Aug. 20, 1964 - Manager Yogi Berra of the slumping New York Yankees and Phil Linz (right), the infielder, became involved in a heated row over Linz’s harmonica playing today following the team’s fourth straight defeat.
The Yankees were on a bus en route from Comiskey Park to O’Hare Airport. They had just lost, 5-0, to the Chicago White Sox and had dropped 4½ games off the pace in the American League pennant race.
Linz, sitting in the rear of the bus next to Joe Pepitone, took out a harmonica and started playing “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
Berra, in the front of the bus, turned around and shouted: “Stow it! Put that thing in your pocket!”
There was silence for a second, then a couple of toots on the harmonica.
Berra rushed back toward Linz and yelled: “I said to put it away! You’d think you just won four straight!”
Linz appeared startled as Berra rushed toward him. He said, “Here, you want it?”, and he flipped the instrument into the air toward the manager. Berra angrily swatted it with his right hand, and it bounced off Pepitone’s right knee.
The harmonica cut the first baseman’s knee, but not badly. It did, however, require a Band-Aid.
“Why are you getting on me?” Linz asked Berra. “I give 100% out on the field. I try to win. Some guys let off steam one way, I play the harmonica.”
Berra replied: “Play it in your room.”
Berra also was overheard telling Linz: “I’ll take care of you.”
Berra, who is in his first year as manager, then returned to his seat.
At this point, Frank Crosetti, the Yankee coach, started yelling at Linz, and Linz shouted back, telling Crosetti to stay out of the argument.
“This is the worst thing I’ve seen in 33 years with the club,” Crosetti later told newsmen.
“This could really pull us together and mold us into a team,” said Tony Kubek, “or it could drive us apart. I haven’t made up my mind yet what I think will happen.”
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