On This Date in Sports August 20, 1964: The Harmonica Incident

In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com

Following a rather listless 5-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox, the New York Yankees, are heading out of town with their season on the brink. Losing four straight on the Southside, the Yankees sit four and a half games out of first. On the way to the airport, Phil Linz begins playing a harmonica, leading to a confrontation with first-year manager Yogi Berra.

For four decades, the New York Yankees have stood for excellence and dominance in the American League. In the years between 1921-1963, the Yankees had won 20 World Series, and 28 pennants. However, many of their top players like Mickey Mantle and White Ford were starting to show signs of decline. Prior to the 1964 season, Manager Ralph Houk stepped down as manager to become the Yankees General Manager, as Yogi Berra retired and took over in the dugout. Berra had trouble adapting to his new position, as many of the players he was now managing were teammates he played with for over a decade.

The Yankees were battling the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles most of the season for the pennant. However, the dog days of August took their toll on the Yankees, who were starting to wilt, as they began the month in first place with a record of 61-38. However, three weeks later they were in third place and in a tailspin as they had lost four straight games at White Sox Park. The finale an ugly 5-0 loss, where Whitey Ford was taken out of the third inning, while Mickey Mantle missed the series due to a nagging foot injury.

After the four-game sweep at the hands of the first-place White Sox who had a record of 75-47, the Yankees sat at 69-50 and trailed by four and a half games, with the Baltimore Orioles in second place a half-game back at 74-47. Following that Thursday Afternoon game, the Yankees were going straight to Boston for a four-game set with the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Sitting in the back of the bus was Phil Linz who began playing a harmonica. Linz was playing, “Mary Had Little Lamb” in a slow mournful style. Yankees manager Yogi Berra was not in the mood for any music and told Linz to pipe down. Linz a utility infielder, had struck out that day as a pinch hitter. Ignoring Berra’s demands Linz continued to play. Berra angered went from the front to the back of the event and told Phil Linz, “If you don’t stop playing that harmonica, he would come back there and shove it up to his ass”. Linz did not hear what the manager said and turned to Mickey Mantle, who decided to stir the pot and told him to play louder. Yogi Berra than proceed to slap the harmonica out of Linz’s hands striking Joe Pepitone on the leg and causing a minor laceration.

The harmonica incident became the lead story of the Yankees struggles, as the front office began to look for a new manager, realizing the Yogi Berra was not ready and could not reasonable effectively discipline players he once hung around with as teammates. The Yankees would lose the first games in Boston, but won the next two and returned home, four games out of first. The Yankees would get a big boost in September when Mickey Mantle came off the disabled list as they went 22-9 down the stretch to make their fifth straight World Series appearance with a record of 99-63. The Yankees would lose a hard-fought series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

Despite making it to Game 7 of the World Series, the Yankees decided to fire Yogi Berra after one season as manager. They would hire Johnny Keane, who had managed the Cardinals in the World Series. Berra went on to join Casey Stengel’s coaching staff with the New York Mets in 1965, even appearing in a few games as a player. He would serve on the Mets staff for seven years before getting another shot at managing in 1972 after the passing of Gil Hodges.

Phil Linz meanwhile a career utilityman would be reunited with Yogi Berra in 1967 as his final two seasons were with the Mets. Linz would use the Harmonica Incident to his advantage, as earned a $10,000 endorsement deal, which more than made up for the $250 fine he received fro Berra. Today as he still carries the harmonica with him and often plays it at autograph shows and Yankee Old Timer Events.