![]() “And the harmonica company gave me a $10,000 endorsement.” Years later Linz, whom I had the pleasure of coaching in American Legion ball, told me it was third base coach Frank Crosetti, not Berra, who actually called him out, but as manager Yogi felt it was his place to handle the discipline. One of them came off Bob Gibson, which was “man bites dog” news. The story carried the day instead of the Yankees’ four-game losing streak, while Yogi and Phil got over it and maintained a good relationship throughout the years.Īlmost forgotten was the fact that Linz played shortstop in all seven games of the World Series that year (1964) and hit two home runs. When Phil asked, “What did he say?” Mickey Mantle supposedly replied: “He said, play louder.” There are various versions of the story and the ensuing “disagreement” with manager Yogi Berra, but the bottom line was Linz playing the harmonica and somebody telling him to put it where the sun doesn’t shine … or something like that. And, of course, the harmonica story always carried the day. He was always a free-spirited guy who enjoyed a laugh and had no problem even if it was at his own expense. Not that Phil himself would have been surprised. Which is a shame, because you don’t come off the Baltimore sandlots, win a minor-league batting title and spend a half dozen years in the big leagues by accident. When Phil Linz passed away last week it hardly came as a surprise that his harmonica playing ability, or lack thereof, overshadowed his baseball career. Here’s the story I wrote for the Evening Sun, Dec. You think maybe he’s been preparing for this for a long time? The kid who wrote the letter is all grown up now and is the head football coach at the University of South Carolina. It was a particularly stressful experience for Andy, and a time when another teenager’s words of wisdom came into play. Johnny Oates told me the story about the letter connecting the teenagers in 1994, three years after it was written - and a couple of weeks after he had been fired by the Orioles and hired by the Texas Rangers. Young Beamer, a long snapper and special team player for his father, moved into coaching, using a variety of assistant jobs as building blocks before getting the job at South Carolina, where he had previously served on the staff of Steve Spurrier. ![]() They would spend some time together at Virginia Tech, but like their dads, eventually went their separate ways. Yes, in some ways it does seem like that, but in actuality it was almost 30 years ago, 1991, when Shane Beamer and Andy Oates were ninth- and tenth-graders, teenagers about to become wise beyond their years. Wasn’t it just a couple of years ago that the young Beamer wrote a letter to Oates’ son Andy, alerting him to the challenges that come when your father has to make decisions others might not like? ![]() Shane Beamer? Son of Frank Beamer, former Virginia Tech coach and before that a Hokie roommate of former Orioles manager Johnny Oates? When the University of South Carolina introduced its new football coach, I had to do a double-take. Touching a few bases this week while dealing with some stuff straight from the “How Time Flies” department:
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