Dick:
Suggest you get a copy of A NICE LITTLE PLACE ON THE NORTH SIDE by George Will, an insightful and amusing history of the Cubs.
My first memories of baseball involved staying late after school (8th grade) to hear the final game of the 1948 Series won by the Indians over the Braves. Spahn, Sain and two days of rain was not enough for the Braves.
I also remember listening to games on AFRTC at 0200 local with the sun streaming into the northern facing windows.at 69-27N.
Assume you noted no one in the majors hit mote than 40 HRs this season. Makes the McGuire-Sosa-Bonds era look
even more ridiculous.
The older I get, the more my interest regresses. The undefeated (57-0) Cincinnati Red Stocking of 1869 with George Wright hitting .629 (304 hits (49 HRs) in 57 games) are an ancient highlight.
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Bruce
I was born and raised on Long Island, NY and have been a lifelong Mets fan. In 1969, when I was 13, my next door neighbor Bob and I decided to keep track of every Mets game. We went in together and bought a scorebook and religeously watched each and every single game of the season.
Sometimes my Dad would get Mets tickets from his company and he would take us to an evening game or he would give us the tickets and we would go in to Shea Stadium on the train by ourselves for a weekend game. The tickets he would get were at press level behind first base. They were the best baseball seats I have ever sat in. The tickets also included Diamond Club Passes and while we could not go in by ourselves the doorman would let us stand at the door and look at all the rich people. We also got to go in behind the guys in the press boxes and watch them as they announced the game. It was all very cool.
After school let out we started going to the games whenever we could. If we couldn't get tickets from my Dad we would go and get the general admission seats. I do not remember how much a ticket cost but it was not much by today's standards. We spent the summer mowing lawns, raking lawns, we each took on a paper route and were doing anything we could to get money for the train and the tickets.
We also went through the trash cans at the beach. At Jones Beach they sold premade milk shakes in little milk containers. On the containers was a coupon and every 20 coupons you collected you could trade in for a general admission seat and sit either in the outfield or up in heaven. So, whenever we went to the beach we would spend all our time collecting the little milk shake containers. We even started bringing scissors to the beach so we could cut the coupons off there instead of bringing the containers home. I think that was my Mom's idea.
From about June 15th on we went to every Mets game of the summer with the exception of 2 weeks that my family went on a vacation. Well, in 1969, the Miracle Mets (with Tommy Seaver leading their pitching brigade) went all the way. We ended up going to every post season game except during the final series when tickets were just totally not available.
We kept track in our scorebook of every single pitch, strike, ball and hit. It was a great summer to be a 13 year old kid on Long Island.
We flipped a coin to see who got to keep the book. I spoke to Bob (my neighbor) years later after hooking back up on facebook and he said that it had disappeared some time in the many moves of his life so now it is just nice memories.
Russ, I too am a Long Island, born and raised. I am also a die hard Met fan. You remember the days of when Newsday would put a color picture of each Met player. We haven't had a lot to cheer about lately, but you gotta believe. I did get to meet David Wright this year, and talk a little baseball.
The 1975 WS between the Reds and Bosox was phenominal. 5 of the 7 games were one run wins, with the Big Red Machine scoring the winning run in the 9th inning of game 7. I listened on AFRS, often on watch at Kef. That Cincy team had Bench, Rose, Foster, Perez, Morgan, Concepción...unbelievable gathering of talent!
Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, Billy Cox,
Gil Hodges, Carl Erskine. The Brooklyn Bums played the NY Yankees almost every year from 1941. From when I was 6 years old to about 10. By the time I was that age I was collecting "Flip Cards" as they were called back then. I had all the players I listed above. After I joined the Navy in 1965 my parents moved and yes you guessed it they ALL went into the Dump in the old shoe box. I lost interest in the Dodgers when they went to SF.
Chuck
The Brooklyn Dodgers! I too was a big fan until they moved to L.A. and it broke my heart. Growing up in Nova Scotia I wasn't able see them play, but most of the time I could pick up the New York station that broadcast their games. Those broadcasts not only kept me up-to-date, but the co-anchor was a woman (Gussie Moran) and I really enjoyed her commentary.
I must admit that I did cheer for a New York team on one occasion. I joined the RCAF after I finished school and one year in the early 1960s I was serving at a NORAD radar station in New Brunswick. My Dodgers did not make it to the World Series so I wasn't paying much attention to the post season, but I bought a ticket in the hockey pool that somebody had started. It consisted of a sheet of paper divided into 100 squares, and then the scores were drawn at random after all of the squares were sold. I was assigned to the radar room that day, and one of the other operators had brought in a radio to listen to the game. By then I knew which score was mine, and as the game neared it's conclusion I could see that I would win if New York won by a certain score. And they did! (I think it was worth about $25.00 which was a lot of money in those days.)
OOps .... it wasn't a hockey pool that I won - it was a baseball pool.
Sorry about that!
Nick:
I was sorting through some old stuff about a month ago, and came across that scrapbook with each box score from the Stars & Stripes still in pristine condition. Any "old" Yankee fan would remember that 78 season fondly.
BTW - in 2000 my son and I flew back to NYC to attend two games. The old Timers game on Saturday, and a Sunday game against the phillies. Turns out that Old Timers game was rained out, but my highlight from the weekend was a Friday night ride in the hotel elevator with two guys with luggage tags reading "Hank Bauer" and "Bill Skowron". Of course I went nuts, and they invited me to the team breakfast on the VIP floor the following morning. I got many autographs on the bill of my newest Yankee cap that I purchased just for that weekend. The cap is embroidered "Team of the Century". I've never worn it since that weekend.
