Bob Cerv obit

Former Yankee Bob Cerv dies at 91

 

 He was not on the list.

Prior to his professional career, he was a collegiate baseball and basketball player at the University of Nebraska. He was born in Weston, Nebraska and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Cerv signed with the New York Yankees in 1950 and was a little-used reserve outfielder on the perennially World Series bound Yankee teams of the early 1950s. According to sportswriter Robert Creamer, interviewed for the Ken Burns film Baseball, one afternoon in 1956, Yankees manager Casey Stengel approached Cerv in the Yankees' dugout, sat down nearby, and commented "There's not many people that know this, but one of us has been traded to Kansas City." However, this sequence of events did not really happen. In fact, Cerv was sold for cash to the Kansas City Athletics on October 15, 1956, five days after the Yankees had closed-out the 1956 World Series with a 7th game victory over the Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. By the 15th the dugouts and clubhouse at Yankee Stadium had all been emptied and the players returned home.

Cerv prospered as a regular in Kansas City. His best season was 1958, when he hit .305, hit 38 homers, and had 104 RBIs. He was elected to the American League All-Star team, beating out Ted Williams for the starting spot. He also finished 4th in the MVP voting that year. He did all of this while playing injured part of the season. He followed up in 1959 with 20 homers and 87 RBIs. On August 20, 1959, Cerv hit 3 home runs against the Boston Red Sox in an 11-10 loss.

In May 1960, Cerv was traded back to the Yankees for Andy Carey. During that year's Spring Training Cerv participated in the TV series "Home Run Derby", where he defeated Frank Robinson. Following the 1960 season, he was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the expansion draft and was in the starting lineup for the Angel franchise's inaugural game on April 11, 1961. In May 1961, he was traded back to the Yankees, where he was a substitute and pinch hitter. In June 1962 he was sold to the Houston Colt .45s, who released him in August.

In his career, Cerv had a .276 batting average and 105 home runs, including 12 pinch hit homers. He had 624 hits in 2261 at bats. Following Cerv's big league career, he coached college baseball at Southeast Missouri State College and John F. Kennedy College in Wahoo, Nebraska, where he also coached the men's basketball team.

Cerv was portrayed by actor Chris Bauer in 61*, an HBO 2001 movie directed by Billy Crystal about the 1961 season when Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle attempted to break the record of 60 Home Runs established by Babe Ruth in 1927, with Maris finally breaking it by belting his 61st in the last game of the season. Cerv, Maris and Mantle were roommates for most of that year.