title: That's What Friends Are For

text: On March 17, 1990, an AIDS benefit titled "That's What Friends Are For: Arista Records 15th Anniversary Concert" was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. One month later, CBS aired a two-hour version of the concert on television. The celebrity guests and Arista label performers were: Air Supply, Lauren Bacall, Burt Bacharach, Eric Carmen, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Clive Davis, Taylor Dayne, Michael Douglas, Exposé, Whoopi Goldberg, Melanie Griffith, Hall & Oates, Jennifer Holliday, Whitney Houston, Alan Jackson, Kenny G, Melissa Manchester, Barry Manilow, Milli Vanilli, Jeffrey Osborne, Carly Simon, Patti Smith, Lisa Stansfield, The Four Tops, and Dionne Warwick. "That's What Friends Are For" was the finale song sung by Warwick and cousin Houston before being joined on the stage by the other guests of the event. Over $2.5 million was raised that night for the Arista Foundation which gave the proceeds to various AIDS organizations.


title: Audi S5

text: The Audi S5 is one of two high-performance variants of Audi's A5. It is also the coupé, cabriolet, and five-door fastback sedan versions of the fourth-generation (B8) Audi S4 saloon and estate models.


title: Audi S5

text: Like all Audi "S" cars, they are only available with Audi's quattro four-wheel drive (4WD) system, here in S5 using a Torsen-based centre diff system.


title: Audi S5

text: Most versions of the S5 are manufactured at Audi's plant in Ingolstadt, Germany; they are available as a coupé, cabriolet, and five-door sportback, which was previously not available in North America until the 2018 model year, which was released in the United States in mid 2017. The cabriolets are built at Audi's factory in Neckarsulm, Germany.


title: Audi S5

text: The Audi S5 was released in coupé form to the public at the same time as the A5. The Audi S5 Sportback was unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, and went on sale in the spring of 2010 with a MSRP of €57,900.


title: Audi S5

text: The Audi S5, in comparison to the A5, features a more aggressive body style (typical design for Audi S and RS models) which consists of side skirts, bigger air inlets on the front bumper and a dual-quad tip exhaust. The S5 includes a string of LED daytime running lights around the bi-Xenon headlamps and a vertically striped chrome grille. In many markets, the S5 includes as standard 19" alloy wheels with a five-parallel spoke design, larger brakes, heated leather sport bucket seats, and other convenience features, some of which are available only as an option on the A5. Changes for 2010 model year included LED tail lamps, the introduction of Premium Plus and Prestige trim levels and new optional equipment such as leather/Alcantara seats.


title: Audi S5

text: Despite sharing the same nameplate, the powertrains were different between the coupé and the Cabriolet/Sportback for the 2010–2012 model years. The 2007–2012 Audi S5 coupé had a 4.2-litre Fuel Stratified Injection (FSI) V8 engine that produced , while the S5 Cabriolet and Sportback have a supercharged 3.0-litre TFSI V6 engine producing which was shared with the 2010 Audi S4 3.0 TFSI quattro sedan and avant. The coupé had a choice of either a 6-speed manual or 6-speed Tiptronic, while the Cabriolet/Sportback have the 7-speed S-tronic dual-clutch transmission. Despite minor differences in peak power output, both the V8 and the supercharged V6 provide very similar performance.


title: Audi S5

text: The (B8.5/8.5T or Facelift) Audi S5 went through a mid-generational refresh alongside the standard Audi A5. There are front-end changes, including a complete redesign of the headlights – this means new LED DRL's, a brand-new grille loosely based on the 2012 Audi A6 grille and new fog lamps. Audi has also introduced a new rear diffuser that appears to be more cosmetic than the one found on previous models and updated LED tail light design.


title: Audi S5

text: Instead of the 4.2 FSI V8 engine producing , the facelifted S5 Coupé is powered by a 3.0-litre supercharged V6 TFSI engine producing , the latter which had been used in the S5 Cabriolet and S4 Sedan/Avant since the 2010 model year. The other major change under the bonnet is the introduction of stop-start technology for better fuel efficiency. Audi claims an average fuel economy of (compared to the current in the V8 coupe and in the Cabriolet).


title: Audi S5

text: Inside, the S5 receives some new features. Dials in the center console get the chrome treatment along with the edges of the buttons for the windows, 4 Audi MMI control buttons and Audi's 3G+ MMI which has a slightly refreshed interface and now features Google Earth maps. Audi has brought the shift knob from the RS5 to the S5. There is a shift from having four buttons down each side of the console, to just two with the addition of a Menu and Car buttons below the MMI control dial (Audi has removed the skip forward / backward buttons that previously occupied the space on either side of the back button). Lastly, a flat-bottom steering wheel style will have a new circular airbag cover as well as piano black trim.


title: Audi S5

text: The Audi S5 (B9) is an all-wheel drive coupé, sportback, & cabriolet built by Audi from late 2017, after its unveiling in June 2016. Its sportback trim adds rear doors and a hatchback rear. It is part of the second generation model line following on from the Audi S5 (B8) that had been in production since 2007.


title: Audi S5

text: As part of the refresh, the new S5 has undergone some major front and rear end changes, including a drop in weight to (Coupé) and a complete redesign of the headlights and bonnet, LED front and rear lighting, sharper body lines, and a new larger one piece grille. There are also a number of optional safety options available such as drive assist and head up display. Inside, the S5 also receives some new features. A redesigned dashboard and centre console, updated tablet style 8" Audi MMI, Virtual Cockpit (optional), and features Google Earth maps and Apple CarPlay. The new Audi S5 also has new electrically adjustable front heated seats with cross stitching, and has an optional flat-bottom steering wheel style with circular airbag cover as well as a variety of trim options.


title: Audi S5

text: Fitted with a completely new and more powerful 3-litre V6 petrol engine, the S5 has direct injection as well as a twin-scroll turbocharger to reduce both weight, and cost. The turbocharger is mounted within the engine V and as a result has reduced turbo lag response times. The quattro all-wheel drive system receives power through a locking centre differential that splits torque sent to the wheels at 40% to the front and 60% to the rear. The system can also divert up to 70% to the front or up to 85% to the rear. time is around 4.4 seconds (coupé) & 4.5 seconds (sportback), with a limited top speed of , although tests have shown times closer to 4 seconds.


title: Audi S5

text: In 2019, Audi introduced a new facelifted version of the B9. In Europe, the new 2019 S5 was only made available with a diesel V6 TDI engine.


title: Flag of Nigeria

text: Work toward freedom led to the formation of a national planning committee, which in 1958 named for a competition to choose a national flag. Thousands of designs were submitted, but the flag of equivalent green-white-green flat stripes, green stood for farming and white for unity and peace was chosen. The flag of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was designed in 1959 and first officially hoisted on 1 October 1960.


title: Flag of Nigeria

text: The flag is an adaptation of the winning entry from Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi in a competition held in 1959. Akinkunmi was a 23-year-old student at the time he designed the flag. He was studying at Norwood Technical College in London, England, when he saw an advertisement in a newspaper that submissions were being accepted for the design of a new national flag of Nigeria. He submitted a triband design consisting of a white vertical band in the center, with a green vertical band on each side. The design also contained a radiating red sun in the white vertical center of the flag. He won the contest, however the judges removed the red sun, leaving only a green and white triband design for the national flag. It is typical for culturally diverse countries such as Nigeria to choose simpler and less complex flag designs in order to avoid inadvertently offending particular ethnic or religious groups. The flag has remained unchanged ever since then. It was first officially used on 1 October 1960, the day Nigeria was granted independence from the United Kingdom.


title: Scottie Thompson

text: Susan Scott "Scottie" Thompson (born November 9, 1981) is an American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known as "Jeanne Benoit" in "NCIS".


title: Scottie Thompson

text: Thompson grew up in Richmond, Virginia, where she attended Collegiate School. From an early age, she began to learn ballet, jazz, and modern dance. She danced with the Richmond Ballet for many years, took a year off after graduating to dance with the company, and then went on to study for a degree in performance studies and literature at Harvard University. Thompson started dancing with the Harvard Ballet Company and acted in many theater productions. She was the publicity manager for the Hasty Pudding Theatricals in 2003, worked for Let's Go Travel Guides, and was credited as associate editor for the travel book "Let's Go: Vietnam". Thompson graduated in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in performance studies and literature, focusing on French and postcolonial works.


title: Scottie Thompson

text: After graduating, Thompson landed her first role in the television show "Brotherhood" (2006) opposite Jason Isaacs. She then guest-starred in several television shows before landing a recurring role on the CBS show "NCIS" (2006–2007) as Dr. Jeanne Benoit, the girlfriend of Tony DiNozzo (played by Michael Weatherly) and the daughter of Rene Benoit (played by Armand Assante). She appeared regularly throughout season four and left the show in early season five (she reappeared later that season in the episode "Internal Affairs"). She then filmed the independent movie "Pornstar" (2008), co-starring Matthew Gray Gubler of "Criminal Minds", and made guest appearances on "Shark" (2007), "" (2007), and "Eli Stone" (2008).


title: Scottie Thompson

text: In 2008, Thompson appeared in the video for Counting Crows' single "You Can't Count on Me". She also had a small part in J. J. Abrams "Star Trek". In February 2010, Thompson was cast in the Brothers Strause alien-apocalypse film "Skyline", which was released in November of that year. She also appears in the Bon Jovi music video "What Do You Got?".


title: Scottie Thompson

text: In 2013, she was cast as Lauren Kincade in the USA Network TV series "Graceland". In 2015, she returned to "NCIS" as Dr. Jeanne Benoit.


title: Omnichannel

text: Omnichannel is a neologism describing a business strategy. According to "Frost & Sullivan", omnichannel is defined as "seamless and effortless, high-quality customer experiences that occur within and between contact channels".


title: Omnichannel

text: "Omnis" is Latin for "every/all" and here suggests the integration of all physical channels (offline) and digital channels (online) to offer a unified customer experience.


