May 13, 1977 – Yankees 3, Angels 0
- Sal Maiorana
- May 13, 2017
- 3 min read
ANAHEIM – Right there in the shadow of Disneyland, the circus known as the New York Yankees pitched its tent at Anaheim Stadium.
Before the Yankees beat the California Angels on a masterful three-hit shutout by Ed Figueroa, it was announced that Billy Martin had been fined $2,500 by owner George Steinbrenner for his critical comments regarding the fact that the Yankees had been playing the last few games one under the 25-man roster limit.
General manager Gabe Paul was ordered to put out a statement that read: “The addition of the 25th player has been under consideration for several days. The manager, Billy Martin, was asked to report to my office on May 10 prior to the club leaving for Seattle and at such time a determination of the 25th player was to be made. He agreed to be there. However, Billy failed to show up for the meeting with me. If we had had that conference as scheduled, the 25th player would have been added and the matter would have been settled then and there.”
Martin had been lobbying for veteran catcher Elrod Hendricks to be called up from triple-A Syracuse where he was serving as a player-coach. His reasoning was that he couldn’t keep playing Thurman Munson every night (Munson had started all 29 games to date and sat out only six innings, unimaginable in today’s game). The only other catcher on the roster was weak-hitting Fran Healy, whose primary contribution to the team thus far had been serving as Reggie Jackson’s closest friend and personal confidante.
“I’d like to know how a major-league team can go through a season with two catchers,” Munson said.
Gabe Paul, Billy Martin, and George Steinbrenner were smiling at the end of the season, but they were clearly at odds in May.
Paul didn’t see it that way and instead recalled outfielder Dell Alston who was batting .338 with 11 stolen bases at Syracuse. Martin was incensed when he heard about the move and his ire only rose when he was told of Paul’s statement. “I should know what the needs of my ballclub are a lot more than Gabe Paul,” said Martin, a comment that was somewhat baffling since Paul was the man responsible for putting the roster together. “My needs are to protect Thurman. He’s been catching a lot and his legs are bothering him.”
Paul’s retort to that was, “If we have to depend on a player hitting .105 at Syracuse (Hendricks) to enable us to beat an expansion club, with the kind of talent that has been provided, we are indeed in bad trouble. A lot of clubs have gone with two catchers. Cincinnati went with two all last year, and they had a pretty good season.”
Naturally, Martin had a response to that. “I don’t care what Cincinnati did. They didn’t have a catcher whose legs are bothering him. I’ll just accept it. It’s their team. I’ll manage what they give me.”
Which Martin had been doing pretty well lately. The win over California was the Yankees 15th in their last 19 games as Figueroa was outstanding in pitching his fourth straight complete game victory. In those games, he had allowed just 21 hits and three earned runs, lowering his season ERA to a microscopic 1.26.
The Yankees scored single runs in each of the first three innings – an RBI single by Jackson in the first, a Bucky Dent sacrifice fly in the second, and a Munson homer in the third, all off losing pitcher Wayne Simpson.
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