THE HARMONICA

Matthew Garringer
December 04, 2023

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The baseball newsletter that thinks the movie “Little Big League” is underrated.

Definitely give that a watch if you’ve never seen it.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about Yogi Berra, one of his players, and a harmonica.

Taking bus rides is just part of every ballplayer's journey—it's kinda like a rite of passage.

They also provide an opportunity to bond with your teammates, engage in pranks, and see a bunch of random ass places you never would otherwise.

But the bus can be a rough place to be after a bad loss.

Especially if you’re pissed off, and some of your teammates are having way too much fun.

It’s enough to make you wanna go full Billy Beane.

In ’64, the Yankees and the White Sox engaged in a cutthroat battle for the AL Pennant.

During one series that year, New York dropped four straight at Comiskey Park and fell behind by 4.5 games.

After the game, utility infielder Phil Linz started playing the harmonica on the airport shuttle.

And let’s get this straight, Linz was trash on the harmonica - nothing like Robert from the office - basically the exact opposite.

Yogi Berra (managing at the time) told him to pipe down, but Linz didn’t hear him.

Mickey Mantle told Linz that Yogi asked if he could play a little louder - he did, and Berra lost. his. shit.

Linz and Berra got into an argument and harmonicas were thrown.

The next day Yogi fined Linz $200.

The day after that, Hohner offered Linz a $5,000 contract to endorse its line of harmonicas.

The Yanks won 30 of their next 43 games, and the pennant.

The following year, when Linz signed his Yankees contract, it included a $200 bonus from Berra.

“For harmonica lessons.”

BASEBALL TRIVIA

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Back in the day, Silver King was a dude you didn’t wanna see on the bump.

His 3.18 ERA doesn’t even reflect how dominant he truly was during parts of his career.

This guy’s stats from 1888 actually look fake.

584.2 innings pitched, 1.63 ERA, 65 CG’s, and 45 wins - absolutely insane.

That was definitely his best season, but in total, he played 10 years in the Major Leagues and threw over 3,000 innings.

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites: