HOFer Richie Ashburn Leads Expansion Mets – Yellow Tango, Indeed!

 “To be voted the most valuable player on the worst team in the history of major league baseball is a dubious honor for sure.  But I was awarded a 24-boat with a galley and sleeping facilities for six. After the season ended, I docked the boat in Ocean City, New Jersey, and it sank.

            Richie Ashburn – 1962 NY Mets (40 wins-120 losses) MVP

On this date (December 8) in 1961, the expansion New York Mets acquired future Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn from the Chicago Cubs. The 34-year-old outfielder was nearing the end of his MLB career (in fact, his 1962 season with the Mets would be his last in the major leagues), but he brought significant credentials – the slick fielding centerfielder was a four-time All Star, two-time batting champion and had led the NL in walks four times, on-base-percentage four times, hits three times, triples twice and stolen bases once. BBRT note:  Ashburn was noted for his speed, rather than his power. In his fifteen-year MLB career (12 with the Philllies), he achieved a .308 average and collected 2,574 hits (2,119 singles), but only 29 home runs. On the speed side, he stole 234 bases (topping 25 in three seasons) and legged out 109 triples.

For the Mets, Ashburn proved a valuable pick-up – literally, since after the season, Ashburn was chosen as the MVP of the 40-120 Mets (who finished tenth, 60 1/2 games behind the Giants).   In his final season, Ashburn was also the Mets’ only All Star team selection. He finished the year with a .306 average in 135 games, collected 119 hits (102 singles) and 81 walks (for a .424 on base percentage) and surprised a lot of people with a career-high seven home runs. The 1962 season was, in fact, the only year in which Ashburn didn’t hit more triples than round trippers.

But all of that (not to mention Ashburn’s 3 ½ decades as a Phillies’ broadcaster), is not why BBRT is featuring him in this column.  Rather, it’s because Ashburn’s career is “rich” in unique baseball stories.   Here are just a few Ashburn stories and statistics that BBRT found of interest.

• Ashburn began his minor league career (at the age of 18) as a catcher with the Utica Blue Sox of the Class A Eastern League. Ashburn’s father had groomed the youngster as a backstop, figuring that position offered the fastest path to the major leagues. Only Ashburn was too “fast” for that path. The story has it that on one groundball hit to the right side, Ashburn tossed off his mask, came out from behind the plate and didn’t just back up the play at first base, but beat the runner there and took the throw for the putout. It wasn’t long thereafter that Ashburn was the team’s centerfielder.
• Ashburn made it to the Phillies as a 21-year-old in 1948 and was the only rookie on the NL All Star team. Ashburn hit lead-off, collected two hits (singles, of course), stole a base and scored a run in the NL’s 5-2 loss.  Ashburn hit .333 in 117 games his rookie campaign (a broken finger cut into his playing time), collected 154 hits (131 singles), played outstanding outfield defense  and led the NL with 32 stolen bases.
• On August 17, 1957, as the Phillies took on the Giants in Philadelphia, Ashburn lined a foul ball into the Press Box behind third base – hitting Alice Roth (wife of the Philadelphia Bulletin’s sports editor Earl Roth) in the face, breaking her nose. The game was stopped momentarily as Mrs. Roth was attended to – and eventually taken from her seat on a stretcher. Play resumed and on the very next pitch, Ashburn hit another foul ball – which again hit the now prone, stretcher-bound Alice Roth in the leg.
• Between 1949 and 1958, Ashburn led the NL in outfield put outs nine-times (tying the Pirates’ Max Carey for the most times leading the league in that category).
• Ashburn collected more hits (1,875) in the decade of the 1950’s than any other player.

Yellow Tango, Indeed

In his final MLB season (as a Met), Ashburn found himself playing in center field, often behind second baseman/shortstop Elio Chacon, who did not speak English. Both were aggressive fielders and despite Ashburn’s calls of “I got it.  I got it.”, there were times when Chacon would range into center field, precipitating a collision.  Finally, Ashburn picked up the phrase “Yo la tengo.” – the Spanish equivalent of “I got it.”  The problem appeared solved – that is until a game in which a fly ball was headed for the no-man’s land in short left-center.  Ashburn rushed in, pounded his glove and confidently declared, “Yo la tengo.” As expected, Chacon pulled up. Unfortunately, left fielder Frank Thomas continued charging in, colliding with Ashburn, while the ball fell in between them. As they got to their feet, the story goes, the non-Spanish-speaking Thomas asked “What the *** is Yellow Tango?”, while Mets’ manager Casey Stengel just shook his head in the dugout.  BBRT note:  The story is credited as being the inspiration for the name of the alternative rock band Yo La Tengo – originally established by long-time Mets’ fan Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley.

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