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Phil Linz harmonica incident...
Phil Linz harmonica incident...
Item # 578861
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August 21, 1964
THE SPRINGFIELD UNION, Springfield, Massachusetts, August 21, 1964
* Harmonica Incident (1st report)
* Yogi Berra vs. Phil Linz
This 42 page newspaper has a two column headline on page 34: "Berra and Linz Exchange Words"
This tells of the famous harmonica incident between Yankees manager Yogi Berra and player Phil Linz. See wikipedia text below for better details of this incident.
Other news, sports and advertisements of the day throughout. Nice condition.
wikipedia notes: Philip Francis Linz may be best known for the so-called "Harmonica Incident," on August 20, 1964. On the team bus, after a Yankee loss to the Chicago White Sox, Linz was in the back playing a plaintive version of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on his harmonica. Yankee manager Yogi Berra thought the sad cowboy style mixed with a children's nursery rhyme was mocking the team. He told Linz to pipe down. Linz didn't hear and kept playing. Berra became infuriated and called back from the front of the bus, "If you don't knock that off, I'm going to come back there and kick your ass." Linz couldn't hear the words over the music, so he asked Mickey Mantle, "What he say?" Mantle responded, "He said to play it louder." This led the famous confrontation when Berra stormed to the back of the bus, slapped the harmonica out of Linz' hands, and the instrument hit Joe Pepitone's knee.
This altercation convinced the Yankees' front office that Berra had lost control of the team and could not command respect from his players. As a result, the decision was made to fire Berra at the end of the season. And even though the Yankees eventually won the pennant, Berra was fired.
Category: The 20th Century
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