How about that! Yankees fired Mel Allen in '64.(SPORTS)(THE WAY IT WAS)

Byline: Dick Heller, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

One of baseball's greatest play-by-play men died 101/2 years ago at 83. But it's reasonable to speculate that the most important parts of Mel Allen his heart and soul really went to that great broadcast booth in the sky in September 1964, when he learned he soon would become the ex-"voice" of the New York Yankees.

Summoned to a meeting by co-owner Dan Topping, Allen walked into the Yankees' Broadway offices expecting to sign a new one-year contract, standard procedure since he had first broadcast the club's games in 1939. As related in "Voices of the Game," Curt Smith's definitive 1987 history of baseball broadcasters, this is how the conversation went:

Topping: "Mel, I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you. .. We're going to make some changes. We're not going to renew your contract."

Allen …