The "what might have been" w/ Pedro Ramos, '64

(wikipedia image)

David Halberstam applied a little too much symbolism to the 1964 baseball season. The late author wrote a book "October 1964." I read the whole thing and found it enriching enough. I would take issue, though, with the author asserting that the '64 World Series was all about "the old vs. the new." The Yankees were old in that model.
Leave it to a writer to think a little too much, to get a little too dramatic. As I recall, Halberstam saw the St. Louis Cardinals as being on the forward-looking end of things, more receptive to developing players of color for example. It's excruciating today to even remind how Neanderthal baseball could be. Yes, the Cardinals had noteworthy players of color, building blocks for their pennant to be sure. And yes, the Yankees had more of the "old" look, built to accentuate power more than speed.
So Halberstam felt there was poetic justice with St. Louis winning the Series. It looks dramatic in the rear-view mirror.
A writer assesses this with the luxury of distance from the combat on the field. Oh my, the Yankees could so easily have won the '64 Series. It went seven games. Let's employ a little hindsight to see how the Bronx crew might have pushed the odds a little more in their favor. And the exhibit I put forth here is Pedro Ramos.
Pedro Ramos! A name rich with nostalgia for fans of my Minnesota Twins. But that's not the focus for this piece - the focus is on his NYC pinstripes chapter. Had the Yankees taken No. 1 in 1964, it would have capped a stretch of dynastic success most nicely. Halberstam's thesis would be wiped out. It might have been wiped out if Ramos had been eligible to pitch in the World Series. I won't say "post-season" because that term implies more than one layer of playoffs. No, in 1961 we were still in a world where the pennant-winner from each league, only, got the nod to play after the 162 games.
 
Ragged edges showing
The Yankees were the class of the American League but they had challengers by this stage. "Class" is spelled by Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and others. But some seeds were being planted for decline. Bad trades were a factor, e.g. "Moose" Skowron for Stan Williams. Skowron haunted the Yanks as he helped the Dodgers beat the Yanks in the '63 Series.
Many things were starting to go awry with the Yankees even as their fans crossed fingers through the '64 season. Everyone laughed at the Phil Linz harmonica incident. The incident underscored the total mystique of the Yankees even as storm clouds were forming (or in the distance). Where else could something so trivial and silly end up in American folklore? These were the Yankees I loved as a kid, on a level separate from my true favorite Minnesota Twins in my home state.
The Yankees had mythic proportions. When Minnesota climbed past the Yankees in 1965, hopelessly East coast-oriented writer Roger Angell had to write a book chapter by emphasizing the New York City milieu. He could swear he heard the sound of the "elevated trains!" Well, what he really heard was jets which were commonplace in the skies above Metropolitan Stadium.

"The Cuban Cowboy" (SABR image)

Ramos, his stretch drive poise
The Yankees acquired Pedro Ramos in September of 1964. Prime time for the pennant run. He'd be tapped as reliever. The native of Cuba was 29 years old. Some called him "the Cuban Cowboy." And this cowboy surely helped the Bronx bombers wrap up the pennant for their slightly goofy manager Yogi Berra.
Ramos bore down to win one game and save eight more in the final 21 games.
It was Berra who asserted himself to make this acquisition, as Ralph Houk was reportedly hesitant. Legend has it the now-GM Houk was dispirited and felt the Yankees didn't really have a chance for the pennant at the time. Incredible. If Houk had been persuaded to pull the trigger on the deal in late August, when Berra first proposed it, hey, Ramos would be "in" for the World Series. What a twist of fate!
Halberstam might have had to go back to the drawing board. I thought he was a fine writer, just that he got a little carried away with interpretation. He had a tragic end to his life: an auto accident. He visited my alma mater of St. Cloud State University (MN) in the '70s when I was a student there. He wrote the significant book "The Best and the Brightest" about the Vietnam war. (Garry Trudeau of "Doonesbury" suggested a new book about the unraveling of Nixon: "The Worst and the Stupidest.")
While Halberstam could write about the most deadly serious topics, it was a nice relief for him to join the rest of us in baseball, often seen as a retreat place from things like the Vietnam war. It sure was for yours truly.
I remember being in my local Punt, Pass and Kick competition at the school fields as the P.A. announcer gave updates on a World Series game of 1964. I was nine years old. My Twins had been through an odd summer: tying for sixth in the A.L. even though we had basically the same cast as in our '65 year of triumph. My peers and I collected countless Topps baseball cards.
Ramos always rang a bell for us 'cause he had been an original Minnesota Twin. We did very well with the Cuban connections. Another exhibit was fellow pitcher Camilo Pascual.
Oh, the "what might have beens" if Berra could only have called "the Cuban Cowboy" out of the bullpen in the '64 Fall Classic! Plug that element in, the Yanks likely win. Take away a cringeworthy Bobby Richardson error - a player I loved - and the Yanks likely win. But there was no Steve Bartman LOL.
History enshrines the Cardinals as a special team for '64 with such dymanic players as Lou Brock, Curt Flood, Bill White and Bob Gibson, players of color all. Congrats to them. But I refuse to buy the "team of destiny" or "team of the future" appraisal. The World Series was quite appropriately a showdown of true juggernauts.
Houk had trouble with making deals after '64. Catcher Jake Gibbs, a college quarterback of note, wasn't scintillating with the catcher's mitt and in Jim Bouton's famous book "Ball Four," he stepped into ignominy in an anecdote: he ordered pie a la mode in a restaurant and asked the waitress to "put a little ice cream on it."

