Category Archives: Photography

Roger Maris Hits His 61st Home Run

October 1, 1961, A Home Run Record Is Set & Baseball Blows Its Big Moment

Roger Maris emerges from the dugout to tip his cap after hitting his 61st home run of the season. October 1, 1961

52 years ago today, on the last day of the regular season October 1, 1961, Roger Maris hit his 61st home run of the season off of the Red Sox hurler Tracy Stallard in the fourth inning. For those who were fortunate enough to be there, it was a great moment in baseball history.

Unlike many of today’s players who will take a curtain call without any prodding for driving in the go-ahead run, Maris had to literally be pushed out of the dugout to acknowledge the 23,154 cheering fans at Yankee Stadium.

So why were there only 23,154 fans to see Babe Ruth’s record eclipsed?

That has to do with former sportswriter and then baseball Commissioner, Ford Frick who was a great friend of Babe Ruth and his ghost-writer.

Frick had declared that an asterisk be placed next to any home run record set, if it was not accomplished in 154 games, which was the number of games Ruth played in 1927 when he set his home run mark at 60.

Legendary baseball owner Bill Veeck tells this scathing and hilarious story in his wonderful memoir, Veeck as in Wreck written with Ed Linn (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) 1962.

Let us be fair. Ford Frick does not try to do the wrong thing. Given the choice between doing something right or something wrong, Frick will usually begin by doing as little as possible. It is only when he is pushed to the wall for a decision that he will always, with sure instinct, and unerring aim, make an unholy mess of things.

Suppose that, purely as an exercise, I had put the following baseball question to you at any time during the past twenty-five years.

Suppose, starts the question, that someone comes along to challenge Babe Ruth’s record- which is THE record the same way Mt. Everest is THE mountain. Continue reading →

Joe Collins Second Home Run In Game 1 Of The 1955 World Series

Mickey Mantle’s Last Game At Yankee Stadium

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Unlike Mariano Rivera’s Farewell, No Fanfare And Only 5,723 Fans At Yankee Stadium – September 25, 1968

June 8, 1969 - Mickey Mantle Day- Mantle gazes, as former Yankees announcer Mel Allen in the background

Mickey Mantle looks on as his longtime teammate Whitey Ford announces his retirement May 30, 1967.

With all the celebrations surrounding Mariano Rivera’s retirement and last game at Yankee Stadium, it got me thinking about Mickey Mantle’s last game at Yankee Stadium.

It was a sunny day on Wednesday, September 25, 1968 and not being able to attend school yet because I was too young, my father who worked a night shift took me to Yankee Stadium to see a meaningless 2:00 pm game between the Cleveland Indians and the New York Yankees. It was the last home game of the season for the 5th place Yankees. I vividly remember the game, but it originally wouldn’t be because it was Mickey Mantle’s last game at Yankee Stadium. Continue reading →

Groucho Marx And His Third Wife Eden Hartford

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A Marriage Not Made To Last

On July 17, 1954 Groucho Marx married Eden Hartford at Sun Valley, Idaho. It was his third marriage, it was her second. He was 63, she was 24.

This was the beginning.

This was the end.

The look on both of their faces in this photo from around 1962 says it all about the state of their marriage after eight years.

Groucho and Eden are dining at the famous Brown Derby restaurant and apparently not enjoying each other’s company. Groucho and Eden displayed similar expressions during the 1960’s anytime they were photographed together.

Even though the love affair was apparently over, the official end wouldn’t come until 1969 after 15 years of marriage when Groucho and Eden were divorced.

Six years after Groucho died, Eden passed away from cancer at the age of 53 on December 15, 1983.

Classic Hollywood #25 – Dolores Costello

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Dolores Costello

The beautiful Dolores Costello (1903-1979) was nicknamed “The Goddess of The Silent Screen.”

