1960 Pirates v. Yanks Game 7 MLB Network 8pm

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Regarding your......
" Exactly...I had never heard about this until Ted's post so I don't know how prevalent the feeling is that Coates should have gotten him
(I see that part of Ted's post is straight from wikipedia), and I wonder if now that everyone has actually seen the play that history will
make a correction, and Yogi will make an apology. "

I first heard this story from Clete Boyer, who was there on the field playing 3rd base (and in the 8th inning SS) in that 7th game.

Clete was at my table at the Ft. Washington show back in the late 1990's sorting thru my Bowman BB cards. I first didn't realize who he was,
but he was very friendly and we were talking Baseball for about 40 minutes. The subject of Yankees World Series games came up and that is
when he told me this (and I'm paraphrasing it)...."at Yankees gatherings, as friendly as Yogi is, he will not speak with Jim Coates. Yogi holds a
grudge towards Coates, since he blames Coates for the loss of that 7th game by not covering 1st base to get the throw from Bill Skowron. "

During our conversation, Clete gave me his address in order to send him more Bowman cards, and that is when I first realized who he was. Clete
was an autograph guest at the Philly show that day.

Furthermore, when I recently visited Yogi Berra's Museum (in Montclair, NJ), I repeated this story to the two gentlemen working at the museum
and they confirmed Yogi's feelings toward Coates.


Look, Yogi was in Left Field that day....did he get a good view of Coates' lapse in getting to 1st base ?
I certainly don't know. However, Boyer was close by in the infield at SS when this occurred. He, too, faults Coates for hesitating to get to 1st
base in time.

Hey guys, I trust Clete's take on this scenario.....he had a bird's-eye view of this event.


TED Z

Yogi usually agreed with Casey Stengel, but this was one of the times when Yogi was critical of Casey. First, he thought Casey should have started Whitey
Ford in game 7.
Secondly, given the situation in the 8th inning, Yogi questioned Casey's decision to replace Bobby Shantz with Jim Coates. Yogi thought a better choice of
relievers would have been Louis Arroyo, or even Ryan Duren.

Many years later at an Old Timer's event (1972), Casey admitted to Ryan Duren...."You know the biggest mistake I made in the 1960 World Series ?
I should have brought you in, in the 8th inning"......instead of Jim Coates.


Mike (mr2686)

I think, given some of the above posted feelings, Yogi was just upset with Casey's decision in that situation, and found blame with Coates. My understanding
is that Yogi took this loss very hard.

Yes, it will be very interesting to see if Yogi and Coates will talk to each other at the 1961 reunion in January ?


TED Z