Daily News du lieu suivant : New York, New York • 76

t3 pjlefhk, Mgkg Expitiled Mk By Red Foley- The condemned man became the self-executioner yesterday when Wes Westrum, weary of the hot seat he has occupied for a month, shocked the hierarchy by resigning as manager of the tailend Mets. Prexy Bing Devine and board chairman M. Donald Grant, who attended a hastily-convened, emotion-filled press conference at Shea Stadium, said Westrum's successor will not be determined till the close of the season. Salty Parker, the third base coach, will serve as "interim CO I I tr in zn to t3 3 ninth, was granted a one-year extension. BUT WHEN THE current team hit the skids and settled in the cellar, the question of Wes-trum's future was posed.

Devine may have felt he was relieving some of the pressure when he said nothing would be decided until the season's end, but that announcement may have inadvertently caused even further speculation. Both Devine and Grant expressed satisfaction with Wes-' trum's services, and both denied his unexpected action saved them the trouble. 7: Jj ft' skipper for the remaining 11 frames. Parker, who doesn't consider himself a candidate for the manager's job, emphasized he is anxious to remain in the majors as a coach. WESTRUM ACTUALLY informed Devine of his decision following Tuesday night's victory ever the Dodgers.

Devine, obviously stunned by the unexpected news, immediately offered the 44-year-old former Giant catcher an organization post. It had been Devine's plan to tettle trie managerial business after the season, but Westrum. seeing the handwriting on the wall, beat him to it. At yesterday's gathering, West-rum tried to explain his reasons for resigning. The mental and physical strain, under which he has been working, were obvious as he read, with halting voice, the handwritten "farewell" ad "While we would be less than candid if we did not say we were disappointed with the showing of the club this season," Grant said, "it would be unfair to Wes if we did not recognize that the results were in no way a reflection on his leadership.

We feel that Westrum extracted as much as anyone could from the overall material available to him. WESTRUM'S SUCCESSOR now becomes the prime subject in the Met camp. Both Devine and Grant said that while they hadn't decided to make a change they have discussed logical can- Continued on page 26, cot. 1) Will 4. i vil Yogi Berra He ham had experience grateful for the opportunity I was given." Westrum became a Met coach in 1964.

After Casey Stengel fractured his hip, July 25, 1965, Westrum finished the season as interim skipper. He was given a one-year contract in November of that year and last season, following th Mets' sudden rise to dress he'd penned on hotel stationery. WESTRUMS EYES WERE rimmed by tears as he tried to communicate his feelings on a sticky situation that had become untenable. "To begin with," Westrum said, "the moment stories came out speculating about Alvin Dark coming here after the Kansas City incident, Mr. Devine told me riot to believe what might be printed about a change in managers, assuring me that when a decision was reached on my status I would know directly from him within five minutes of that time." (XEWS foto bv Frank Hurley) Nice Guy Who Finished Last es Westrum is noticeably moved as he announces his resignation as Mets manager after disappointing 67 season.

Prez Bing Devine, standing behind him, wants popular Wes to stay on in some capacity with Mets' organization. Annf-nirc -Iftrnn Woffn Oor- IWlArlUac? It was the time between night and morning, the time i i i i i i i i i mi wnen a man losses in Dea ana tninxs arxux xmngs. ine Mets had just dropped another rough one in Houston. Eighth place, so close a week before, was fading away, and 10th place was coming up fast. Wes Westrum fought it off as long as he could that night, then rolled off the edge of TVf said Josephine Westrum, "You're the boss.

You do whatever vou want." Yesterday, Wes Westrum sat in his office and told the newsmen what be had told Bing Devine the day before. He was quitting. "Losing can become unbearable," said Westrum. "Have you been to see a doctor?" somebody asked. "Do you think you mgbt have developed an ulcer?" He Had Told Bing the Previous Day "I'm allergic to doctors," said Westrum.

stay away from them as much as possible." Somebody suggested that the best way to stay away from doctors these days is to call one. Who will be next to undertake the torment of managing the Mets? Who will challenge this mankiller? Casey Stengel limped off to California two years ago and turned over the headache to Wres Westrum. Wes dreamed the impossible dream for one year, and finished ninth. the hotel 9r'. lm-.

Westrum said his decision to quit waji made by himself and his wife, Josephine. He said the strain of waiting for a verdict, in addition to the mental and physical strain of managing, had become too severe. "IF I DIDN'T SHOW it." he continued," I can assure you that the strain of losing had become too much to endure after the club had encouragingly gotten to within two games of the Dodgers in eighth place late in July. "For whatever the reason, I think I know now, as I told Bing, that managing isn't the best thing personally for me or my family, although 1 will always be YOUMGIDEAS bed and went to the a throom, and tossed By DICK YOUNG his cookies. The nijihts like this had been coming more and more, and in his misery, Wes Westrum did what most tormented men on the road do.

