Stick, Rags, and Moose

MLB: ALCS-Houston Astros at New York YankeesYankees “Stick” the Landing

Twelve home runs and 204 rbi’s over seven seasons for a position player are undoubtedly mediocre numbers. And if said player also had three managerial stretches with the New York Yankees that all netted positive results (34-22 prestrike in 1981; 14-12 post-strike; and 44-42 in 1982), they hardly merited many boldface declarations either. But few would dispute, despite those ordinary numbers, that the acquisition of Gene “Stick” Michael from the Dodgers on November 30, 1967, was a huge move for the Yankees in the latter years of the last century. It was bad news to all of Yankee land, and baseball, when Stick passed away…