Skowron, Richardson, Kubek & Torre laud Boyer

BY MARK FEINSAND
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, June 5th 2007, 4:00 AM

CHICAGO - Moose Skowron, saddened by the news of the death of Clete Boyer, took the opportunity to remember Boyer as a friend and a teammate before last night's Yankees game.

"He was a hell of a third baseman," the former first baseman said. "He played the game and gave 100%. He was a good teammate and a good guy."

Boyer, who died yesterday at the age of 70, played with the Yankees from 1959-66, winning World Series titles with the club in 1961 and '62. Boyer joined Skowron, second baseman Bobby Richardson and shortstop Tony Kubek as the starting infield for the 1961 Yankees. Skowron learned of Boyer's death from his wife, who had received calls from both Richardson and Kubek earlier in the afternoon.

"When I think of Clete, I think of the outstanding defensive third basemen in baseball," Richardson said. "I know Brooks Robinson got all the Gold Gloves, and he's every bit deserving of the Hall of Fame, but Clete was as good as anyone who ever played the game.

"As close as Clete and Tony and I were in that infield of the '60s, we remained that close for the rest of our lives."

Kubek echoed those sentiments.

"He was a dear, dear friend," Kubek said. "I just talked to him a couple of days ago in the hospital. He had stopped taking his blood pressure medicine, and his blood pressure was through the roof. But he was up and around and looking forward to coming up to Wisconsin and fishing with me and then going to Cooperstown."

Kubek believed that Boyer never received credit for being one of the elite third baseman of his time.

"The era in which we played, you had Brooks and (Graig) Nettles and (Mike) Schmidt, but Clete was as good a third baseman as any of them," Kubek said. "When you think he was an eighth-place hitter for us, and then went to Atlanta and hit fourth behind Hank Aaron, that tells you something.

"He roomed with Roger (Maris), was teammates with Henry Aaron, and then went to Japan, where he roomed with Sadaharu Oh. That's a pretty good legacy."

Joe Torre, who played with Boyer in Atlanta in 1967-68, also put Boyer in the same category as Robinson.

"He was up there in the Brooksie era, so he didn't get as much attention, but he played a great third base," Torre said. "He had a great arm and hit a lot of home runs when we were teammates in Atlanta. Plus, he was a little goofy, which helped you play the game."

Skorwon recalled Game 1 of the 1961 World Series, when Boyer made several terrific plays against the Reds, making some throws from his knees. The Yankees went on to win the title in five games.

"We had a hell of an infield," Skowron said. "We were winners, and that's the name of the game."

With Bill Madden