When doing a search on the available DHs to draft for a progressive league team for 1973, I noticed that the WIS database lists Celerino Sanchez as not having a primary position, which is odd because he was certainly a third baseman. So it is legitimate that we have him in our DH list. But a third baseman he was and as a huge fan of the 1972 Yankees I remember that before we got Graig Nettles, Sanchez, with all his limitations, was one of the most exciting players we had ever seen. (We are talking the late 60s, early 70s Yankees here folks, not earlier or later editions).
For a season, with Sparky Lyle all but carrying an incredibly mediocre team in the late innings nearly every night, and Sanchez getting to everything at third base, and the Yankees in their first pennant race in years, fans at Yankee Stadium inspired by Sanchez' play actually chanted "De-fense...De-fense" as if at a Giants football game.
With Nettles, the championships and Celerino's weak hitting, he was soon back in Mexico and forgotten in Yankees lore and MLB memory. But for a brief moment it was his glove that was second only to Sparky Lyle's slider in defining that season in the Bronx.
Meanwhile, the following year's debacle in the Bronx, and the Mets' "Ya gotta believe" miracle year, also inspired by a reliever, Tug McGraw, soon made NY forget the Yankees' previous season summer run at first as well.
6/5/2012 5:37 AM (edited)