title: Omnichannel

text: The effort to unify channels has a long history across all market sectors. Efforts like single-source publishing and responsive web design, however, were usually focused on internal efficiencies, formatting consistency, and simple de-duplication across channels. As the number of channels proliferated, the potential for disjointed experience when switching or working with multiple channels increased. Channels like mobile devices, the mobile web, mobile apps, contextual help, augmented reality, virtual reality, and chatbots are used in addition to traditional physical and human interaction channels. This creates a complex matrix of possible ways an individual can engage an organization and its offerings or complete a task.


title: Omnichannel

text: Retail, until the early 1990s, was either a physical brick and mortar store or catalog sales where an order was placed by mail or via telephone. Sale by mail order dates back to when British entrepreneur Pryce Pryce-Jones set up the first modern mail order in 1861, selling Welsh flannel. Catalog sales for an assortment of general goods started in the late 1800s when Sears & Roebuck issued its first catalog in 1896. In the early 1900s, L.L. Bean started its catalog business in United States.


title: Omnichannel

text: AOL, CompuServe and Prodigy experimented with selling through their proprietary online services in the early 1990s. These companies started sales channel expansion, while general merchants had evolved to department stores and Big-box store electronic ordering. In August 1994, NetMarket processed the first Internet sale where the credit card was encrypted. Shortly thereafter, Amazon.com was founded and the eCommerce sales channel was established. Mobile commerce arrived in 1997, and multichannel retailing really took off.


title: Omnichannel

text: Omnichannel's origins date back to Best Buy's use of customer centricity to compete with Walmart's electronic department in 2003. The company created an approach that centered around the customer both in-store and online, while providing post-sales support. Omnichannel was coined as a form of "assembled commerce" and spread into the healthcare and financial services industries.


title: Omnichannel

text: Omnichannel banking developed in response to the popularity of digital banking transactions through ATMs, the web, and mobile applications. The most popular parts of omnichannel banking include 'zero drop rate' channel integration, individualizing channels for customers and marketing other channel options. Banks receive in-depth research about customers to build relationships and increase profitability.


title: Omnichannel

text: In 2009, the omnichannel platform started to be used in governments through Twitter interaction. Governments are developing web and mobile-enabled interfaces to improve and personalize the citizen experience. The United States government digital strategy includes information and customer-centric shared platforms that provide security and privacy. Omnichannel is used to communicate with citizens through the platform of their choice at their convenience and use feedback to analyze the citizen experience to better serve.


title: Omnichannel

text: Due to fragmentation between health providers, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and patients, omnichannel is developing to improve the customer experience in the healthcare industry. Omnichannel healthcare focuses on integrating data, technology, content and communication, while coordinating patient's results through digital channels. In September 2015, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center received media attention for its customer service technology, which was integrated in 2009. The UPMC Health Plan uses an omnichannel system to improve customer engagement and contact resolution.


title: Omnichannel

text: Omnichannel retail strategies are an expansion of what previously was known as multichannel retailing. The emergence of digital technologies, social media and mobile devices has led to the significant changes in the retail environment and provide opportunities for the retailers to redesign their marketing and product strategies. One of the challenges that retailers are facing as a result of increased channels, is to provide a personalised experience for customers. Put differently, in retailing omnichannel marketing has come to be understood as "hyperpersonalization". Another challenge is to track users behaviors both online and in the brick and mortar stores, an option that is being made available by using AI platforms. In omnichannel retailing, one main backend handles all the customer data whether on Web, mobile or a brick and mortar store.


title: Omnichannel

text: Customers tend to be looking for information in the physical store and at the same time they are getting additional information from their mobile devices about offers and possibly better prices. Omnichannel allows organizations to allocate inventory availability and visibility across locations vs. each channel holding specific units. A number of features, like size charts, easy return policy and same-day delivery, have boosted ecommerce and promoted omnichannel shopping.


title: Omnichannel

text: An omnichannel retailer has traditional methods of mass advertising integrated with emerging interactive channels. Websites, email offers, social media messaging and physical stores all show the same messages, offers, and products. The omnichannel concept not only extends the range of channels, but also incorporates the needs, communications and interactions between customer, brand and retailers.


title: Omnichannel

text: Omnichannel has overtaken multichannel specifically in the contact center. Businesses that maintain contact centers have been encouraged to add an increasing number of channels through which customers can interact with the business, including email, chat, SMS, and social media. Omnichannel contact centers offer customers the same experience across all channels, while providing customer service agents a simpler interface and richer set of data.


title: Omnichannel

text: Although omnichannel is said to be dictated by systems and processes, it is the customer who dictates how a transaction occurs. Systems and processes facilitate the customer journey to transact and be served. Omnichannel is moving toward increased personalization based on analytics to make the customer experience more seamless. According to an MIT report, omnichannel "is the central force shaping the future of e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores alike."


title: Omnichannel

text: The major difference between omnichannel and multichannel is the level of integration. Multichannel is usually identified as a non-integrated way to approach customers and inventory holdings, while omnichannel requires coherent and absolute inventory integration. More and more organizations have realized the opportunities and advantages of integrating multiple channels by adopting an omnichannel approach. The boundaries between channels tend to vanish in an omnichannel environment, giving the customer a consistent brand experience.


title: Omnichannel

text: The major difference between omnichannel and omni-digital is the focus given to the strategy. With omnichannel, the company focuses on delivering the right content, on the right set of channels, at the right moment, to provide the most value to the user. With omni-digital, the company focuses on providing a consistent customer experience throughout everything digital, regardless of the channel used. The channel becomes secondary and the customer experience is the main focus. For example: If a member created their membership in a physical store, they can enjoy the same member benefits in the online store of the company without boundaries.


title: Omnichannel

text: In the omnichannel world, display advertising, search engines, social media, referral websites, e-mail and mobile marketing can be considered independent channels, as each can promote one-way or two-way communication. Retailers need to find ways to integrate their online and offline channels to avoid segregated campaigns. Proceed with the expectation that shoppers will swap across channels and devices, and keep promotions, messaging and language consistent across all channels and customer touch points.


title: Omnichannel

text: To adapt on the omnichannel concept, customer behaviours needs to be understood by the retailers. Specifically, elements that might drive the customer to make purchase decision; and customer's paths to purchase, which relate to their lifestyle, time committed to the purchase and the distance to the retail store. Using an omnichannel marketing approach, retailers can provide precisely targeted incentives through digital and mobile promotions.


title: Omnichannel

text: Omnichannel solutions also allow brands and companies to tighten supplier controls and optimise their product inventory across numerous sales channels, ensuring that the optimum stock levels are situated in each location and the channels are kept up to date with stock information.


title: Omnichannel

text: Omnichannel means having a uniform customer experience. A simple example is that the design of the website should remain consistent with the mobile app and should also match branded physical environments. Consumers can shop the same way through in-store, website, and mobile. Regardless of the customers’ location and time. The order can either be delivered to the address directly, collected at the store, or collect from a retail partner. In the United States, retailers and brands are commonly selling online and offline. Online channels include branded webstores, marketplaces like: Amazon, eBay, Jet.com, Walmart.com and social channels like: Facebook, Google Shopping and Google Express. To ensure omnichannel and multichannel retail strategies are controlled and implemented efficiently, brands and retailers use software to centrally manage product information, listings, inventory and orders from vendors.


title: Sakura Haruno

text: Sakura has become the series' female lead, although she was not immediately intended for the role. Kishimoto had difficulty drawing her character, resulting in Kishimoto inadvertently emphasizing certain parts of her appearance, including her large forehead. In order to make the character more appealing in the second part of the series, Kishimoto designed her costume in a way that makes her look more like a martial artist as well as more beautiful during later chapters. Chie Nakamura voices the character in the animated adaptations of the series, while Kate Higgins plays her in the English dub.


title: Sakura Haruno

text: Numerous anime and manga publications have praised and criticized Sakura's character. She was initially noted to be a stereotypical shōnen character, representing a love interest for the protagonist, and was said to serve little purpose at the beginning of the series beyond being comic relief. Her emergence from this stereotype as the series progressed has been celebrated by many reviewers. Amongst the "Naruto" reader base, Sakura has been popular, placing high in some polls. Several pieces of merchandise have been released in Sakura's likeness, such as action figures and key chains.


title: Sakura Haruno

text: Although Sakura Haruno is the most recurring female character in "Naruto", Masashi Kishimoto did not originally intend for Sakura to be the heroine of the series. Kishimoto attributed this to him being unable to draw good heroine characters and fashioned Sakura as a girl who could not understand men, the best example of a heroine he could come up with. Sakura's creation is a result of Kishimoto's desire to make a somewhat irritating character who was well-intentioned. Despite these elements, Kishimoto is fond of Sakura, as he feels that many of her personality traits are common among all people, thus giving her a sense of real humanity. When asked in an interview if there was something about Sakura's background that had not been revealed, Kishimoto explained that he had never thought of that as Sakura is a "normal girl". Kishimoto has often been asked by readers about why he did not show Sakura's parents until the film "". In response, he said this would not be entertaining as Sakura did not belong to any clan unlike other characters so her parents were civilians.


title: Sakura Haruno

text: When designing Sakura, Kishimoto focused on her silhouette and created a costume as simple as possible. This is a divergence from the other main characters of the series, whose costumes are very detailed. The leggings are the most notable aspect of her design, as they are meant to show that she is very active. At the start of the series, her leggings extended below her knees and closely resembled trousers. As Part I progressed, the leggings became increasingly shorter and tighter. Similar to his inexperience in drawing heroines, Kishimoto lacked the experience needed to make Sakura "cute" when he first began drawing her; although he implied that her appearance had become cuter since then, Kishimoto and much of the "Naruto" manga staff agreed that Sakura had been "far from cute" at the start of the series. In retrospective, he found Sakura one of the hardest characters to draw, alongside Sasuke Uchiha. Kishimoto first planned Sasuke and Sakura's romance in the early production of "Naruto". In regards to Sakura's feelings for Sasuke, Kishimoto tried to write them as realistic as possible but ended up getting complaints from young girls about her.