I have to admit to being a big Red Sox Fan, Got to go to Fenway park as a kid several times, when they had special "kids day" admissions. Saw more than one hitter get defeated by the "Green Wall", but my most vivid memory, and the saddest, was seeing (on TV) Tony conigliarro (SP?) get beaned by a fastball. He was only a rockie, but was well on his way to having a record year, and there was talk of him being another Babe.
Saw the shots on TV of the side of his face as he was helped up. Couldn't believe how badly it had swelled in the minute or two he was on the ground. He did come back for another season or two, but the eye was never the same, and he faded from major league shortly after.
I grew up rooting for the Cardinals. Not having a team anywhere close to Manila, Ar, I spent my youth glued to a "STATICie" AM radio.
I remember Musial, Schoendienst, Groat, Boyer, Brock, Flood, Gibson, Shannon, McCarver and lots more. But the singular thing all these guys had in common was being announced by Harry Caray and Jack Buck. Long before Caray became the 7th inning song leader for the Cubs, he was the voice of the Cardinals for over 25 years. He was followed by Jack Buck for another 40+ years.
So, my baseball memories are centered around listening to two of the greatest "game describers" of all time. To this day, I prefer to lower the volume on TV and listen to Mike Shannon announce Cardinal games a la Caray and Buck. It reminds me of the good old days.
J
John,
I had the same issues with "local" baseball teams in Wyoming and Montana. Local radio carried the Cardinals so I became a fan. Interestingly enough when we left the cold, high country for Oklahoma the local radio station there also carried the Cardinals.
I did transition to the Padres while stationed in San Diego and Hawaii but still remain a fan of radio broadcast of baseball rather than TV. Being at the ballpark is great but even better with the transistor radio in your pocket and listening to the "local" guys calling the game.
Jerry
Jerry,
Yeah, we (my Dad or I) had the radio going somewhere around the house every afternoon and/or evening. The voice of Caray and/or Buck was pretty much in our house every day during the Summer.
There seems to be a movement in these days to say that the players of the old days were better, tougher, more dedicated etc. It is certainly a given that teams stayed together longer which could support the owner/player loyalty argument although I'm not sure the players had options then as they do today. I can't help but wonder if Radio didn't make a bunch of these guys (owners as well as players) a bit "Larger than life".
Today, with instant communications, every bit of "dirt" on a player is common knowledge instantly. Back in the days of AM Radio ballgames, all we really knew about a guy was whatever he had done in the latest ballgame. The only way we knew what a player looked like was by the BB cards that we treasured.
I think that is why I remember the radio days so fondly. I realize its probably no different but during the radio broadcast, I could then and still can let my mind believe that they're all good guys just playing the great game of baseball.
J
The post-seventh-game wrap-up on ESPN radio last night lauded Madison Bumgarner as possibly having provided the greatest World Series pitching performance ever.
That assessment is a parallel to the System homily: "It it didn't happen on my watch, it didn't happen."
The quoted article below puts Bumgarner's performance- great as it was - in perspective. The greatest performance ever? No question three shutouts by Mathewson in 1905. (See link fr full article)
"With his shutout Sunday night, Madison Bumgarner has become one of the greatest pitchers in World Series history. In four starts, over three World Series, Bumgarner has won all four, allowing a single run in 31 innings. And that run was all but meaningless: It came in the seventh inning in Game 1 against the Royals last week, with Bumgarner’s Giants ahead, 7-0.
Bumgarner now holds the record for lowest career earned run average (0.29) in the World Series among pitchers with at least 30 innings pitched. The mark is impressive by any standard. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that Bumgarner is the best World Series pitcher ever.
That distinction belongs to Christy Mathewson, who also did his pitching for the Giants (when they were in New York). It’s not even close, either.
Mathewson started 11 World Series games in the early 20th century, giving up a combined 11 runs, for an E.R.A. of 0.97. In 1905, he had arguably the finest baseball postseason performance: three games, three shutouts. He had two days of rest between the first two starts and a single day of rest between the second and third. The Giants and the Philadelphia A’s split the two games Mathewson didn’t pitch. But thanks to Matty, as he was known, the Giants won the Series in five games."
I have always been a huge baseball fan, which is difficult at times as a lifelong Twins fan.
My fondest memory was taking my then 7 year old son to his first big league game with his grandfather (Stacie's dad). We went to a Texas Rangers v. California Angels game in late July of 94. Little did we know that my son was going to witness the 14th perfect game in history as Kenny Rogers threw a gem in front of our three generations. I have never been in a stadium that was as electric as The Ballpark at Arlington was during the last few innings of that game. I told my son on the way out that it was unfortunate that he saw the best game of his life on his first night at the ballpark, not that he understood at his age. We have the ticket stubs and the Dallas paper from the following morning!
Yo Steve,
What a family moment. I have attended, watched and listened to literally thousands of ballgames and have not come close to witnessing (or hearing) a no hitter much less a perfect game.
Keep all the mementos in a safe place. He will grow up and appreciate the event.
Neat story!!!!!!!!!
J
Johnny Vander Meer was in Cuba on a USO tour in the mid-60's and I got to meet him at a Little League All-Star game. All of us kids knew he was a famous ballplayer but all I really remember was thinking that he was another old guy.
Turns out he was quite a bit younger then than I am now. Funny how Father Time changes your perspective.
Really good story, Steve.
Nick