Saturday, May 28, 2011
EIGHTIES AT FENWAY PARK: MORGAN MAGIC
(Excerpt from Remembering Fenway Park: An Oral and Narrative History of the Home of the Boston Red Sox now available in stores and on-line and direct from the author) **Special Father's Day Autographed copies Available**
Don Zimmer had survived the Bucky Dent home run and recorded a five year tenure as skipper. He had survived Bill Lee's calling him a gerbil and less complimentary names. With five games left in the season, it was time for Zim to go. He was replaced y interim manager by Johnny Pesky, who had last managed in 1963. Boston drew 1,956,092 and finished in fourth place, 19 games out.
RALPH HOUK: Mr. Yawkey had been trying to bring me to the Sox for a long time. Whenever I was at Fenway with the Yankees, he would tell me, "If you ever need a job come to our club."
I had been retired for two years in the autumn of 1980 when Don Zimmer was fired and Haywood Sullivan hired me. It was great -- they offered me such a good contract, our daughter lived in the Boston area, and I was treated real good by ownership and the writers. Of course, having Yaz on my side was a big help, too.
Fenway is always an exciting place to go because of the fence, and we managed differently because of it. We decided to pitch inside, which a lot of people didn't do.
Houk had Yaz but not on opening day. Suffering from back spasms, Yastrzemski could not answer he bell. It was the only opener he ever missed.
Carlton Fisk, long time Boston stalwart and now brand new member of the White Sox, homered triggering a 5-3 Chicago win. The cheers that had greeted him at the start of the game turned to jeers.
Another long-time stalwart, Fred Lynn, came back to Fenway in 1980 wearing an Angel uniform.
FRED LYNN: If I made a good play, fans gave me a nice hand. So there was that. But one game I took a home run away from (Bill) Buckner diving into stands in the right field corner. I came back out onto the field after hitting my head on the seats, bleeding from my forehead. The fans loved that. So there was that, too.
JON MILLER: In '81, there was a day game mid-April against Baltimore and a power outage.
BOB SULLIVAN: You could get a box of Cracker Jacks, you could get a candy bar. But you couldn't get any hot food. None of the coffee machines or hot dog machines worked. And it was really cold. There were all these hollow sounds coming from players taking batting practice.
Sherm Feller, the longtime PA Man, leaned out of his window up on the rooftop with a megaphone and announced that there'd been a power outage but the game would be played anyway. You couldn't hear the lineup announcements; you couldn't hear anything. It was like people getting ready to play ball on a back yard field.
On his bullhorn, Feller began to sing the "Star-Spangled Banner," and everyone stood. Acapella, Fenway Park sang the national anthem along with him.
There was a complicated play in the 6th or 7th inning. A score was put up incorrectly, and it stayed up for an inning. Then a bat boy ran out across left field, opened the scoreboard door. A minute later a run came down and a zero went up.
Nowadays, they have generators that work. Quite possibly, that was the last professional baseball game that was played that way. But it was magical. Sox, incidentally, won 7-2.
GARY TITUS: Sherm Feller was proud of being the Red Sox announcer and he was a real statesman for the Red Sox, too. He'd walk into the children's hospital with a box full of Red Sox paraphernalia that he probably just took from Fenway. Feller and Kiley - the 1-2 punch, the sound of Fenway Park.
2011 marks Harvey Frommer's 36th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 41 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball." Frommer's newest work is REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF RED SOX NATION .
He is available for speaking engagements. FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
FOLLOW Harvey
on Twitter: http://twitter.com/south2nd.
on Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit?locale=en_US
On the Web: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~frommer.
Monday, May 23, 2011
SPORTS BOOK REVIEW Spring Roundup (Part IV)
Lots of feedback about my reviews One and Two and Three – hope you all like Four. There are some special books commented on here that definitely belong on your bookshelf - -and if have not yet picked up a copy of my REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK – you don’t have to be a Red Sox fan to enjoy . . . so what are you waiting for.
