CLYDE KING

Another member of Yankees royalty has passed, this one a King. The man who served Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner as coach, manager, general manager and general repairman, Clyde King has died. A former big league pitcher who swore he once used bubble gum to strike out Willie Mays, King died on Tuesday in North Carolina, the state where he spent most of his 86 years. He had been hospitalized for two weeks.

King's death is the fourth of a high-profile Yankee since mid-July. Steinbrenner, public-address announcer Bob Sheppard and former manager Ralph Houk also died in the interim.

King was the third of three Yankees managers in 1982. He worked the final 62 games after Steinbrenner had dismissed Bob Lemon and Gene Michael. Steinbrenner had King, then the GM, inform Yogi Berra of his dismissal in '85.


Clyde King, as manager of Triple-A Rochester, watches Fidel Castro throw a ceremonial first pitch in 1960. (AP)King served as GM beginning in 1984 and through '86. He coached on the big league level in '78, '81, '82 and '88. He was widely regarded as one of Steinbrenner's often invisible "baseball people" and may have been the primary one when he was without a more specific title.

The Boss considered King a Mr. Fix It, often assigning him to work with troubled young pitchers and occasionally veteran pitchers. Steinbrenner acknowledged that he considered King a manager, GM or pitching coach in waiting.

King pitched for the Dodgers for six seasons in a nine-year sequence, beginning in 1944. He pitched for the Reds in 1953. He produced a 32-25 record in 200 career appearances, 21 of them starts, and his career ERA was 4.14 in 496 innings. Three of King's four complete games came against the Reds. He later coached with the Reds and Pirates.

King also managed the Giants in 1969 and into '70, then the Braves for part of '74 and most of '75. The composite winning percentage of the teams he managed was .505.

King reveled in his experiences managing Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Henry Aaron, Gaylord Perry, Juan Marichal, Phil Niekro, Dave Winfield and Rich Gossage.

"Put my teams together, and we could have won a lot of games," King said, reminiscing in 1994. "I've been around a lot of greats, and I faced a lot of them."

King liked to tell of how he disposed of Mays in 1951 -- Mays' rookie season -- with a breaking ball that befuddled the Giants' center fielder. King swore he stuck a piece of bubble gum to the ball before he threw it and Mays walked from the plate to the dugout shaking his head. However, there is no record of Mays striking out in his five career at-bats against King.

King also said he wore his cap cocked to his left so that a runner on first base would think he was paying close attention to him. Others recalled King using that tactic, but none recalled whether it was effective.

A gentle man with an easy laugh, King was widely regarded as the player who founded the Baseball Chapel.