Another Yankee Bites the Dust

Ralph Houk, who won 2 World Series and 3 AL pennants in his first 3 seasons as manager of the New York Yankees, then coasted for the next 17 years, has died at the age of 90. Houk won the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart in World War II, giving him little reason to be concerned following Yankee legend Casey Stengel, who had won 10 pennants and 7 World Series before getting the axe. After losing the 1963 World Series, he got promoted to GM, then fired Yogi Berra in 1964, let the farm system dry up and hired himself as manager again in 1966. He resigned after the 1973 season, then was hired by the Detroit Tigers in 1975, losing 102 games in his first season and wrecking rookie phenom pitcher Mark “The Bird” Fidrych’s arm in his second before retiring after the 1978 season. He came back in 1981 to spend 3 seasons overseeing the makings of the Boston Red Sox 1986 AL pennant winners, then served as assistant to the GM with the Minnesota Twins for their 1987 World Series championship season.