hell of a lot of fun, isn't it?" and Houk replied "Yes, it is. I know just what you mean."

Former ump Ron Luciano talked about Houk a lot in his books. He mentioned one time how he blew a call in a game against Houk's team and knew it, and then had to throw Houk out in the ensuing argument. After the game, he ran into Houk outside the stadium and snapped at him, mainly out of guilt for screwing Houk's team that night. Houk just blew it off and invited Luciano out for a drink.

Also, Luciano said he had a lot of trouble with Houk when he first starting umpiring in MLB, until another ump told him the secret: If Houk came out to argue and was still wearing his hat, he just wanted to say his peace or protect a player and he would go back to the dugout after a minute or two. But, if he came out holding his hat in his hand, then he was coming out there to get run in hopes it would ignite the team. After that, Luciano said, he knew how to handle arguments with Houk.

Finally, in "Damned Yankees," he made a cameo appearance in the chapter on Yankee trades. One year in the 1980s, the Yankees traded for John Mayberry, who was over-the-hill and a bust in New York. The reason they got him from the Blue Jays, however, is because a Yankee advance scout happened to be at a game between the Jays and Houk's Red Sox at Fenway when Mayberry hit two homers, his only two of the season at that point. The Yankee scout sent in the report raving about Mayberry’s game, and New York went and got him because of that report. When a reporter mentioned that story to Houk later, he said “I don’t know if that’s the reason they got him, but if it is, I’ve never been happier to have two home runs hit against me.”

 

Houk also doesn't enough credit for taking over for Stengal. A lot of people think he just won with the remnants of a great team, but if you look at the stats, he really made a lot of changes. His biggest was in the pitching staff. He took the cuffs of Ford and let him throw like the other aces of the day. Also turned Elston Howard into a star. Of course, as mentioned earlier, he tried to bat Bobby Richardson first.

 

In his book with Creamer, Houk was asked by writers about his first homer on a rainy day during the Maris/Mantle home run saga. Houk brought up the hit on the foul pole, only he said that the rule was that if it hit the pole and bounced fair, it was a homer, and if it bounced foul, it was a double. Strange-sounding rule, I know.

 

I felt bad for him when he was the Tigers' manager. He had some downright awful teams - it was the era when the '68 World Series champs/'72 AL East champs were being dismantled, but the core of the '84 World Series champs hadn't arrived yet. No one could have won with the garbage that was on the field (Pedro Garcia, anyone?).

But at least he got to manage Mark Fidrych during that magical '76 season.

RIP, Major. Like it was said above, I wondered who No. 3 would be.

 

So you are willing to throw poor Ralph under the bus.