title: Sakura Haruno

text: Sakura's most well-known physical characteristic is her broad forehead. Consequently, because of this Kishimoto at times focuses too much on drawing it in scenes or promotional artwork where Sakura is featured prominently. This results in her forehead appearing too large. When designing Sakura in her Part II appearance, Kishimoto decided to change her clothes to a more lively karate suit style. The upper part, though, still had a Chinaesque feeling to it, so as to make her more feminine. During Part II's last story arc, Kishimoto tried making Sakura look more beautiful, most notably when she joins Naruto and Sasuke in the final fight against the creature Ten-Tails. Due to Sakura having little popularity within readers, Kishimoto decided that Hinata Hyuga, whom he acknowledged had more popularity, would take a more active role and become a heroine. Despite deciding that Naruto and Hinata would end up together since the early stages of the manga, Kishimoto thought it would be interesting to throw Sakura in the middle to form "a messy love triangle." Nevertheless, Kishimoto said romance was not what he wanted his series to focus on. In the middle of the manga's final arc, Sakura is given a love letter. The real reasons for this is that Kishimoto wanted to give the anime studio material to create animated only episodes.


title: Sakura Haruno

text: In the animated versions of "Naruto", Sakura was voiced by Chie Nakamura. Early in the first series, the actors were told by Kishimoto that Sakura would end up marrying Sasuke. Nonetheless, most of them started having doubts as during the first anime, Sasuke abandoned his teammates. As a result, by the second series, Nakamura was often asked by other people if her character would instead end up with Naruto. When Sakura married Sasuke in the end, Nakamura was happy because Sakura stayed true to her feelings. In an interview, Kate Higgins, who does the voice acting for Sakura in the English dub, remarked the development of Sakura in the series, stating that she turned into a more complex character as she became more sensitive and caring.


title: Sakura Haruno

text: Sakura is a young ninja who is a part of Team 7 alongside Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha under the leadership of their "sensei" Kakashi Hatake. Within Sakura resides "Inner Sakura", a manifestation of her inner emotions; in addition to comic relief, Inner Sakura represents Sakura's actual opinion on things when she outwardly displays something opposite. As Sakura has a deep infatuation for Sasuke, many of her earlier appearances are dedicated to her continued effort to win his affection. She accompanies the rest of Team 7 during all of its early missions, though she does little to contribute to the battles that take place. Sakura lacks any unique traits that would set her apart from the rest of Team 7, although Kakashi notes that she has an excellent control over her chakra early in Part I. As a result, Sakura stays on the sidelines, content in allowing her teammates to protect her and defeat their opponents. During the Chunin Exams, when the rest of Team 7 is left in need of her protection, Sakura realizes that relying on others to fight her battles has been unwise. She resolves to better her ninja abilities from that point further, and she takes a more active role in Team 7's battles throughout the rest of the series. After Sasuke's defection from Konohagakure at the end of Part I, Naruto's failure to bring him back, and Sakura's inability to help either of them, she becomes Tsunade's apprentice so that she can do more for her teammates in the future. Since then, Sakura makes it her personal goal to bring Sasuke home.


title: Sakura Haruno

text: After training under Tsunade for two-and-a-half years, Sakura acquires the ability to heal wounds, becoming one of the most experienced medical ninjas. In order to secure her survival to heal others, Sakura also develops superhuman strength by building up chakra in her fists; by storing a vast amount of Chakra in her body over 3 years, she awakens the Byakugō Seal, a jutsu considered to be the pinnacle of chakra control. Thanks to this, Sakura joins Team 7 as a medical ninja to save their ally Gaara from the criminal group Akatsuki. With help from the elder Chiyo, Sakura defeats the Akatsuki member Sasori, who gives her hints of Sasuke's whereabouts. The new member of Team 7, Sai, uses his intelligence to track Sasuke down, but once again they are unable to prevent him from escaping. While disappointed in their failure, Team 7 tries once again to find Sasuke, although after almost apprehending him they lose his trail and are forced to return home. As they search for Sasuke, Sakura learns of the various hardships Naruto faces because of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox creature sealed inside him, which is being pursued by the Akatsuki. Saddened by the impact both forces have had on his life, Sakura becomes protective of Naruto and tries to do whatever she can to help him overcome these obstacles. Sakura later resolves to kill Sasuke after understanding he is becoming a menace to the villages. However, when she fails to do it, Naruto decides to settle things with Sasuke himself. When a war against the remaining Akatsuki is announced, Sakura participates as a medical ninja. She later moves to the fighting side when the Ten-Tails creature is released, and she battles it alongside Naruto and Sasuke. After Sasuke is pardoned for his crimes, Sakura sees him off as he decides to travel the world in search for redemption and shows signs that he finally accepts her feelings for him; he pokes her forehead and thanks her right before his departure. In the epilogue, set years after the end of the Fourth Ninja War, it is shown that Sakura and Sasuke had married and had a daughter, Sarada Uchiha.


title: Sakura Haruno

text: Sakura has made several appearances outside of the "Naruto" anime and manga. She is in all eleven feature films of the series: in the first film — "" (2004), she battles Mizore Fuyukuma and later defeats him; in the second — "" (2005), she helps Naruto and Shikamaru Nara in their battle against Haido and his subordinates; the third — (2006) — has Sakura battling the hired ninja Karenbana, whom she defeats using her enhanced strength; in the fourth — "Naruto Shippuden the Movie" (2007), Sakura, Naruto, Rock Lee, and Neji Hyuga are assigned to escort the maiden Shion; in the fifth — "" (2008), Sakura is assigned alongside Naruto and Hinata Hyuga to help a girl, Amaru, and her "sensei", Shinnō, return to their village while in the process learning of an upcoming invasion of the Sky Country; the sixth — "" (2009) — has Sakura and Naruto desperately following and trying to bring back their "sensei", Kakashi, who has gone on a suicide mission to prevent the Fourth Great Ninja World War; in the seventh — "" (2010), Sakura and the rest of Team Kakashi are sent to capture a missing-nin, Mukade; in the eighth — "" (2011), Sakura assists in the battle against the demon Satori who has been released from the Box of Enlightenment; in the ninth — "" (2012), Sakura and Naruto are transported to an illusion world by Obito Uchiha in which instead of Naruto's parents, Sakura's parents were the ones who sacrificed their lives in preventing the Nine-Tails from destroying Konohagakure and were thus deemed as the village's heroes; in the tenth — "" (2014), Sakura, in her young adult years, sets out alongside Naruto, Sai, Shikamaru, and Hinata to rescue a kidnapped Hanabi Hyuga, Hinata's younger sister; and finally, in the eleventh — "" (2015), Sakura watches her daughter's participation in the Chunin Exams.


title: Sakura Haruno

text: She is also present in all three of the original video animations produced for the series, helping Naruto and Konohamaru to find a four-leaf clover in the first original video animation, joining her team in escorting a ninja named Shibuki to his village and helping him fight the missing-nin that stole the village's "Hero's Water" in the second, and participating in a tournament in the third. A light novel titled "Sakura Hiden: Thoughts of Love, Riding Upon a Spring Breeze" (2015), written by Tomohito Ōsaki and illustrated by Kishimoto, focuses on Sakura sometime after the events of "The Last: Naruto the Movie", where she, now a celebrated medical ninja who is in the middle of opening a new mental clinic with Ino Yamanaka, becomes worried when a conspiracy that threatens to destroy Konohagakure is using Sasuke as a scapegoat, potentially ruining his chance at redemption amongst the villagers. In "" (2015), Sasuke's travels keep him away from his family. As a result, his whereabouts become a touchy subject for Sakura, who assures Sarada over the years that Sasuke will return home once having completed his mission. After punching the ground in a fit of rage over Sarada asking if she and Sasuke are married, Sakura discovers her daughter has left the village in search of Sasuke. By the time she catches up to the two, they are in the presence of Shin Uchiha, whom Sakura attacks. Afterward, she is teleported away with him to his hideout, where she declines to assist him with her medical skills and pretends to be helpless in order to gain information on him. After Sakura battles Shin, she is rescued by her husband, and they return to the village following Shin's defeat. Soon after that, Sakura and Sarada see Sasuke off to his journey. Sakura later serves as a spectator for Sarada while she participates in the Chunin Exams and saves both herself and other onlookers from falling debris, afterward healing Hinata.


title: Sakura Haruno

text: Sakura is a playable character in nearly all "Naruto" video games, including the and the . In some games, she uses "Inner Sakura" in combat as well as numerous different genjutsu. "" (2007) marks the first appearance of Sakura in her Part II design in a video game, with the second one being "" (2007). Meanwhile, "" (2016) marks the first appearance of Sakura post-Part II; specifically, her appearance in "The Last: Naruto the Movie", set two years after chapter 699 of the manga.


title: Sakura Haruno

text: In the "Weekly Shōnen Jump" character popularity polls, Sakura had many times been placed in the top ten and reached the top five once; in the most recent poll, she was ranked twelfth. Numerous pieces of merchandise based on Sakura have been released, including action figures, key chains of her Part I ("Naruto") and Part II () appearances, and various character patches. In a poll from 2021, Sakura was voted as the 6th most popular character in "Boruto: Naruto Next Generations".


title: Sakura Haruno

text: Several manga, anime and video games publications and other related media have provided praise as well as criticism on Sakura's character. "IGN" writer A.E. Sparrow commented that every anime and manga benefited from a strong female presence that Sakura provided for the "Naruto" series, although characterizing her as "stereotypically girly". In a review of episode 110 of the anime, "IGN" celebrated the culmination of the development of Sakura's character throughout the series and the growing out of the "girly" personality. "GameSpot" said that Sakura's character had largely been used in the series as a form of comic relief and to often state the obvious. "T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews" considered Sakura to be a stereotypical echo of similar love interests of protagonists in other shōnen manga and that she was not likable. On the other hand, she was also regarded as "an interesting character to throw into the mix [of "Naruto"]" by "Mania Entertainment"s Dani Moure due to how her differences with Sasuke and Naruto helped to balance Team 7. In the book "New Media Literacies and Participatory Popular Culture Across Borders", Amy A. Zenger wrote that Sasuke and Sakura's relationship was popular among fans of the series even at the time when the former had not yet reciprocated the latter's feelings.