A "Peters Meats" card of Pedro Ramos as MN Twin

Charmed day for Twins in 1961
Ramos played for a virtual list of big league teams, both leagues, over his career of 15 years. Us Minnesota Twins fans must never forget him because he started on the hill in our first-ever game. Where? Well, it was at Yankee Stadium.
The Twins were new but we were not an expansion team, we were the former Washington (D.C.) Senators. Calvin Griffith brought the club here. Alas, he could not keep pace with where baseball was headed over the long-term future. But he deserves the statue outside our ballpark, his "Archie Bunker" image notwithstanding. We just had to understand that generation, right?
Ramos was one of only nine players to play for both the Griffith-owned Senators and the "new" Senators of post-1960. He was a good hitter as a pitcher, fielded his position well and was fleet when on base.
Nearly 60 years have passed since the Senators became our beloved Twins on the Bloomington MN prairie. The sound of the jets contradicted the pastoral surroundings. But the Twins got established most convincingly, no fear of a scenario like the Seattle Pilots.
It's hard to believe "the Cuban Cowboy" had a mere 117-160 career W/L record. It's head-scratching. Also on a dubious note, he was known to give up some prodigious home runs like to Mickey Mantle. But on April 11, 1961, he pitched like a Hall of Famer for our Twins in our first game. So why is it that when Billy Crystal made his movie about the '61 Yankees and Roger Maris, he has Camilo Pascual pitching for the Twins that day? What possible reason?
Anyway, it was Ramos who strode out to the mound in front of 14,000-plus in attendance, and kept fans pretty quiet throughout. The story: a complete game shutout by Ramos, a three-hitter with five strikeouts. The Twins won 6-0. Ryan Hamilton writes: "The Minnesota Twins franchise got off to a perfect opening day start in large part because of Ramos' cold-blooded dominance on the mound that day." Alas, the Twins went 70-90 while the Yankees won 109 games in their peak year of that dynastic phase. But they'd slide off the edge of the table after '64. The Twins won the pennant in '65. We'll never forget Ramos' role in our history.
 
Addendum: The Yankees acquired Ramos from the Indians in 1964 for some cash and two of those proverbial players to be named later. For the record, the two turned out to be Ralph Terry and Bud Daley. Ramos posted a 1.25 ERA down the stretch. The Yankees barely held off the Chicago White Sox (with Skowron incidentally) and Baltimore Orioles. Ramos struck out 21 batters in just as many innings. Not only that, he walked none!
The trade happened after August 31, thus he was no-go for the Series. Bob Gibson came to the fore for the triumphant Cardinals. For the record, my performance in Punt, Pass and Kick in Morris MN was not noteworthy! Those old school grounds are now occupied by apartments. I guess that's what happened to Ebbets Field too.
 
Addendum No. 2: A friend emailed me the following when he learned I was working on this post about Ramos: I saw Pedro Ramos pitching with the Indians at Met Stadium. The Twins knocked him out of the game early, which drew many a jeer from the crowd when he left the mound. He got so mad at the fan reaction he threw his glove into the stands as he entered the 3rd base dugout right down in front of us. Of course, then the jeering got even louder.
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

The Washington Senators would become the Twins (kronozio image)