After five years in the
New York Yankees'
farm system, in which he batted .304 with fifteen home runs mostly at
shortstop, Linz made the big league club out of
Spring training 1962. Used exclusively as a
pinch hitter or
pinch runner up to that point, he made his first appearance on the field on May 23 at third base after
Clete Boyer was hit by a pitch, and taken out of the game. In his second
at bat, with the Yankees trailing 7–2, Linz hit a two-run
home run. He also
singled in two
runs and scored a run in the Yankees' nine run eighth
inning that saw them take the lead, and win the game. This performance earned Linz the start the next day, and he remained at third until Boyer returned on May 27. For the season, Linz batted .287 with one home run and fourteen
runs batted in. He did not appear in the Yankees'
World Series victory over the
San Francisco Giants. He became more of a
utility player in 1963, making twelve appearances in the
outfield. This increased versatility earned Linz a semi-regular position in the Yankees' line-up for 1964, when he made a career high 417
plate appearances. He also appeared in all seven games of the World Series, filling in for an injured
Tony Kubek at short (
David Halberstam, describing the series in his book
October 1964, attributes the Yankee loss in part to the ineffectiveness of the Linz-
Bobby Richardson combination in the middle of the Yankee infield.). He homered off
Barney Schultz in game two, and
Bob Gibson in the ninth inning of game seven, as the Yankees attempted a late comeback.
Harmonica incident Following the 1963 season, Yankees
General Manager Roy Hamey retired.
Manager Ralph Houk moved into the GM position, while Yankees legend
Yogi Berra assumed managerial responsibilities. As recounted in
Jim Bouton's book,
Ball Four, following a Yankee road loss to the
Chicago White Sox on August 20,
1964, Linz was playing a plaintive version of "
Mary Had a Little Lamb" on his
harmonica in the back of the team bus. Berra found the sad cowboy style mixed with a children's
nursery rhyme a bit mocking of the team, and told Linz to pipe down. Linz didn't hear and kept playing. Berra became infuriated and called back from the front of the bus, "If you don't knock that off, I'm going to come back there and kick your ass." Linz couldn't hear the words over the music, so he asked
Mickey Mantle, "What he say?" Mantle responded, "He said to play it louder." Berra walked to the back of the bus to confront Linz. By different accounts, Linz threw the harmonica to Berra or at him, or Berra knocked it out of his hand. Regardless, it became airborne, striking
first baseman Joe Pepitone in the knee strongly enough to cut him. This altercation convinced the Yankees' front office that Berra had lost control of the team, and could not command respect from his players. As a result, the decision was made to fire Berra at the end of the season regardless of the fact that the Yankees eventually won the
American League pennant. ==Phillies and Mets==