He called home. "I'm sick," he said. "I can't take much more of this." "Wesley," Ycaza Grounded for 0 Bys By Wes Gaffer The Aqueduct stewards yesterday published the latest chapter in the saga of Manuel Ycaza, the bad boy of American racing. They the jockey with his sev- pension of the year, this time 10 days, beginning- tomorrow, didn't run satis It brines Ycaza's total of days I Xeloy's words, factorily." suspended to 85 for the year and Idle 85 Days Then came those awful nights on the road, and now it will be somebody else's turn. Salty Parker will take it for the remaining XI games, and no more.

That has been decided, unalterably decided. If he wins the 11 remaining games, Salty Parker will not manage the Mets next year. Who will? Gil Hodges. Only one thing can keep him from returning to New York, and that would be unthinkable. It would be the refusal of the Senators to relinquish Gil Hodges from his contract, a contract which runs through next season.

George Selkirk once said, when asked about letting Hodges go to New York, "Over my dead body." That was a year ago, and 1 can't believe George was serious. The Washington club owes a debt to the Mets; they gave them Gil Hodges. It was back in 1963. Gil Hodges was on the Mets' disabled list. His knees were shot.

The Senators contacted the Mets. They wanted permission-to talk to Hodges about managing. Mets Didn't Stand in Hodges' ay The Mets would not stand in his way. The Mets knew they wanted Gil Hodges for their own, for the day Casey Stengel would step down, but there was no way of knowing when that would be. It might be a year, two years, five.

How long can you ask a man to wait in the wings? The Mets had paid $75,000 for Gil Hodges in the expansion draft. They let him go to Washington for Jimmy Piersall, a pretty good name, but not worth $75,000. Some day, they figured, when they wanted Hodges to come back to his almost-native land, to manage the Mets, he would come. The time is now. The Mets cannot make the first move.

That would be tampering. It is up to Gil Hodges to go to George Selkirk and tell him he would like to return home to New York, where he would be happier, and where Joan Hodges, who met her husband in Brooklyn, would be happier. And when Gil Hodges asks, it is up to George Selkirk to pay that debt to the Mets and say, good luck. Hodges has done a magnificent job In Washington, without previous managerial experience. He took over a 10th place club, moved it to ninth, then eighth, and now might finish as high as sixth.

They have slipped to eighth for the moment, but sixth is only a length away. For half of the madcap race, Hodges actually had the Nats in it, playing .500 ball. The Mets need something big, something like Gil Hodges. Attendance at Shea is off 400,000, and there is very little chance of making it up in the three remaining games with Houston, notwithstanding these snappy little hats they are going to band out to every man, woman and child who comes to Shea th last day, Sunday. Manuel Ycaza's suspensions in 1967: Jan.

21 Hialeah, 5 days. April 4 Aqueduct, 10 days. May 1 Aqueduct, 15 days. May 27 Aqueduct, 20 days. May 29 Garden State, 15 days.

Aug. 29 Aqueduct, 10 days. Sept. 21 Aqueduct, 10 days. Total 85 days.

BAEZA HAD FIRST choice on the entry of What a Pleasure and Vitriolic (owned by Ogen Phipps) that Neloy planned to start in the Futurity. "Apparently something is wrong with a muscle in his right hip," Neloy explained. "Wre don't feel it is anything serious, but with a colt of this stature we don't want to run him unless he is perfect." Shoemaker was blanked in four rides yesterday and loudly booed after one finish. He rode Aristocratic for trainer Hirsch Jacobs and trailed the field home in the third race after being in contention for half of the mile race for maidens. Aristocratic was the 3-5 favorite.

WHAT THE BETTORS didn't know, and neither did Jacobs until after the race, was that Aristocratic suffered bucked shins. "I called my stable foreman when the colt got back to the barn and asked him how the colt's shins were," Jacobs explained. "The foreman tolrl me the colt grunted when he ran his hands down his legs." 591 since he was hit with his first grounding at Del Mar in September of 1954. Those figures do not include any discipline he may have received riding in his native Panama. THE SUSPENSION was made for the ride Ycaza gave Gala Performance in the Stymie Handicap, Wednesday.

The steward stated he caused "interference at the far turn." Indulto, who finished fourth, was the horse Gala Performance affected most, coming over on him and forcing Johnny Rotz to take up. Rotz did not claim foul. Evidently, the stewards Francis Dunne, Cal Rainey and Earl Potter spotted the infraction yesterday at the daily review of the film patrol of the preceding day's program. The suspension, which ends Oct. 3, will cost Ycaza the mount tomorrow on Captain's Gig in the Futurity.

Manuel's bad luck was Willie Shoemaker's gain, the only positive thing to happen to Shoemaker yesterday. CAPTAIN GIG is a Cain Hoy colt and Ycaza is the stable's contract rider. Cain Hoy is owned by Capt. Harry, F. Guggenheim, who was ir his box when the suspension was announced.

The captain wasted no time in asking for Shoemaker's services. Shoemaker was equally swift in accepting. Willie had lost his Futurity mount in the morning when Wheatley Stable's What a Pleasure worked poorly. What a Pleasure was galloped by Braulio Baeza and, in trainer Eddie.