July 6, 1977 – The Peacemaker, Fran Healy
- Sal Maiorana
- Jul 6, 2017
- 3 min read
In this championship season of 1977, backup catcher Fran Healy played about as minor an on-field role as possible. He appeared in just 27 games, made only 75 plate appearances, produced a mere 15 hits, and wasn’t even on the postseason roster, having ceded his backup job to midseason acquisition Cliff Johnson.
But if you consider Healy’s off-field contribution to this wildly uproarious season, the man who had a far more illustrious career as a broadcaster than he ever had as a player may have been one of the most valuable guys in the Yankee clubhouse. Henry Kissinger, that noted peace negotiator of the 1970s, had nothing on Healy.
Healy was Reggie Jackson’s closest friend; on many days, perhaps his only friend in 1977. In his 1993 Hall of Fame speech, Jackson referenced Healy, saying, “I never got the support from any player like I got from Fran.” For whatever reason, the two hit it off from the moment Jackson joined the club, and amid all the zaniness that surrounded Jackson, Billy Martin, Thurman Munson, and George Steinbrenner, it was Healy’s steady steering hand that prevented the Yankees from hitting the Titanic-like iceberg.
The Yankees were already a fractured team once the Sport magazine article hit newsstands in late May and Munson had basically sworn off Jackson, the self-proclaimed “straw that stirs the drink.” Because he was the captain, most of the players sided with Munson, and tensions were at absurd levels. It all boiled over in the dugout at Fenway on June 18 when Martin and Jackson nearly came to blows. Add in the fact that the Red Sox had embarrassed the Yankees that weekend, and all hell was indeed breaking loose.
In this 2013 appearance on CBS, Reggie Jackson referenced his relationship with Fran Healy.
Enter Healy, who stepped into the inferno and helped negotiate a détente that essentially allowed the Yankees to cool their heels, to regain their footing, and eventually get back to the business of winning baseball games.
It was Healy who had rushed in from the bullpen to the clubhouse in Boston that fateful day to advise Jackson to go back to the hotel before the game ended, therefore avoiding further confrontation with Martin. Jackson said to the New York Post in 2011, “Fran Healy came into the clubhouse from the outfield (bullpen) and said, ‘Reggie, get dressed and change and go home, because no matter what you do, whether he hits you first or you grab him, you’re gonna be wrong. So get dressed and go home.’ Smartest thing I was ever told to do and luckily one of the smarter things I did.”
When the Yankees arrived in Detroit following the debacle in Boston, George Steinbrenner was on the verge of firing Martin. On that manic Monday when the future of the team was in doubt, Healy met with Munson, then he met with Jackson, knowing that if he could get those two to patch things up, that would bode well for Martin, whom Healy felt deserved to be spared.
“Fran was a tremendous help to me,” Jackson said. “He put everything together, gave me several sides of things. He had nothing to gain from it, but he was concerned about the ballclub.”
Healy implored Jackson to speak on Martin’s behalf with Steinbrenner, which he did, and that led to Healy being summoned by the Boss. “He gave me an insight into what the guys on the team were thinking,” Steinbrenner said.
Healy had one more pre-game meeting, this one with Martin, where he advised the manager to make peace with Jackson for the good of the team, and to save his job. After all the talking, Steinbrenner concluded that retaining Martin – at least for now – was the right call, and so he did.
After the Yankees lost to the Tigers that night, Healy still wasn’t done. He invited Jackson and Munson to dinner so they could hash it out man-to-man. They hadn’t spoken in nearly a month. From then on, with only a hiccup here or there, the two biggest stars on the team agreed to co-exist as harmoniously as possible.
Healy has never really taken credit for his role, but without him, this team probably would have never won the AL East, let alone the AL Championship Series and the World Series. “I knew exactly what I wanted to do,” Healy said. “I think there were some intelligent people involved and if they got together and were given some time, everything could be worked out.”
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