Category: OLD SPORT SHORTS (Page 3 of 68)

Continued from Post #2623

As Yogi Berra famously quipped, “baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.” Sherm Lollar, on the other hand, was not known for his quotes or sense of humor. “A contemporary article called Lollar “a Charley Gehringer type,” adding, ‘He appears a colorless, dispassionate individual, on and off the field, but he gets his job done effectively. If Lollar hits as well as Gehringer did, no one will care if he doesn’t say a word all season.” Charlie Gehringer, not to be confused with Gehrig, was nicknamed ‘The Mechanical Man,’ who played for the Detroit Tigers from 1924-1942, won the American League batting title in 1939 with a .371 average to earn the AL MVP, was a 6x All-Star, stolen base leader in 1929, and World Series champion in 1939. Yet, like Lollar was not quite good enough for the Hall of Fame. 

The significance of a great catcher can’t be emphasized enough, this is why I find it hard to believe that there are relatively few in the “Hall of Fame.” Others feel this way, as well, take for example this article by Leigh Allan, written on Jul 21, 2023:

“There’s always a catch (-er, that is) And as he goes, so goes the team (usually, anyway).”

“It’s not a rule that in order to have sustained success a team has to have a really good catcher. Sure does help though.” 

“The White Sox provide a good example. During the amazing 17-year stretch of winning records from 1951 to 1967, they had Sherm Lollar behind the plate most of the time, from 1952-63. Lollar was a veteran when the Sox got him, but he stepped it up to Gold Glove levels when manager Paul Richards told him to depart from his natural quietness and become a vocal team leader.”

“Of course, being the White Sox, having a great catcher didn’t always work (witness the so-so records with Carlton Fisk), but the rah-rah bit did. A.J. Pierzynski had a solid defensive year in 2005, but it’s the vocal part we all remember helping the Sox to a World Series win — their first trip to the Series since 1959, when Lollar helped the way.”

“The reason Lollar only had one World Series trip was the dominance of the Yankees at that time, a team that had a number of Hall-of-Famers, a key among them Yogi Berra. And the Yankees most often were facing the Dodgers — Brooklyn variety — and the terrific Roy Campanella.” 

“Come forward to the ’70s and there was the Big Red Machine with Johnny Bench, perhaps the greatest catcher of them all, leading the way. On the American League side, the A’s dominated, with Ray Fosse calling the pitches.” 

“If you prefer more recent impact, there was early Yadier Molina getting two championships with the Cardinals, the San Francisco string of ring collecting from 2010-14 with Buster Posey, and even the Royals consecutive World Series appearances with Salvador Pérez. And it sure helped the Phillies to have J.R. Realmuto last year.”

“Great catching doesn’t necessarily lead to championships — if it did, Iván Rodríguez would have a ring on each finger. Including thumbs. But even Rick Hahn (Senior VP/GM of the White Sox) can recognize the importance of catchers, hence the $73 million contract for Yasmani Grandal (that played out OK for a little while, but then knees and age took their toll and the contract no longer seems like such a good idea). 

“Great shortstopping is the next-most important aspect, with the catchers named above playing with Luis Aparicio, Phil Rizzuto, Pee Wee Reese, Barry Larkin, Bert Campaneris, Brandon Crawford (or Sox buddy Juan Uribe), and Alcides Escobar (OK, not an all-time great, but an All-Star and Gold Glove winner in 2015). But their catchers led the way.”

“(Yeah, yeah — when the White Sox had Fisk behind the plate, they mostly had an outstanding Ozzie Guillén at short, to no avail. But that’s just the Sox.) WHY ALL THIS BORING HISTORY BLATHER, OLD TIMER?”

“Funny you should ask, you young whippersnappers. It’s because unless Hahn is nuts, the White Sox are about to be trading veterans for prospects. A lot has been guessed about which veterans will go, but less about which prospects to seek, of which the most important to look at are catchers.” 

“Grandal has become a liability behind the plate, and will be a free agent anyway. (In fact, he moved on to the Pittsburg Pirates for the 2024 season). Seby Zavala has improved but will always be below-average defensively, besides which the Sox don’t hit well enough to carry the hole in his bat, as Houston can do with Martin Maldonado. And Carlos Pérez hasn’t been on any top prospect lists for a reason.” 

