#Shortstops: Music Box
Yankees shortstop Phil Linz played the harmonica on a team bus one afternoon in Chicago. And that moment is now a part of history in Cooperstown.
Crosetti later said it was the worst internal incident he’d seen in his time with the club.
The outburst had no immediate effect on the team, which lost the following day to Boston 7-0 to extend its scoreless innings streak to 21 innings. But with the pennant slipping away, the Yankees suddenly caught fire – winning 26 of their next 33 and eventually capturing the flag on the next-to-last day of the season, finishing one game ahead of the White Sox.
Berra and Linz later signed a box with a harmonica similar to the one used that August day, dating it Oct. 10, 1964. The box and harmonica are now a part of the Hall of Fame collection.
Linz played seven years in the big leagues with the Yankees, Phillies and Mets – appearing in a career-best 112 games in 1964. He had seven hits, including two home runs, in the Yankees seven-game loss against the Cardinals in that year’s World Series.
Berra was dismissed from his job as Yankees manager following that Fall Classic, but went on to manage the Mets from 1972-75 – leading the team to the 1973 NL pennant – and the Yankees again in 1984 and 1985.
Berra, who helped the Yankees win 10 World Series titles during his playing days, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1972.
Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
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