title: Sakura Haruno

text: The character's change in Part II ("Naruto: Shippuden") has been praised by "Anime News Network"s Casey Brienza for being one of the most developed ones in the series, as she has become stronger than her Part I ("Naruto") counterpart, which was considerably weaker than Naruto and Sasuke. This allows her to take a more active and appealing role in the series. Major praise has been given to her encounters with Sasori and Sasuke owing to her fighting skills and mature reactions, respectively. Sakura's love confession to Naruto in later parts of the series has been commented to be one of the deepest lines and parts of the story arc for bringing confusion in regard to whether her love confession claim was as serious as her intention to stop Naruto's suffering. It also came as a surprise as fans wondered what Sakura's real intention regarding Sasuke was, the latter having already become a dangerous criminal during such a time in the series. Jason Thompson believes Sakura's feelings were well-handled by Kishimoto. While disliking the romance between Sasuke and Sakura in the original series as she felt it was initially a crush on Sakura's part, Amy McNulty thought the spin-off manga "" helped to expand the bond between these two as well as their relationship with their daughter, Sarada. Sarah Nelkin of "Anime Now" praised Sakura's development across the series, mostly in late parts of the story due to how she turns into a stronger person as she grows up and especially when she becomes an adult.


title: Sakura Haruno

text: Critic Yukari Fujimoto says that Sakura is an example of "Naruto" showing a conservative view of women. Ino, Sakura and Hinata place priority on love, treating it as more important than excelling as a ninja. Fujimoto states that during the ninja examinations, Sakura's climactic fight with Ino, her love rival, is conducted on a purely physical level, contrasting this level of skill with the supernatural abilities displayed by her male classmates at this point. When the medical ninja Tsunade is introduced, Sakura takes on a daughter-like role, learning to heal others from Tsunade's teaching, which Fujimoto regards as reinforcing a conservative idea of women — that women do not belong on the battlefield as warriors, only as nurses.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel (; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975) was an American Major League Baseball right fielder and manager, best known as the manager of the championship New York Yankees of the 1950s and later, the expansion New York Mets. Nicknamed "The Ol' Perfessor", he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in .


title: Casey Stengel

text: Stengel was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1890. In 1910, he began a professional baseball career that would span over half a century. After almost three seasons in the minor leagues, Stengel reached the major leagues late in 1912, as an outfielder, for the Brooklyn Dodgers. His six seasons there saw some success, among them playing for Brooklyn's 1916 National League championship team; but he also developed a reputation as a clown. After repeated clashes over pay with the Dodgers owner, Charlie Ebbets, Stengel was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1918; however, he enlisted in the Navy that summer, for the remainder of World War I. After returning to baseball, he continued his pay disputes, resulting in trades to the Philadelphia Phillies (in 1919) and to the New York Giants (in 1921). There, he learned much about baseball from the manager, John McGraw, and had some of the glorious moments in his career, such as hitting an inside-the-park home run in Game 1 of the 1923 World Series to defeat the Yankees. His major league playing career ended with the Boston Braves in 1925, but he then began a career as a manager.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The first twenty years of Stengel's second career brought mostly poor finishes, especially during his MLB managerial stints with the Dodgers (1934–1936) and Braves (1938–1943). He thereafter enjoyed some success on the minor league level, and Yankee general manager George Weiss hired him as manager in October 1948. Stengel's Yankees won the World Series five consecutive times (1949–1953), the only time that has been achieved. Although the team won ten pennants in his twelve seasons, and won seven World Series, his final two years brought less success, with a third-place finish in 1959, and a loss in the 1960 World Series. By then aged 70, he was dismissed by the Yankees shortly after the defeat.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Stengel had become famous for his humorous and sometimes disjointed way of speech while with the Yankees, and these skills of showmanship served the expansion Mets well when they hired him in late 1961. He promoted the team tirelessly, as well as managing it to a 40–120 win–loss record, the most losses of any 20th century MLB team. The team finished last all four years he managed it, but was boosted by considerable support from fans. Stengel retired in 1965, and became a fixture at baseball events for the rest of his life. Although Stengel is sometimes described as one of the great managers in major league history, others have contrasted his success during the Yankee years with his lack of success at other times, and concluded he was a good manager only when given good players. Stengel is remembered as one of the great characters in baseball history.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Charles Dillon Stengel was born on July 30, 1890, in Kansas City, Missouri. His ancestry included German and Irish; his parents—Louis Stengel and Jennie (Jordan) Stengel—were from the Quad Cities area of Illinois and Iowa, and had moved to Kansas City soon after their 1886 wedding so Louis could take an insurance job. "Charlie" was the youngest of three children, and the second son. Charlie Stengel played sandlot baseball as a child, and also played baseball, football and basketball at Kansas City's Central High School. His basketball team won the city championship, while the baseball team won the state championship.


title: Casey Stengel

text: As a teenager, Stengel played on a number of semipro baseball teams. He played on the traveling team called the Kansas City Red Sox during the summers of 1908 and 1909, going as far west as Wyoming and earning a dollar a day. He was offered a contract by the minor league Kansas City Blues for $135 a month, more money than his father was making. Since young Stengel was underage, his father had to agree, which he did. Louis Stengel recalled, "So I put down my paper and signed. You could never change that boy's mind anyway".


title: Casey Stengel

text: Before reporting to spring training for the Blues in early 1910 at Excelsior Springs, Missouri, Stengel was approached by his neighbor, Kid Nichols, a former star pitcher, who advised him to listen to his manager and to the older players, and if he was minded to reject their advice, at least think it over for a month or so first. Stengel failed to make the ball club, which was part of the American Association, considered one of the top minor leagues. Kansas City optioned Stengel to the Kankakee Kays of the Class D Northern Association, a lower-level minor league, to gain experience as an outfielder. He had a .251 batting average with Kankakee when the league folded in July. He found a place with the Shelbyville Grays, who moved mid-season and became the Maysville Rivermen, of the Class D Blue Grass League, batting .221. He returned to the Blues for the final week of the season, with his combined batting average for 1910 at .237.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Uncertain of whether he would be successful as a baseball player, Stengel attended Western Dental College in the 1910–1911 offseason. He would later tell stories of his woes as a left-handed would-be dentist using right-handed equipment. The Blues sold Stengel to the Aurora Blues of the Class C Wisconsin–Illinois League. He led the league with a .352 batting average. Brooklyn Dodgers scout Larry Sutton took a trip from Chicago to nearby Aurora, noticed Stengel, and the Dodgers purchased his contract on September 1, 1911. Brooklyn outfielder Zach Wheat later claimed credit for tipping off Sutton that Stengel was worth signing. Stengel finished the season with Aurora and returned to dental school for the offseason.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The Dodgers assigned Stengel to the Montgomery Rebels of the Class A Southern Association for the 1912 season. Playing for manager Kid Elberfeld, Stengel batted .290 and led the league in outfield assists. He also developed a reputation as an eccentric player. Scout Mike Kahoe referred to Stengel as a "dandy ballplayer, but it's all from the neck down". After reporting to Brooklyn in September and getting a taste of the big leagues, he spent a third offseason at dental school in 1912–1913. He did not graduate, though whenever his baseball career hit a bad patch in the years to follow, his wife Edna would urge him to get his degree.


title: Casey Stengel

text: In later years, Casey Stengel told stories of his coming to Brooklyn to play for the Dodgers; most focused on his naïveté and were, at least, exaggerated. Wheat was from the Kansas City area and watched over Stengel, getting the young player a locker next to his and working with him on outfield technique. Stengel made his MLB debut at Brooklyn's Washington Park on September 17, 1912, as the starting center fielder, and went 4–4 with a walk, two stolen bases and two tie-breaking runs batted in, leading seventh-place Brooklyn to a 7–3 win over the Pirates. Stengel continued to play well, finishing the season with a .316 batting average, though hitting .351 when right-handers started against Brooklyn and only .250 when left-handers started.


title: Casey Stengel

text: After holding out for better pay, Stengel signed with the Dodgers for 1913. He won the starting center fielder job. The Dodgers had a new ballpark, Ebbets Field, and Stengel became the first person to hit a home run there, first an inside-the-park home run against the New York Yankees in an exhibition game to open the stadium, and then in the regular season. During the 1913 season, Stengel acquired the nickname "Casey"; there are varying stories of how this came to be, though his home town of Kansas City likely played a prominent role—sportswriter Fred Lieb stated that the ballplayer had "Charles Stengel—K.C." stenciled on his bags. Although he missed 25 games with injuries, he hit .272 with 7 official home runs in his first full season as a major leaguer. Prior to 1914 spring training, Stengel coached baseball at the University of Mississippi. Though the position was unpaid, he was designated an assistant professor for the time he was there, something that may have been the source of Stengel's nickname, "The Ol' Perfessor".


