RIP #6

NEW YORK (AP) - "Clete Boyer, the third baseman for the champion New York Yankees teams of the 1960s who made an art form of diving stops and throws from his knees, died Monday. He was 70.

Boyer died in an Atlanta hospital from complications of a brain hemorrhage, son-in-law Todd Gladden said.

"He wanted to be cremated and he wanted his ashes to go in a Yankee urn," Gladden said.

Boyer played from 1955-71 with the Yankees, Kansas City Athletics and Atlanta. He helped the Yankees reach the World Series in five straight years from 1960-64, when they won two titles.

Boyer's death came on the 50th anniversary of the day he joined the Yankees, completing a dozen-player trade between New York and the A's.

"He was a great Yankee and a tough guy. He never talked too much but he was extremely hardworking. A wonderful third baseman, and had fire in his belly," Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said through a spokesman.

In 1964, Boyer and his brother, Ken, became the first brothers to homer in the same World Series game. They did it in Game 7, and nodded to each other as they rounded the bases.

The St. Louis Cardinals won the Series and Ken was the NL MVP that season. An All-Star third baseman, he died in 1982 at age 51.

The Boyer family included another brother who played in the majors, Cloyd, who pitched from 1949-55.

Clete Boyer was a career .242 hitter with 162 home runs and 654 RBIs. Decent stats, but it was fielding that became his signature.

Boyer added an air of flamboyance to a Yankees team that otherwise played with a conservative precision.

"In all my years of playing with him, he only made one bad throw to me," former Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson said by telephone from his home in South Carolina.

"When I made the double play, I could just about close my eyes, put my glove up and the ball would be there," he said. "I would consider him one of the best players defensively. And when we got in the World Series and the lights came up, he made those great, great plays."

If I had to pick between Clete and Brooks, I'd have taken a nanosecond to take Clete. Robinson was the better hitter but nobody was better than Boyer for pick and toss. On a team of superstars it would have been easy to overlook Clete Boyer but I never met a Yankee fan who wasn't in awe of the mans ability. Boyers 4 rings to Robinsons 2 says it as much as anything else.