Yankees reflect on Tom Tresh
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Oct 16, 2008 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
If you didn’t hear the news, Tom Tresh passed away yesterday at the age of 71. Here is some information from the Yankees:
Tresh was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1962, batting .286 with 20 home runs and 93 RBI, helping lead the Yankees to the World Series title. A Yankee from 1961-69, Tresh was a member of three World Championship teams (1962, ’63, ’64), was a three-time All-Star (1962-both games and 1963) and won the Gold Glove in 1965.
The switch-hitter started at shortstop on Opening Day in 1962, a feat that would not be accomplished by another Yankees rookie until Derek Jeter in 1996. He also joined Joe DiMaggio (1936) as the only Yankees rookies to start for the AL squad in an All-Star Game.
The family will hold a memorial service on Sunday. Central Michigan University, where Tresh played college baseball and returned in the off seasons to earn his college degree, will hold a memorial open to the public at 11 a.m. on Friday, October 24, at Theunissen Stadium on campus. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that a donation be made in Tom’s name to the Unity Church of Venice. The address: 125 North Jackson Road, Venice, FL 34292.
Yogi Berra: “Tommy was a great teammate. He did everything well as a ballplayer and was an easy guy to manage. He was a good man and great friend. We’re going to miss him.”
Whitey Ford: “Tom was a great teammate. We all loved him and we’re sorry that we’ve lost him. He will be missed.â€
Joe Pepitone: “This hurts. He was my roommate for six years of my life, my hitting instructor and my best friend. He let me be me, but he was also the guy who kept me in at night. Tommy was a constant in my life and a calming influence. He was always there for me and stuck up for me. He was like my brother. When I had personal issues, he was always the person on the team I would turn to. During some rain delays, he would take out his guitar and we’d sing and dance.â€
Moose Skowron: “He was a heck of a person and a tough ballplayer. He loved people. He’d always ask me why I was riding him so hard, and I told him I made a promise to his father that I’d always keep him in line. And I did.â€
Bob Turley: “Tom was a good friend of mine when we played, but also long after we hung up our spikes. He was a wonderful, happy-go-lucky guy. I don’t think I can ever remember him being mad. When my family held my retirement party in Atlanta back in 2000, he was the only former teammate who came to celebrate with us.â€
1962 both games? There usedan to be 2 all star games?
“Brandon (TEIX IS NOT WORTH IT, GET CC !)…”Don’t trade Robi !”
October 16th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
party at night every night”
from what been said, he already has that part down.
Tom Tresh was one of my Yankee heroes, back in the day, when I started following Yankee baseball. I remember he played SS, OF, and 3B.
I’m trying to find the right words to express my feelings right now, but I can’t. All I know is, I am saddened.
Has Isola even said a word yet?
Yo jump in any time Franky.
from what been said, he already has that part down.
And cut down on that when Melk Man was sent to AAA.
Im looking forward to reading about how the Yankees are players in the Varitek talks.
It’s coming you already can sense it.
wasnt tresh in old timers before r.i.p tresh
Yes. From 1959 to 1962 there were two All-Star Games a year.
…and Tresh only played on ONE World Championship team, not three. He played on three pennant winners. The Yanks lost the 1963 and 1964 World Series.
confused.
Francessa or Terrell Owens. Don’t know who have larger ego.
update
I heard Isola is doing the show today, I think I heard that IDK where he is but I heard he was doing the show today.
Oh god I just realized this is the Tresh thread
R.I.P. Tom
I’ll continue my daily rant on the next thread.
I think I heard Isola mutter 1 word so far
RIP Tresh
Tom Tresh – great member of the early ’60s Yanks, knee injury slowed him in the mid 60s at some point I forget the year.
Yes, there was an experiment for a few years having 2 all-star games. It flopped. Tresh, not unlike Murcer, was billed as the 2nd coming of Mickey Mantle. He had a terrific career start, but the pitchers must have found his weakness because his productivity declined rapidly. Evidently, from the remarks of people who knew him, he was a good guy and a valuable teammate.
Francesa does make a good point about those early 60s Yankees – you still had veteran stars but also key contributions from Tresh, Pepitone etc then Stottlemyre and Bouton come up … you figure the Yanks wouldn’t miss a beat after Yogi and Mantle and Ford with these younger guys sliding right in … but it didn’t work out that way.
I’m very sad about Tom Tresh’s death. I had met him at a College Placement association meeting in 1983 or so. He was an associate college placement director of Central Michigan university at that time. At a cocktail pre dinner get together I walked up to him since his name badge said Tom Tresh. I asked him if he was the real ” Tom Tresh” and he said he was. For the next 1/2 hr- over a few beers- we talked Yankee baseball. What a great treat for me… he was called up in 1961 and was there to witness the whole Maris/ Mantle chase. We spoke about Mickey and Roger. He was the first person I had met who really helped me understand Roger Maris better and why I became so moved about Roger and why we both thought he should be in the Hall of Fame. He said at that time, that Roger was losing hair at the back of his head for all the stress he was going through, people just didn’t understand his attitude- he was not a media guy just a very plain spoken midwestern who wanted his privacy and help his team win. He remained good friends with both Mickey and Roger.
I didn’t keep up a relationship with Tom after that but I’m sorry I didn’t. ( BTW the first time I really knew about Tom Tresh was when he made an appearence with Sonny Fox on a kids show called Wonderama- remember that show?)
Well thought I pass this on since I am saddend by this news. Tom gave me me perhaps one of my greatest thrills and another key reason why I remain a loyal Yankee fan to this day
Loved Tommy Tresh. The Dodgers and Cardinals will be disappointed to learn that the Yankees were World Champions in ’63 and ’64
Artie A,
Thanks for that poignant story. Tommy Tresh was my favorite player in the early 60s – primarily because I was the youngest of three and my older brother & sister had already claimed The Rog and The Mick, respectively. But I always liked Tresh, and thought he flew under the radar a bit.
Thanks
I can recall as a real young being incredibly pumped to peel open a pack of baseball cards and anxiously shuffling the cards to see “who I got” and striking gold with a Tommy Tresh card!
Tommy Tresh was a neighborhood favorite with some of the older kids who experienced his promising early years. The injury (I think it was a knee) really detracted from his development. As he came back from the injury he was treated with Tucker Fredrickson respect (1st round pick of NY Football Giants as a running back out of Auburn?? who blew his knee out).
Everybody loved the idea of Tresh coming back and reaching his potential…although it didn’t happen…he was treated the same as a young and upcoming players like Bobby Murcer and Thurman Munson.
Many a Yankee Fan was bumbed that he was traded to the Tigers…I’m sure that generation of fans is giving Tommy a tip of the cap and a prayer in his name. God Bless him.
Artie, great story.
Apart from Mickey, he was my favorite. I always felt bad for him that his career went down, along with the team’s during the 60’s. I often wondered why. It seemed that he took on the pressure of trying to compensate for the decline. Then the knee injury (I think ’67) and he was done. They didn’t fix knees very well in those days. He could do everything – hit, field, run. Seemed to have a lot of class. And a big game player. But it seems that the load of trying to carry the team in Mantle’s declining years was too much for him. I always wondered what he thought about it in retrospect.
It’s funny with the last game at the Stadium, I was thinking of him lately and wondering what he was up to.