Tag Archives: New York Giants

What Are Baseball Players Celebrating? Certainly Not Winning The World Series.

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New York Giants Celebrate Winning The National League Pennant September 30. 1937

Or, How To Put Celebrating In Perspective

The way baseball players celebrate or more accurately carry on when they win a regular ball game makes me scratch me head. It also makes me a little nauseous.

C.J. Abrams gets a Gatorade shower after delivering a tenth inning game winning single over the Atlanta Braves for the last place Washington Nationals. photo: San Diego Union Tribune

On September 28, 2022 the Washington Nationals Continue reading →

Old New York In Postcards #26 – Broadway 1895-1915

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Views Along Broadway From Bowling Green To Washington Heights

Broadway and 62nd Street – The Colonial Vaudeville Theater is on the left, 1913

Broadway means New York City. Sure there are other Broadway’s in the United States, but none have the same clout that New York’s Broadway does. It is the longest street in Manhattan and one of the oldest. What the Dutch called De Heere Straat and later De Heere Wegh, became Great George Street under English rule. The street was paved in 1707, but only from Bowling Green to Trinity Church at Wall Street. After the Revolution, New York’s citizens began renaming streets and Great George Street became Broadway.

Here are some postcard views of Broadway dating from 1895 – 1915 Continue reading →

Hall Of Famer Carl Hubbell & His Brother John Hubbell – 1937

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John Hubbell Is A Mirror Image of All-Star Carl Hubbell – 1937

Giants star pitcher Carl Hubbell with brother John Hubbell at spring training 1937 photo International News

Unfortunately for the New York Giants the mirror image does not mirror the talent.

Southpaw, Carl Hubbell known as “The Meal Ticket,” was the anchor of the New York Giants pitching staff in the 1930s. Carl was one of five brothers who played baseball and the only one who had big league success.

Our photo’s original caption says: Continue reading →

A Different Kind of “Dog Catcher” At New York Giants Spring Training 1956

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The Catcher Was A Dog – Spring Training Phoenix, Arizona 1956

Is Being A Catcher A Dog’s Life?

Sparky the dog in Wes Westrum’s catching gear March 12, 1956 photo; United Press

Baseball catchers wear the so-called tools of ignorance. They get hit by wild pitches, foul balls and errant bats, constantly taking a beating behind the plate. So who wants to be a catcher? Continue reading →

Cubs Jim Gleeson Scores The Tying Run – July 23, 1939

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Cubs Jim Gleeson Ties Game & Giants Lose Their Ninth In A Row

Jim Gleeson scores July 23 1939 photo International News

Home On A Fly

New York – Gleeson, right fielder for the Chicago Cubs, comes home from third after (Mel) Ott, right fielder for the New York Giants, caught (Rip) Russell’s long fly in the sixth inning of the game which the Cubs won 7-5, at the Polo Grounds, New York. (Ken) O’Dea, Giants catcher is set to catch the throw-in. Loss was the Giants ninth in a row. photo: International News 7/23/1939

81 years ago today the Giants and Cubs were in the midst of the pennant race, not beginning their seasons as MLB is doing today. There was no pandemic, just a World War brewing a couple of months away when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Continue reading →

How Baseball Fans “Watched” The 1911 World Series

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Before Radio Or Television If You Didn’t Have A Ticket To The World Series – You Could Still Watch It On The Play-O-Graph

Advertisement for the “wonderful Automatic Play-O-Graph” – Philadelphia Inquirer Oct. 13, 1911

In August, 1911 with $10,000 capital, John W. Baker, Henry H. Abbott and Sumner Ford incorporated the Baseball Play-O-Graph Company in Stamford, Connecticut. The men devised a way of transmitting the actions of sporting events “live” through telephone and telegraph.

The depiction of baseball games through mechanical means had been accomplished previously, but not showing the track of the ball, which was what made the Play-O-Graph unique. The Play-O-Graph would show the action without the aid of electric lights.

Baseball fans congregate outside the New York Herald Building during the 1911 World Series

In October of 1911 the American League champion Philadelphia Athletics lead by manager Connie Mack would play John McGraw’s New York Giants for the World Championship.

Giants manager John McGraw (l) and catcher Chief Myers (r) at Polo Grounds before 1911 World Series.

Giants manager John McGraw (l) and catcher Chief Myers (r) at Polo Grounds before 1911 World Series.

There were a couple of oddities in the 1911 World Series. Each game alternated cities with games one, three and five being played in New York and games two, four and six played in Philadelphia. The other strange occurrence was that there was a one week delay between games three and four as a deluge of rain hit Philadelphia for six straight days.

After inspecting the field for playability causing the fifth straight postponement of game four, umpire Bill Klem joked, “There was a pool around second base big enough for a diving exhibition by (swimming champ) Annette Kellerman. I was unable to locate the home plate for the lack of a diving apparatus. The outer gardens would make excellent pasturage for a herd of hippopotami.”

Both teams were considered evenly matched and felt confident they could win the series. Since 1904 each team had won three pennants.

Line outside the Polo Grounds at 7:00 am to buy tickets for game 3 of the 1911 World Series. photo: Bain

When tickets for the opening game of the World Series went on sale on Friday, October 13 at the Giants home field, the Polo Grounds all the tickets were gone within two hours. After the sell-out, the regular ticket price of three dollars shot up to five, six, seven and eventually eight dollars from speculators (scalpers) who had scooped up as many tickets as possible.

With over 38,000 fans cramming the ballpark it would be difficult to see the game without a ticket.

