Boyer was one of three brothers in his family to make the majors. Brother Ken, who passed away in 1982, played against Clete in the 1964 World Series. Another brother, Cloyd, was a pitcher for the Cardinals and Athletics.
Clete Boyer had a reputation as an excellent fielding third baseman, although he did not win a Gold Glove until he moved to the NL and then had to wait until 1969. Such were the problems of being a good fielder at third base in the AL at the same time as Brooks Robinson.
Boyer also played one season in Japan (1972) for the Taiyo Whales, now the Yokohama BayStars.
Clete lived in Cooperstown for much of the past decade. He ran a restaurant there where you could get spaghetti and meatballs for $3.99.
I once heard somebody ask him a question about what he learned from Casey Stengel and he said "the first thing I learned about Casey was that every single one of his players hated him." You could still feel the hatred he had for Stengel 45 years later.
Met Clete at the restaurant a few years back after visiting the Wizard of Oz and Helper (?) exhibit at the HOF. Had the Babe's polo coat in a glass case. You stood behind it and felt as though you were with him when he made that last appearance at the Stadium.
Clete sat at the table with Sharon and me. The walls were covered with Yankee pictures. He told stories without prompting. On the 7th game of the 1960 Series in Pittsburgh, he recounted how he had come into the game to play third. The game seemed over as they headed into the 9th down two. With the Mantles on first, Yogi hit a ball to the firstbaseman who put him out unassisted. The Mantles somehow got back to the bag, allowing Macdougal to score the tying run. 9-9. Gil stayed in the game at third and Clete moved to SS. As he took the field for the bottom of the ninth, he said that the last thing he expected was for Maz to hit a homer. The infield was very rocky. The only thing he could remember was praying that they didn't hit the ball to him. Sadly, they didn't.
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I once heard somebody ask him a question about what he learned from Casey Stengel and he said "the first thing I learned about Casey was that every single one of his players hated him." You could still feel the hatred he had for Stengel 45 years later.
Clete sat at the table with Sharon and me. The walls were covered with Yankee pictures. He told stories without prompting. On the 7th game of the 1960 Series in Pittsburgh, he recounted how he had come into the game to play third. The game seemed over as they headed into the 9th down two. With the Mantles on first, Yogi hit a ball to the firstbaseman who put him out unassisted. The Mantles somehow got back to the bag, allowing Macdougal to score the tying run. 9-9. Gil stayed in the game at third and Clete moved to SS. As he took the field for the bottom of the ninth, he said that the last thing he expected was for Maz to hit a homer. The infield was very rocky. The only thing he could remember was praying that they didn't hit the ball to him. Sadly, they didn't.
Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.