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Casey Stengel Photo Gallery
Click on any image below to see photos in full size and to start Photo Gallery:
Don Stokes Hits a Home Run!
Here’s a real treat from our expert baseball artist Don Stokes. It’s a beautiful colorized photo of Casey Stengel as manager of the 1939 Boston Bees with a few of his players, including an over-the-hill Al Simmons. The original photo is from the Leslie Jones Boston Public Library collection, and Don has turned it into a real gem, one of his best efforts yet.
L-R: Fred Frankhouse, Al Simmons, Red Barkley, Buddy Hassett, Casey Stengel.
To go accompany this beautiful photo, here’s a few words about Casey’s career, edited from one of our earlier posts. To start it off, how about a few choice “Stengelisms” from one of the most colorful personalities ever to don a baseball uniform. Feel free to add some favorites of your own in the comments section below:
“Sure I played. Did you think I was born at the age of 70 sitting in a dugout trying to manage guys like you?”
“The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.”
“Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional baseball player. It’s staying up all night looking for a woman that does him in.”
“They say Yogi Berra is funny. Well, he has a lovely wife and family, a beautiful home, money in the bank, and he plays golf with millionaires. What’s funny about that?”
“They say some of my stars drink whiskey, but I have found that ones who drink milkshakes don’t win many ball games.”
“The Mets have shown me more ways to lose than I even knew existed.”
“It’s wonderful to meet so many friends that I didn’t used to like.”
Last year I did a ranking of baseball’s all-time greatest managers using a formula based on pennants and World Series victories. Casey came out number one in my system. Here’s a link: https://www.facebook.com/308921932607061/photos/pb.308921932607061.-2207520000.1452093930./382994491866471/?type=3&theater
We’re all aware of the success the great Hall-of-Fame manager Casey Stengel had with the Yankees from 1949-1960. The “Ol’ Perfesser” went 1149-696 (.623), won ten pennants, and seven World Series championships, including a record five consecutive championships from 1949 – 1953.
As manager of the Yankees, Stengel gained a reputation as a sharp, innovative tactician. He was known to freely platoon left and right-handed hitters, and was not hesitant to bring in situational pitchers or to pinch-hit for his starting pitcher in early innings. Connie Mack once said of him: “I never saw a man who juggled his lineup so much and who played so many hunches so successfully.”
But Casey’s career as a manager wasn’t always so successful. Few baseball fans remember his record before he got to New York. And with good reason! He managed some really miserable teams in the National League, compiling a less-than-stellar 581-741 record (.439) over nine seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Bees (Braves). Over these nine seasons, he finished 5th twice, 6th twice, and 7th five times.
Casey is the only man to have worn the uniform as player or manager of all four major league baseball teams in New York: the Giants, Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets.
In addition to his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966, he was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 1981. Stengel is the first man in major league baseball history to have had his number retired by more than one team based solely upon his managerial accomplishments.
-Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: Colorized feature photo by Don Stokes: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Don-Stokes-Old-Time-Baseball-Colorizations-923346241033508/photos/?ref=page_internal; Others from Legendary Auctions: http://www.legendaryauctions.com/casey-stengel-peers-the-length-of-the-dugout-original-negative-lot104245.aspx, the Charles Conlon collection, the George Brace Baseball Collection, the Leslie Jones Boston Public Library collection, and from Google search
Information: Excerpts edited from the Casey Stengel Wikipedia page and my earlier posts on Casey Stengel.
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