That would be where the Play-O-Graph would come into use. Setting up their machines at four locations in the United States, fans could see the game as it transpired.

“When the pitcher pitches the ball and when the batter hits it and when he is thrown out, is all shown upon the Play-O-Graph. Every move of the game is made clear to the spectator who watches the ball as it moves from place to place upon the board,” the company proclaimed.

The company installed two boards in New York, one in Chicago, one in Detroit and one in Philadelphia. Continue reading →

Ralph Branca’s Least Favorite Record

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Ralph Branca Probably Never Played This LP Record

Ralph Branca, the Brooklyn Dodgers hurler who gave up the 1951 home run known as the “Shot Heard Round The World” died at the age of 90 on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 in Rye Brook, NY.

After giving up the home run, Branca was unjustly made a poster boy for failure. A three time All-Star, Branca was a very good pitcher and had won 75 games by the age of 25. An injury in 1953 cut short his promising career.

giants-win-pennant-lp-front-cover

The Giants Win The Pennant! 1952 Chesterfield cigarettes limited edition LP record

The home run that Bobby Thomson of the Giants hit off Branca to win the third and deciding playoff game, was very likely a pitch that Thomson knew was coming.

The Giants had been stealing signs from opposing teams catchers and relaying them to their hitters with a telescope and a buzzer system at home games at the Polo Grounds during the season. It was confirmed years later that the Giants had tipped batters during the playoff game as well. Thomson though never admitted to having been tipped to what the pitch would be that won the game.

When Thomson hit his home run, Giants announcer Russ Hodges Continue reading →

Mel Ott Rare Batting Photos

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The Unusual Swing Of New York Giants Star Mel Ott

Mel Ott swing sequence 1

It’s hard to imagine in this era where everyone is recording everything, that there is very little film of the old time great players (pre-1950) actually playing.

Because of this when all-time, all-star lists are drawn up the players, modern ballplayers usually get picked over old-timers because there are few people alive who saw those old-timers play. There are exceptions like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson and other greats who have superb stats or reputations that have carried into the 21st century. They get named to those all-time lists. But many of the early 20th century’s great players are mostly forgotten.

A case in point is Mel Ott, the  slugger who played his entire career with the New York Giants from 1926 until 1947. Ott had 2,876 hits, 511 home runs, drove in 1860 runs and hit .304 in his 22 year career.

The left-handed hitting Ott had one of the strangest batting stances in baseball, lifting his right leg high in the air while the pitch was on the way to the plate.

In this rare sequence of photos Continue reading →

New York Teams Spring Training Photos 1910’s, 20’s and 30’s

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Old Photos Of New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants Getting Ready For The Season

New York baseball teams have been heading south for spring training for over 100 years.

Here are some photographs showing the Yankees, Dodgers and Giants during spring training from the teens until the thirties.

Yankees spring training St Petersburg March 5 1930The New York Yankees doing their running drills March 5, 1930 St. Petersburg, Fl

Brooklyn Dodgers spring training 1920sThe Brooklyn Dodgers at their spring training complex circa early 1920’s.

Carl Hubbell winding up in Havana Feb 20 1937New York Giants ace Carl Hubbell warming up in Havana Cuba Feb 20, 1937. Continue reading →

An Interview With Avery Corman “My Old Neighborhood Remembered A Memoir”

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Avery Corman, Author of Kramer vs. Kramer, Talks About His Latest Book: My Old Neighborhood Remembered A Memoir

My Old Neighborhood RememberedThe neighborhood is the Bronx. The time is World War II and the post war years. And the writer is Avery Corman. His newest book My Old Neighborhood Remembered A Memoir (2014) Barricade Books, is his first non-fiction book and is filled with wonderful recollections of growing up.

After graduating college Corman was working on the fringes of advertising and with the encouragement of a friend, Herb Gardner (A Thousand Clowns; I’m Not Rappaport; etc), he took a stab at writing a book. That effort was published as Oh God! A Novel (1971). After that hurdle Corman never looked back and he became a full-time novelist. Oh God! was eventually made into a very popular movie in 1977 starring George Burns and John Denver.

Some of Corman’s other acclaimed novels include The Bust-Out King (1977), The Old Neighborhood (1980); 50 (1987); Prized Possessions (1991); The Boyfriend from Hell (2006) and his most famous work, Kramer vs. Kramer (1977) which was adapted into a movie in 1979 and was the winner of five Academy Awards including Best Picture.

Avery Corman’s success must partially stem from his middle-class upbringing in the Fordham section of the Bronx during the 1940’s and 50’s, where he admits he was not the best student when it came to math and science, but did well in the humanities and was surrounded by a loving, extended family.

My Old Neighborhood Remembered A Memoir is more a series of vignettes rather than a straight autobiography and that style comes off well. Corman shares his memories of childhood during World War II up until he becomes a successful author in the late 1960’s. He paints beautiful word pictures, sometimes tinged with sadness, of growing up in a wondrous place that no longer exists. Most of the stories offer short bursts of family life, games, food, education, sports and all the things that contributed to making the Bronx a special place to grow up in.

Corman’s stories resonate with a tender glow of friendships, family and the feeling that neighborhoods were once really neighborhoods, where the familiarity of rituals, people and places were ingrained in the surroundings.

Here are parts one and two of an exclusive interview with Avery Corman.

Part I, Avery Corman talks about what made the Bronx a special place during the war. His unique living situation and school life.

In part II Corman Continue reading →