1950sBaseballMickey MantleNew York YankeesYogi Berra

1956 YANKEES “My Favorite Yankee Team Ever”

                                                                               1956 YANKEES
                                                                BD’s Favorite Yankee Team Ever

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankees P Mickey McDermott
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankees P Mickey McDermott

 

“No matter how long a man remains in baseball, he always hankers and looks forward to opening day.” Tommy Henrich, Yankee great

 

By the time that Bone Daddy was 17 years old and playing center field for the Midland Pony League Yankees, between his junior and senior year in high school, he had put together a pretty significant Yankee baseball card collection….which began with the 1950 team and carried forward year by year

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankees SS Phil Ruzzoto
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankees SS Phil Ruzzoto

through the 1964 team by this time in his Yankee collection process. BD played organized baseball throughout all of his years while growing up in Midland……from Little League to Pony League to High School and Senior League…..and all the while he was continuing to grow his Yankee baseball card collection on a whopping allowance of $0.25 per week….which was actually provided for school lunches.

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee OF Joe Collins
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee OF Joe Collins

Heck, his purchasing power was less than a non-bankrolled small market team in foreclosure. In more precise Chiweenee language….”he had an alligator’s appetite on a hummingbird’s pocket book”….meaning that he didn’t have much to work with….dictating that he had to get very creative in acquiring his collection.

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yaankees p Jim Konstanty
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yaankees p Jim Konstanty

Since I have listened to Bone Daddy telling me many stories about the Yankees teams during the first 17 years of his life while growing up….he would go through his collection pointing out some tidbit of interesting information about each Yankee player card that he had in his card collection from 1949 to 1964 at that point in his life. This was while relating each story to me 45 years later in 2009….for that is when it became apparent to me that BD was a sports nut….a sports fanatic….a Sportsphile.

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee 1B Eddie Robinson
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee 1B Eddie Robinson

This period in MLB from 1949 to 1964 was indeed the Golden Age of the New York Yankees Baseball franchise…..as the game of baseball was truly America’s National Pastime.

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankees P Luis Arroyo
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankees P Luis Arroyo

The Yankees won the American League Pennant 15 times during this 16 year period….while winning the World Series 10 of those years.

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee C Yogi Berra
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee C Yogi Berra

 

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee 1B Moose Skowron
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee 1B Moose Skowron

To say that the Yankees had dominated MLB during BD’s first 17 years on the Earth was indeed an accurate statement. Also by this time in his life….BD had a pretty darn good cross section of each of those teams by year in his collection….and you know what….you’re gonna get to see them all….so click on every card….cuz they get bigger and you can see them better.

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankees P Johnny Kucks
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankees P Johnny Kucks

After hearing all those Yankees stories as told by Bone Daddy over the years we’ve been together….I would have to say that his favorite team to that point in his life had to be the 1956 team. Therefore, in the section below….I have given you the entire 1956 Yankee team along with their stats for the year….pretty cool huh!?! So the World Champion 1956 Yankees were as follows:

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankees SS Tommy Carroll
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankees SS Tommy Carroll

 

POSITION PLAYERS

C Yogi Berra 155 / .298 / 30 / 105 # 1777

1B Bill Skowron 143 / .308 / 23 / 90 # 1766

2B Billy Martin 121 / .264 / 9 / 49 # 1793

3B Andy Carey 100 / .239 / 7 / 50 # 1770

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee C / OF Elston Howard
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee C / OF Elston Howard

 

SS Gil McDougal 136 / .311 / 13 / 56 # 1791

LF Elston Howard 76 / .262 / 5 / 34 # 1751

CF Mickey Mantle 188 / .353 / 52 / 130 # 1762

RF Hank Bauer 130 / .241 / 26 / 84 # 1768

OF Bob Cerv 35 / .304 / 3 / 25 # 1752

 

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankees P Whitey Ford
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankees P Whitey Ford

 

IF Phil Rizzuto 12 / .231 / 0 / 6 # 1764

OF Joe Collins 59 / .225 / 7 / 43 # 1769

IF Tommy Carroll 6 / .353 / 0 / 0 # 1771
IF Irv Noren 8 / .216 / 6 / 6 # 1779

IF Jerry Coleman 47 / .257 / 0 / 18 # 1782
IF Eddie Robinson 12 / .222 / 5 / 11 # 1783

 

OF Enos Slaughter 24 / .289 / 0 / 4 # 1681

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankees SS Gil McDougal
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankees SS Gil McDougal

