Oct. 22, 1963 - Ralph Houk, the manager who led the Yankees to three baseball pennants and two world championships in three years, has given up the job to move into the front office as general manager. The expectation is that Lawrence Peter (Yogi) Berra, the long-time catching star of the Yankees, will be named to succeed Houk as field manager of the American League champions. Berra was player-coach last season. The 44-year-old Houk, a hard-bitten World War II hero, succeeds Roy Hamey, who will remain with the Yankees in a less active role. Hamey underwent a serious operation last year and has not been in the best of health. Houk’s promotion to the team’s highest command post was announced today by Daniel Topping, co-owner of the Yankees with Del Webb. The announcement was made at a news conference in the Savoy-Hilton Hotel. Explaining his sudden retirement as an active manager at a relatively young age and after three years of virtually unmitigated success, Houk said: “Yes, it’s always hard for any real baseball man to give up that uniform. But when I thought about it, there was just no way I could turn down this job. Such opportunities don’t come very often. Not only does it offer a challenge that I relish but I’ll also be frank to say I like the idea of the added security. It seems to me you hear more about managers being fired than general managers. I just hope I can be as helpful to our new manager as Roy has been to me.” Houk wouldn’t say how much he’ll be paid in his bigger assignment, but he does admit it is a lot. “I’m making plenty,” he grinned. “The kids will be able to eat all they want.” The wheels started turning toward Houk’s leaving the field of battle one rainy afternoon during the 1962 World Series in San Francisco. Hamey approached his manager with the idea. “It came as an awful shock,” Houk recalled. “I thought I had reached my top in the organization as manager.” At that time, Houk was just completing his second year as field boss. The fact that Houk was offered the general manager job so long ago should dispel a few rumors that he is being moved up as the result of the ’63 World Series. “As you can see,” Topping pointed out today, “this has been in the works for a long time. Nothing that occurred during the last regular season and in the World Series made any difference.” In fact, Houk worked all season as manager, knowing he would move up. It was so agreed last February at the Yankee camp in Fort Lauderdale, at a meeting of Topping, Hamey, and Houk.
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