October 1964

p. 41

In the early 60s, Yankee management was fine when their younger pitchers won—but only up to a point.  Fine if they won 19, but 20?  Now they’d want substantially more money at contract negotiating time.  Unbelievably, when a young pitcher approached 20, or, worse, 21 or 22 wins, the manager would try to sabotage their young pitchers’ chances.  They couldn’t quite pull them from the rotation, which would be a little obvious.  So they would play second stringers behind the pitcher, whose limited fielding and batting skills would tilt the team toward a loss.  If management was really concerned that another win would be toxic for salary negotiations, they would not only play second stringers, but also play them out of position.