| Clete Boyer | |
|---|---|
 Boyer, circa 1964–1966 | |
| Third baseman | |
| Born:(1937-02-09)February 9, 1937 Cassville, Missouri, U.S. | |
| Died: June 4, 2007(2007-06-04) (aged 70) Lawrenceville, Georgia, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| Professional debut | |
| MLB: June 5, 1955, for the Kansas City Athletics | |
| NPB: April 11, 1972, for the Taiyo Whales | |
| Last appearance | |
| MLB: May 23, 1971, for the Atlanta Braves | |
| NPB: October 16, 1975, for the Taiyo Whales | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .242 |
| Home runs | 162 |
| Runs batted in | 654 |
| NPB statistics | |
| Batting average | .257 |
| Home runs | 71 |
| Runs batted in | 218 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
As player
As coach | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Cletis Leroy "Clete"Boyer (February 9, 1937 – June 4, 2007) was an American professionalbaseballthird baseman—who occasionally playedshortstop andsecond base—inMajor League Baseball (MLB) for theKansas City Athletics (1955–1957),New York Yankees (1959–1966), andAtlanta Braves (1967–1971). Boyer also spent four seasons with theTaiyō Whales ofNippon Professional Baseball (NPB). In his 16-year big league career, Boyer hit 162home runs, with 654runs batted in (RBI), and a .242batting average, in 1,725games played.[1][2]
Born inCassville, Missouri, Boyer grew up inAlba, Missouri, as one of fourteen children. All seven boys in the family played professional baseball, with two of his older brothers also reaching the major leagues:Cloyd was apitcher for theSt. Louis Cardinals in the early 1950s, andKen became anAll-Star third baseman for the Cardinals.[1][3]
Boyer was originally scouted by the New York Yankees while he was still high school. But because the Yankees had already signed two other highly touted "bonus babies" (Frank Leja andTommy Carroll) prior to scouting Boyer, the team decided that they could not sign him due to the rules in which bonus babies had to be on the Major League roster for their first two professional seasons.[4] Knowing Boyer might become a potential star, thegeneral manager of the Yankees,George Weiss contacted the general manager of the Kansas City Athletics,Parke Carroll, whom the Yankees had a friendly relationship with, to sign Boyer with the final intention of eventually acquiring him (by trade or sale of his contract).[4] In1955, Boyer broke into the major leagues as a utility infielder, at age 18. With no minor league experience, he played a total of 124 games for the Kansas City Athletics from 1955 to 1957.
On June 4, 1957, the Athletics traded Boyer to the Yankees to complete a deal that had been made prior to the start of the season. On February 19, the Athletics had dealt five players, including pitchersBobby Shantz andArt Ditmar to the Yankees for seven players, most notablyIrv Noren andBilly Hunter. The trade also involved threeplayers to be named later, two going to the Yankees, and one to the Athletics. One of the players to be named was Boyer, fulfilling Weiss' original intent of making Boyer a Yankee.[4]
After joining the Yankees, Boyer spent the better part of three seasons in theirfarm system until he was called up late in1959. He became the Yankees' regular third baseman in1960, beating out three others (includingGil McDougald, who had announced inspring training that this, his tenth season in the majors, would be his last) for the starting job. He batted .242 with 14 home runs and 46 RBIs as the Yankees won the pennant. However, he had a humbling moment in the first game of theWorld Series against thePittsburgh Pirates. With two runners on base and the Yankees trailing 3–1 in the second inning, managerCasey Stengel, never confident in Boyer's hitting, replaced him withpinch-hitterDale Long, who flied out to right fielderRoberto Clemente. The Yankees did not score in the inning and lost 6–4, ultimately losing the Series in Game 7 onBill Mazeroski's home run offRalph Terry in the bottom of the ninth. Boyer did not play in the Series again until Game Six.