title: Casey Stengel

text: The Dodgers were an improving team in Stengel's first years with them, and he was greatly influenced by the manager who joined the team in 1914, Wilbert Robinson. Stengel also avoided a holdout in 1914; Dodgers owner Charlie Ebbets was anxious to put his players under contract lest they jump to the new Federal League, and nearly doubled Stengel's salary to $4,000 per year. During spring training, the Dodgers faced the minor league Baltimore Orioles and their rookie, Babe Ruth, who pitched. Ruth hit a triple over Stengel's head but gave up two doubles to him, and Stengel chased down a long Ruth fly ball to right in the Dodgers' loss. Both Brooklyn and Stengel started the season slowly, but both recovered with a hot streak that left the Dodgers only 4 games under .500, their best record since 1903, and Stengel finished with a .316 batting average, fifth best in the league. His on-base percentage led the league at .404, though this was not yet an official statistic. With the Federal League still active, Stengel was rewarded with a two-year contract at $6,000 per year.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Stengel reported to spring training ill and thin; he was unable to work out for much of the time the Dodgers spent in Florida. Although the team stated that he had typhoid fever, still common in 1915, Lieb wrote after Stengel's death in 1975 that the ballplayer had gonorrhea. Stengel may have been involved in a well-known incident during spring training when Robinson agreed to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane piloted by Ruth Law—except that it proved not to be a baseball, but a small grapefruit, much to the manager's shock, as he assumed the liquid on him was blood. Law stated that she dropped the grapefruit as she had forgotten the baseball, but Stengel retold the story, imitating Robinson, many times in his later years, with himself as grapefruit dropper, and is often given the credit for the stunt. Stengel's batting average dipped as low as the .150s for part of the season; though he eventually recovered to .237, this was still the worst full season percentage of his major league career.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Soon after the 1916 season started, it became clear that the Dodgers were one of the better teams in the league. Robinson managed to squeeze one more year of productivity out of some older veterans such as Chief Meyers, who said of Stengel, "It was Casey who kept us on our toes. He was the life of the party and just kept all us old-timers pepped up all season." Stengel, mostly playing right field, hit .279 with eight home runs, one less than the team leader in that category, Wheat. Stengel's home run off Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander, who won 33 games that year, in the second game of a doubleheader on September 30, provided the margin of victory as the Dodgers went into first place to stay, qualifying for their first World Series, against the Boston Red Sox. Despite getting two hits in a Game 1 loss at Boston, Stengel was benched for Game 2 because the Red Sox were pitching a left-hander, Babe Ruth, and Stengel hit better against right-handers. Stengel, back in the lineup for Game 3, got a hit in Brooklyn's only victory of the series. He was benched again in Game 4 against left-hander Dutch Leonard, though he was inserted as a pinch runner, and got another hit in the Game 5 loss, finishing 4 for 11, .364, the best Dodger batting average of the Series.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Despite the successful season, Ebbets was determined to cut his players' salaries, including Stengel, whom he considered overpaid. By then, the Federal League was defunct, and the reserve clause prevented players from jumping to other major league clubs. The owner sent Stengel a contract for $4,600, and when that was rejected, cut it by another $400. A holdout ensued, together with a war of words waged in the press. With little leverage, Stengel became willing to sign for the original contract, and did on March 27, 1917, but missed most of spring training. Stengel's batting average dropped from .279 to .257 as the defending league champion Dodgers finished seventh in the eight-team league, but he led the team in games, hits, doubles, triples, home runs and runs batted in. After the season, Ebbets sent Stengel a contract for $4,100, and the outfielder eventually signed for that amount, but on January 9, 1918, Ebbets traded him along with George Cutshaw to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Burleigh Grimes, Al Mamaux and Chuck Ward.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The Pirates had been the only National League team to do worse than the Dodgers in 1917, finishing last. Stengel met with the Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss to seek a salary increase, but found Dreyfuss reluctant to deal until Stengel proved himself as a Pirate. On June 3, 1918, Stengel was ejected for arguing with the umpire, and was fined by the league office for taking off his shirt on the field. The U.S. had been fighting in World War I for a year, and Stengel enlisted in the Navy. His wartime service was playing for and managing the Brooklyn Navy Yard's baseball team, driving in the only run to beat Army, 1–0, before 5,000 spectators at the Polo Grounds. He also occasionally helped paint a ship—he later stated he had guarded the Gowanus Canal, and not a single submarine got into it.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The Armistice renewed the conflict between Stengel and Dreyfuss, and the outfielder held out again to begin the 1919 season. Both wanted to see Stengel traded, but no deal was immediately made. By then, Stengel's position as regular right fielder had been taken by Billy Southworth, and he had difficulty breaking back into the lineup. Stengel played better than he had before he enlisted, and by the time Dreyfuss traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies for Possum Whitted on August 9, he was batting .293 with four home runs. But before being traded, Stengel pulled one of his most famous stunts, on May 25 at Ebbets Field, as a member of the visiting Pirates. It was not unusual at Ebbets Field for right fielders of either team, rather than go to the dugout after three were out, to go to the Dodgers' bullpen, in foul territory down the right field line, if they were not likely to bat in the upcoming inning. Stengel did so to visit old friends, and discovered that pitcher Leon Cadore had captured a sparrow. Stengel took it, and quietly placed it under his cap when called to bat in the sixth inning. He received mixed boos and cheers from the Brooklyn crowd as a former Dodger, took a deep bow at the plate, and doffed his cap, whereupon the bird flew away to great laughter from the crowd.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The trade to the Phillies ended Stengel's major league season for 1919, as he refused to report unless he got a raise, and when one was not forthcoming, returned to Kansas City to raise a barnstorming team. In the offseason, he came to terms with William Baker, the owner of the Phillies, and hit .292 in 1920 with nine home runs. However, racked by injuries and no longer young for a ballplayer, he did not play much in the early part of the 1921 season. On June 30, 1921, the Phillies traded Stengel, Red Causey and Johnny Rawlings to the New York Giants for Lee King, Goldie Rapp and Lance Richbourg. The Giants were one of the dominant teams in the National League, and Stengel, who had feared being sent to the minor leagues, quietly placed a long-distance call once informed to ensure he was not the victim of a practical joke.


title: Casey Stengel

text: When Stengel reported to the Giants on July 1, 1921, they were managed, as they had been for almost 20 years, by John McGraw. Stengel biographer Robert W. Creamer said of McGraw, "his Giants were the most feared, the most respected, the most admired team in baseball". Stengel biographer Marty Appel noted, "McGraw and Stengel. Teacher and student. Casey was about to learn a lot about managing". Stengel had time to learn, playing in only 18 games for the Giants in 1921, mostly as a pinch hitter, and watched from his place on the bench as McGraw led the Giants from a 7 game deficit on August 24 to the National League pennant. Although he was on the 25-player postseason roster, Stengel did not appear in the 1921 World Series against the Yankees, as McGraw used only 13 players (4 of them pitchers) in beating the Yankees, five games to three. The only contribution Stengel made to the box score was being ejected from Game 5 for arguing.


title: Casey Stengel

text: McGraw brought several outfielders into spring training with the Giants. When Stengel was not included with the starters when the manager split the squad, some sportswriters assumed he would not be with the team when the regular season began. Stengel, at McGraw's request, acted as a coach to the young players on the "B" squad, and worked hard, getting key hits in spring training games, and making the Giants as a reserve outfielder. McGraw and Stengel sometimes stayed up all night, discussing baseball strategy. With two Giant outfielders injured by June, Stengel was put in center field, and hit .368 in 84 games, as McGraw platooned him against right-handers. If Stengel had enough plate appearances to qualify for the league batting championship, he would have finished second to Rogers Hornsby of the St. Louis Cardinals, who hit .401. The Giants played the Yankees again in the 1922 World Series; Stengel went 1–4 in Game 1, nursing an injured right leg muscle, which he aggravated running out an infield single in his first at bat in Game 2. Stengel was obviously limping when he was advanced to second base on another single, and McGraw sent in a pinch runner. He did not use Stengel again in the Series, which the Giants won, four games to zero, with one tie. After the Series, Stengel and other major leaguers went on a barnstorming tour of Japan and the Far East.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The year 1923 started much the same as the year before, with Stengel detailed to the "B" squad as player and coach in spring training, making the team as a reserve, and then inserted as center fielder when righties pitched. Similar also were Stengel's hot batting streaks, helping the Giants as they contended for their third straight pennant. Stengel was ejected several times for brawling or arguing with the umpire, and the league suspended him for ten games in one incident. McGraw continued to use him as a means of exerting some control over the younger players. During that summer, Stengel fell in love with Edna Lawson, a Californian who was running part of her father's building contracting business; they were married the following year. Near the end of the season, he sustained a mild foot injury, causing McGraw to rest him for a week, but he played the final two games of the regular season to finish at .339 as the Giants and Yankees each won their leagues.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Until 1923, the Yankees had been tenants of the Giants at the Polo Grounds, but had opened Yankee Stadium that year, and this was the site for Game 1 of the 1923 World Series on October 10. Casey Stengel's at bat in the ninth inning with the score tied 4–4 was "the stuff of legend", as Appel put it in his history of the Yankees. Before the largest crowd he had ever played before, Stengel lined a changeup from Joe Bush for a hit that went between the outfielders deep to left center. Hobbled by his injury and even more as a sponge inside his shoe flew out as he rounded second base, Stengel slowly circled the bases, and evaded the tag from catcher Wally Schang for an inside-the-park home run, providing the winning margin. Thus, the first World Series home run in old Yankee Stadium's history did not go to Babe Ruth, "that honor, with great irony, would fall to the aging reserve outfielder Casey Stengel".


title: Casey Stengel

text: After the Yankees won Game 2 at the Polo Grounds, the Series returned to Yankee Stadium for Game 3. Stengel won it, 1–0, on a home run into the right field bleachers. As the Yankee fans booed Stengel, he thumbed his nose at the crowd and blew a kiss toward the Yankee players, outraging the team's principal owner, Jacob Ruppert, who demanded that Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis fine or suspend Stengel. Judge Landis declined, saying "a man who wins two games with home runs may feel a little playful, especially if he's a Stengel". The Yankees won the next three games to take the Series; Stengel batted .417 in the six games, completing his World Series career as a player with a .393 batting average.