The Yankee Clipper continues to provide a source of fascination for writers and readers. Now there is “Joe DiMaggio The Long Vigil” by Jerome Charyn (Yale University Press, $24.00, 192 pages) and “Beyond DiMaggio - Italian Americans in Baseball by Lawrence Baldassaro, professor emeritus of Italian at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (University of Nebraska Press, $34.95 472 pages).
The Charyn book goes way beyond hits, runs and errors. He begins his slim but significant volume with “How can I ever explain the old Yankee Stadium to anyone who has not grown up in the Bronx? It was the one ornament we had in a borough that was nothing but a series of hinterlands.” And then the novelist and cultural critic goes off in an eye opening examination of DiMag – icon, Hall of Famer, money making commercial machine. There is lots of space devoted to Joe and Marilyn Monroe, not that much space as usually happens to his ball field exploits. That is okay. And it is also okay that Charyn carefully and with nuanced writing restores some of the glow of the old “Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?” image. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
“Beyond DiMaggio” by Lawrence Baldassaro (University of Nebraska Press, #34.95, 471 pages) has a foreword by Dom DiMaggio (Joe’s brother) and as Yogi probably would have answered if asked – “He must have written that before he died.” It also has all kinds of stories about the magic and mystique of a host of “name” Italian American baseball players including Yogi, the “Little Professor,” Ron Santo, the Conigliaros, the talented and astute Rico Petrocelli and on and on. The Italians have made it big in all sports but “biggest in baseball.” Lawrence Baldassaro has a scholar’s slant, fan’s enthusiasm and an Italian’s heart as he invokes and evokes the memories and stories of those who line up “beyond DiMaggio.” HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Still in an icon frame of mind – there is from Yale University Press “Hank Greenberg” by Mark Kurlansky ($25.00, 224 pages). Sub-titled “The Hero Who Did not Want to be One,” this terrific tome traces the life and times of an incredibly talented and also honorable man. Greenberg took a stand on all kinds of moral issues. MUST READ
“Take Time For Paradise” by A. Bartlett Giamatti (Bloomsbury, $15.00, 105 pages) is a slender work that speaks volumes. Philosophical, profound, the late commissioner has left us a remarkable read on the manifold aspects of the national pastime.
Harvey Frommer is in his 36th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 41 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball." Frommer's newest work is REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF RED SOX NATION (Abrams) Read all about it:
Upcoming event: SUNDAY JUNE 5, 5:00p- BOOK SIGNING / READING at Northshire Bookstore. 4869 Main Street, Manchester Center, VT.
REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: http://harveyfrommersports.com/remembering_fenway/
"Harvey Frommer's Fenway Park first captivates the reader with its visual beauty. They are all there, some in color some in black and white, Ted the Thumper, the matchless Yaz, Mysterioso Manny, even The Babe. And the people, yes the people, from all corners of New England. Add to these images Mr. Frommer's trenchant prose and you have one memorable book."
- Roger Kahn
"Daringly organized as a mosaic of Red Sox Nation, Remembering Fenway Park glitters with fond memories and delightful surprises. Anyone who has ever sat in Fenway, or longs to, will love this book. In his sure hands with oral history, Harvey Frommer is a treasure of our national pastime."
-John Thorn, Official Historian for Major League Baseball
http://harveyfrommersports.com/remembering_fenway/FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.FOLLOW Harvey on Twitter: http://twitter.com/south2nd. He is available for speaking engagements.
The Yankee Clipper continues to provide a source of fascination for writers and readers. Now there is “Joe DiMaggio The Long Vigil” by Jerome Charyn (Yale University Press, $24.00, 192 pages) and “Beyond DiMaggio - Italian Americans in Baseball by Lawrence Baldassaro, professor emeritus of Italian at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (University of Nebraska Press, $34.95 472 pages).
