The Final Score

“It’s been a great, great place for me,” he said. “It always comes back to the first time I faced a pitcher in 1947, the first day I saw the stadium. It was just so big, especially being a farmer from Kansas. It was so unusual to see something like that. That was one of the highlights.”

Houk was one of Yogi Berra’s backup catchers from 1947-54, but he played sparingly. After appearing in 41 games in his rookie season, he played in just 50 over the next seven seasons. His career average is .272 (43-for-158) and he had six doubles, a triple and 20 RBIs.

But he made his biggest mark on the franchise as a manager. He took over for Casey Stengel in 1961 and won two straight World Series and lost in the World Series to the Dodgers in 1963.

What he remembers most from those years, though, was Roger Maris hitting No. 61 to break Babe Ruth’s single-season record.

“Of course the day Maris hit the home run comes to my mind because I was so glad to get that over with,” Houk said. “The whole team, all the players, we were trying to win a pennant, but all they want to do was talk about home runs. I just remember seeing the ball go out and I was glad it happened.”

After a two-year stint in the front office, Houk returned as manager in 1966. He steadily guided the Yankees back to respectability, but they never reached the success he had in his first run.

Houk resigned from his post after the final game of the 1973 season, which also happened to be the last game at the old Yankee Stadium.

He said his wife, Bette, took her seat from the front row home, and it sat on their patio for decades before Hurricane Charley in 2004 took it – and just about everything else from the patio – away.

“Believe it or not, we had no idea where it went. And that was heavy, too,” Houk said. He stayed inside his home during the hurricane, calling it a “scary” experience. “I never realized hurricanes were that strong. It blew our patio screen and everything out of the yard three blocks down the road.”

Along the lines of hurricanes, Houk’s last year as Yankees manager also marked George Steinbrenner’s first as owner. But Houk had nothing bad to say about him. “George has always treated me well,” he said.

Houk hasn’t been back at Yankee Stadium in several years, saying a bone marrow problem has limited his activities to fishing and restricted his travel. He wanted to go back to the Bronx this year for one last look and had his sights set on Old-Timers Day, but he doesn’t think that’s going to happen.

Now, he’s focused on making it north to see the new stadium, which will look a lot like the old stadium, the one that Houk – and so many other old-time Yankees – know best.

“It’s hard for me to visualize how they’re going to repeat it,” he said. “I hope to see it.”