title: Casey Stengel

text: On November 13, 1923, twenty-nine days after the World Series ended, Stengel was traded to the perennial second-division-dwelling Boston Braves with Dave Bancroft and Bill Cunningham for Joe Oeschger and Billy Southworth. Stengel had enjoyed his time in New York and was initially unhappy at the trade, especially since he had become close to McGraw. He soon cooled down, and later praised McGraw as "the greatest manager I ever played for". Despite nagging pains in his legs, Stengel played in 134 games during the 1924 season, the most since his days with the Dodgers, and hit .280 with a team-leading 13 stolen bases, but the Braves finished last. After the season, Stengel joined a baseball tour of Europe organized by McGraw and Charles Comiskey, with Edna Stengel accompanying the team. Casey Stengel met King George V and the Duke of York, later to become King George VI; Edna sipped tea with Queen Mary, an experience that strained her nerves. That winter, the Stengels moved into a house built by Edna's father in Glendale, California, where they would live the rest of their lives. The marriage produced no children.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Stengel started 1925 on the active roster of the Braves, but was used as a pinch hitter and started only once, in right field against the Pirates on May 14, a game in which he got his only MLB hit of 1925, the final one of his major league career, a single. His average sank to .077. Braves owner Emil Fuchs purchased the Worcester Panthers of the Eastern League, and hired Stengel as player-manager and team president. Appel noted that in joining the Panthers, Stengel was "starting out on a managing career that would eventually take him to Cooperstown". With fans enjoying Stengel's on-field antics and his World Series heroics still recent, he was the Eastern League's biggest attendance draw. Between run-ins with the umpires, Stengel hit .302 in 100 games as the Panthers finished third.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The Panthers were not a box office success, and Fuchs planned to move the team to Providence, Rhode Island for the 1926 season, with Stengel to remain in his roles. McGraw, with whom Stengel had remained close, wanted him to take over as manager of the Giants' top affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens of the American Association, at an increase in salary. Stengel was still under contract to the Braves, and Mud Hens president Joseph O'Brien was unwilling to send them money or players in order to get him. When Stengel asked Fuchs what to do if a higher-level club wanted to draft him, Fuchs half-heartedly suggested releasing himself as a player, which would automatically terminate his Braves contract. Stengel took up Fuchs on his suggestion, releasing himself as a player, then firing himself as manager and resigning as president, clearing the way for him to move to the Mud Hens. Fuchs was outraged, and went to Judge Landis, who advised him to let the matter go.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Stengel's six years in Toledo would be as long as he would spend anywhere as manager, except his time with the Yankees of the 1950s. McGraw sent talented players down to Toledo, and the Mud Hens threatened for the pennant in Stengel's first year before falling back to third. In 1927, the team won its first pennant and defeated the Buffalo Bisons, five games to one, in the Little World Series. Stengel missed part of the 1927 campaign, as he was suspended by the league for inciting the fans to attack the umpire after a close play during the first game of the Labor Day doubleheader. Stengel continued as an occasional player as late as 1931 in addition to his managerial role, hitting a game-winning home run (the last of his professional career) in 1927 for the Mud Hens. Since minor league clubs suffer large turnovers in their rosters, the team's success did not carry over to 1928, when it finished sixth, and then eighth in the eight-team league in 1929. The team recovered for third in 1930, but by then both Stengel and the team (in which he had invested) were having financial problems due to the start of the Great Depression. The team finished last again in 1931, and, after Landis was convinced no money had been skimmed off to benefit Stengel and other insiders, the team went into receivership, and Stengel was fired.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Stengel had approached the new manager of the Dodgers, Max Carey, an old teammate from his time with the Pirates, seeking a job, and was hired as first base coach. Stengel thus ended an exile of seven years from the major leagues: Appel suggested that Stengel's reputation as a clown inhibited owners from hiring him although he was known as knowledgeable and able to manage the press. Sportswriter Dan Daniel described Stengel's hiring as "the return of an ancient Flatbush landmark", which might satisfy old Dodger fans upset at Robinson's dismissal at the end of 1931. Brooklyn finished third and then sixth with Stengel in the first base coaching box. Among the players was catcher Al Lopez; the two became close friends and would be managing rivals in the 1950s American League.


title: Casey Stengel

text: During the winter following the 1933 season, the manager of the world champion Giants, Bill Terry was interviewed by the press about the other teams in the National League. When asked about the Dodgers, Terry responded, "Brooklyn? Gee, I haven't heard a peep out of there. Is Brooklyn still in the league?" This angered Brooklyn's management, and they expected Carey to make a full-throated response. When he remained silent, he was fired. One sportswriter regarded the hiring of Stengel as too logical a thing to happen in Brooklyn, but on February 24, 1934, Stengel faced the press for the first time as the manager of a major league team. McGraw, Stengel's mentor, was too ill to issue a statement on seeing him become a major league manager; he died the following day.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Stengel, hired only days before spring training, had a limited opportunity to shape his new ballclub. The Dodgers quickly settled into sixth place, where they would end the season. Stengel, in later years, enjoyed discussing one 1934 game in Philadelphia's Baker Bowl: with Dodger pitcher Boom-Boom Beck ineffective, Stengel went out to the mound to take out the angry pitcher, who, instead of giving Stengel the baseball, threw it into right field, where it hit the metal wall with a loud noise. The right fielder, Hack Wilson, lost in thought, heard the boom, assumed the ball had been hit by a batter, and ran to retrieve it and throw it to the infield, to be met by general laughter. Stengel got the last laughs on the Giants as well. The Giants, six games ahead of the Cardinals on Labor Day, squandered that lead, and with two games remaining in the season, were tied with St. Louis. The final two games were against Brooklyn at the Polo Grounds, games played in front of raucous crowds, who well remembered Terry's comments. Brooklyn won both games, while the Cardinals won their two games against the Cincinnati Reds, and won the pennant. Richard Bak, in his biography of Stengel, noted that the victories over the Terry-led Giants represented personal vindication for the Dodger manager.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The Dodgers finished fifth in 1935 and seventh in 1936. Dodger management felt Stengel had not done enough with the talent he had been given, and he was fired during the 1936 World Series between the Yankees and Giants. Stengel was paid for one year left on his contract, and he was not involved in baseball during the 1937 season. Stengel had invested in oil properties, as advised by one of his players, Randy Moore, a Texan; the investment helped make the Stengels well-to-do, and they put the profits in California real estate. Stengel considered going in the oil business full-time, but Braves president Bob Quinn offered him the Boston managerial job in late 1937, and he accepted.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Stengel was both manager and an investor in the Braves. In his six years there, 1938 to 1943, his team never finished in the top half of the league standings, and the Boston club finished seventh four straight years between 1939 and 1942, saved from last place by the fact that the Phillies were even worse. The entry of the United States in World War II meant that many top players went into the service, but for the Braves, the changeover made little difference in the standings. Among the young players to join the Braves was pitcher Warren Spahn, who was sent down to the minor leagues by the manager for having "no heart". Spahn, who would go on to a Hall of Fame career, much of it with the Braves, would play again for Stengel on the woeful New York Mets in 1965, and joke that he was the only person to play for Stengel both before and after he was a genius.


title: Casey Stengel

text: A few days before the opening of the 1943 season, Stengel was hit by a vehicle while crossing Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, and he severely fractured a leg. He missed the first two months of the season, receiving many well-wishers, and reading get-well cards jokingly misaddressed to the hospital's psychiatric ward. For the rest of his life, Stengel walked with a limp. At the end of the season, Braves management, tired of minimal progress, fired Stengel, and he received no immediate job offers. Stengel testified about this part of his career before a Senate subcommittee fifteen years later, "I became a major league manager in several cities and was discharged. We call it discharged because there is no question I had to leave".


title: Casey Stengel

text: Stengel thought the 1943 season would be his last in baseball; Edna urged him to look after the family business interests full-time, and Casey, who had always been an athlete, was reluctant to show himself at a baseball stadium with the imperfectly healed injury. But early in the 1944 season, the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers had a managing vacancy to fill, as the Chicago Cubs had hired away the Brewer manager, Charlie Grimm, who had played with Stengel on the 1919 Pirates. Grimm told the Cubs he was obliged to see the Brewers had a competent replacement, and urged the Brewers to hire Stengel. The team owner, Bill Veeck, stationed as a Marine on Guadalcanal, thought ill of Stengel as a manager, and was very reluctant in his consent when reached by cable. Stengel was adept at fostering good relations with reporters, and the very talented team continued to win; by the end of May, Veeck had withdrawn his objections. The team won the American Association pennant, but lost in the playoffs to Louisville. Veeck, having returned to the United States, offered to rehire Stengel for 1945, but Stengel preferred another offer he received. This was from George Weiss of the New York Yankees, to manage the team Stengel had begun with, the Kansas City Blues, by then a Yankee farm club. Kansas City had finished last in the American Association as Milwaukee won the pennant, making it something of a comedown for Stengel, who hoped to return to the major leagues. Nevertheless, it was in his old home town, allowing him to see friends and relations, and he took the job. The Blues finished seventh in the eight-team league in 1945.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Although there was no major league managing vacancy Stengel could aspire to, the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League


title: Casey Stengel

text: had fired their manager, and approached Stengel. The baseball played in the PCL was close to major league level, and the league featured many aging big leaguers finishing their careers. Also attractive to Stengel was that the league had three teams in Southern California, allowing him to spend more time at his home in Glendale. To that time, the club had won only one pennant, and was something of a weak sister to its crossbay rivals, the San Francisco Seals, but owner Brick Laws believed Stengel could mold the players into a winning team.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The Oaks finished second in the league behind the Seals in 1946, winning the first round of the playoffs against Los Angeles before losing to San Francisco in the finals. They finished fourth in 1947, beating San Francisco in the first round before losing to Los Angeles. Stengel managed the Oaks for a third year in 1948, with the roster heavy with former major leaguers. Among the younger players on the team was 20-year-old shortstop Billy Martin. Stengel was impressed by Martin's fielding, baseball acuity, and, when there were brawls on the field, fighting ability. The Oaks clinched the pennant on September 26, and defeated Los Angeles and the Seattle Rainiers to win the Governors' Cup. "The Sporting News" named Stengel the Minor League Manager of the Year.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Stengel had been talked about as a possible Yankee manager in the early 1940s, but longtime team boss Ed Barrow (who retired in 1945) refused to consider it. Yankee manager Joe McCarthy retired during the 1946 season, and after the interim appointment of catcher Bill Dickey as player-manager, Bucky Harris was given the job in 1947. Stengel's name was mentioned for the job before Harris got it; he was backed by Weiss, but Larry MacPhail, then in charge of the franchise, was opposed. Harris and the Yankees won the World Series that year, but finished third in 1948, though they were not eliminated until the penultimate day. Harris was fired, allegedly because he would not give Weiss his home telephone number. MacPhail could no longer block Stengel's hiring, as he had sold his interest in the Yankees after the 1947 season. Weiss, who became general manager after MacPhail's departure, urged his partners in the Yankees to allow the appointment of Stengel, who aided his own cause by winning the championship with Oakland during the time the Yankee job stood open. Del Webb, who owned part of the Yankees, had initial concerns but went along. Yankee scouts on the West Coast recommended Stengel, and Webb's support helped bring around co-owner Dan Topping.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Stengel was introduced as Yankee manager on October 12, 1948, the 25th anniversary of his second World Series home run to beat the Yankees. Joe DiMaggio attended the press conference as a sign of team support. Stengel faced obstacles to being accepted—Harris had been popular with the press and public, and the businesslike Yankee corporate culture and successful tradition were thought to be ill matched with a manager who had the reputation of a clown and who had never had a major league team finish in the top half of the standings. Stengel's MLB involvement had been in the National League, and there were several American League parks in which he had neither managed nor played.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Stengel tried to keep a low profile during the 1949 Yankee spring training at St. Petersburg, Florida, but there was considerable media attention as Stengel shuttled rookies from one position on the field to another, and endlessly shuffled his lineup. He had the advantage of diminished expectations, as DiMaggio, the Yankee superstar, was injured with a bone spur in his heel, and few picked New York to win the pennant. There were other injuries once the season began, and Stengel, who had initially planned a conservative, stable lineup in his first American League season, was forced to improvise. Although platooning, playing right-handed batters against left-handed pitchers and the reverse, against whom they are on average more able to hit, had been known for some years, Stengel popularized it, and his use gave the practice its name, coined by a sportswriter and borrowed from football. For example, in the early part of the 1949 season, Stengel might play Bobby Brown at third base and Cliff Mapes and Gene Woodling in the outfield against right-handers. Against left-handers, Stengel might play Billy Johnson at third with Johnny Lindell and Hank Bauer in the outfield.