The Charyn book goes way beyond hits, runs and errors. He begins his slim but significant volume with “How can I ever explain the old Yankee Stadium to anyone who has not grown up in the Bronx? It was the one ornament we had in a borough that was nothing but a series of hinterlands.” And then the novelist and cultural critic goes off in an eye opening examination of DiMag – icon, Hall of Famer, money making commercial machine. There is lots of space devoted to Joe and Marilyn Monroe, not that much space as usually happens to his ball field exploits. That is okay. And it is also okay that Charyn carefully and with nuanced writing restores some of the glow of the old “Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?” image. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
“Beyond DiMaggio” by Lawrence Baldassaro (University of Nebraska Press, #34.95, 471 pages) has a foreword by Dom DiMaggio (Joe’s brother) and as Yogi probably would have answered if asked – “He must have written that before he died.” It also has all kinds of stories about the magic and mystique of a host of “name” Italian American baseball players including Yogi, the “Little Professor,” Ron Santo, the Conigliaros, the talented and astute Rico Petrocelli and on and on. The Italians have made it big in all sports but “biggest in baseball.” Lawrence Baldassaro has a scholar’s slant, fan’s enthusiasm and an Italian’s heart as he invokes and evokes the memories and stories of those who line up “beyond DiMaggio.” HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Still in an icon frame of mind – there is from Yale University Press “Hank Greenberg” by Mark Kurlansky ($25.00, 224 pages). Sub-titled “The Hero Who Did not Want to be One,” this terrific tome traces the life and times of an incredibly talented and also honorable man. Greenberg took a stand on all kinds of moral issues. MUST READ
“Take Time For Paradise” by A. Bartlett Giamatti (Bloomsbury, $15.00, 105 pages) is a slender work that speaks volumes. Philosophical, profound, the late commissioner has left us a remarkable read on the manifold aspects of the national pastime.
Harvey Frommer is in his 36th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 41 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball." Frommer's newest work is REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF RED SOX NATION (Abrams) Read all about it:
Upcoming event: SUNDAY JUNE 5, 5:00p- BOOK SIGNING / READING at Northshire Bookstore. 4869 Main Street, Manchester Center, VT.
REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: http://harveyfrommersports.com/remembering_fenway/
"Harvey Frommer's Fenway Park first captivates the reader with its visual beauty. They are all there, some in color some in black and white, Ted the Thumper, the matchless Yaz, Mysterioso Manny, even The Babe. And the people, yes the people, from all corners of New England. Add to these images Mr. Frommer's trenchant prose and you have one memorable book."
- Roger Kahn
"Daringly organized as a mosaic of Red Sox Nation, Remembering Fenway Park glitters with fond memories and delightful surprises. Anyone who has ever sat in Fenway, or longs to, will love this book. In his sure hands with oral history, Harvey Frommer is a treasure of our national pastime."
-John Thorn, Official Historian for Major League Baseball
http://harveyfrommersports.com/remembering_fenway/FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.FOLLOW Harvey on Twitter: http://twitter.com/south2nd. He is available for speaking engagements.
Friday, May 13, 2011
The Bucky Dent Home Run
Excerpt from Remembering Fenway Park: An Oral and Narrative History of the Home of the Boston Red Sox/Abrams 2011 - -By Harvey Frommer now available in stores and on-line and direct from the author)
STEVE RYDER: Then all of a sudden:
BILL WHITE (GAME CALL) "Deep to left! Yastrzemski will not get it -- it's a home run! A three-run home run for Bucky Dent and the Yankees now lead . . . Bucky Dent has just hit his fourth home run of the year and look at that Yankees bench out to greet him..."
CARL YAZSTREMSKI: I've always loved Fenway Park. But that was the one moment I hated the place, the one moment the wall got back at us. I still can't believe it went in the net.
BILL LEE: Torrez threw that horseshit slider that is still sitting there in middle of the plate, and Bucky Dent hit right near the end of the bat. I couldn’t believe he hit it out, but he did.
ROGER KAHN: My memory is Dent slamming a foul ball into his foot and hobbling around and there was a delay of several minutes. During that whole delay Mike Torrez did not throw a single pitch. Normally, you just throw to keep loose. Dent got a new bat from Mickey Rivers. And the first pitch Torrez threw after the break that may have been five minutes, was that shot to leftfield. You could see Yastrzemski thinking he could play the ball and kind of crumpling when the ball went out.
