Welcome to Baseball History Podcast, featuring baseball biographies. I’m your announcer Bob Wright.
This is game 46 of the 2011 baseball season.
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 3 week of November.
November 18
1966 Replacing the legendary Casey Stengel, the Mets name Wes Westrum as the team’s second manager in the franchise’s brief history. The former Giant catcher had taken over the club reins after the ‘Old Perfessor’ had fractured his hip in July.
Wesley Noreen Westrum was born November 28, 1922 Clearbrook, Minnesota.
He was known as a superb defensive catcher. In 1950 he set a National League record for catchers with a .999 fielding average. He later served as the second manager in the history of the New York Mets, replacing Casey Stengel.
Westrum signed with the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association in 1941.
In 1943 he was drafted and spent the next three years in military service. He spent most of his time working security at the Green Haven Army Barracks, near Poughkeepsie, New York. Green Haven was a brand-new, still unused maximum-security state prison used by the Army to house deserters and other military miscreants. In later years Westrum joked that the experience was valuable in helping him deal with the hapless New York Mets when he managed them in the mid-1960s.
Westrum became the property of the New York Giants in 1946 when the Giants purchased the Minneapolis Millers. In spring training with the Millers in 1947, Westrum confessed that he’d been too tense in spring training with the Millers in 1942 and that it had carried over and hurt his performance. He said he finally figured it out during his three years in military service, and it was the cruel reality that all baseball players must confront—that even the best hitters fail the majority of the time. He told Minneapolis Tribune writer Halsey Hall, “I reached the natural baseball conclusion, you do or you don’t. So I stepped up to the plate, just relaxed and let the pitcher worry.”
He said he was also working hard at protecting his right hand. By his own count, he suffered eight broken fingers in his 11 seasons in the major leagues and was constantly plagued by sprained or jammed fingers.
Catching gloves of the 1940s and 1950s demanded a two-handed catching style, with the non-gloved hand used to trap the ball in the pocket. Catchers waited for the pitch with their bare hand clenched in a fist next to the glove and opened the hand at the last possible instant to trap the ball or to grab it to prepare to throw out a potential base stealer. In theory, the hand would still be in a fist when a foul tip was struck, but frequently the catcher would be opening his fist at the same time, exposing his fingers to possible injury. Flex-hinged designs that began to resemble first-basemen’s gloves didn’t come along until the late 1960s.
Some old-time catchers were better or luckier at avoiding right-hand injuries, but bent and gnarled fingers were definitely an occupational hazard. It was easy to pick out a retired catcher in a room full of retired players by observing his hands.
The Giants called Westrum up in September 1947, but he played little as five-time All-Star Walker Cooper was chasing Gabby Hartnett’s record 37 home runs in a season by a catcher. However, Westrum did get five hits in 12 at-bats and was virtually given the job as Cooper’s backup in 1948. Giants farm director Carl Hubbell drooled when he talked about Westrum. The team was convinced that Westrum was the best young catcher to come into the league in years.
The 1948 season, unfortunately, turned out as disappointing as 1947 was promising. Westrum did win the number-two catching spot in spring training. Westrum got a big opportunity when Cooper had knee surgery in early May, but he hit only .127 in his first 34 games of the season, and lost playing time to the other backup catcher.
The Giants sent Westrum to Jersey City in the Class AAA International League at the start of the 1949 season, where he got off to a great start, hitting .308 with 15 home runs—five of them grand slams—in just 51 games. Westrum was called up on June 14 just after Cooper, who was not getting along with Giants manager Leo Durocher, was traded to Cincinnati for 12-year veteran catcher Ray Mueller.
Westrum split catching duties with Mueller for the balance of the 1949 season. After a slow start, his hitting picked up in the last two months of the season, and he finished with a .243 batting average and showed some power, with seven home runs in 169 at-bats.
Westrum became the regular Giants catcher in 1950 and had a banner year. He caught 139 games and set a, since broken, major-league record for catchers with only one error in 680 chances. Westrum was hitting about .270 until injuries brought him down to .236, but he hit 23 home runs and drove in 71 runs with just 103 hits.
Westrum lost some time early in the 1951 season due to a broken fingertip caused by a foul tip, and both hands were beaten up most of the season, but he caught 122 games and was a key player in the Giants’ miracle pennant drive. The team was 13 games behind the Dodgers on August 12, which was observed as Wes Westrum Day at the Polo Grounds.
Westrum often joked that the pennant drive began when he was given a car by his hometown fans and friends—as the Giants won the game to begin a 14-game winning streak that cut the Dodgers’ margin to five games. The Giants wound up tied with the Dodgers, and their fairy-tale season was climaxed by Bobby Thomson’s three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth for a 5-4 win of the third and final playoff game. After that the World Series seemed like an anti-climax, and the Giants lost to the Yankees, four games to two.
Westrum’s hands were so sore during the season that he often had a hard time gripping the bat. He hit only .219 for the year, but he hit 20 home runs and was a tough clutch hitter—driving in 70 runs with only 79 hits. He also drew 104 walks and had a career-high .400 on-base percentage.
Westrum’s teammates heaped praise on their unsung hero. Eddie Stanky said of Westrum, “Pitching was what took us over the hill in this race and it was Wes’s handling of the pitchers that played a tremendous part in their success. . . . I think he’s the best defensive catcher in baseball.”
Monte Irvin marveled at Westrum’s ability to play while hurt and said, “He’ll hit around .280 and hit maybe 30 homers if he can keep his hands in shape.”