title: Casey Stengel

text: After the team blew leads and lost both ends of a doubleheader in Philadelphia on May 15, Stengel called a team meeting in which he criticized the players responsible for the two losses, but also predicted greatness for them, and told the team it was going to win. The team then won 13 of its next 14 games. Yankee sportscaster Curt Gowdy, who was present, later stated, "that speech in Philadelphia was the turning point of the season".


title: Casey Stengel

text: DiMaggio returned from injury on June 28 after missing 65 games. He hit four home runs in three games to help sweep Boston and extend the Yankees' league lead. Despite DiMaggio's return, the lineup remained plagued with injuries. After consulting with Stengel, Weiss obtained Johnny Mize from the Giants, but he was soon sidelined with a separated shoulder. Twelve games behind on the Fourth of July, the Red Sox steadily gained ground on the Yankees, and tied them by sweeping a two-game set at Fenway September 24 and 25, the first time the Yankees had not been in sole possession of first place since the third game of the season. The Red Sox took the lead the following day with a comeback win in a makeup game, as Stengel lost his temper at the umpire for the first time in Yankee uniform; although he was not ejected, he was fined by the league.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The season came down to a two-game set with the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, with the home team one game behind and needing to win both. Stengel, during the 1949 season, had shown himself more apt than his peers to bring in a relief pitcher, and when during the first game, starter Allie Reynolds gave up the first two runs in the third inning, the manager brought in Joe Page. Though Page walked in two more runs, he shut out the Red Sox the rest of the way as the Yankees came back to win, 5–4. This set up a winner-take-all game for the league title. The Yankees took a 5–0 lead before Boston scored three in the ninth, but Vic Raschi was able to prevent further damage, giving the Yankees the pennant, Stengel's first as a major league manager.


title: Casey Stengel

text: In the 1949 World Series, Stengel's first as a participant since 1923, the Yankees faced the Brooklyn Dodgers, who were assembling the team that would challenge the Yankees through much of his time in New York. The teams split the first two games, at Yankee Stadium. Before Game 3 at Ebbets Field, Stengel was called upon to introduce his surviving teammates from the 1916 pennant-winning Brooklyn club, which he did emotionally. The Yankees won Game 3, and during Game 4, a Yankee victory, Stengel left the dugout to shout to catcher Yogi Berra to throw the ball to second base, which Berra did to catch Pee Wee Reese trying to take an extra base. For this breach of baseball's rules, Stengel was reprimanded after the game by Commissioner Happy Chandler. The Yankees won Game 5 as well to take the Series, and during the celebration after the game, Del Webb said of Stengel to the press, "I knew he would win, whether we got some more players for him or not".


title: Casey Stengel

text: During the 1949 season, Stengel had been more subdued than he usually was, but being the manager of the defending world champions and the Major League Manager of the Year relieved his inhibitions, and he was thereafter his talkative self. He also was more forceful in running the team, not always to the liking of veteran players such as DiMaggio and Phil Rizzuto. As part of his incessant shuffling of the lineup, Stengel had DiMaggio play first base, a position to which he was unaccustomed and refused to play after the first game. Stengel considered DiMaggio's decline in play as he neared the end of his stellar career more important than his resentment. In August, with the slugger in the middle of a batting slump, Stengel benched him, stating he needed a rest. DiMaggio returned after six games, and hit .370 for the rest of the season, winning the slugging percentage title. Other young players on the 1950 team were Billy Martin and Whitey Ford. The ascendence of these rookies meant more of the Yankees accepted Stengel's techniques, and diminished the number of those from the McCarthy era who resented their new manager. The Detroit Tigers were the Yankees' main competition, leading for much of the summer, but the Yankees passed them in the middle of September to win the pennant by three games. In the 1950 World Series, the Yankees played the Phillies, another of Stengel's old teams. The Yankees won in four games.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Before spring training in 1950, the Yankees had pioneered the idea of an instructional school for rookies and other young players. This was the brainchild of Stengel and Weiss. Complaints from other teams that the Yankees were violating time limits on spring training and were using their money for competitive advantage led to modifications, but the concept survived and was eventually broadly adopted. Among those invited to the 1951 early camp was 19-year-old Mickey Mantle, whose speed and talent awed Stengel, and who had spent the previous year in the minor leagues. Stengel moved Mantle from shortstop to the outfield, reasoning that Rizzuto, the shortstop, was likely to play several more years. Both Mantle and the Yankees started the 1951 season slowly, and on July 14, Mantle was sent to Kansas City to regain his confidence at the plate. He was soon recalled to the Yankees; although he hit only .267 for the season, this was four points better than DiMaggio, in his final season. Much of the burden of winning a third consecutive pennant fell on Berra, who put together an MVP season. The White Sox and then the Indians led the league for much of the summer, but the Yankees, never far behind, put together a torrid final month of the season to win the pennant by five games.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The Yankee opponent in the 1951 World Series was the Giants, with Game 1 played the day after they won the National League pennant in the Miracle of Coogan's Bluff. On an emotional high, the Giants beat the Yankees in Game 1 at Yankee Stadium. Game 2 was a Yankee victory, but Mantle suffered a knee injury and was out for the Series, the start of knee problems that would darken Mantle's career. The Giants won Game 3, but DiMaggio stepped to the fore, with six hits in the following three games, including a home run to crown his career. The Yankees won Games 4 and 5, and staked Raschi to a 4–1 lead in Game 6 before Stengel had Johnny Sain pitch in relief. When Sain loaded the bases with none out in the ninth, Stengel brought in Bob Kuzava, a left-hander, to pitch against the Giants, even though right-handers Monte Irvin and Bobby Thomson were due to bat. The Giants scored twice, but Kuzava hung on. The Yankees and Stengel had their third straight World Series championship.


title: Casey Stengel

text: DiMaggio's retirement after the 1951 season gave Stengel greater control over the players, as the relationship between superstar and manager had sometimes been fraught. Stengel moved Mantle from right to center field in DiMaggio's place. The Yankees were not the favorites to win the pennant again in 1952, with DiMaggio retired, Mantle still recovering from his injury and several Yankees in military service, deployed in the Korean War. Sportswriters favored the Indians. Younger players, some of whom Stengel had developed, came to the fore, with Martin the regular second baseman for the first time. Mantle proved slow to develop, but hit well towards the end of the season to finish at .311. The Yankee season was also slow to get on track; the team had a record of 18–17 on May 30, but they improved thereafter. Stengel prepared nearly 100 different lineup cards for the 1952 season. The race was still tight in early September, and on September 5, Stengel lectured the team for excessive levity on the train after the Yankees lost two of three to Philadelphia. Embarrassed by the episode, which made its way into print, the Yankees responded by winning 15 of their next 19, clinching the pennant on September 27.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The 1952 World Series was against the Brooklyn Dodgers, who by then had their stars of the 1950s such as Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges and Duke Snider, with the team later nicknamed "The Boys of Summer". The teams split the first four games. With his pitching staff tired, Stengel gave the start to late-season acquisition Ewell Blackwell, who surrendered four runs in five innings, and the Yankees lost the game in 11 innings to the Dodgers behind Carl Erskine's complete game. Needing to win two in a row at Ebbets Field, Stengel pitched Raschi in Game 6, who won it with a save from Reynolds. With no tomorrow in Game 7, Stengel sent four pitchers to the mound. Mantle hit a home run to break a 2–2 tie, Martin preserved the lead by making a difficult catch off a Robinson popup, and Kuzava again secured the final outs for a Series victory, as the Yankees won 4–2 for their fourth straight World Series victory, matching the record set in 1936–1939, also by the Yankees.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The sportswriters had picked other teams to win the pennant in Stengel's first four years as Yankee manager; in 1953 they picked the Yankees, and this time they were proven correct. An 18-game winning streak in June placed them well in front, and they coasted to their fifth consecutive league championship, the first time a team had won five straight pennants. The Yankees played the Dodgers again in the World Series, which was less dramatic than the previous year's, as the Yankees won in six games, with Mantle, Martin, Berra and Gil McDougald—players developed under Stengel—taking the fore. The Yankees and Stengel won the World Series for the fifth consecutive year, the only team to accomplish that feat. Stengel, having taken the managerial record for consecutive pennants from McGraw (1921–1924) and McCarthy (1936–1939) and for consecutive titles from the latter, would say, "You know, John McGraw was a great man in New York and he won a lot of pennants. But Stengel is in town now, and he's won a lot of pennants too".