OF Norm Siebern 33 / .204 / 6 / 6 # 1685

IF Jerry Lumpe 16 / .258 / 0 / 4 # 1693
C Charlie Silvera 2 / .222 / 0 / 2 # 1850

IF Bob Richardson 1 / .167 / 0 / 1 # 1679

PITCHERS

Whitey Ford 19 – 6 / 2.47 / 141 # 1776

Johnny Kucks 18 – 9 / 3.85 / 67 # 1784
Tom Sturdivant 16 – 8 / 3.35 / 110 # 1747

Don Larsen 11 – 5 / 3.26 / 107 # 1778

Original Baseball Card 1956 IF Jerry Coleman
Original Baseball Card 1956 IF Jerry Coleman

Bob Turley 8 – 4 / 5.05 / 91 # 1765

Bob Grim 6 – 1 / 2.77 / 48 # 1761
Mickey McDermott 2 – 6 / 4.24 / 38 # 1780

Bobby Shantz (traded to Yanks in season) # 1792

Tom Morgan 6 – 7 / 11 / 4.15 # 1909

Jerry Konstanty 0 – 2 / 2 / 4.91 # 1781

Tommy Byrne 7 – 3 / 6 / 3.36 # 1794

Luis Arroyo (traded to Yanks in season) # 1753

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee OF Hank Bauer
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee OF Hank Bauer

The 1956 Yankees went 97 – 57…..winning the American League Pennant ….and beating their mighty and ever hated cross town rival Brooklyn Dodgers in an outstanding 7 game World Series. “Oh my God Dog…was that The Day or what?” The Brooklyn Dodgers with Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson, Charlie Neal, Pee Wee Reese, Jim Gilliam, Duke Snyder, Carl Furillo with MVP Don Newcombe and Roger Craig on the mound….took on the 1956 New Yankees….and what a series that was.

Original Baseball Card 1956 AL MVP NY Yankee CF Mickey Mantle
Original Baseball Card 1956 AL MVP NY Yankee CF Mickey Mantle

Mickey Mantle was voted the AL MVP after posting incredible numbers with a 150 Games / 188 Hits / .353 BA / 52 HR / 130 RBI / 121 RUNS / 146 BB / 16 SB / .512 OBP / .665 SLUG % / 1.177 OPS….what a year….what a player. The Mick was an incredible athlete….who in baseball was a switch hitter with unbelievable power and speed from either side….cuz that boy could drag a bunt down the first base line and beat out the throw better than anyone in the game when batting from the left side of the plate…it was truly a thing of beauty.

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee CF Mickey Mantle
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee CF Mickey Mantle

Oh Boy he was a five tool ballplayer if there ever was one and it all came completely natural…..for I don’t think that Mickey ever had to practice at anything….he could just go out and do it. A great center fielder with the ability to cover the vastness of center field at Yankee Stadium….and he had a cannon for an arm….especially when comparing him to present day standards. Damn those degenerative knee joints which cut his career short….which all started in the 1951 World Series when Mickey

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee OF Irv Noren
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee OF Irv Noren

was playing right field…..and while chasing a “can of corn” fly ball into center field where during his attempt to avoid a collision with his idol….Joltin Joe DiMaggio….who was making the catch in right center field….when The Mick stepped on a rubber sprinkler cover and blew out his knee. This injury was the start of a series of injuries that eventually cut Mantle’s career short….or he might have ended up being the greatest Yankee player of all time….even greater than The Babe or Joe D. What a hero he was throughout the decades of he 50’s and 60’s. You

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee P Bob Grim
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee P Bob Grim

can bet your britches that I will write other stories about Mickey Mantle….especially regarding the day Bone Daddy played golf with him in Dallas years after his retirement from MLB.  I can still hear Bone Daddy exuberantly explaining how far The Mick could hit a golf ball….as BD said everyone was around 350 yard….and the sound of the crack when he made contact.  It had to be all in those powerful wrists and forearms coupled with his eye to hand contact expertise which all came together in perfect harmony..BD says he can hear it like it was just yesterday,    KAAAAWHAAAP !!!

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee 2B Billy Martin
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee 2B Billy Martin
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee CF Mickey Mantle
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee CF Mickey Mantle

By the way….you might be a Sportsphile if these names bring back memories to you….cuz these were the days that everyone was singing about in the popular song of the day….“Talking Baseball….with Wil –lie, Mic-key and The Duke.”….and that too is a whole nuther story featured in L E’s Stories section titled “SPORTS: America’s Therapy Couch or Legal Narcotic?” which has details of the story behind the song.

Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee P Bobby Shantz
Original Baseball Card 1956 NY Yankee P Bobby Shantz

 

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