“The problem is finding good catching prospects, which are so rare that teams tend to hold on to them desperately. However, there is a possible solution. PRAY TELL, WHAT SOLUTION?” 

“There are actually two teams who each have two slots among the Top 10 catchers on MLB.com prospect lists.” 

“One is the Angels, but they aren’t likely to be big buyers by the trade deadline. It’s the other one that’s interesting — and a perfect fit for the White Sox.” 

“The Dodgers already have the marvelous Will Smith behind the plate, with team control to 2026, but they have also have the top-rated catching prospect in Diego Cartaya and the No. 8, Dalton Rushing. Cartaya is in that top spot despite struggling at the plate in Tulsa this season, so obviously scouts really like what they see.” 

“Further, the Dodgers are a natural landing spot for L.A. native Lucas Giolito, their bullpen has been awful, and losing Gavin Lux to injury for the season after Trea Turner left in free agency has left big holes in the middle infield. The White Sox just happen to have what they need. SO LET’S MAKE A DEAL, RIGHT?”

The article ends with a mock conversation between General Managers that leads nowhere, but the information in the story is valuable. It caught my eye because Sherm Lollar was the main point. I am also including a favorable story from essayist Peter Smith, another big fan of Sherm Lollar titled Growing Up Sherm Lollar Was My Joe Mauer: 

“White Sox catcher Sherm Lollar made the All-Star team in 1958. Smith still has his baseball card.” (I have all of his baseball cards in my collection): 

“I am holding my 1958 Sherman Lollar Sport Magazine All-Star baseball card. ‘Sherm Lollar, Catcher, American League.’ He’s wearing an uncomfortable smile-as if he doesn’t think himself worthy of being an All-Star. Or maybe someone left the cold cuts from the clubhouse lunch table out a little too long and they turned on him.”

“If I hold the card just right and squint through my reading glasses hard enough, I can still see the halo around Sherm’s head where I used to worship him.”

“Nine All-Star selections. Three gold gloves. To me, he was Joe Mauer long before there was a Mauer — a lion in an unexpanded American League, and a simpler time.”

“I turn the card over and read from the back.” 

“Sherm’s great strength lies in his ability to handle pitchers,” some overworked, down at the heels public relations man wrote on the back of the card. “His experience of the hitter’s weakness is invaluable to members of the Sox staff.” 

“Alas poor Lollar had a well known hitter’s weakness all his own. He was slow afoot and tended to ground into inning ending, rally killing double plays.” 

“Even Joe Mauer goofs up and hits into a double play now and then.” 

“I see Mauer ground one to start a double play and I flash back to Lollar running to first as hard as he can, still out by fifteen feet.” 

“‘It’s his knee tendons,’ my father would say sadly. He’d shake his head, ‘All those years catching.’ 

“It may have been Lollar’s lack of speed that cemented the bond between us. I, too, was a lead-footed catcher. I, too hit into far too many double plays.” 

“‘It’s my knee tendons,’ I took to telling my Little League coaches. I’d shake my head. ‘All these years catching…'” 

“Tonight, when Joe Mauer takes the All-Star field, I’ll be in my groove on the sofa. And Sherm Lollar’s 1958 Sport Magazine All-Star card will be propped up at the base of the lamp on the end table.” 

“‘Do a couple of old catchers and their knee tendons proud, Joe,” Sherm and I will be thinking. ‘Swing for the fences. And no double plays.'”

From https://www.mprnews.org/story/2010/07/12/growing-up-sherm-lollar-was-my-joe-mauer

Joe Mauer was a catcher with the Minnesota Twins from 2004 to 2018. He was a 6x All-Star, AL MVP in 2009, 3x Gold Glove winner, 5x Silver Slugger winner, 3x AL batting champion and retired with a .306 lifetime average. He was just inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2024 on the very first ballot. Mauer was superior to Sherm Lollar in nearly every category, including a fielding percentage of .995 at catcher and .996 at first base. Like Berra, he was also able to stay with the same team. Mauer played 15-years in the Majors, while Berra and Lollar caught for 3 additional years. Certainly, Mauer got the benefit of better, lighter equipment, as well as superior technology than Berra or Lollar. 

