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   Lefty Gomez Photo Gallery

With all the “heavy writing” we do around here, it’s fun sometimes to step back and turn our baseball spotlight on some of baseball’s zany characters. Mike Janacek returns today with a fun piece highlighting some of the most “memorable” quips from one of the game’s great personalities, “El Goffo,” Lefty Gomez. I think you’ll enjoy it! -GL

Another Edition of “From the Lighter Side!”

The Wit and Wisdom of “El Goofo,” Lefty Gomez!

“It’s only fair. After all, I helped a lot of hitters get in!”¹⁴ -Lefty Gomez, commenting about his 1972 HOF selection

When it comes to humor in baseball, a few names immediately come to mind. There’s the late, great Bob Uecker, known for his sharp wit and self-deprecating style, and of course, the ever-quotable Yogi Berra, famous for gems like “It ain’t over till it’s over.” Yet, in conversations about baseball’s funniest personalities, one name often gets overlooked — the incomparable Lefty Gomez. A true character of the game, Gomez was always ready with a joke or a clever remark. Here are some of the best stories and quips from the ever-entertaining Lefty Gomez.

Lefty was a great left-handed pitcher with the Yankees and always spoke in awe of Jimmy Foxx. In one game, Foxx came to the plate, and the catcher went through all the signs. Gomez shook them all off. So, the catcher went through them again, and Gomez again shook them off. The catcher went to the mound and said, “What do you want to throw him?”

Gomez: “I don’t want to throw him anything.”

Catcher: “You have to throw something.”

Gomez: “Maybe if we stall long enough, he’ll get tired of waiting and leave.”

In yet another memorable moment during a game, Gomez, fascinated by aircraft, once stopped pitching to watch an airplane circling above the field. Second baseman Tony Lazzeri shouted at him to throw the damn ball.

Gomez shouted back, “You worry about second base and lasagna. I’ll worry about pitching and aviation.”¹

Always known as a poor hitter, Gomez and Yankee teammate Babe Ruth had an annual standing bet of $250. The bet was that Lefty couldn’t get at least five hits (some sources say ten hits) during the season. Most seasons, he lost the bet, but one year, Gomez went 4-for-5 on opening day. In his excitement, he told Ruth he was already counting his money. As luck would have it, Lefty failed to get another hit all season. Sporting a lifetime batting average of .147, Gomez joked, “I never even broke a bat until last year when I was backing out of the garage.”²

Gomez’s wit extended beyond the field. In 1969, after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon and NASA scientists puzzled over an unidentified white object, Gomez quipped,  “I knew immediately what it was. It was a home run ball hit off me in 1937 by Jimmie Foxx.”³

A notorious brush back pitcher, a reporter once asked Gomez. “Is it true that you’d throw at your own mother?” Gomez replied, You’re damn right I would. She’s a good hitter.”⁴

The youngest of eight children, Gomez always joked that his actual name was “Quits,” because when his father first came in to see him after he was born, he told his wife, “Let’s call it Quits.”⁵

At the end of 1936, Lefty’s $20,000/year contract expired, and New York Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert tried to reduce Gomez’s salary to $7,500. This despite the fact that the Yankees had won the World Series. His response.“You keep the salary; I’ll take the cut.” ⁶

The Yankees in the 30’s had three Italian starters: Joe DiMaggio in center field, Frankie Crosetti at shortstop, and Tony Lazzeri at second base. On a ball hit back to the mound, Gomez fielded it and threw to Lazzeri, instead of to Crosetti covering third. When he reached the dugout, manager McCarthy demanded an explanation. Lefty said, “There are too many [Italians] on the field, I got confused.”

“Too many [Italians]?” growled McCarthy. “Maybe I should be thankful you didn’t throw to DiMaggio in centerfield.⁷

Coming to bat, late in a game with the light beginning to fade and the air becoming foggy, Gomez lit a match and held it in front of his face as he stepped into the batter’s box. Bob Feller was on the mound. “What’s the big idea?” asked the umpire. “Do you think that match will help you see Feller’s fast one?”