After the Series, the Yankees fired Stengel.Ralph Houk replaced him as manager and had a confidence in Boyer which Stengel did not. Houk saw something special in Boyer's defensive prowess, and gave him the opportunity to play every day.
The1961 team (withMickey Mantle,Whitey Ford,Roger Maris,Elston Howard,Yogi Berra andMoose Skowron), which defeated theCincinnati Reds in theWorld Series, was considered by many as the best ever, with sluggers Mantle and Maris chasingBabe Ruth's1927 record of 60 home runs (Maris eventually broke the record on the final day of a 162-game season) and Ford winning 25 games and losing four. Boyer batted only .224 during the regular season, but more than made up for it with his defense in an infield that also featured thedouble play duo ofTony Kubek at shortstop andBobby Richardson at second base. In the first game of that World Series, Boyer displayed his defense by making two spectacular plays—one on aGene Freese ground ball in the second inning, in which he backhanded the ball and threw Freese out from his knees, and another on aDick Gernert ground ball in which he dove to his left and threw Gernert out, also from his knees.
Boyer's offensive numbers improved in1962: career bests in batting average .272, home runs (18) and runs batted in (68). He also came within nineassists of the third base record of 405 set byHarlond Clift of the1937St. Louis Browns. Once again, the Yankees won theWorld Series, this time in seven games over theSan Francisco Giants. In Game One of the Series, Boyer's seventh-inning home run off starterBilly O'Dell broke a 2–2 and gave the Yankees the lead for good; they won the game 6–2 in what would be the last of Whitey Ford's World Series-record 10 victories. The Series ended with Bobby Richardson catchingWillie McCovey's line drive with runners on second and third. If just a few feet to either side, Richardson could not have gotten his hands on it, and the Giants would have scored two runs and won the Series. In1963 Boyer batted .251 with 12 home runs and 54 RBIs as the Yankees won another pennant, however, they were swept in theWorld Series by theLos Angeles Dodgers, the first time this had ever been done to a Yankee team in a World Series. Dodger aceSandy Koufax won the first and fourth games, striking out a series record 15 batters in the opener. Boyer was the only Yankee regular not to strike out against Koufax.
During each of Ralph Houk's first three seasons as Yankee manager (1961–1963), Boyer led allAmerican League (AL) third basemen inputouts, assists, anddouble plays, finishing ahead of rivalBrooks Robinson—yet Robinson, not Boyer, won theGold Glove Award each year.
After the 1963 season, Houk was promoted togeneral manager andYogi Berra replaced him as field manager. Early on, the1964 team slumped under Berra, especially Boyer, who batted .218 on the season. As Berra's managing improved, the team improved with it and won its fifth straight pennant by one game over theChicago White Sox and two over the third placeBaltimore Orioles. The Yankees faced the St. Louis Cardinals in theWorld Series with Clete playing against his brother Ken. The Yankees lost in seven games, but not before Ken and Clete became the first brothers to hit home runs on opposing teams in a World Series game.[5] In the 7th inning of that seventh game, Ken homered off Yankee pitcherSteve Hamilton and exchanged nods with Clete. Clete returned the favor in the 9th after homering off Cardinal aceBob Gibson.
After the 1964 Series, Houk unceremoniously fired Berra (in mid-season the management, dissatisfied with Berra's work, made up their mind to fire him at the end of the season no matter what the Yankees did) and replaced him withJohnny Keane, who had managed the Cardinals to the World Series victory over the Yankees. Inspring training of1965 Boyer was involved in a fight in aFort Lauderdale bar with a male model, Jerome Modzelewski.[6] During the season, he batted .251 with a career-tying 18 home runs, but the Yankees slumped to sixth place, their lowest finish in 40 years. In1966 the Yankees fired Keane two weeks into the season, and Houk returned as manager. However, Houk's second managerial stint was far less successful than his first. With their talent and farm system both depleted, the Yankees finished dead last—the first time they had done so since1912. After a season in which he hit .240 with 14 home runs,Lee MacPhail, who replaced Houk as general manager, traded Boyer to the Atlanta Braves forBill Robinson, that year's Minor League Player of the Year.