title: Casey Stengel

text: The Yankees started the defense of their title in 1954 with an opening day loss to the Washington Senators in the presence of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Even though the Yankees won 103 games, the most regular season victories they would have under Stengel, they lost by 8 games to the Indians, managed by Stengel's old friend Al Lopez. In spite of the defeat, Stengel was given a new two-year contract at $75,000 per year.


title: Casey Stengel

text: By the mid-1950s, Stengel was becoming a national figure, familiar from television broadcasts of the Yankees on NBC's "Game of the Week", and from managing in most World Series and All-Star Games during his tenure. National magazines such as "Look" and "Sports Illustrated" did feature stories about Stengel, and his turn of phrase became known as "Stengelese". The magazines not only told stories about the manager's one-liners and jokes, but recounted the pranks from his playing days, such as the grapefruit dropped from the plane and the sparrow under the cap. According to Richard Bak in his biography of Stengel, "people across the country grew enamored of the grandfatherly fellow whose funny looks and fractured speech were so at odds with the Yankees' bloodless corporate image".


title: Casey Stengel

text: The Yankees won the pennant again in 1955, breaking open a close pennant race in September to take the American League. They played the Dodgers again in the World Series, which the Dodgers won in seven games. The Dodgers won Game 7, 2–0, behind the pitching of Johnny Podres and Stengel, after losing his first World Series as a manager, blamed himself for not instructing his hitters to bat more aggressively against Podres. Billy Martin stated, "It's a shame for a great manager like that to have to lose".


title: Casey Stengel

text: There was not much of a pennant race in the American League in 1956, with the Yankees leading from the second week of the season onwards. With little suspense as to the team's standing, much attention turned to Mantle's batting, as he made a serious run at Babe Ruth's record at the time of 60 home runs in a season, finishing with 52, and won the Triple Crown. On August 25, Old-Timers' Day, Stengel and Weiss met with the little-used Rizzuto, the last of the "McCarthy Yankees" and released him from the team so they could acquire Enos Slaughter. Never a Stengel fan, the process left Rizzuto bitter.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The World Series that year was again against the Dodgers, who won the first two games at Ebbets Field. Stengel lectured the team before Game 3 at Yankee Stadium and the team responded with a victory then and in Game 4. For Game 5, Stengel pitched Don Larsen, who had been knocked out of Game 2, and who responded with a perfect game, the only one in major league postseason history. The Dodgers won Game 6 as the Series returned to Ebbets Field. Many expected Whitey Ford to start Game 7, but Stengel chose Johnny Kucks, an 18-game winner that season who had been used twice in relief in the Series. Kucks threw a three-hit shutout as the Yankees won the championship, 9–0, Stengel's sixth as their manager.


title: Casey Stengel

text: New York got off to a slow start in the 1957 season, and by early June was six games out. By then, the team was making headlines off the field. Some of the Yankees were known for partying late into the night, something Stengel turned a blind eye to as long as the team performed well. The May 16 brawl at the Copacabana nightclub in New York involved Martin, Berra, Mantle, Ford, Hank Bauer and other Yankees, resulted in the arrest of Bauer (the charge of assault was later dropped) and exhausted Yankee management's patience with Martin. Stengel was close to Martin, who took great pride in being a Yankee, and Topping and Weiss did not involve the manager in the trade talks that ensued. On June 15, Martin was traded to the Kansas City Athletics. Martin wrote in his autobiography that Stengel could not look him in the eye as the manager told him of the trade. The two, once close friends, rarely spoke in the years to come.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The Yankees recovered from their slow start, winning the American League pennant by eight games. They faced the Milwaukee Braves in the 1957 World Series. The Braves (Stengel had managed them when they played in Boston) defeated the Yankees in seven games, with Lew Burdette, who had been a Yankee until traded in 1950, beating New York three times. Stengel stated in an interview, "We're going to have Burditis on our minds next year".


title: Casey Stengel

text: What was seen as a failure to keep discipline on the team hurt Stengel's standing with the Yankee owners, Topping, Weiss and Webb, as did the defeat in the 1957 Series. Stengel was by then aged 67 and had several times fallen asleep in the dugout, and players complained that he was growing more irritable with the years. Former Yankee catcher Ralph Houk, who had been successful as a minor league manager and was Stengel's first base coach, was seen by ownership as the next manager of the Yankees. Stengel's contract, his fifth two-year deal, was up after the 1958 season. As ownership debated whether to renew it, the Yankees led by as many as 17 games, and won the pennant by 10. The Braves were the opponent in the 1958 World Series. The Braves won three of the first four games, but the Yankees, backed by the pitching of Bob Turley (who got two wins and a save in the final three games) stormed back to win the Series. Firing Stengel under such circumstances was not possible, and ownership gave him another two-year contract, to expire after the 1960 season.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The Yankees finished 79–75 in 1959, in third place, their worst record since 1925, as the White Sox, managed by Lopez, won the pennant. There was considerable criticism of Stengel, who was viewed as too old and out of touch with the players.


title: Casey Stengel

text: After the 1959 season, Weiss made a trade with Kansas City to bring Roger Maris to the Yankees. Stengel was delighted with the acquisition and batted Maris third in the lineup, just in front of Mantle, and the new Yankee responded with an MVP season in 1960. Stengel had health issues during the season, spending ten days in the hospital in late May and early June, with the illness variously reported as a bladder infection, a virus or influenza. The Yankees were challenged by the Baltimore Orioles for most of the year but won the pennant by eight games, Stengel's tenth as manager, tying the major league record held by McGraw. The Yankees played the Pittsburgh Pirates, again a team Stengel had played for, in the 1960 World Series, and Stengel picked Art Ditmar, who had won the most games, 15, for the Yankees, rather than the established star, Whitey Ford. The Pirates knocked Ditmar out of the box in the first inning, and won Game 1. Ditmar was also knocked out of Game 5; Ford won Games 3 and 6 of the seven-game series with shutouts, but could not pitch Game 7, as he might have if Stengel had used him in Games 1 and 5. The Pirates defeated the Yankees in Game 7, 10–9, on a ninth-inning Bill Mazeroski home run.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Shortly after the Yankees returned to New York, Stengel was informed by the team owners that he would not be given a new contract. His request, that the termination be announced at a press conference, was granted and on October 18, 1960, Topping and Stengel appeared before the microphones. After Topping evaded questions from the press about whether Stengel had been fired, Stengel took the microphone, and when asked if he had been fired, stated, "Quit, fired, whatever you please, I don't care". Topping stated that Stengel was being terminated because of his age, 70, and alleged that this would have happened even had the Yankees won the World Series.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Two days after dismissing Stengel, the Yankees announced the hiring of Houk as his replacement—part of the reason for Stengel's firing was so that New York would not lose Houk to another team. Stengel returned to Glendale, and spent the 1961 season out of baseball for the first time since 1937. He turned down several job offers to manage, from the Tigers, San Francisco Giants and the expansion Los Angeles Angels. He spent the summer of 1961 as vice president of the Glendale Valley National Bank, which was owned by members of Edna Stengel's family.


title: Casey Stengel

text: As part of baseball's expansion in the early 1960s, a franchise was awarded to New York, to play in the National League beginning in 1962, and to be known as the New York Mets. It was hoped that the new team would be supported by the many former Giant and Dodger fans left without a team when the franchises moved to California after the 1957 season. There were rumors through the 1961 season that Stengel would be the manager, but he initially showed no interest in managing a team that, given the rules for the expansion draft, was unlikely to be competitive. George Weiss had been forced out as Yankee general manager and hired by the Mets. He wanted Stengel as manager, and after talks with the Mets principal owners, Joan Whitney Payson and M. Donald Grant, Stengel was introduced as Mets manager at a press conference on October 2, 1961. Leonard Koppett of "The New York Times" suggested that Stengel took the job to give something back to the game that had been his life for half a century.


title: Casey Stengel

text: Weiss was convinced his scouting staff would make the Mets a respectable team in five to six years, but in the interim New York would most likely do poorly. He hoped to overcome the challenge of attracting supporters to a losing team in the "City of Winners" by drafting well-known players who would draw fans to the Polo Grounds, where the Mets would initially play. Thus, the Mets selected a number of over-the-hill National Leaguers, some of whom had played for the Dodgers or Giants, including Gil Hodges, Roger Craig, Don Zimmer and Frank Thomas. Selected before them all was journeyman catcher Hobie Landrith; as Stengel explained, "You have to have a catcher or you'll have a lot of passed balls".


title: Casey Stengel

text: The return of Casey Stengel to spring training received considerable publicity, and when the Mets played the Yankees in an exhibition game, Stengel played his best pitchers while the Yankees treated it as a meaningless game, and the Mets won, 4–3. The team won nearly as many games as it lost in spring training, but Stengel warned, "I ain't fooled. They play different when the other side is trying too". The Mets lost their first nine games of the regular season; in the meantime the Pirates were 10–0, meaning the Mets were already 9 games out of first place. Some light appeared in May, when the Mets won 11 of 18 games to reach eighth place in the ten-team league. They then lost 17 in a row, returning to last place, where they would spend the remainder of the season.


title: Casey Stengel

text: According to sportswriter Joseph Durso, on days when [Stengel's] amazing Mets were, for some reason, amazing, he simply sat back and let the writers swarm over the heroes of the diamond. On days when the Mets were less than amazing—and there were many more days like that—he stepped into the vacuum and diverted the writers' attention, and typewriters, to his own flamboyance ... the perfect link with the public was formed, and it grew stronger as the team grew zanier.


title: Casey Stengel

text: The Mets appealed to the younger generation of fans and became an alternative to the stuffy Yankees. As the losing continued, a particular fan favorite was "Marvelous" Marv Throneberry, who was a "lightning-rod for disaster" in the 1962 season, striking out to kill rallies, or dropping pop flies and routine throws to first base. During one game, Throneberry hit a massive shot to right, winding up on third base, only to be called out for missing first. Stengel came from the dugout to argue, only to be told that Throneberry had missed second base as well.