Tag Archives: News – Press Photo

The Original Yankee Stadium – Photographs and Memories

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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 →

Marilyn Monroe’s 85th birthday

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Marilyn Monroe would have been 85 on June 1, 2011

An 85-year-old Marilyn would be difficult to imagine. She died at age 36 under mysterious circumstances during the evening of August 4 or early morning August 5, 1962, depending upon what version of her death you are apt to believe.

If she were alive today, I think she might look somewhat like her mother Gladys did at a similar age. Gladys died at the age of 81 in 1984.

 

The New York Post reported on May 31 that unseen Marilyn photos found at a garage sale in 1980 may soon be put up for sale. If they are, they will fetch a lot of money.

Marilyn was one of the most photographed people of all-time so there are always going to be “new’ photos of her popping up.

Random trivia: Andy Griffith was also born June 1, 1926.

For Marilyn’s birthday here are some photo’s that have not been seen as much as the standard shots you are used to.  Forever young.

Classic Hollywood #2

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At The Beverly Wilshire Hotel

Howard Hughes and Marian Marsh December 12, 1934 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for the “Mayfair Ball” (click photo to enlarge)

The Mayfair Ball was the largest social gathering in Los Angeles in the 1930’s. The dashing Howard Hughes was a Hollywood producer at the time. Marian Marsh had appeared Continue reading →

How to Win the World Series – Don’t Hit! Presenting the 1906 White Sox

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Nicknamed The “Hitless Wonders”: The 1906 Chicago White Sox.

Portrait White Sox catcher Billy Sullivan 1909 Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Courtesy of Chicago History Museum

This dour looking man shared the team lead for the Chicago White Sox in home runs in 1906. His name was Billy Sullivan. He was the team’s catcher. He batted .218.

Billy Sullivan in 1910 Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Courtesy of Chicago History Museum

Billy Sullivan and Joe Sugden in 1901 Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Courtesy of Chicago History Museum

The other slugger to lead the team in home runs was outfielder / playing manager Fielder Jones. He batted .230.

fielder Jones at South Side Park 1905 Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Courtesy of Chicago History Museum

Fielder Jones & Frank Isbell 1907 Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Courtesy of Chicago History Museum

Fielder Jones Base Hit vs. Cubs Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Courtesy of Chicago History Museum

Sullivan and Jones each had two home runs.  This is the shared record with the 1907 Cubs for fewest amount of home runs for an individual team leader on a modern (post 1903) world championship team. Let’s give the 1907 Cubs some credit they walloped nearly double the number the White Sox did in 1906 by hitting 13 home runs.

The White Sox hit a total of seven home runs in 1906. Count them, seven.

The White Sox batted collectively .230. They did not have one .300 hitter who had more than ten at bats. Pitcher Frank Smith had a higher batting average  (.293)  than any other regular starter. They did finish in first place with a 93-58 record.

In the 1906 World Series against the crosstown rival Chicago Cubs the Sox  hit even lower, batting a collective .198.

1906 World Series West Side Grounds Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Courtesy of Chicago History Museum

1906 World Series fans Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Courtesy of Chicago History Museum

The Cubs had won a record 116 games, which is still the modern National League record for victories.

Yet the White Sox whipped the heavily favored Cubs four games to two and even managed to score eight runs in each of the last two games!

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

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The Triangle Fire – One Hundred Years Later

Anniversaries of older, tragic events are usually the only time those events play into the public consciousness. Other than that, they are rarely thought about, discussed or even remembered.

This week a vast amount of attention has been devoted by newspapers, PBS, HBO and news stations in New York that are marking the 100th anniversary of The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in which 146 people, mostly young immigrant girls, perished.

The details of the March 25th, 1911 conflagration which are summed up best by Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School web site are heartbreaking. Many of these girls Continue reading →

Babe Ruth (Again) And Lou Gehrig – Recently Discovered Film Footage

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Babe Ruth And Lou Gehrig On Film

The New York Times reports more film footage of the mighty Babe Ruth has been unearthed, this time from 1927 showing Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig up close and personal in a barnstorming tour.  The article goes on to say that in the Major League Baseball archives there is less than an hour’s worth of film footage of Ruth!  The majority of film footage that probably still exists resides in attics across the country waiting to be discovered. This film was found in a cellar in Illinois and shows Ruth and Gehrig in or around Sioux City, Iowa on October 18, 1927.

Gehrig and Ruth were good friends, had a presumed falling out (over mysterious circumstances) and eventually made up when Gehrig was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis which ended up taking his life at the age of 37.

The public perception via film of Ruth and Gehrig together is not really when they are together at all.

Hollywood accomplished that trick with The Pride of the Yankees, the 1942 movie depicting the life of Lou Gehrig ,who is played by Gary Cooper. Babe Ruth plays himself in the picture.  No mean feat as Babe was already 46 years old and was significantly heavier than in his playing days.  Ruth would not be embarrassed.  Before the movie started shooting, Babe went on a diet and dropped a significant amount of pounds so he could play the part himself.

While the picture is embellished for the silver screen, it still covers a fair portion of Gehrig’s baseball accomplishments while telling more Lou’s devotion to his family and the love story between Eleanor Twitchell (the future Mrs. Gehrig) and Lou.  The movie almost never got made.  Producer Samuel Goldwyn knew nothing about baseball and knew from experience that baseball movies were never “big box office.” But Goldwyn had been shown a newsreel of Gehrig’s farewell speech at Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day by Niven Busch, a Goldwyn screenwriter. Busch was confident a movie about Gehrig would be a success. By the end of the newsreel Goldwyn was crying and had made up his mind to acquire the rights to Gehrig’s story. The end result was a success, with the picture being nominated for 11 academy awards, including best picture.

Here are some photos of The Babe and Lou together. (click to enlarge)

Gehrig and Ruth in a posed publicity photo

Ruth and Gehrig 1927

Babe Ruth Scores ahead of a Lou Gehrig Home Run

Four Greats- Lou Gehrig, Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth 1928

Babe Ruth pays his respects at Lou Gehrig’s funeral June 4, 1941

Babe Ruth As You’ve (Probably) Never Seen Him Before

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Ask people to visualize Babe Ruth and some standard images of the Sultan of Swat might come to mind and look something like…

Have you ever seen Babe Ruth doing any of the following things?

The Babe practicing his bunting –

Babe Ruth practicing his right-handed hitting–

The Bambino sliding into home plate-

The Babe about to field a fly ball in the outfield-

Babe Ruth Pitching for the Yankees 1933 –

Babe Ruth smokes in the dugout-

When The Record Books Are Wrong

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The New York Yankees Actually Hold The MLB Record For The Largest Attendance In A Regular Season Game.

Records are made to be broken…that is if anyone knows about them.

If you look up the largest attendance during the regular season to see a major league baseball game, the Sporting News Baseball Record Book and many online sources claim that the paid attendance on September 12, 1954 of 84,587 at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium is the largest ever.  The Yankees were visiting the Indians that day for a doubleheader and were battling for a pennant that Cleveland would eventually go on to win. The Yankees finished in second place with 103 wins (no wild card in 1954)!

But is the 1954 Indians-Yankees game the regular season record?

Probably no one, with the possible exception of the members of SABR (the Society for American Baseball Research) really cares, but the official record books are wrong.

On September 9, 1928 The New York Yankees and Philadelphia Athletics were in a tight battle for first place, a half game separating Continue reading →