Gomez replied, “No, I’m not concerned about that. I just want to make sure he can see me!”⁸

 After the third strike, he said to the umpire, “That last one sounded low.”

Gomez even left his mark on baseball lingo. After giving up a couple of home runs during his rookie year, he originated the term ‘gopher ball’ by suggesting his outfielders had to ‘go fer’ one ball after another.

When he retired from baseball and was filling out a job application form, in the “reason for leaving last employment” space, Lefty wrote “Couldn’t get anybody out.”⁹

During another game situation, Lefty fielded a ground ball but, unsure where to throw, he tossed it to second baseman Tony Lazzeri, even though Lazzeri had no play. After the inning, Lazzeri asked about the play; Gomez explained, “You’re supposed to be the smartest guy on the team. I didn’t know what to do with the ball, so I figured you would.”¹⁰

As the 1939 season progressed, the baseball world witnessed the tragic decline of Lou Gehrig. On May 2, Gehrig pulled himself from the game, breaking his 2,130 consecutive games played streak. As he took the lineup card to home plate before the game, there was not a dry eye in the house. Returning to the dugout, his teammates were silent, not knowing what to say. Lefty walked over and sat next to Gehrig. In a voice everyone could hear, Gomez said, “Hell, Lou, it took fifteen years to get you out of the lineup. Sometimes I’m out in fifteen minutes.” Everyone, including Lou Gehrig, laughed.¹¹

As Lefty reached his early 30s, he began to lose his fastball and had trouble going more than six innings. Many of his games were saved by relief pitcher Johnny Murphy. He told reporters that Murphy listed Gomez as a dependent on his tax return. Asked how long he could continue to pitch, he responded. “As long as Murphy’s arm holds out.”¹² When asked about his fastball, Lefty responded, “I’m throwing just as hard as ever. The ball’s just not getting there as fast.”¹³

As Lefty was passing away, the doctor leaned over his bed and said, “Lefty, picture yourself on the mound, getting ready to throw a fastball. On a scale of one to ten, how severe are your chest pains?” Lefty responded, “Who’s hitting, Doc?”

So today we salute one of baseball true characters, “El Goffo,” Lefty Gomez!

Mike Janacek

Notes:

1 Ray Robinson, The Greatest Yankees of Them All (New York: Putnam Publishing Group, 1969), 130–31.

2 Lefty Gomez Quotes,” Baseball Almanac, accessed July 5, 2025, https://www.baseball- almanac.com.

3 Freedman, Lew. DiMaggio’s Yankees: A History of the 1936–1944 Dynasty (Jefferson, NC:

McFarland & Company, Inc., 2011), 64–65.

4 Lefty Gomez Quotes,” Baseball Almanac, accessed July 5, 2025, https://www.baseball- almanac.com.

5 David Porter, ed., Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Baseball, rev. and expanded ed. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000), 562.

6 C. Paul Rogers III, “Lefty Gomez: The Life of the Party,” Elysian Fields Quarterly, Winter 2001, 37.

7 Rogers III, C. Paul, Elysian Fields Quarterly, op. cit., at page 39; 

8 Some accounts have the umpire as Bill McGowan, while others have the umpire as Bill Summers. 36

9 Gomez, Verona, and Lawrence Goldstone, Lefty: An American Odyssey New York: Ballantine Books,

2012). 105–6.

10 Tommy Henrich and Bill Gilbert, Five O’clock Lightning: Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle and the Glory Years of the New York Yankees (New York: Birch Lane Press, 1992), 28.

11 Gomez, Verona & Lawrence Goldstone, Lefty – An American Odyssey (New York: Ballantine Books, 2012). p250.

12 Gomez, Verona, op. cit., at page 264.

13 Rogers III, C. Paul, Elysian Fields Quarterly, op. cit., at page 41; 

14 Henrich, Tommy, op. cit., at page 88.

Gary Livacari 

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