Gil McDougald Needs to Be Reminded Where He Can Stand
Photo © Bill Nehez
New York Yankee third baseman Gil McDougald had one of the most unorthodox batting stances of all time. He would face the pitcher with both feet pointing towards the mound in an open stance.
At Municipal Stadium on June 12, 1953 the Cleveland Indians were upset with where McDougald was standing, claiming his right foot was over the line of the batter’s box. Continue reading
Babe Ruth Signing Autographs
The Yankees won’t be in the World Series this year. The Detroit Tigers beat the Yankees three games to two in the American League Divisional Series last night. So we won’t be hearing God Bless America at Yankee Stadium during the 7th inning stretch for the rest of 2011 at the ballpark in the Bronx.
In 1936, after Babe Ruth retired, he did not show up to many ball games as a spectator. He grew disillusioned with not being given the chance to get a management job in the game he loved and tended to avoid baseball parks. Of course it was always hard for Babe to go out in public without being besieged by autograph seekers. But he signed for everyone. That was the Babe. Continue reading
One of the most famous film highlights of a baseball game is from September 28, Game 1 of the 1955 World Series where the Brooklyn Dodgers star Jackie Robinson stole home against the New York Yankees. The photograph above captures the bang-bang action. The play was incredibly close and you could look at the film 100 times and still not be sure of the outcome. Robinson was called safe by umpire Bill Summers. To this day, Yankees catcher Yogi Berra vehemently Continue reading
Solving A Photographic Mystery
People have asked where we get the photos for this web site. Mostly the online resources at various libraries and eBay have been used. Sometimes they are part of the contributors photo collections.
This phenomenal photo of Lou Gehrig sliding into home plate is one of millions of photographs available at the Library of Congress web site. In the old days the photographers were allowed to be on the field during baseball games. There were no Continue reading
Babe Ruth, Out Standing In His Field, 1926
Yes, I know that is a terrible pun.
Here is an apocryphal story about Babe Ruth and this little known feat.
In this rare news photograph, Babe Ruth has just caught a baseball dropped from an airplane on July 22, 1926 at Mitchel Field (an early New York airport) in Garden City, Long Island. The New York Times reports Ruth donned an army uniform to drum up publicity for the Citizens Military Training Camps.
Six times, baseballs were dropped from the airplane and Ruth was sweating up a storm, Continue reading
Some of Lou Gehrig’s Baseball Belongings and How They Remained Hidden For 70+ Years
1927 Yankee Infield Autographed Photo from L-R Gehrig, Lazzeri, Koenig, Dugan – @ Heritage Auctions 8 4 11
Lou Gehrig’s story as told in The Pride of The Yankees, the 1942 Hollywood version of his life, made it seem like there were no other women in Lou’s life except for his mother Christina and wife Eleanor.
In the August 2, 2011 New York Times is a story of how Lou seems to have dated at least one other woman. That relationship apparently lead to the woman, Ruth Martin, having a friendship with Lou’s mother Christina for many years, beyond her relationship with Lou. After Christina passed away in 1954, Ruth Martin inherited some of Lou’s possessions. It is an interesting story.
Jeffrey Quick, Ruth Martin’s son, is selling these one-of-a-kind artifacts at Heritage Auctions on August 4, 2011.
The Most Exciting Play in Baseball Was Accomplished by Rod Carew Seven Times in 1969
Rod Carew’s 2nd steal of home in 1969 – April 19, 3rd inning vs. California Angels. Harmon Killebrew is #3.
It’s a play you hardly see anymore- the pure stealing of home plate. Not part of a double steal or a failed suicide squeeze attempt.
At the urging of Minnesota Twins manager Billy Martin in 1969, second baseman Rod Carew swiped home an astonishing seven times in one season, tying the major league record of Pete Reiser of the Brooklyn Dodgers set back in 1946.
You’d think that Carew must have stolen a lot of bases that year considering his constant stealing of home. Amazingly, Carew stole a total of only 19 bases that year!
