This autograph was obtained with a through the mail request to Phil Linz's home in Connecticut on January 6, 2009. Mr. Linz returned the card 9 days later with a nice black sharpie autograph and a musical note at the end of his name. This was in reference to famous "harmonica incident" that occurred in 1964 while a member of the New York Yankees.
Here is Jim Bouton's, author of "Ball Four", version of the harmonica incident. "On the team bus, after a Yankee loss to the Chicago White Sox, Linz was in the back playing a plaintive version of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on his harmonica. Yankee manager Yogi Berra thought the sad cowboy style mixed with a children's nursery rhyme was mocking the team. He told Linz to pipe down. Linz didn't hear and kept playing. Berra became infuriated and called back from the front of the bus, "If you don't knock that off, I'm going to come back there and kick your ass." Linz couldn't hear the words over the music, so he asked Mickey Mantle, "What he say?" Mantle responded, "He said to play it louder." This led the famous confrontation when Berra stormed to the back of the bus, slapped the harmonica out of Linz' hands, and the instrument hit Joe Pepitone's knee."
Phil Linz played 7 seasons in the major leagues from 1962 to 1968. His career started in 1962 with the New York Yankees, then went to the Phillies in 1966 and finally with the New York Mets in 1967 and 1968. As a backup infielder for his career, Phil Linz hit .235 in 519 games with 322 hits including 11 home runs and 96 runs batted in. He played in two World Series with the Yankees, both losses, in 1963 and 1964. During the 1964 World Series, Phil hit 2 home runs and started all seven games at shortstop, due to an injury to Tony Kubek.
To learn more Phil Linz, go to his biography at wikipedia.org.
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