Ted Williams was dropped to sixth in the batting order.

Thursday, October 11, 2012
Alex Rodriguez pinch hit for: worse than benching.

There was plenty on the line but neither Stengel nor Berra humiliated his aging star despite the fact that neither had a long or close relationship with the star.

The easiest for a manager is to bench the aging super star.  There's always the pretext that the star needs rest.  Next, though difficult, is to drop him in the batting order and even that is seldom done.  By far the most difficult because it is the most humiliating for the star is to pinch hit for him, especially in a big spot.
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Ted Williams, who would turn 41 August 30, was dropped from third in the Boston lineup to sixth on of all days July 4, 1959.  Williams had served stateside in the U.S. military during World War II and was called into active service again for combat under John Glenn in the Marines in the Korean conflict in 1952-1953.

Williams had led the American league in batting average (BA) in 1957 and 1958 but he was hitting only .201 when he was dropped to 6th.

Pinky Higgins managed Boston to a record of 31-42 when he was replaced by Rudy York for one game and then by Billy Jurges (44-36) who was the first of three Boston managers in 1960 going 15-27 before being replaced by Del Baker (2-5) and Pinky Higgins (48-57).  The last game Higgins managed in 1959 was Thursday, July 2, 1959 in Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC.  Boston lost 6-3 to the Senators whose record was 35-39.  It was the fifth consecutive loss for Boston.  Here is the Boston lineup in that game:

Marty Keough CF
Pete Runnels 2B
Ted Williams LF 0 for 4 .206
Vic Wertz 1B
Jackie Jensen RF
Frank Malzone 3B
Pete Daley C
Don Buddin SS
Frank Sullivan P

Bill Fischer, a righthander, pitched eight innings for Washington.  Fischer was immortalized in the 11th inning of a night game Wednesday, May 22, 1963 at Yankee Stadium for a titanic walk off home run he gave up to Mickey Mantle; the ball hit the edge of the roof in right field.

The next Boston game was Friday, July 3, 1959 in Memorial Stadium Baltimore: attendance: 13,997.  York was managing.  Baltimore (40-36) won 6-1.  Except for the pitcher the Boston lineup remained the same.  Williams went 0 for 3 dropping to .201.  He had one walk, one strike out and an RBI.

Jurges managed his first game in the majors the next day Saturday, July 4, 1959; attendance: 10,628.  Jurges played 1,816 games mostly at short, all in the National League 1931-1947; .258 BA.  Baltimore beat Boston 11-5.  Righthander Milt Pappas pitched a complete game for Baltimore.  Here is the Boston lineup:

Don Buddin SS
Pete Runnels 2B
Marty Keough CF
Jackie Jensen RF
Vic Wertz 1B
Ted Williams LF 2 for 3 .211
Frank Malzone 3B
Sammy White C
Ted Wills P

The last game Williams batted sixth was Monday, July 27, 1959 at Cleveland Stadium; attendance: 12,716.  Boston won 4-0.  Lefty Herb Score pitched the first five innings for Cleveland and took the loss.  Williams batted sixth in all 17 games that he started during that stretch.  His BA improved from .201 to .240.  He finished the season at .254.  Here is the lineup in game 17:

Don Buddin SS
Pete Runnels 2B
Jim Busby CF
Dick Gernert 1B (righy against lefty pitcher)
Jackie Jensen RF
Ted Williams LF 0 for 1 .240
Frank Malzone 3B
Sammy White C
Jerry Casale P

Note the cleanup hitter.  Gernert played 835 games for Boston 1952-1959: 101 HR, 377 RBI, .252 BA.  He then played for four other teams.

Thursday, July 30, 1959 at Cleveland Stadium (attendance: 10,244) Williams batted cleanup.  Cleveland won 4-3.  Boston was 43-57.  Righty Mudcat Grant pitched the first eight innings for Cleveland.  Here is the lineup in Williams first game out of purgatory:

Pumpsie Green 2B
Pete Runnels 1B
Gary Geiger CF
Ted Williams LF 1 for 4 .239
Jackie Jensen RF
Frank Malzone 3B
Sammy White C
Jim Mahoney SS
Tom Brewer P

Maybe manager Jurges was just shaking up the lineup.  Boston seemed to have a thing for batting its CF third, all while Williams batted sixth: Marty Keough, Jim Busby, Gary Geiger.  For the rest of the 1959 season Williams batted third or fourth when he started.

Was Billy Jurges simply trying to win games?  Was he sending a message?  To Williams?  To the entire team?  Boston was the only team that Jurges managed, the third of three managers in 1959 and the first of three in 1960.  Pinky Higgins would start as manager in 1959 and finish as manager in 1960.  The Boston Red Sox were a mess.  Maybe the humiliation that Ted Williams suffered in 1959 was simply collateral damage.  Maybe Williams was part of the problem.

The dropping of Williams in the lineup is the closest thing I've found to what has happened to Alex Rodruguez in the 2012 Major Baseball League (MBL) tournament.  See the link to my post about Rodriguez at the top.