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| 70 | ORLEANS FIREBIRDS 2017 YEARBOOK OrleansFirebirds.com TOM YANKUS HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH ORLEANS FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS, AS A PLAYER, MANAGER AND ASSISTANT COACH. WE RECENTLY SPOKE WITH HIM AFTER HE RETURNED FROM CALIFORNIA WHERE HE WAS WITH THE WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY BASEBALL TEAM FOR SPRING TRAINING . What is your current role with the Wesleyan team? I spend my time in the bullpen. I don’t do much, but I talk to the pitchers, try to get them ready to go in, act as a calming influence. Wide- eyed kids are out there going, “oh boy” before heading into a tight game. I try to keep them focused and relaxed. That mound “Kid,” and he was “The Mick.” You were assigned to play that summer for the Missoula Timberjacks of the Pioneer League, where you served as the pitcher/ bus driver for that club. How did that happen? One afternoon during our stay in Billings, Joe Abernathy, our third baseman and bus driver, asked if I wanted to learn how to drive the bus up around the airport. I said sure. The next day he left for home in North Carolina, letting the GM know that I could drive the bus. I was behind the wheel of the ancient bus for the rest of the season, creeping up one side of the Rockies and then barreling down the other at perilous speeds. It didn’t bother me then. Twenty-two years old and hugging immortality. With the Timberjacks you played for the legendary Jack McKeon (two-time MLB Manager of the Year; winner of 1051 games as a big league manager, for five different teams). What did he mean to you personally? He kind of took me on as an adopted son. Even though he had a son, Casey, he and his wife Carol, would have me over for dinner. We were out in the middle of nowhere as far as I was concerned, somewhere in Montana, I didn’t know anybody. They both recognized I was a little bit lonely, and they’d have me over for spaghetti on a regular basis. Jack was a player/manager. You couldn’t bunt him to second base. He had these huge calves and couldn’t run. I used to give him a dollar before I pitched. I said I’ll pay the fine now because I can’t bunt you to second base. He laughed about things, one of those guys who didn’t take things too seriously and he wasn’t on an ego trip. I learned a lesson from him that helped me coaching later: it’s not about you, it’s all about the players. They’re trying to get somewhere, and you’re just the funnel. Fifty years later, our family was in Florida, the Choate baseball team was down there for spring training, and Jack was managing Tampa Bay. We were at Holman Stadium at the Dodgers complex. Tampa Bay was in for a game, and I said to my wife Julie, “I’m going to say hello to Jack. He won’t remember me, but what the heck?” So the team was walking along in front of the right field stands, and I yelled out “Hey, Jack” and he yelled back “Hey, Lefty!” After 50 years, with all the players he’s coached at all levels of professional b a s e b a l l , it was remarkable. My younger daughter Alex, about six at the time, had asked Julie, “If he doesn’t remember, will daddy be sad?” Jack remembered. In the late 1990’s you wrote a book entitled “Montana Summer” (Xlibris Publishing, 2000), chronicling that summer with the Timberjacks. There are so many wonderful and vivid scenes that come to life in that book. Did you go to a special place to best connect with those memories and feelings? I wrote that book one summer while up on the Cape, and the pictures and stories would just pop up. I followed that lead and tried to make it something other people would enjoy. Your book recently got in the hands of Ron Shelton (Oscar nominated film director and screenwriter; directed the classic baseball film “Bull Durham”). How did that happen and what’s the latest on a possible movie adaption of Montana Summer? I taught a young man back in the 60’s who is now a director of independent films out in LA. He had read the book and passed it on to his friend Rob Ryder, a scriptwriter, who read the book, thought it had possibilities as a movie and said he was going to show it to Ron Shelton. (He had helped Ron write “White Guys Can’t Jump” and served as a technical advisor for that movie). After reading it, Ron said he was interested. I am not holding my breath. How did you begin playing with the Orleans Cardinals in the Cape League? It started because of an alumni CATCHING UP WITH TOM YANKUS is a lonely place. Dresser Diamond at Andrus Field, home to Wesleyan baseball, has a terraced Hill similar to Eldredge Park. Can you describe that setting? The field sits in the middle of campus and is rimmed by all these beautiful buildings from the 1800’s, plus the new dining hall. It’s a wonderful little pocket. Wesleyan is a superb place to play baseball. In addition to serving as head baseball coach at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, CT, you also taught English there, for 57 years. Can you talk about the importance and value of good writing today, especially in this age of social media? There is just the same concentration on writing as always. The Elements of Style, called “The Little Book,” contained all of these memorable bits of advice that E.B. White hammered into us: “omit needless words,” “clarity, clarity, clarity.” Certainly, social media helps to keep sentences terse and concise. I worked so hard telling the kids to use good verbs and to be economical in their writing. At the end of the year they’d groan that they were tired of hearing me talk about good verbs. I’d say fine, I’m glad you’re tired of it because that means I drew enough attention to it. After a distinguished career at Williams College, you signed with the New York Yankees in 1956. Word is you crossed paths with Mickey Mantle. Is that true? I did, yes. The day I signed at Yankee Stadium, they told me to bring my spikes and a glove, and they’ll give me the rest for the tryout. So I got to the Yankee locker room, and I didn’t have a long- sleeve, blue undershirt. And Mickey was getting dressed and saw I didn’t have a shirt, and he said “Here, kid” and threw his over to me, with his “Mickey Mantle #7” embroidered on the back. I said to myself, should I touch it? That was the year he won the Triple Crown (.353 batting average with 52 home runs and 130 RBI). He was a big-time player and called me “kid,” even though we were the same age. I was just out of college, and he was Mr. Established Yankee. I was ��Tom in his Choate Rosemary Hall English Department Office


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