A bad couple of weeks for New York fans just got a little worse, as former Detroit Tigers and Yankees manager Ralph Houk passed away at age 90.
↵Houk won 1,619 games as manager of the Tigers, Yankees and Boston Red Sox in his 20-year career. Houk took the helm in Motown from 1974 to 1978, although he didn't produce a winner until his final year.
↵Yankees owner George Steinbrenner passed away last Tuesday, the day of the All-Star Game, just two days after longtime public address announcer Bob Sheppard died.
↵Former Tigers greats Al Kaline and Willie Horton both shared their thoughts on their former manager, as well as radio broadcaster Jim Price.
↵↵↵“Ralph was a great baseball man who handled his players well and they played hard for him. He was well respected and a fun guy to be around. I enjoyed playing for him during my last year," Kaline said.
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Willie Horton:
↵↵↵“I respected Ralph as a manager. We had formed a good relationship after we both retired from the game," Horton said
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Price:
↵↵↵“People forget that before he was a manager, he was a war hero and he was a catcher for a lot of years,” Tigers radio analyst Jim Price said. “He was a great guy, I knew him very well, and everyone that played for him loved him.”
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Houk went 363-443 in his five years in Detroit.