#369 Phil Linz - New York Yankees

Philip Francis Linz
New York Yankees
Infield-Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  180
Born:  June 4, 1939, Baltimore, MD
Signed:  Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent before 1957 season
Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1962-1965; Philadelphia Phillies 1966-1967; New York Mets 1967-1968
Died:  December 9, 2020, Leesburg, VA (age 81)

Super utility player Phil Linz played for parts of seven seasons in the majors for the Yankees, Phillies and Mets and to date he's the only player to have played his entire big league career exclusively with those three franchises.  Linz made his debut with the Yankees in 1962, serving primarily as a pinch-runner or pinch-hitter and he did not appear in the seven-game World Series won by New York that season.  He appeared in a career-high 112 games for the Yankees in 1964, and filled in at shortstop for an injured Tony Kubek (#65) in all seven games of the 1964 World Series.  He hit two home runs in that series, with the Yankees falling to the Cardinals in seven games.  

Linz is perhaps best known for the Harmonica Incident that took place in August 1964, as told in Jim Bouton's (#30) book Ball Four.  With Yogi Berra (#470) managing the Yankees, Linz was playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" at the back of the team bus.  Berra yelled for Linz to stop playing, but teammate Mickey Mantle (#350) egged on Linz, who hadn't heard Berra, with Mantle telling Linz to play it louder.  The harmonica ended up being thrown as Berra confronted Linz, and Berra would be dismissed following the season for seemingly losing the respect of his team.  Linz would play four more seasons with the Phillies and Mets, retiring following the 1968 campaign.  He was a lifetime .235 batter with 11 home runs and 96 RBIs.

Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (America's Pastime - Fair Lawn, NJ) - Card #495
This is the 11th of 102 cards acquired for our set from the Baseball Card Sports Memorabilia Show, affectionately known as The Philly Show, held in the basement of the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia in early March.  We went nuts and left the show needing only 12 more cards to complete our 1965 Topps set, and I wrote about the show in detail over at The Phillies Room.  This Linz card was a little over $4 and was one of 13 cards purchased from the dealer America's Pastime from Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

Depending on my ability to compose five posts a week on the cards acquired at this show, I should be completely caught up by mid-October.  So get used to seeing this passage on the blog!  It's entirely feasible we complete our 1965 Topps set by the end of 2022, although nine of the remaining 12 cards needed are fairly expensive.

The Card / Yankees Team Set
The cartoon on the back of the card highlights the two home runs Linz hit during the 1964 World Series.  The first came in Game 2 and was a solo shot in the ninth inning off Barney Schultz (#28), to give the Yankees a 5-2 lead.  The Yankees would go on to win the game, 8-3.  The second home run came in the ninth inning of Game 7 off a tiring Bob Gibson (#320).  Clete Boyer (#475) had homered a few batters before Linz, and Linz's solo home run cut the Cardinals lead to 7-5 with two outs.  Unfortunately for the Yankees, Bobby Richardson (#115) popped up in the next at bat to end the game and give the Cardinals the World Series win.

1965 Season
Following his semi-regular playing time in 1964, and with Kubek returning from his injury, Linz went back to a bench role.  He appeared in 99 games for the Yankees, batting .207 and making 78 starts - 70 at shortstop, four in right field and four at third base.

Phillies Career
On November 29, 1965, the Yankees traded Linz to the Phillies for infielder Ruben Amaro (#419).  Linz played sparingly for the Phillies over one and a half seasons, appearing in 40 games throughout the entire 1966 season and 23 games in the first half of the 1967 season.  He made a total of 14 starts for the Phillies at second base, third base and shortstop.  

On July 11, 1967, Linz was dealt to the Mets for second baseman Chuck Hiller (#531).  In 63 games with the Phillies, Linz batted .205 with a single home run and 11 RBIs.

1962 Topps #596

1963 Topps #264

1964 Topps #344

1966 Topps #522

1968 Topps #594

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1962 Topps #596
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7):  1962-1968
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2004 Upper Deck Yankees Classics #24

27 - Linz non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 4/15/22.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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