For a complete list of Hall of Fame catchers see Post #2513.

I have compiled nearly 300 Sherm Lollar-related items, plus some duplicates in my extensive collection, including baseball cards, press photos, articles, clippings, pins, advertisements, signed balls, game programs, scorecards, endorsed gloves, catching equipment, a rare game-worn #10 jersey from 1955, cups, ticket stubs, playing cards, a cancer foundation medallion, and even game pieces from Trivial Pursuit, Cadaco, and APBA Baseball. These items are in notebooks and displayed on the walls of my office. I have about $5,500 dollars invested through the years and will continue to scour E-bay and other sources. A glossy picture of Berra and Lollar together is one of my favorites. I’m in the process of looking for a museum in Chicago, Fayetteville, Arkansas, or Pittsburg, Kansas that may be interested. 

Sherm Lollar would have never put himself out there like Yogi Berra. The iconic picture of the 1956 World Series and Don Larsen’s unmatched perfect game, shows Yogi leaping into Larsen’s arms following Dale Mitchell’s called third strike to end the game. Sherm was simply too big and too reserved to ever leap into someone’s arms. 

I’ve reached the end of this series, but plan on researching other sources, and adding to what is already on-line. I may even consider, with some professional editing, publishing it in book form. 

Happy 100th Sherm!

Continued from Post #2622

It was, indeed, “déjà vu all over again,” in the 1963 battle for supremacy between the White Sox and the Yankees! The Yanks won the regular season series 10-8, won 104 games to again claim the American League pennant, and went on to play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. The White Sox, on the other hand, finished second, ten-and-a-half games back at 94-68. They did “Go” 18-9 in the month of September, making a last-ditch rally, after a 14-13 July and 17-13 August, but it was obviously not enough. The Minnesota Twins finished second, just ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. 

Dave DeBusschere appeared in 24-games before he decided that basketball was more his thing and not baseball. He finished his two-year career in a White Sox uniform with a 3-4 record. There were more changes in the Sox roster in May when Dom Zanni was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Jim Brosnan, and Sammy Esposito was released by the team. Nellie Fox and Juan Pizzaro were reserves in the All-Star game. 

Sherm Lollar played in only 35-games in 1963 with no home runs and a meager .233 average to end his playing career, having never fully recovered from the thumb injury. September 7, 1963, was his final game. I have a ticket stub in my collection but did not attend. He came in to catch in the top of the 10th for J.C. Martin, and didn’t get to hit until the 11th inning in a 2-2 game. His last swing was a pop-out to the catcher, Jerry Zimmerman. The Twins went on to win it 4-2 in the top of the 12th on a Rich Rollins single. 

For the first time ever, the Yankees were swept in a World Series.  The Dodgers ended Berra’s catching career on a similar sour note as Lollar’s. Yogi, too, was 0-1 in his final game, with it being his sole at bat in the Series. Also, like Lollar, it was his 18th season as a player, but all with the Yankees, while Lollar played for four different teams: the Indians, Yankees, Browns, and White Sox.

Berra spent 1964 as the Yankees manager, when Ralph Houk, moved up to general manager. It was the same old story for the White Sox, who lagged one game behind in the final standings. Doubts about his managerial skills plagued Yogi throughout a difficult season with many veterans missing games due to injury. There was the “Harmonica Incident,” where after a White Sox sweep appeared to take the Yankees out of pennant contention, he clashed with one of his players on the team bus. The team rallied behind Berra afterwards to win the pennant. However, the Cardinals won the Series, and the incident may have been the reason why Berra was replaced by the winning Red Birds manager, Johnny Keane, at the end of the season. 