Dolores’s father, Maurice Costello was a Broadway stage and early silent screen star, and her mother was stage actress Mae Costello. With that parentage, and her natural beauty, Dolores had access to enter motion pictures in New York at the age of six in 1909. After 1915 she took a break from films for the next eight years. She did some modeling and appeared on the stage. Famous illustrator James Montgomery Flagg who had used Dolores as a model described her beauty as the most perfect for his illustrations. Dolores returned to the screen briefly for some bit parts in 1923.

Dolores had a fairy tale rise to stardom after being “discovered” in Chicago in April 1925 by Jack Warner of Warner Bros., who was sitting in the audience watching Dolores in the chorus of George White’s Scandals. A screen test followed, and she was signed to a motion picture contract.

In just under eight months after her arrival in Hollywood, Dolores appeared in a few supporting roles and then landed a big starring role opposite the legendary John Barrymore in The Sea Beast in 1926.

John Barrymore reportedly said of Dolores, “I have just seen the most beautiful woman in the world. I shall not rest or eat until I have seen her again.”

Barrymore and Costello appeared in a couple of films together and were married in 1928. The couple had two children, John Jr. and Dolores. Their marriage was tumultuous and they divorced in 1935.

Even though she had a lisp, Costello made a successful transition to sound films. Her most notable starring role was as Isabel, the widowed mother in Orson Welles 1942 drama, The Magnificent Ambersons. Her final film appearance was in 1943. Dolores spent the remainder of her life running an avocado ranch in Fallbrook, CA near San Diego.

Posture Queen And The Creation Of The World War II Pin-Up Girl

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Stand Up Straight Please, This Is A Publicity Stunt

New York, NY – Miss Lillian McKevitt, of Jackson Heights, New York is chosen as “Posture Queen” from among forty beautiful Walter Thornton models who demonstrated exercises to provide good posture in celebration of Good Posture Week (May 4-11), has her posture matched by Mr. Thornton with that of Sgt. Lester Hare of the military police of the Canadian army, who attended the matinee performance on the penthouse terrace of the Mayflower Hotel. – April 27, 1942: Acme News Photograph

By whom Lillian McKevitt was chosen Posture Queen is not noted in the news photo caption.

The interesting story here is about the modeling agency Lillian came from, The Walter Thornton Modeling Agency which began its business in 1931.

A June 27, 1948 Associated Press article describes how Walter Thornton created the World War II “Pin-Up Girl.” Strangely this is based only on Walter Thornton’s assertion.

The story goes, “while in the service, Thornton pinned his girlfriend’s picture to the canvas wall of his tent. The pin put a hole in the tent and the Sergeant put Thornton on K.P. (Kitchen Punishment duty). The new soldiers however lived in lush barracks and could pin up pictures of pretty girls without punching a hole in the wall. So one day in 1940, Thornton dug out about 5,000 photos of girls from his modeling agency and sent them to Fort Dix, NJ. The idea was a winner and the World War II pin-up girl was born.”

Allegedly.

Thornton also put on a hair-pulling match in 1940 at Palisades Amusement Park which we previously profiled here.

Time Magazine noted in 1954, “He (Thornton) also has shown a talent for getting publicity for Walter Thornton.” Continue reading →

Babe Ruth’s Funeral

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Paying Respects To Babe Ruth

New York says goodbye to Babe Ruth at Yankee Stadium August 17-18, 1948.

Sixty five years ago today, when Babe Ruth died of cancer at the age of 53 on Monday, August 16, 1948, New Yorker’s and the baseball world mourned as it never had before.

As lines stretched into the night on August 17, 1948 for a last look at the Babe lying in state in the rotunda at Yankee Stadium, the stream of fans never let up. It was estimated that 50,000 fans on August 17th and 55,000 on the 18th filed past the open coffin. Among the mourners at the stadium were baseball executives Dan Topping, owner of the Yankees, Will Harridge, president of the American League, Commissioner, Happy Chandler and former players Hank Greenberg and Leo Durocher.

They filed by at the rate of 100 people per minute. People waited all night. To see this…

Some were given more than a moment to mourn.

