Tommy Henrich RIP

[jimsumner]

Former Yankees great Tommy Henrich died yesterday at the age of 96.

That's right 96. Guy played with Gehrig and was a contemporary of Joltin' Joe. He was the batter when Mickey Owens dropped that third strike in
1941.

Talk about history.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091201/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bba_obit_henrich_2

[Olympic Fan]

Mel Allen nicknamed Heinrich "Old Reliable" in 1949, when he carried a Yankee team that was devastated by injuries through the first half of the season, until DiMaggio's return in July.

Heinrich may have been the first real free agent in baseball history. He was signed by Cleveland in 1934, but the Indians pulled some shenanigans to hide him in the minor leagues and in April of 1937 Judge Landis investigated and declared him a free agent.

Heinrich got several big bonus offers, but accepted a lessor one from the Yankees because (as he said later) he wanted to play on a winner. The Yankees sent him to their Triple A club in Newark for the first two months of the season.

The story of his callup is fairly famous. The Yankees lost a tough game and afterwards, manager Joe McCarthy was in a foul mood. Veteran outfielder Bob Johnson reportedly groused "What, does he think we should win every day?" McCarthy overheard him and called GM Ed Barrow and told him to get rid of Johnson, "and bring up that Heinrich kid from Newark."

Installed in right, Heinrich hit .320 (with a .972 OPS) the rest of the season and the Yankees won their second straight world series. The Yankees would win world titles in '37, '38, '39, '41, '47, '49 with Heinrich in the starting lineup. In 1942, he helped the team to the AL pennant, but was called up by the Coast Guard in late August and missed the WS loss to the Cards. In 1950, he was a key role player as the Yankees won another AL pennant, but he was hurt late and the Yankees left him off the World Series roster -- which led him to retire.

In all, Heinrich played 11 seasons (missing '43-'44-45 in his prime) and finished with a career .873 OPS. He was a five-time all-star and was ranked five times in the MVP vote (never higher than sixth). He wasn't a Hall of Famer, but he was a consistently outstanding player on Yankee teams that dominated the game for more than a decade.

Some baseball historians think he was part of the greatest outfield in baseball history: Heinrich in RF, DiMaggio in CF and Charlie "King Kong" Keller in left. It's an interesting debate -- DiMaggio was one of the 3-4 greatest centerfielders; Heinrich was just a cut below HOF caliber. When Keller was healthy, he was a HOF caliber hitter. The only reason he's not in the Hall is that his career was cut short by back problems.

Heinrich had a part in some famous baseball moments -- Jim mentioned the Mickey Owens passed ball in 1941. His most famous accomplishment may have been in Game 1 of the 1949 World Series. Allie Reynolds and Don Newcombe were locked in a scoreless tie after eight and a half innings -- both of them dominant. Heinrich led off the bottom of the ninth and lined a home run into the rightfield seats for the 1-0 victory.

But the quintessential Tommy Heinrich moment may have come in the final game of the 1949 season -- with the Yankees and Red Sox tied in the standings (and no wild card in those days!). Phil Rizzuto led off the bottom of the first against Ellis Kinder with a triple. Heinrich, batting second and playing with a heavy back brace, decided to give himself up to get the run in. He choked up and dribbled the ball to the right side of the infield.

Rizzuto scored to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead that held up throughout the game ... until Joe McCarthy (now managing the Red Sox) pinch-hit for Kinder in the 8th. The Yankees added four runs in the bottom of the inning off the Boston bullpen and that was the game -- which ended when Heinrich drifted back to take Birdie Tebbets foul popup. But no way McCarthy pulls the utterly dominant Kinder if Heinrich doesn't get Rizzuto in in the first.

RIP Old Reliable.

[rasputin]

Mel Allen nicknamed Heinrich "Old Reliable" in 1949, when he carried a Yankee team that was devastated by injuries through the first half of the season, until DiMaggio's return in July.

Heinrich may have been the first real free agent in baseball history. He was signed by Cleveland in 1934, but the Indians pulled some shenanigans to hide him in the minor leagues and in April of 1937 Judge Landis investigated and declared him a free agent.

Heinrich got several big bonus offers, but accepted a lessor one from the Yankees because (as he said later) he wanted to play on a winner. The Yankees sent him to their Triple A club in Newark for the first two months of the season.

The story of his callup is fairly famous. The Yankees lost a tough game and afterwards, manager Joe McCarthy was in a foul mood. Veteran outfielder Bob Johnson reportedly groused "What, does he think we should win every day?" McCarthy overheard him and called GM Ed Barrow and told him to get rid of Johnson, "and bring up that Heinrich kid from Newark."