Lollar became the bullpen coach of the Baltimore Orioles in 1964 and remained in that position until 1967, winning a second World Series ring in 1966, eleven fewer than Yogi. Berra joined the New York Mets in 1965 as coach (and briefly as a player again), and stayed for the next decade, serving the last four years as their manager. As a side note, in 1962 before Berra joined the crosstown Mets, they had posted a 40–120 record, the “second-most” losses by a post-1900 MLB team only because the 2024 Chicago White Sox just surpassed that dubious mark. Yogi’s hire added some credibility to the Mets’ organization that had frankly become a joke. The punch line came in 1966, when team executives famously bypassed future Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson in the amateur draft, instead selecting Steve Chilcott, who never played in the majors.

Sherm Lollar next became the bullpen coach of the 1968-1969 Oakland Athletics, guiding Catfish Hunter’s perfect game. Meanwhile, his Oriole pitchers from the previous year went on to play Berra’s “Amazing Mets” in the 1969 World Series. Suddenly, the Mets were no longer a laughingstock, and Coach Berra won another World Series ring, the only one not associated with the Yankees. 

Yogi returned to the Yankees in 1976, under manager Billy Martin. Berra stayed for eight seasons as coach and then managed the Bronx Bombers for what turned out to be barely just over a year. Coach Berra’s Yankee’s, now in the American League East division, had returned to the Bronx after a two-year absence for stadium renovations. They were once again uncharacteristically swept by Cincinnati 4-0 in the World Series, just as the Dodgers had done to them in 1963. It marked their first postseason appearance since 1964.

1977 was George Steinbrenner’s first year of ownership and the newly renovated Yankee Stadium hosted the All-Star game. His first major move was to sign Reggie Jackson to a five-year contract. The team finished in first place in the American League East with a record of 100–62 (.617), 2½ games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles to successfully defend their division title. In the best-of-five League Championship Series (ALCS), they beat the Kansas City Royals in five games. In the World Series, the Yankees defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games to celebrate the 75th season of the team and the 21st title. Coach Yogi Berra claimed more World Series hardware for his fingers and toes.

More of the same, in 1978, as Coach Berra’s Yankees compiled a record of 100–63, finishing one game ahead of the Boston Red Sox to win their third American League East title, but it took a one-game playoff.  They went on win the World Series in a rematch with the Los Angeles Dodgers, despite all the controversy. Reggie Jackson had been suspended in a mid-season showdown with Billy Martin, which resulted in Martin resigning a week later. Dick Howser became manager for one game before Bob Lemon took over the team in July. Yogi ultimately received his 13th World Series championship ring. 

This story has taken a twist from the now deceased Sherm Lollar to being more about Yogi’s tumultuous Yankees. Not happy with the slow start to the 1979 season, Steinbrenner fired Manager Lemon and brought Martin back. This move did not sit well with Jackson or team president, Al Rosen, who also resigned. The year was also tragically marked by the death of starting catcher, Thurman Munson, on August 2. As a result, the Yankees’ three-year domination of the AL East came to an abrupt halt. The team finished with a record of 89–71, finishing fourth, 13.5 games behind the Baltimore Orioles.

In continuing to compare Berra and Lollar’s parallel careers, Sherm managed the Oakland Athletic minor league Iowa Oaks from 1970-72. While in Des Moines, Iowa, once again according to John McMurray’s article: “Lollar barely escaped serious injury. While he sat in his car at a red light after a game in 1970, a nearby building suddenly collapsed. ‘I was just sitting there listening to the radio when – wham! It was like the sky falling,’ Lollar related. ‘What made it worse was that I had no idea what was happening. I couldn’t see a thing because of the dust and debris.” Fortunately, Lollar was unhurt.

His next stop was to manage the Tucson Toros, another A’s affiliate, from 1973 to 1974, winning a division title during the 1973 season.  I bought a 50-cent copy of a Toros’ program from 1973 at E-bay prices that included an article titled “Lollar Wins First Pennant at Tuscon:”

“Under Lollar’s guidance, the Toros took five of seven games from the Salt Lake Angels to wrap up the Eastern Division title. The victory brough Tucson its first championship team in two decades. Sherm said last spring that he felt the Oakland A’s could provide the Toros with the type of talent that would make Tucson a pennant contender…and he was right!”

