Sept. 4, 1964 - There is such a thing as the Pride of the Yankees. It lives mostly in the veterans. The scenes displaying it were vivid in tonight’s 10-inning 9-7 victory over the Athletics in Kansas City.
Some of the efforts were fruitless. There was Mickey Mantle’s slide into first base on a double play he hit into. He tortured that gimpy right knee of his, and veterans tell you you can’t get to first base quicker that way.
“Mickey knows that,” manager Yogi Berra said, “but you get frustrated on a field. He was trying, and that’s what all of us have to do. Maybe if we keep trying, we win. We can’t quit.”
And they don’t. Elston Howard (pictured) had examined last year’s Most Valuable Player award that he had won. “I figured there might be one more way I could help the club this season,” he said tonight. “If I hit .300 or more, I’d be on base a lot more than I was last year. Then lately, I see all the trouble we got making runs. So, I start thinking about maybe I should start using a lighter bat and go for more homers instead of trying to poke through the middle with my 38 and 39-ounce ones.”
He was still swinging his heavy bat tonight and belted a homer and poked a run-scoring single on a night when the Yanks needed runs. There was a homer by Mantle before he hit into the aching double play. And after he hurt himself, Mantle batted once more and dragged a bunt single on a 3-2 pitch. Mantle didn't stop that time. He ran 90 feet past first base because it hurts him most to start and stop.
But the pride doesn’t end with Mantle and Howard. It’s in Whitey Ford, who wasn’t near usual effectiveness but showed few scars for the seven hits, five walks, and a wild pitch he allowed in six innings. Ford went out in the seventh for pinch hitter Johnny Blanchard, who delivered a run-scoring single to give the Yanks a 4-3 lead.
When the game reached extra innings, more veterans spoke. Bobby Richardson opened the 10th with a double, and Roger Maris executed the art of bunting at its best. As they rushed in on him, Maris pushed it between and past pitcher Ted Bowsfield and first baseman Ken Harrelson.
Hector Lopez walked to load the bases, and Howard greeted relief pitcher John Wyatt with a run-scoring single. Tom Tresh walked, and it was 7-5. Joe Pepitone hit a two-run double that took on importance in the last of the 10th.
With Bill Stafford pitching, Ed Charles walked, and Nelson Mathews hit one out. Stafford retired the next three, and the Yanks breathed easier, a game closer to first place.
“What we really got to do,” Howard said, “is win one at a time.”
These are the Yankees who know how to win a pennant. They have an immense struggle to get even — but if they do, the suspicion creeps in that they’ll know how to go from there better than the White Sox and Orioles. Pride can’t win a pennant, but the show of class in not giving up is a good start toward first place.
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