During the off-season in 1964, Boyer appeared onTo Tell the Truth as an imposter for a sponge diver. Boyer received three of the four possible votes.[7]
In1967 Boyer had his best offensive season. Playing in hitter-friendlyAtlanta Stadium, he established career highs in home runs (26) and RBIs (96) in a lineup that featured the likes ofHank Aaron,Joe Torre,Felipe Alou, andMack Jones; Boyer batted cleanup behind Aaron. He also continued his mastery of the glove, leadingNational League (NL) third baseman infielding both in 1967 and1969. In the latter year, he finally won the Gold Glove Award that had eluded him in his Yankee years; with brother Ken having won the award five times, the Boyers became the first brothers to win a Gold Glove. On August 31 of that year, Clete fell victim toMorganna, the famed buxom "Kissing Bandit." Prior to the kiss, he had been mired in a 1-for-17 slump; in that very at-bat, Boyer drove in a run with a single. He got two more hits later in the game, then eight more hits in his next 15 at-bats. In the 1969 season the Braves won the Western Division title (both leagues now had Eastern and Western Divisions, after each expanded from 10 teams to 12) for their first post-season berth since losing to the Yankees in the1958 World Series as the Milwaukee Braves. However, the team lost in theplayoffs to the eventualWorld ChampionNew York Mets.
Boyer continued to sparkle at third base until he was released by the Braves on May 28, 1971, after a bitter feud with General ManagerPaul Richards and managerLum Harris over mismanagement. Boyer has complained that the organization did not teach the players the proper fundamentals. Richards countered that Boyer was a troublemaker. Pitcher and Player's Representative Steve Hamilton suggested in an interview withStuds Terkel that Boyer wasblacklisted by the MLB for criticizing team management.[8]
Boyer left Major League Baseball and resurfaced in Japan, where he played professionally for the Taiyō Whales, from1972 to1975. While playing in Japan, Boyer’ s roommate wasSadaharu Oh.[9] After retiring following the 1975 season, he was the defensive coach for the Whales in 1976. Afterwards, Boyer returned to the Major Leagues as a third-base coach with the Yankees and theOakland Athletics, mostly with former teammateBilly Martin as manager.
Boyer's teammates recognized his defensive ability. "When I think of Clete, I think of the outstanding defensive third basemen in baseball," Richardson said. "I know Brooks Robinson got all the Gold Gloves, and he's every bit deserving of the Hall of Fame, but Clete was as good as anyone who ever played the game." Richardson and Boyer remained friends after their careers ended. Kubek, also a lifelong friend of Boyer, thought he was as good at playing third base asGraig Nettles,Brooks Robinson, andMike Schmidt.[9]
In 1986,Cletus Seldin, who later became a championboxer, was named after Clete Boyer, as Seldin's grandparents were close friends with Boyer.[10][11][12]
In 2000, Boyer opened a restaurant named "Clete Boyer's Hamburger Hall of Fame" in Cooperstown, New York, just a few miles south of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The restaurant features sandwiches and hamburgers named after various Yankees' immortals such as: "Yogi's Special meatball sub", "theMickey Mantle Cheeseburger Deluxe", "theReggie Veggie Burger", "theBobby Richardson Cheeseburger", "theRoger Maris Hamburger Deluxe", and "theWhitey Ford Blue Cheese Burger". Boyer could often be found at the restaurant chatting with visitors and graciously signing photos and other memorabilia.[13]
Boyer died on June 4, 2007, in an Atlanta area hospital from complications following abrain hemorrhage.[1] BrotherKen Boyer (1964 National LeagueMVP), former St. Louis Cardinal, predeceased Clete in 1982. Boyer's family had his cremated remains placed in a New York Yankees urn.
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