Bauer, 84, also was WWII hero
Hank Bauer, the rough-hewn, much-decorated ex-Marine who went on to become an integral player on seven Yankee championship teams from 1949-59 and whose record of hitting in 17 consecutive World Series games still stands, died yesterday of lung cancer in Shawnee Mission, Kan. He was 84.
Throughout his 14-year career, during which he hit .277 with 164 homers, Bauer epitomized grit, hustle and professionalism, although he attained his most enduring notoriety as the central figure in the famous drunken brawl involving six Yankee players and patrons at the Copacabana, on May 16, 1957. Bauer, along with Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Billy Martin and Johnny Kucks, were celebrating Martin's 29th birthday when, according to various reports, members of the party at the table next to them began heckling entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. and a fight broke out, with one of the patrons, a delicatessen owner named Edwin Jones, suffering a broken nose.
Jones claimed he had been cold-cocked by Bauer, but when no witnesses were able to corroborate his story, charges were dropped. However, the Yankees fined Bauer, Mantle, Ford, Berra and Martin $1,000 each and Kucks $500, and a month later traded Martin, whom the Bombers considered to be a bad influence on their other players, to the Kansas City Athletics. For the rest of his life, at banquets and Old-Timers' Day events, Bauer denied having thrown the punch that felled Jones, but when asked who did, he would feign ignorance and wink.
Perhaps one reason Bauer was fingered as the perpetrator in the Copa incident was his tough-guy reputation, which was born out of his experience in the Pacific theater of World War II, for which he received two Purple Hearts for bravery and two Bronze Stars. In capturing an airfield in Okinawa, 58 of Bauer's 64 platoon mates were killed in action. Bauer also fought at Iwo Jima and was wounded by shrapnel, pieces of which remained in his leg throughout his playing days.
As a player, Bauer was the unofficial Yankee "enforcer," customarily straightening out players who failed to hustle with a terse "you're messin' with my money" admonishment.
"He was my best friend in life," said Moose Skowron, the Yankees' first baseman from 1954-61. "When I came up in '54, we won 103 games and still didn't win the pennant. Hank told me, 'We win every year. This is all your fault.' I told him, I did all I could. I hit .340 that year, but Hank was just getting on me."
At the conclusion of the war, Bauer, who was born in East St. Louis, Mo., on July, 31, 1922, signed with the Yankees' Triple-A Kansas City Blues and made his major-league debut two years later. In 1949, his first full season, the righthanded-hitting Bauer batted .272 with 10 homers as a platoon corner outfielder. He would continue to platoon, mostly with Gene Woodling, until 1952, when manager Casey Stengel put him in right field and batted him primarily leadoff even though he wasn't blessed with blazing speed. As Stengel explained: "The fella can hit me a home run sometimes, he can go from first to third on a single and he can score from first on a double."
Bauer's most productive seasons were 1955 and '56, when he scored 97 and 96 runs, respectively. He hit .429 in the 1955 World Series against the Dodgers and in 1958 led the Yankees' charge from a 3-1 deficit against the Milwaukee Braves to another world championship, batting .323 with a team-leading 10 hits and eight RBI and homers in Games 1, 2, 3 and 6. The one "downer" for Bauer in that Series was being held hitless by Warren Spahn in Game 4 to end his record streak of 17 straight Series games with a hit, which Bauer said was his proudest accomplishment.
After hitting a career-low .238 in 1959, Bauer was sent to the Athletics in the big seven-player trade that brought Roger Maris to the Bronx. In 1961, his final season as a player, Bauer was named manager of the Athletics, then moved to the Baltimore Orioles as their skipper in 1964. He managed the Orioles through 1968 and in 1966 achieved one of his greatest triumphs (and eighth championship ring) when his O's swept the heavily favored Dodgers in the World Series, a feat that landed him on the cover of Time magazine.
"I am truly heartbroken," Yogi Berra said yesterday in a statement. "Hank was a wonderful teammate and friend for so long. Nobody was more dedicated and proud to be a Yankee. He gave you everything he had."
"Hank Bauer is an emblem of a generation that helped shape the landscape of our country," George Steinbrenner said yesterday through his spokesman, Howard Rubenstein. "He was a natural leader and a teammate in every sense of the word, and his contributions went well beyond the baseball field. His service to the Yankees, his country and his family shows why I have been so privileged to call him a friend."