“During informal moments Lollar like to relate two bits of trivia about his major league career. First, he was a teammate of the only midget to play in the majors while a member of the St. Louis Browns (Eddie Gaedel, brought in by owner Bill Veeck as a publicity stunt). Secondly, he was involved in the first pinch-hit home run recorded in a World Series...in 1947. Yogi Berra clouted the first four-bagger as a pinch hitter…for none other than Sherm Lollar.”

McMurray went on to write: “Lollar retired from the Toros after the 1974 season because of a dispute with Charley Finley, the owner of the Oakland A’s. He had done advance scouting for the A’s for the post-season, starting in 1971. In 1974, John Claiborne, Finley’s director of minor-league operations, told Lollar that Finley wanted to pay $500 less for the advance scouting than he had paid in previous seasons. Lollar refused. ‘He’s going to be mad, Sherm,’ said Claiborne, ‘and you might not be managing next year.’ Lollar stuck to his guns. ‘It was the principle of the thing,’ he told a reporter later. ‘I never did have any direct contact with Finley about it. But … I decided I had been playing ball 30 years and you’ve got to quit sometime, so I figured it was a good time.'”

“Sherm and his wife, Constance, reside in Springfield, Mo., during the off-season. They have two sons attending college in the South. Sherm spends a considerable amount of his time in the winter supervising activities at his 32-lane bowling establishment in Springfield.”

Sherm had met Connie in 1946, just after his debut with the Cleveland Indians. They married in 1949. 

The Toros team was in Hawaii in the spring of 1973, so Lollar was unable to attend a White Sox All-Star reunion. He died after a long battle with cancer four years later on September 24, 1977, at the far too young age of 53. He is buried in Rivermonte Memorial Gardens in Springfield. Sherm Lollar’ final honor was being named to the Chicago White Sox All-Century Team. Yogi Berra continued to coach and manage, as the Bronx Bombers rolled on!

The 1980 Yankees were swept in the ALCS by the Kansas City Royals. Once again, Dick Howser was in charge, but this time for the whole season rather than just a day, with Billy Martin out of the picture, as the Steinbrenner see-saw rocked back and forth. The team finished with a record of 103–59, finishing in first place in the American League East, 3-games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. 

The 1981 team finished in first place for the first half of the season with a 34–22 record but finished fifth in the second half with a 25–26 record, for an overall record of 59–48. The season was suspended for 50 days due to the infamous 1981 players strike and the league chose as its playoff teams, the division winners from the first and second halves of the season, respectively. In the Series, it was the Dodgers in six over the Yankees. 

1982 was the first losing season for the Yankees since 1973 at 79-83. Bob Lemon was back to share the managerial duties with Gene Michael. Once again, no Billy Martin, who continued to manage the Oakland Athletics since 1980. He returned to Steinbrenner and the Yankees in 1983 to deliver a winning season, but short of any titles, before Yogi took over in 1984 for another disappointing third place finish. 

Temperamental Yankees owner George Steinbrenner had Berra fired sixteen games into the 1985 season, electing not to do it himself, following a sweep by the Chicago White Sox. Yogi was then replaced by Billy Martin in the revolving door that started with those two in 1983 when Berra replaced Martin as manager. It had been swinging for years during the Steinbrenner regime. Berra, in bitter retaliation, vowed never to return to Yankee Stadium. Steinbrenner publicly apologized ten-years later. Meanwhile, Berra joined the Houston Astros as bench coach in 1985, where he made it to the NLCS in 1986. He remained in that position for three more years, retiring after the 1989 season. 

Yogi Berra had lasted in baseball 15-years longer than Sherm Lollar and lived 38-years more, reaching the golden age of 90. When all was said and done with his decades of involvement in New York baseball, Berra had appeared as a player, coach or manager in 13 of 15 World Series that New York baseball teams won from 1947 through 1981. Overall, he played or coached in 21 World Series.

While other great catchers like Sherm Lollar, Elston Howard, and Thurmon Munson never did get nods from the Hall of Fame, Yogi Berra was elected in 1972 on his second ballot. That same year, his No. 8 was retired in 1972 by the Yankees, jointly honoring both Berra and Bill Dickey, his predecessor as the Yankees’ star catcher. Sherm also played for Bill Dickey on that 1947 team that earned both he and Berra their first World Series rings.

Continued from Post #2621