So Long Major

Ralph Houk died today at the age of 90. The Major would have been 91 next month.
Houk was the first Yankees manager I remember and was George Steinbrenner's first manager. Houk could only take one season of George and resigned right after the 1973 season.
I remember Houk always leaning on the dugout steps playing with little pebbles all the time.
After managing the Yankees to 944 wins over 11-seasons (including the 1961 and 1962 World Series championships), Houk went to the Tigers (where he managed Mark Fidrych) and finished up with the Red Sox.
He ended his managerial career with a 1619-1531 record.
The thing that was surprising to me about Houk's playing career was that he spent 8-seasons as a backup catcher to Yogi Berra but only played in 91-games. He had just 158 at-bats in those 8-seasons and hit a lifetime .272 with no homers and 20 RBI's. The stunning thing was, the Yankees went to the World Series in 6 of his 8 seasons with the team (47, 49, 50, 51, 52 and 53). Couldn't the Yankees have given Yogi a little more rest and let Houk get some playing time? Still, he pretty much had a pressure free pass to 6 World Series championship rings. Just for the record, he had two World Series at-bats, both against the Dodgers. He had a hit in the 1947 series and another hit in the 1952 series. The Major had a lifetime .500 average in the Fall Classic.
So another Yankee passes away. It was a good run for Ralph, a real good run.