In this photograph above, Frankie Haggerty, 10, of Danvers, MA wipes away a tear as he looks upon Babe Ruth lying in his casket at Yankee Stadium. When Ruth was too ill to attend the funeral of one of his mentors, Brother Gilbert, he gave Frankie permission to attend as his personal representative.

One father said, “I wanted my boy to come see this so he could always say he had seen the Babe in person.”

Another elderly white haired visitor lifted his grandson for a look into Ruth’s casket. “Take a good look sonny,” he said. “You’ll never see another man like him.”

Eleven-year-old Peter Carter said, “I feel very sad. Every night I pray the Babe’s soul will go to heaven.”

A requiem mass and funeral for the Babe was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on August 19, 1948.

6,000 mourners bowed their heads as Cardinal Spellman made a special prayer at the end of the solemn 1 hour service. 75,000 people waited outside the Cathedral in the pouring rain.

What was unexpected was that after the funeral over 100,000 people lined the route in silence from Manhattan to Westchester as the Babe was driven to his final resting place at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Mt. Pleasant, NY.

At the cemetery another 6,000 people were there to see the Babe off. Ruth was put into a receiving vault until the family selected a site for burial.

Millions of people from around the country all said the same thing that you always hear after someone famous passes away, “he will never be forgotten.”

This time they were right.

Gil Coan Washington Senators Outfielder

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Gil Coan May 29, 1948

Gil Coan turned 91 on May 18, 2013. The North Carolina native started his major league career in Washington in 1946 at the age of 24.

The speedy left fielder had a few good seasons on some unspectacular Washington Senators teams. Though he hit only .254 for his career, Coan finished in the top ten in stolen bases in the American League six times and hit .303 in consecutive seasons, 1950 and 1951.

The Trade

No one could possibly foresee that the trade Gil Coan was involved in would turn out to be one of the most one-sided in baseball history. Continue reading →

An Incredible Babe Ruth Accomplishment

Old New York In Photos #30 – Cooling Off During Heat Waves

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Heat Waves In New York And Children Cooling Off

As New York City endures a heat wave this week, realize that for the majority of the 20th century there was virtually no air conditioning in most homes. The streets provided the easiest and most accessible way for children to cool off.

In New York, it is only recently that a heat wave has been defined as at least three straight days with temperatures reaching 90 degrees or more. Who decided this I do not know. Every region of the world has their own definition of what comprises a heat wave. Years ago, any sustained combination of high heat and humidity used to qualify as a heat wave.

This undated photograph above from the mid-1940’s shows city children on a Manhattan street playing and wallowing in the water. I like the fact that some of the people are looking directly at the photographer who is perched high above the street capturing the scene.

This photo shows a Harlem street in 1933 with children gathering around a center stand sprinkler connected by a hose to the fire hydrant.

A four day heat wave in New York City that began June 7, ended on June 10, 1933 with a violent thunderstorm which dropped the temperature down to 86. The day before, the thermometer in the city reached the mid 90’s and reportedly hit 120 degrees in Hammonton, NJ, wilting strawberries right on the stem.

As unthinkable as it is now, for decades up until the 1970’s, to cool off many children would swim in the polluted East and Hudson Rivers. With the FDR Drive and the United Nations Secretariat Building in the background Joe Funranolla and Ray Bardini beat the heat by diving into the East River July 22, 1955. The temperature hit 96 that day.

It was the eighth day in July 1955 that the mercury went above 90 degrees. According to the New York Times, the record up to that time for 90 degree days in July was ten, which was accomplished in 1876 and 1952.

This 1937 photograph shows teen boys making daring dives into the East River. The Williamsburg Bridge is in the background. I wonder how long it took to get back up to where they were diving from?

One thing has remained the same over the years: if they can get to one, kids still flock to the city pools. In this 1937 photograph the Astoria Pool entices a huge crowd, while the Hell Gate Bridge looms in the background.

The current heat wave will soon be over and when winter arrives, you can bet your bottom dollar many New Yorker’s will be saying they can’t wait for the warm weather.

Stuff Nobody Cares About

A not so random collection of observations about things you should care about