Hoyt Wilhelm interview
Date1988 February 26
DescriptionTwo audio cassettes featuring an interview with Hoyt Wilhelm conducted by Rod Roberts on the behalf of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on February 26, 1988 in Sarasota, Florida.
Object numberHF-1994-0001-024
Interviewer
Roberts, Rod
Interviewee
Wilhelm, Hoyt, 1922-2002
Subject
Wilhelm, Hoyt, 1922-2002
Classificationsaudio/visual materials
Collection NumberBA RMA 001 Rod Roberts oral history collection
Library Call NumberCTA 796
Library Call NumberCTA 797
Dimensions2 audio cassettes
TrannscriptionCassette 1 Side OneTrack 1 - Born in Huntersville, NC just outside of Charlotte, July 26, 1922; one of 11 children, had three brothers and seven sisters, he was in the middle, one older brother, none of them were ballplayers, father worked in a textile mill and farmed; grew up on a farm, started playing ball in high school, his first professional ball was 1941-42; he went into the service in 1942, came out in '47 and started playing again; pitched in high school, played outfield, third base; not a very hard thrower in high school; started messing with a knuckleball in high school, signed with an independent club in Mooresville, N.C. as a pitcher, was successful right away (00:00:00 to 00:03:17) Track 2 - Was in professional ball for just a year when World War II started, he served three years in Europe, in the Infantry; didn't play ball in the service; he got out in '46 and went back to Mooresville, a class C team NC State League; they sold him to the Boston Braves and then the Giants drafted him that winter, so he never actually played for the Braves; for the Giants he went to Knoxville, TN, in a Class B team in the Tri-State League; he didn't get any money for the deal (00:03:17 to 00:05:04) Track 3 - Came to the Major Leagues in 1952 for the Giants, with Leo Durocher as manager (interviewer talks about Durocher wanting to get into the Hall of Fame and knowing baseball) Wilhelm got along with Durocher; a lot of young players in those days, and he got along well with young players; Willie Mays had come up the year before; in those years, he had the knack of getting the most out of a player, managing 25 different guys, 25 different personalities (00:05:04 to 00:07:12) Track 4 - On 1952 Giants in the race for the pennant, a good ball club; good pitchers, Sal Magli, Larry Jansen, Jim Hearn (00:07:12 to 00:08:00) Track 5 - Wilhelm gets some water, clears throat (00:08:00 to 00:08:38) Track 6 - On Magli, very tough, great competitor (00:08:38 to 00:09:00) Track 7 - Wilhelm was a German name; mother's maiden name was Stanley; doesn't know where the name Hoyt came (00:09:00 to 00:09:57) Track 8 - On Max Lanier and Magli going down to Mexico, they were happy to get back to the U.S. and play baseball, didn't talk about it too much; Mays going in the service that year (00:09:57 to 00:11:57) Track 9 - On moving up to the Major League, had played in the Minors for 7-8 years, thought he would never get a chance at the Majors; he felt that he could have pitched in the big leagues for five years earlier, he had good years in the Minor Leagues; he pitched the same when he got to the Major Leagues, no difference in pitching or his style; he had the knuckleball (00:11:57 to 00:13:26) Track 10 - On teaching himself the knuckleball, pitching with the front two fingers, never really know what it's going to do; get the spin off the ball, the wind resistance on the seams is what makes it break, seams are never in the same place, and the wind is always different, so it always changes, most of his broke down and away from the right=hand hitter; adjust for the wind like a curveball pitcher; cold, wind and weather tough to pitch in; knuckleball was a problem for catchers until they got a bigger mitt; catchers know to keep the ball in front of them; always threw the knuckleball when he could, 75-95% of the pitches he made; easier on the arm than hard sliders and curveballs; he threw it as hard as he could, but changed speeds a lot, it breaks throwing easy and breaks throwing hard (00:13:26 to 00:16:53) Track 11 - His first year, he went 15-3, a good rookie year; got a raise in the middle of the season from the minimum $7,000; then got a raise the next year (0:16:53 to 00:17:55) Track 12 - On the Giants winning the pennant in '51, but not in '52, some disappointment among the players who had been there before, but that is hard to repeat; in '53, the club really went down, he had a bad year; Ruben Gomez was 13-11, most wins on the club; they had a bad year all the way around (00:17:55 to 00:19:16) Track 13 - (Interviewer talks about Alvin Dark) Dark was a hard-nosed player, but a good player, not like Durocher; Dark was a born-again Christian (00:19:16 to 00:20:31) Track 14 - On Bobby Thomson, his famous swing ("shot heard round the world") made him a better ballplayer; breaking his ankle really hurt him, he couldn't run as well as before (00:20:31 to 00:21:42) Track 15 - On going from a small town in the South to NYC, but he lived in a town about 15-20 miles north of the City, so he didn't have any big problems; it was a big city, but he was just playing baseball, after the game went back to Ardsley/Dobbs Ferry, a quiet area back then; always took his family with him; his kids went to three different schools every year; went to school at home, then took them to Florida for spring training, then in school in the town where he was playing, good for the kids because they got to meet different people in different sections of the country; most important thing in raising kids is that they are with their parents wherever they are; a lot of players live in the towns where they play, but he always enjoyed going back home in the fall (00:21:42 to 00:25:16) Track 16 - Sometimes he worked at odd jobs in the off season, he did a lot of hunting and walking, he never believed that he needed to mess with a baseball until spring training; never did anything extra before spring training; always took him about two weeks in spring training to get in shape; today they have