What I decided to do was create a card representing the Yankee manager of 1973, which was Ralph Houk, who actually had a card in the 1974 set, but as the newly hired manager of the Detroit Tigers.
You can see he is clearly wearing a Yankee uniform in the airbrushed photo.
Anyway, Houk just came off his eleventh season of managing the Yanks, leading them to a record of 80-82 before heading West to manage the Tigers, a job he’d have for the next five seasons.
Houk put in an eight-year Major League career as a player in the late-40’s/early 50’s as a back-up catcher with the New York Yankees, but had a much more effective Big League career as a manager, putting in 20 seasons, including his five years with the Tigers.
Of course, everyone will remember that he was the Tigers’ manager before Sparky Anderson took over in 1979 on his way to an historic run.
For Houk, it was a rough time leading Detroit, with four sub-.500 seasons before finishing on a high-note in 1978 when the team went 86-76.
But don’t feel bad for the guy, as he started as a Big League manager when he took over the Yankees before the 1961 season, yep, the year the Yankees went on to win 109 games, straight to a World Championship, and have Mantle and Maris fight for the “race to 61”.
By the time he retired as a manager after the 1984 season after four years managing the Boston Red Sox, Houk finished with a 1619-1531 record, with two championships, and three American League pennants.