Carew, the future Hall of Famer, told the story of how he perfected the steal of home in his 1979 autobiography Carew by Rod Carew with Ira Berkow (Simon and Schuster ,1979) which is excerpted here.
Carew stole home his record tying seventh time on July 16, 1969 in the second inning against the Chicago White Sox in the first game of a double header at the Twins home park, Metropolitan Stadium. The Twins ended up winning the game 9-8. Continue reading
When Baseball Teams Had Their Own Unique Songs
When my Dad and I would drive places at night in the 1970’s, my father would put on the Baltimore radio station, WBAL-AM to hear the Orioles games. At night the radio signals were stronger and you could pick up most of the bigger radio station’s broadcasts within a 400 mile range, so he would listen. I vividly remember the upbeat song that used to be played to start the O’s broadcast. I searched the internet and have had no luck finding “Orioles Baseball” which is what I believe the title was. But I have collected a number of baseball theme songs and thought I would share them.
For every baseball fan who can remember…
(click on link to hear the mp3 of the song)
In the 1970’s when I was listening to the radio, before the start of every ball game, the New York Yankees would have their theme played. The Yankees announcers, Phil Rizutto, Frank Messer and Bill White would eventually talk over the song and it would fade out. At the end of the game they would play the theme again. The Yankees still play a truncated version of the song at the beginning and conclusion of games on the radio, but they rarely play this version with the lyrics.
Musically well constructed and simply the best song ever written for a team with its catchy lyrics. The “Meet The Mets” song still holds up nearly 50 years after the Mets introduction to New York. This version is the original version. (ed note: strangely enough I wrote this article on June 30 and originally scheduled it to be posted on July 5. I moved it up to July 3 after seeing that the writer of the Mets theme song Ruth Roberts passed away Friday, July 1 at age 84.)
If you grew up in Chicago you may remember “Hey, Hey Holy Mackarel” which was the Chicago Cubs song.
Now, if you were a Chicago White Sox fan, the song dear to your heart would be “Let’s Go, Go, Go White Sox.”
In the late 1960’s this is what the Detroit Tigers were playing – “Go Get ‘Um Tigers.” Continue reading
I watched ESPN’s Monday Night Baseball for the first time this season for a few minutes. The Yankees were battling the Reds in interleague play.
For those baseball fans who don’t know where the strike zone is or question the umpire’s judgment, the brilliant minds at ESPN have put a rectangle superimposed over the home plate area to point out what was a ball or a strike. It was on the viewing screen for every pitch in the bottom of the 9th inning.
I quickly turned off the game before it ended and put on the radio. It was unwatchable. Continue reading
A Reflection on The Late, Great Yankee Stadium With Vintage Photographs
I visited the new Yankee Stadium once in 2009 when it first opened. The feeling was a bit surreal. It was like being in Yankee Stadium, but it wasn’t. The main difference for me was the surrounding neighborhood and looking out past the right-center field bleachers and not seeing the apartment buildings and the Bronx County Court House.
The new Yankee Stadium is a glorified mall.
The old Yankee Stadium that existed from 1923 – 1973 was where the storied history of the Yankees took place. Even after the renovation of Yankee Stadium from 1974-1975 which included taking out the old wooden seats and the removal of the beams that could block your view from many of those seats, the stadium still retained some of the old charm, even though it lost a bit of its character. From 1976 -2008 the Yankees played in the same spot where Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Red Ruffing, Hank Bauer, Whitey Ford Joe DiMaggio and Bill Dickey saw action.
The Yankees of the last 35 years; Thurman Munson, Bobby Murcer, Ron Guidry, Mel Stottlemyre, Paul O’Neill, Don Mattingly and Derek Jeter could look around and seep in the history of this altered palace of baseball, even if there were heavy cosmetic changes to the outside and inside of the stadium itself.
There was no more “Death Valley” Continue reading