Before Robert Morse became known to a generation of television viewers as Mad Men agency head Bertram Cooper, he had a distinguished stage and movie career. The Loved One (1965) a disturbing black comedy about the funeral industry has Morse at his best. Continue reading
Photo © Louis Requena
It looks as though Mets third baseman Wayne Garrett was going to apply the tag and get Astros shortstop Roger Metzger out, before he gets to third. Continue reading
1972 Press Photo- At Marilyn Monroe’s Crypt
As today is the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death, it is interesting to compare the elaborate ceremonies of today, with the understated manner in which a handful of fans sent flowers on August 5, 1972 on the tenth anniversary of her death.
The press photo reads:
8/5/72 Beverly Hills, CA. Motorcycle escort officer Si Mason of Westwood, Calif. looks over the many flowers sent to actress Marilyn Monroe at the Westwood Memorial Cemetery. 8/5 ten years ago, marks the anniversary of her death. The 36-year old actress was found dead in her Brentwood home of an apparent overdose of sleeping pills. (UPI)
I sometimes wonder if every photo of Nellie Fox shows him with a chaw of chewing tobacco bulging out of his cheek. Was he born with the chewing tobacco permanently attached inside one cheek? This photograph of Nellie Fox shows that ballplayers were much more accommodating for publicity photographers back in the 1950’s, as Nellie lies on his stomach on a tarpaulin in an empty ballpark. Continue reading
This monument ceremony seen below was supposed to take place July 4 1941, on the two year anniversary of Lou Gehrig Day in 1939.
Many baseball fans know that the New York Yankees began the tradition of Old-Timers Day with a ceremony on July 4, 1939 to honor Lou Gehrig, the “Iron Horse.” On that day, the Yankees brought together Lou’s old teammates to show their deep admiration for a man who exemplified everything the Yankees were about. At the last minute Gehrig was asked to say something to the packed house at Yankee Stadium.
The words he said, now known as, “The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth” speech, live on in immortality because it was completely spontaneous and from the heart.
What you may not know, is that you really have never heard or seen that speech.
You have only seen or heard small portions of Gehrig’s speech, because believe it or not, there is not one extant movie or audio recording of Gehrig’s complete speech. Only snippets.
As incredible as it sounds with all those newsreel cameras present to record the activities at Yankee Stadium, no complete version of the speech has surfaced in all these years. Continue reading
Umpires Make Mistakes: See Baseball History 101
Photo Mike Stobe / Getty Images
Everyone is in an unnecessary uproar over the Dewayne Wise phantom catch of a baseball that disappeared into the crowd at Yankee Stadium on June 26, 2012 during a 6-4 Yankee victory over the Cleveland Indians.
The umpire, Mike DiMuro is human. He made a mistake and admitted it after the game. That was the right thing to do.
Do you want the game to stop every time there is a controversial play? Aren’t the games slow enough?
Mistakes similar to this have been happening since baseball began and have been forgotten unless they affect the pennant race or a World Series game.
One forgotten incident that occurred on August 1, 1920 was whether Joe Jackson of the Chicago White Sox actually caught a baseball Babe Ruth hit into an overflow crowd at Comiskey Park. The aftermath of that play is shown below.
Babe Ruth & Miller Huggins argue with umpire Tom Connolly, Bob Meusel (with bat) listens © blackbetsy.com
Going into the game against the White Sox, Ruth was on a tear, having hit 37 home runs already, shattering his own record of 29 home runs set the previous year. Continue reading
June 25, 1923 Intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues
Photo © Osmund Leviness
“Those who died were fortunate it seemed to me when I looked inside the cars. As long as I live I can never forget it. All the people were in a mass there, struggling and screaming, with blood running over them. They all seemed to be bleeding or stained with blood. One woman’s head was terribly cut on top, and one jaw seemed to be crushed in. The hand of another woman was almost cut off. One woman I took out through a window died a few minutes after I carried her into the post office. I can’t forget the inside of those cars. They looked like my idea of purgatory.” – Traffic Officer Joseph J. Ryan who was on the scene immediately after the crash.
This incredible accident happened 89 years ago, Monday, June 25, 1923 as two cars of the BMT derailed and plunged 35 feet into the street at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues in Brooklyn. Continue reading
The Yankee Clipper Gets Ready To Return To Play – June 21, 1949
Many who saw Joe DiMaggio play say he was the greatest all-around ballplayer who ever lived. Everything he did seemed effortless. Of course this is a huge exaggeration. Everything DiMaggio did so well required practice, patience and hard work.
When DiMaggio missed the first three months of the 1949 baseball season with a painful heel injury, many fans, players and sportswriters thought he might never play again.
So it was hush-hush when DiMaggio went to an empty Yankee Stadium to test out his heel in a full workout on June 21, 1949.
Things went well and DiMaggio returned to the Yankee line-up on June 28, 1949 at Fenway Park against the Red Sox to start a three game series. He hit a homerun in the first game which the Yankees won by a score of 5-4. The Yankees swept the series and when DiMaggio left Boston, he had hit four homeruns and driven in nine runs.
The impact of his return cannot be understated. In the 76 games DiMaggio played for the remainder of the year, he batted .346, hit 14 homeruns and drove in 67 runs. His on base percentage was the highest of his career, .459. In 329 plate appearances he struck out only 18 times.
The Yankees ended up edging the Red Sox by one game in the final season standings, propelling the Yankees into the World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
DiMaggio would go on to have the worst World Series performance in his storied career, batting just .111. But the Yankees still defeated the Dodgers four games to one, starting their stretch of winning five World Championships in a row.
Circa Late 1940’s Coney Island, New York- Acme News Photograph.
The news slug says: Continue reading
Die, Dracula, Die!
On June 22, 2012 at Tennants Auctioneers in Yorkshire, England, a 19th century vampire slaying kit will be auctioned off.
Practically everything you would need to kill a fictional character is included. The kit, housed in a mahogany box, contains a mallet and stakes, a pistol, a silver bullet mold, glass bottles containing holy water and holy earth, garlic, rosary beads, a bible, a crucifix and a handwritten psalm. It is believed that the kit was made in earnest in the late 19th century. It is being consigned by a woman who inherited it from her uncle.
Because vampire sightings are on the rise and people are looking for extra security from the living dead, the auction has been attracting wordwide attention. The presale estimate of £1,500-2,000 (US $2,300 – 3,100) is probably on the low side considering the number of Dracula fans and strange goths who file down their teeth into fangs believing they are vampires.
UPDATE 7/25/12 – The final hammer price was £7,500 (US$11,700)!