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The Beginning of a Great Baseball Friendship
When Casey Stengel first walked into the Yankee clubhouse in 1949, few sportswriters expected much. His playing career was distinguished, but his managerial one was spotty. He had great success with minor league teams on the West Coast, but then he moved back to the major leagues as manager at Boston, which was not noteworthy. The Yankees were a great team with some star players, such as Joe DiMaggio. Phil Rizzuto, and Hank Bauer. But the man he would bond with was a great hitter for whom the team was unable to find a place in the field, Larry Berra. Berra had had some rough treatment from the sportswriters who found his malaprops amusing but a reason to bring out his limited education (seventh grade) in almost every article where they mentioned him.
From the moment Stengel first addressed the team it was "Mr. Berra." And it was Stengel who decided that Berra would be the team's catcher. He relied on Bill Dicky, the man who had taken on leadership after the death of Lou Gehrig, to coach Berra. The volume of sports writing bashing Berra dropped off as Stengel made a point of crediting Berra whenever possible after a Yankee victory.
