Today’s trivia question

Looking to win a bar bet or two?

Well, go ahead and name the only New York Yankees manager after 1922 to never win a game at Yankee Stadium.

Think about it.

Take your time.

We’ll wait.

OK, the answer is … Bill Virdon, the longtime National League center fielder and former Pittsburgh Pirates manager who 49 years ago today is named the Yankees’ new manager.

Only thing is the Yankees will not be playing any home games in the Bronx for the next two years while Yankee Stadium undergoes an overhaul that lasts all of the 1974 and ’75 seasons.

While “The House That Ruth Built” undergoes its home makeover, the Yankees play their home games 10 miles away at Shea Stadium, the home of the Mets and – for two seasons – the Yankees’ landlords.

The Yankees perform well for Virdon in 1974, going 47-34 in their home-away-from-home games at Shea Stadium while finishing 89-73 overall and only two games behind the Baltimore Orioles for the American League East title.

Virdon, though, does not get a chance to finish the 1975 season with the Yankees at Shea Stadium.

Despite a 53-51 start in 1975, team owner George Steinbrenner – ever the impulsive one – fires Virdon to hire Billy Martin, beginning a tempestuous bromance in which Steinbrenner hires and fires Martin five times between 1975-88.

As for Virdon, he quickly finds another gig in Houston, replacing Preston Gomez as the Astros’ manager late in 1975 season.

Virdon stays with the Astros for another seven seasons, and comes within four outs of beating the Philadelphia Phillies in the fifth and deciding game of the 1980 National League Championship Series.

Virdon never again gets as close to leading another team to the World Series in his 13 seasons as a manager.

Bill Virdon with the Astros