Apr. 21, 1964 - Yogi Berra is the manager of the only cellar club that hasn’t got a liquor license. The Yankees continued to slide yesterday as they prolonged their worst start toward a pennant in three decades. They were blanked, 4-0, by the Red Sox at Fenway Park and are blinking dizzily in the darkness of 10th place.
This was to have been the second half of a morning-afternoon double bill in celebration of Patriot’s Day, but cold weather canceled the A.M. game. Berra was anxious to play the second game because he wanted to see what kind of a pitcher he has in Bob Meyer, the 24-year-old southpaw.
Fenway Park is a snake pit for lefthanders, of course. Meyer wasn’t terrible, but he was hittable and a bit wild due to early jitters, and the Yanks were doomed to defeat after a two-run first inning. His first seven pitches were balls as he walked the first two batters, Chuck Schilling and Ed Bressoud. He went to three balls on the next three hitters too. He fanned Carl Yastrzemski on a full count, but Frank Malzone and Dick Stuart lined scoring singles to center. After that, the kid settled down until he grooved one for Tony Conigliaro, the 19-year-old who is the latest Hub hero. Tony C. blasted his second homer into the nets above the left field fence at the start of the fourth.
“Meyer didn’t do too badly after that first inning,” Berra said. “He pitched good enough, considering the weather.”
But it wasn’t good enough to beat a combo of Mombo and the Monster, otherwise identified as Bill Monbouquette (top) and Dick Radatz (bottom). Mombo threw eight blanks before retiring when his arm tightened in the 42-degree chill, and Radatz finished it by fanning three in the ninth.
The Yankees and Dodgers, both in tenth place, have something in common: they have only one way to go — up.
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