HEAVY LUMBER MEN
West Palm Beach, Fla., Mar. 5 – Milwaukee Braves hard hitting trio reported for spring training today. Left to right, Eddie Mathews, Joe Torre and Hank Aaron. (AP Wirephoto March 5, 1965)
Spring training means a new start. It’s too bad that these three sluggers could not change the Milwaukee Braves overall fate for 1965. In 1966, the Braves would be in a new city.
Though Aaron and Mathews Continue reading
Take away the cap and Joe Torre is not a ballplayer. He looks like a tough Brooklyn badass who you wouldn’t want to mess with.
The 1964 Topps baseball card set could be known as the mug shot set. Boring head shots predominate with few players pictured in full body or action poses. Continue reading
Action At Second Base, Fifty Five Years Ago Today
Don’t let anyone tell you that the players of yesteryear weren’t as good as today’s players.
They were.
And they played as hard then as they do now. Considering an average player’s salary was around $15,000, the World Series provided extra lucrative income for ballplayers, many of whom worked at regular jobs in the off season. The winning player’s share of the 1957 World Series was $8,924, the losing player’s share was $5,606.
This news photograph captures the Milwaukee Braves Wes Covington sliding hard into second base to break-up a double play. The news photo is captioned as follows:
Got One, Trying For Two
NEW YORK: New York Yankees second baseman Jerry Coleman leaps to get off the ball (lower center) to first after putting out sliding Milwaukee Braves’ Wes Covington on a force play at second in the fifth inning of the first World Series game of 1957 here at Yankee Stadium October 2nd. Bill McKinley umpires. McDougald took Crandall’s bouncer and threw to Coleman. The Yanks missed a double play when Elston Howard dropped Coleman’s throw for an error. The Yanks took this opener, 3-1.
United Press Photo 10/2/57
The Braves would end up coming back to win the Series in seven games. Braves right-handed ace Lew Burdette won three games.