Evening star., 1960-02-26
WIN, LOSE OR
DNAV By FRANCIS sTANN
Casey at the Kickoff

81 PETERSBURG, FLA, FEB. 26-Everybody else
may change, but never Casey Stenge He turned up to
supervise the opening the Yankees spring training
pale as ghost after winter of banking in California
and just volibly vague and vulgarly rich as ever
Everybody wants to know what happened to the
Yankees last year. he began at his opening press
ference, "and say lousy in RIBS do get
to lead my club in RIBS? That fellow had take of
third base, he bad, and put in the outfield'
He referring to Hector Lopez who batted in SO
runs "A year ago you wouldn't pick Lopez to lead Mantle
and the club in RIBS, would you? And would you have
picked Bobby Richardson to lead the team in average?
"A year ago thought had the best club in baseball
and l said so. l said we'd win That makes me a bad
manager don't know my club. Was it careessness?
Was it that slipping, and didn't know it? He'll
just from behind licked the Milwaukee Braves
In the World Series. wouldn't that make you cocky?"
NOW TOLD YOU we'd win year ago. now don't
know Four or five of my played pretty good ball. We
made deal; we traded siebern for Maris. Some people
say we didn't trade enough But to hear Frank Lane and
Bill Week. we held up Kansas City at gunpont.
81 thought the world coming to an end the fuss
they kicked up Then couple of weeks pass and all read
is where Lane and Veeck say got the deal
Now I've never talked to young Maris hear
ne don't want to play lefteld which is suneld Well
there you are . . :"
Casey" reporter interrupted "I talked to Maris
on the telephone He said he'd play wherever you put him.
But he also said he'd only played eftfeld four times in
his life twice in high school,"
"Well there you are Casey said
THE OLD GENT says he didn't want to part with
Sebern because "he was my 300 hitter in SO.
He can hit because he takes only one strike He
don't need two three strikes that amt really strikes
He waits for his pitch I'm counting Yogi Berra in
this discussion because he"hts differently hit one
off his ShoetopS.
Some of you writer's jumped on Seibern and on me
because the fellow looked bad in the field in the SO
World Series. Well he had two bad days in row and
people said the sun got in his His eyes amt any
more Wide open to the sun than the next fellows.
He
good that night and so put Elston Howard eftfeld
and he did real good. AS matter fact didn't sleep
good, myself But when playing, I better in
rlghtf1ed than was in center left. Yet they put
in left lots of times that Irish Meuse Young
could be out of the guess they figured it didn't
make any difference if was in the not.
ANYWAY, HAD TO give seibern away. He's gonna
hurt and everybody ese Kansas City because he
hits good to leftcenter and that's the park for hitting
that way.
Whether the Yankees are careless club or down.
hill team don't know. know thing we didn't
win as many games at home should've won How
many games do you think pennant winner has to
win at home?" He applied the question to the least
qualified person in the fugitive living it up from
Washington.
Just guess-5O," the tentative reply, but
the Senators don't win much than so both home
and the road"
But Griffith in Washington has all those RBI guys
Klebrew Lemon, Allison and Sievers Maybe they didn't
get the Washington club anypace but they there
got Lopez, who knocks in 93 And who is Lopez? Who
counted him, although he'll play for me this season?"
temptation was resisted to offer a swap with
Stenge Tor the Yankees record against the Senators
over prolonged period of years, or no. Casey at
this point was off on another tangent.
Not all our guys were bad Whatd I say four
five, six were pretty good? can say this for the
WhoIe lot They weren't lying around all summer
drunk They didn't forget the trains or come to
the parks They Just couldn't play ball not enough Of
them, mean"