programs all year round, changing times; sometimes looks like they have more injuries; he now works for the Yankees as a Minor League pitching instructor, everyone striving to prevent injuries, but can't see what the answer is, doesn't seem like conditioning makes that much difference, there are still injuries; leaving for spring training in a week (00:25:16 to 00:28:12) Track 17 - On never really having a sore arm, only got twinges in later years; people get sore arms today, because young pitchers don't throw enough to get their arms ready; if training a racehorse to run a mile race, and only race him a quarter-mile, he'll pull something when he tries to run a mile; Wilhelm threw every day (tape runs out) (00:28:12 to 00:29:37) Cassette 1 Side Two Track 1 - (picks up in the middle of sentence) On money in the big leagues the same one place as another, so he didn't mind being traded (00:00:00 to 00:00:14) Track 2 - On going to St. Louis, not performing well, being traded at the end of the season to Cleveland; could have helped St. Louis win the pennant that year if he had been able to perform (00:00:14 to 00:01:11) Track 3 - On getting along with Freddie Hutchinson, a good manager and fair man (00:01:11 to 0:01:28) Track 4 - On Stan Musial, nice man; Alvin Dark being an infielder; Del Ennis in the outfield; Vinegar Bend Mizell, pitcher; also Lindy McDaniel and Von McDaniel, pitchers on the club (00:01:28 to 00:04:05) Track 5 - Going to Cleveland at the end of the season, Ray Narleski being able to score (00:04:05 to 00:05:00) Track 6 - On switching Leagues, no problem going from one to the other; didn't see that much difference, hear a lot of talk about differences in the strike zone, but he didn't notice it; today, they teach pitchers to keep the ball down around the knees, but being a knuckleball pitcher, he always pitched higher in the strike zone, because the ball broke down; plus, if a hitter sees a pitch up, they want to swing at it (00:05:00 to 00:07:50) Track 7 - On teaching young pitchers to keep the ball down, so the hitter can't get under the ball and drive it; no changes in the strike zone today; different umpires have different strike zones, but overall the same; doesn't teach the knuckleball, have to be born with the knack of throwing it; a lot of pitchers today can't throw hard, and so they have to look at pitchers with a good fastball and learn to pitch a breaking ball and change-up; the hitters have some advantages today; they have helmets with a flap on it, as opposed to worrying about getting hit in the head with nothing but a cloth cap on your head; odds of a hitter getting seriously injured have been greatly reduced, so they stay in the box a bit more (00:07:50 to 00:12:45) Track 8 - On the split-fingered fastball, similar to the old forkball, a great pitch if you can throw it; a forkball is not thrown hard, but a split-fingered fastball is thrown hard and breaks straight down because of over-spin; very hard to do; try to teach it to kids, not everyone can do it, possibly why (Bruce) Sutter hurt his arm (00:12:45 to 00:14:29) Track 9 - On a knuckle-curve, (Burt) Hooten threw it, it is based on the way you hold the ball, with fingers up so they can flip it to get straight down rotation, an unorthodox pitch and hard to do (00:14:29 to 00:15:39) Track 10 - On a screwball, easy to throw if you work at it, just turn the ball differently to get an opposite spin from a curveball; some pitchers use a screwball for a change-up (00:15:39 to 00:16:32) Track 11 - On pitchers falling through the cracks today because not everyone can throw hard, have to be able to make the ball do something, the jug gun can be a tool, but shouldn't be the defining factor; he threw 70 mph and still got people out; people like Nolan Ryan and Goose Gossage have a great arm, but not everyone has that; look for pitchers who can do something with the ball; when a pitcher makes it to professional ball, they have a little more time to evaluate their performance; hard to know if a young player can make it in the big leagues (00:16:32 to 00:20:57) Track 12 - On Dick Wakefield, never really living up to his potential, hard to tell about baseball players, unlike baseball; scouting is a tough job, back in the day, a scout could bid on a player and get them; not the same today because of the draft; if you take the top two to three players off of every high school team, and also take the second tier two or three, the ones who wind up making it are from the second tier, a lot of high school teams don't have a lot of pitchers, same with college, hitting is similar, and the aluminum bats make a big difference, the ball jumps off aluminum better than wood (00:20:57 to 00:26:33) Track 13 - On greatest defensive play, most talked about was Willie Mays catch in the World Series; that ball wasn't the toughest catch Mays ever made, he made a lot of tougher plays; saw him in Brooklyn one time, he dove in right-center field, caught a line drive, slid on his stomach, the guy was tagged up at third and Mays jumped up and threw him out at home; so many great defensive plays, hard to remember them all (interviewer talks about Griffey's catch on the wall) Mays had a very accurate and great arm; on playing in San Francisco hurting Mays' career; hurt everyone's career, the wind was brutal there, and it was demoralizing to play out there (tape runs out) (00:26:33 to 00:29:50) Cassette 2 Side OneTrack 1 - (Picks up in mid-sentence) On rookie league, short season (00:00:00 to 00:00:39) Track 2 - On having a pitching coach with every Minor League team, better than having someone travel from team to team; on managing in the Minor Leagues all by himself; the Yankee organization has a manager, a pitching coach and another coach for every Minor League team (00:00:39 to 00:01:34) Track 3 - Wrapping up, talking to wife (00:01:34 to 00:01:56.5)" Public Access NotePlease note that not all works are on view at all times - their availability is subject to change per the discretion of the Museum staff. 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