IN 1955, when the time finally had come to integrate the Yankees, Hank Bauer came through in the clutch – like he did so many times during his 14-year major-league career.
On a team where the manager called Elston Howard “8 Ball” and occasionally let the N-word fly, Bauer did his part in making sure the First Black Yankee felt comfortable in pinstripes.
“He was very personable; such a good friend to Elston,” Arlene Howard, Elston’s widow, recalled when informed of Bauer’s death yesterday.
“He was tough-looking but he was honest and fair. Back then, when America was such a racist country, I don’t think race ever crossed his mind. He thought of you as a person.”
Yep, this tough-looking ex-Marine with the crewcut was a valuable friend and ally to Elston – in and out of the Yankee clubhouse, maybe because they had a lot in common. Both grew up in the St. Louis area, both served in the armed forces before they wore pinstripes and both were “victims” of Casey Stengel’s platoon system.
Together, as teammates, they helped the Yankees win four straight American League pennants, including World Series titles in 1956 and 1958.
Bauer was notorious for barking at Yankees rookies, “Don’t mess with my money,” but as soon as he saw the way Howard hustled in the spring of ’55, he knew that wouldn’t be a problem.
Yankee mystique? Bauer admittedly was a big believer. He lockered right next to Howard and gave him tips on playing the outfield, when to take batting practice, what to look for in certain pitchers, and, of course, how to act like a Yankee.
In fact, whenever somebody in the stands would yell racial slurs at Howard, it was Bauer who was the first to stick his head out of the dugout. When a reporter asked why he would do such a thing, Bauer replied, “because he is my friend.”
Before the ’55 season opened, the Yankees played an exhibition game in New Orleans, where “colored people” could only sit in left field. Stengel decided to play Howard in right field and put Bauer in left.
“First inning, you wouldn’t believe what [the white fans] called me,” Howard said that day. “So Bauer suggested we be switched. And so the next inning, Stengel put me over in left field with my people.”
Later that season, when the Yankees were in Chicago, a group of Yankees were eating breakfast at a big round table. “Elston came in the room and there was an empty seat right next to me,” Bauer recalled. “He saw the seat and hedged a bit. I motioned for him to come sit with us.
“When he sat down I told him, ‘You play with us, you eat with us. You’re one of us.’ ”
Mrs. Howard yesterday recalled how sad Elston was when Bauer was traded to Kansas City after the 1959 season. The Yankees got Roger Maris in that deal, but Elston felt like he had lost a good friend.
“Elston always thought the world of him because of his hustle,” Mrs. Howard said. “He wasn’t a great player, but it was his hustle that made him great.”
Post copy editor Ralph Wimbish is the co-author, with Arlene Howard, of “Elston and Me: The Story of the First Black Yankee,” published by the University of Missouri Press.
rwimbish@nypost.com