Installed in right, Heinrich hit .320 (with a .972 OPS) the rest of the season and the Yankees won their second straight world series. The Yankees would win world titles in '37, '38, '39, '41, '47, '49 with Heinrich in the starting lineup. In 1942, he helped the team to the AL pennant, but was called up by the Coast Guard in late August and missed the WS loss to the Cards. In 1950, he was a key role player as the Yankees won another AL pennant, but he was hurt late and the Yankees left him off the World Series roster -- which led him to retire.

In all, Heinrich played 11 seasons (missing '43-'44-45 in his prime) and finished with a career .873 OPS. He was a five-time all-star and was ranked five times in the MVP vote (never higher than sixth). He wasn't a Hall of Famer, but he was a consistently outstanding player on Yankee teams that dominated the game for more than a decade.

Some baseball historians think he was part of the greatest outfield in baseball history: Heinrich in RF, DiMaggio in CF and Charlie "King Kong" Keller in left. It's an interesting debate -- DiMaggio was one of the 3-4 greatest centerfielders; Heinrich was just a cut below HOF caliber. When Keller was healthy, he was a HOF caliber hitter. The only reason he's not in the Hall is that his career was cut short by back problems.

Heinrich had a part in some famous baseball moments -- Jim mentioned the Mickey Owens passed ball in 1941. His most famous accomplishment may have been in Game 1 of the 1949 World Series. Allie Reynolds and Don Newcombe were locked in a scoreless tie after eight and a half innings -- both of them dominant. Heinrich led off the bottom of the ninth and lined a home run into the rightfield seats for the 1-0 victory.

But the quintessential Tommy Heinrich moment may have come in the final game of the 1949 season -- with the Yankees and Red Sox tied in the standings (and no wild card in those days!). Phil Rizzuto led off the bottom of the first against Ellis Kinder with a triple. Heinrich, batting second and playing with a heavy back brace, decided to give himself up to get the run in. He choked up and dribbled the ball to the right side of the infield.

Rizzuto scored to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead that held up throughout the game ... until Joe McCarthy (now managing the Red Sox) pinch-hit for Kinder in the 8th. The Yankees added four runs in the bottom of the inning off the Boston bullpen and that was the game -- which ended when Heinrich drifted back to take Birdie Tebbets foul popup. But no way McCarthy pulls the utterly dominant Kinder if Heinrich doesn't get Rizzuto in in the first.

RIP Old Reliable.

Nice post, OF. A couple of quibbles. It's "Henrich." And the outfielder he replaced was the brother of Indian Bob Johnson, that is, Roy Johnson. (I did a double-take and had to look it up because I didn't think Bob ever played for the Yankees; he didn't).
As for the best outfield in the AL, I'd still vote for Speaker, Hooper and Lewis, or Cobb, Crawford and Veach. (Mantle, Maris and Berra sounds better, but Berra was past his prime and part-time.) And I think the all-time best OF is the Pirates' in the mid-Sixties: Stargell, Matty Alou, and Clemente.

My dad used to talk about that 1949 game all the time. Was Henrich playing 1B in that game?

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Interesting stuff, OF. Thanks - that part of Yankee history was before my time or expertise!

[Olympic Fan]

My dad used to talk about that 1949 game all the time. Was Henrich playing 1B in that game?

Yes, partly because of his back injury (which forced him to miss 35 games late in the season), partly because that Yankee team had a ton of good young outfielders -- Bauer, Woodling and Mapes ... plus veterans DiMaggio (for half the season), Lindell and Keller (who was injured much of the year and only able to play 31 games in the field; he got into another 29 as a PH).

Henrich was a terrific defensive rightfielder, but it's kind of like the A-Roid situation with Jeter at short -- he had the flexibility to play first base, whereas Bauer, Woodling and Mapes were strictly outfielders.

First base was a black hole for the Yankees in 1949. Joe Collins, who would eventually fill the position solidly for the first half of the 1950s, came up late and only played 5 games. HOFer Johnny Mize came in a late trade and was mostly a pinch hitter, although he played six games at first.

Henrich was forced to play over 70 games at first (he played 61 in right that season). When he wasn't at first, the Yankees used non-entities Dick Kryhoski and Jack Phillips.

I'd love to hear your Dad talk about that last 1949 Yankee-Red Sox game. In fact, I think the 153rd and 154th games of that AL season were one of the great moments in baseball history. The Red Sox came to Yankee Stadium needing just one win in the final two games to clinch the pennant and had chances in both games, but lost them both.

PS Thanks for the catch on my gaffe about the Johnson brothers. I always get them confused. And easy to mix them up with Billy Johnson (no relation), who saw a lot of action at 3B in the 1949 season (and had a key HR in the Game 153 victory). As for adding the extra 'I' in Henrich -- just a brain fart on my part.