But Westrum could not keep his hands in shape. His 1952 season got off well. He played in 54 of the Giants’ first 55 games, with 12 home runs and 29 Runs Batted In. Then he broke another finger, re-injured it when he returned to action, broke a thumb, and then suffered a split finger. He managed only two home runs and 14 Runs Batted In in his last 60 games and wound up with a .220 batting average. He caught only 112 games.
Westrum retained his starting position the next two years, but his injuries were taking their toll. In 1954 Westrum caught all four games in the Giants’ sweep of the Cleveland Indians in the World Series although he’d only hit .187 in 98 games during the season. He was a backup catcher in 1955, 1956, and 1957.
When the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958, manager Bill Rigney told Westrum he would keep him as the third-string catcher if he still wanted to play but preferred to have him as a coach. Westrum thought it over for a few days and decided to retire and accept the coaching position.
Westrum started as the bullpen coach at San Francisco in 1958 but was made the first-base coach in 1959. As a catcher he was respected for his astute baseball sense and field generalship. He claimed he could often tell when a baserunner was going to attempt a steal by the way he took his lead from the base. As a first-base coach he quickly acquired the reputation as a great pitch-stealer. He said that many pitchers unknowingly telegraphed their pitches by the way they gripped the ball or stood on the rubber. Even if they tried to hide their grip, some tilted their glove or wrist a little differently from one pitch to another.
There were other indicators, as well. New York Mets catcher Chris Cannizzaro said that Westrum, who was with the Giants at the time, gave him some friendly advice while walking off the field after a 1962 game at the Polo Grounds. “Watch your feet when you come out after giving signs,” Westrum told Cannizzaro, who hadn’t realized he took a different catching stance for a fastball than he did for a curveball.
After the 1963 season, Westrum was involved in a rare coaching trade of sorts. Mets coach Cookie Lavagetto, who had just recovered from a serious illness, asked if he could be moved to San Francisco to get back to his hometown in Oakland. After some discussions with the owners and managers of the two teams, the Giants agreed to take Lavagetto as a coach to replace Westrum, who was made a coach with the Mets and manager Casey Stengel.
In July 1965 the 75-year-old Stengel fell and broke his left hip while stepping out of a car. Major surgery was required to insert a metal ball in the hip to reduce the displaced fracture, and Stengel pulled a surprise when he called Mets president George Weiss and recommended Westrum as the interim manager. Most thought that his choice would be Mets coach Yogi Berra, whom Stengel had once called his “assistant manager” when Berra played for Stengel with the New York Yankees. Picking Westrum, though, seemed to indicate that Stengel planned to return as manager in 1966, figuring it would be easier for Westrum to step down than for the popular and ambitious Berra.
Five weeks later, however, Stengel announced his retirement. Westrum, in the meantime, promised to telephone Stengel regularly for advice and tried to get the team to focus more on baseball. Westrum said, “I want the players to talk more baseball, particularly in the clubhouse. . . . Every time we lose, I want them to spend five minutes in front of their locker trying to find out what they did wrong.” If the players followed through, it didn’t show on the field. The team that had won 40, 51, and 53 games in Stengel’s first three years finished 19-48 under Westrum for a 50-112 overall record and the team’s fourth consecutive last-place finish.
It wasn’t until November 19, 1965, that the Mets finally made it official and named Westrum to be Stengel’s successor. He said the team would think positive and run more, and he set an ambitious goal of 70 wins and a first-division finish.
The 1966 Mets did not make it to 70 wins or the first division, but they made a 16-game improvement to finish at 66-95 and in ninth place. They went backwards in 1967, though, and the local press and long-suffering Mets fans were unhappy. As the season drew to a close, Westrum was looking for assurance that he would be rehired for 1968. Mets president Bing Devine would not make a commitment, however, and on September 21 Westrum resigned, tired of losing and tired of waiting for a decision. His old friend, San Francisco Giants owner Horace Stoneham, hired him shortly to be the team’s first-base coach.
Westrum remained a coach for four years, and then in 1972 became the Giants’ major-league scout. The Giants tapped him to replace manager Charlie Fox on June 28, 1974. The Giants had won the National League West Division under Fox in 1971 but lost to Pittsburgh in the National League Championship Series, then finished fifth in the division in 1972 and third in 1973, and were eight games under .500 at midseason in 1974. Fox, who had been in the Giants organization as a player, coach, and manager for 33 years, “resigned in the best interest of the club.” The managerial change didn’t change things on the field. The team went 38-48 under Westrum and finished in fifth place in the West Division.
These were tough times for Giants owner Horace Stoneham, who was struggling financially. Rumors circulated that the team was for sale or was being relocated. Although players and team employees were being paid, the team cut costs in many areas. Despite all the off-field distractions, Westrum guided the team to third place in the West in 1975, finishing with an 80-81 record. Anticipating a sale of the team, Stoneham asked Westrum and his coaching staff to submit their resignations just before the end of the season. They refused, fearing a voluntary resignation would make them ineligible for unemployment insurance. Just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, Westrum and his staff were finally fired, and shortly thereafter Stoneham sold the team.
Westrum was retained as a scout by the Giants in 1976, but in 1977 he signed with the Atlanta Braves to become a part-time scout, working out of his home in Arizona. He served in that capacity until the 1994 players’ strike.
Wes Westrum died on May 28, 2002 in Clearbrook, Minnesota.
A large part of this biography comes from the SABR Baseball Biography Project written by Armand Peterson. It can be found online at http://bioproj.sabr.org
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Well, that’s it for today’s Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