Originally published on February 10, 2007
Hank Bauer, the rough-hewn, much-decorated ex-Marine who went on to become an integral player on seven Yankee championship teams from 1949-59 and whose record of hitting in 17 consecutive World Series games still stands, died yesterday of lung cancer in Shawnee Mission, Kan. He was 84.
Throughout his 14-year career, during which he hit .277 with 164 homers, Bauer epitomized grit, hustle and professionalism, although he attained his most enduring notoriety as the central figure in the famous drunken brawl involving six Yankee players and patrons at the Copacabana, on May 16, 1957. Bauer, along with Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Billy Martin and Johnny Kucks, were celebrating Martin's 29th birthday when, according to various reports, members of the party at the table next to them began heckling entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. and a fight broke out, with one of the patrons, a delicatessen owner named Edwin Jones, suffering a broken nose.
Jones claimed he had been cold-cocked by Bauer, but when no witnesses were able to corroborate his story, charges were dropped. However, the Yankees fined Bauer, Mantle, Ford, Berra and Martin $1,000 each and Kucks $500, and a month later traded Martin, whom the Bombers considered to be a bad influence on their other players, to the Kansas City Athletics. For the rest of his life, at banquets and Old-Timers' Day events, Bauer denied having thrown the punch that felled Jones, but when asked who did, he would feign ignorance and wink.
Perhaps one reason Bauer was fingered as the perpetrator in the Copa incident was his tough-guy reputation, which was born out of his experience in the Pacific theater of World War II, for which he received two Purple Hearts for bravery and two Bronze Stars. In capturing an airfield in Okinawa, 58 of Bauer's 64 platoon mates were killed in action. Bauer also fought at Iwo Jima and was wounded by shrapnel, pieces of which remained in his leg throughout his playing days.
As a player, Bauer was the unofficial Yankee "enforcer," customarily straightening out players who failed to hustle with a terse "you're messin' with my money" admonishment.
"He was my best friend in life," said Moose Skowron, the Yankees' first baseman from 1954-61. "When I came up in '54, we won 103 games and still didn't win the pennant. Hank told me, 'We win every year. This is all your fault.' I told him, I did all I could. I hit .340 that year, but Hank was just getting on me."
At the conclusion of the war, Bauer, who was born in East St. Louis, Mo., on July, 31, 1922, signed with the Yankees' Triple-A Kansas City Blues and made his major-league debut two years later. In 1949, his first full season, the righthanded-hitting Bauer batted .272 with 10 homers as a platoon corner outfielder. He would continue to platoon, mostly with Gene Woodling, until 1952, when manager Casey Stengel put him in right field and batted him primarily leadoff even though he wasn't blessed with blazing speed. As Stengel explained: "The fella can hit me a home run sometimes, he can go from first to third on a single and he can score from first on a double."
Bauer's most productive seasons were 1955 and '56, when he scored 97 and 96 runs, respectively. He hit .429 in the 1955 World Series against the Dodgers and in 1958 led the Yankees' charge from a 3-1 deficit against the Milwaukee Braves to another world championship, batting .323 with a team-leading 10 hits and eight RBI and homers in Games 1, 2, 3 and 6. The one "downer" for Bauer in that Series was being held hitless by Warren Spahn in Game 4 to end his record streak of 17 straight Series games with a hit, which Bauer said was his proudest accomplishment.
After hitting a career-low .238 in 1959, Bauer was sent to the Athletics in the big seven-player trade that brought Roger Maris to the Bronx. In 1961, his final season as a player, Bauer was named manager of the Athletics, then moved to the Baltimore Orioles as their skipper in 1964. He managed the Orioles through 1968 and in 1966 achieved one of his greatest triumphs (and eighth championship ring) when his O's swept the heavily favored Dodgers in the World Series, a feat that landed him on the cover of Time magazine.
"I am truly heartbroken," Yogi Berra said yesterday in a statement. "Hank was a wonderful teammate and friend for so long. Nobody was more dedicated and proud to be a Yankee. He gave you everything he had."
"Hank Bauer is an emblem of a generation that helped shape the landscape of our country," George Steinbrenner said yesterday through his spokesman, Howard Rubenstein. "He was a natural leader and a teammate in every sense of the word, and his contributions went well beyond the baseball field. His service to the Yankees, his country and his family shows why I have been so privileged to call him a friend."
Originally published on February 10, 2007
