Today on the blog, we go and add the "missing" 1975 National League All-Star manager card to compliment my recent A.L. counterpart, the Senior League's skipper in Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra, who led the N.L. for the 1974 Midsummer Classic based on his pennant winning 1973 season with the New York Mets:
Sadly for him, Berra
was coming off a disappointing 1974 season that saw the reigning
National League champs fall from first to fifth after a World Series
loss in 1973 to the Oakland A's.
Turns out the 1975 season he
would be let go about three quarters into the year, having the Mets in
third place with a record of 56-53. Not exactly a horrible year, and
ironically winning at a higher clip than their 1973 season when the team
made the World Series with a record of only 82-79.
Berra
wouldn't manage again until 1984 after years of coaching, coming back to
the New York Yankees and guiding them to a record of 87-75, good for a
third place finish.
The following season he'd be let go after
only 16 games, with the Yanks at 6-10, which would be the last
Managerial position of his long baseball career.
His only
other manager spot was way back in 1964 when he led the Yankees to the
World Series with a record of 99-63 before losing to the St. Louis
Cardinals and Bob Gibson.
Little did Yankee fans know it would
be the last time they'd be in the World Series until 1976 after an
incredible run of Postseason berths the previous 40 some odd seasons.
For
Berra, the Hall of Famer finished his managing career with a record of
484-444, good for a .522 winning percentage, with two pennants.