Appel Marty - Casey Stengel: baseballs greatest character

I f Casey Stengel had called it a career in 1948, after winning the Pacific Coast League championship with Oakland, he would have ridden off into the sunset with his beloved wife, Edna, proudly concluding a thirty-nine-year run in pro baseball.

And at fifty-seven (or fifty-eight) years old (his age was still in dispute at that time), he would have faded into that sunset and into baseball oblivion. At that point, despite the minor-league pennant, he was just a .284 career platoon outfielder who had played with five National League clubs over fourteen seasons, then served as a mediocre National League manager who was regularly in the second division. And lets face it, who remembers the managers of minor-league champions?

We fast-forward to 1965, when he retired, and he is a legend, bound for the Hall of Fame. And after he won ten pennants with the New York Yankees and then put the New York Mets on the map as their first manager, we see how patience, knowledge, and success can come together to rewrite the ledger.

Nobody ever did it quite like him. By the forceful combination of an unmatched baseball mind and an over-the-top personality, he ground it out for four decades before suddenly being recognized not only as a genius on the field, but as an American folk hero.

Casey Stengel had the genius to cultivate his friendships and associations, always looking out for the next job whenever he needed one. (And to get rich in the oil business while he was at it.) At last, his perseverance led him to the Yankees managerial position, and five consecutive world championships. This feat is unmatched to this day. It may never be matched.

When the MLB Networks Prime 9 named him Baseballs Greatest Character in 2009, there were certainly a few generations of younger fans who were unfamiliar with him. But many more remembered him as a New York manager, and more yetalbeit in smaller numbersstill remembered his long and winding road to get there. Still, good for MLB Network, because the citation was spot-on. And it awoke a lot of younger fans who were interested in just what made this character such a character. He even out-Yogid his own protg Yogi Berra to win top honors. (Yogi finished second).

My friend the late Robert Creamer wrote a landmark book about Casey more than three decades ago, and I was fortunate this time around to have an unpublished memoir by Edna available to me, as well as access to many digitized newspapers for online research that did not exist when Bob did his research. Newspapers in Caseys small minor-league towns were now available, offering newly discovered material. There was, in short, enough content to justify a new biography for this fascinating man.

I hope you enjoy the splendid life of Casey Stengel, to borrow one of his favorite words.