LEIGH MONTVILLE: It was a ball that everyone thought was going to be caught, a nothing kind of hit.
DON ZIMMER: When Bucky hit the ball, I said, “That's an out.” And usually you know when the ball hits the bat whether it's short, against the wall, in the net or over the net. I see Yaz backing up, and when he's looking up, I still think he's going to catch it. When I see him turn around, then I know he's going to catch it off the wall. Then the ball wound up in the net.
MIKE TORREZ: I was so damn shocked.I thought maybe it was going to be off the wall. Damn, I did not think it was going to go out.
BUCKY DENT: When I hit the ball, I knew that I had hit it high enough to hit the wall. But there were shadows on the net behind the wall and I didn't see the ball land there. I was running from the plate because I thought I had a chance at a double. I didn't know it was a home run until the second-base umpire signaled it was a home run. It was an eerie feeling because the ballpark was dead silent.
STEVE RYDER: It was just a pop fly off Mike Torrez. It just made the netting. The crowd was just absolutely stunned, absolutely stunned.
REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: http://harveyfrommersports.com/remembering_fenway/
=================================================
"Remembering'' has everything a fan could want: iconic images, funny stories, and a sense of reverence. - BOSTON GLOBE
"A handsome coffee table book marks the centenary of the grand old park." -SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
"Gem of a book about a jewel of a ballpark -- --GEORGE F. WILL
"Worthy of its sacred subject.. Unforgettable." -DAN SHAUGHNESSY, BOSTON GLOBE
NEXT EVENT:
Greenwich CT Saturday May 14th 2-3pm Greenwich CT Library Talk/Book Signing 101 West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT. Marianne Weill, Events Coordinator (203.622.7933, mweill@greenwichlibrary.org). (250)
Friday, May 06, 2011
SAY HEY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY Willie Mays Is 80 (From the Vault)
The month of May was always Willie Mays' time. Willie Howard Mays was born on May 6, 1931 in Westfield, Alabama - 69 years ago today. The New York Giants called him up on the 15th of May in 1951 from Minneapolis in the American Association. He was bating .477 after 35 games.
Garry Schumacher, publicist for the Giants at that time, recalled the first time he ever saw Mays.
"The Giants were on their way from Chicago to Philadelphia to conclude the last three games of a road trip," Schumacher said. "I was by the front door of the Giants' office on Times Square. Suddenly, this kid comes in. There were always a lot of kids coming around; some of them wanted tickets and some wanted tryouts. He was carrying a few bats in one hand and a bag in the other that contained his glove and spikes. He was wearing the most unusual cap I ever saw, plaid colored. When I found out who he was, we bought him some clothes and then sent him to Philadelphia to join the club. He was wearing the new clothes when he left, but funny thing - he refused to take off that funny cap.
He made his major league debut with the Giants on May 25, 1951. But his start in the majors after just 116 minor leagues games was a shaky one. He was hitless in his first 12 at-bats, cried in the dugout and said, "I am not ready for this". He begged manager Leo Durocher to send him back down to the minors.
But "Leo the Lip" refused to listen to the pleas of the rookie center fielder just as another Giant manager John J. McGraw had refused to send a youthful Mel Ott to the minors.
"You're my center fielder as long as I am the manager of this team," Durocher said. "You're the best center fielder I have ever seen."
Mays' first home run was off the great Warren Spahn. He hit it over the roof of the Polo Grounds.
"We had a meeting of the pitchers," Spahn recalls. "We knew Mays was having trouble. I'll never forgive myself. We might have gotten rid of Willie forever if I'd only struck him out."
In Pittsburgh's old Forbes Field, Rocky Nelson blasted a drive 457 feet to deep dead center. Galloping back, Mays realized as his feet hit the warning track that the ball was hooking to his right side. The ball was sinking and Mays could not reach across his body to glove the drive. So just as the ball got to his level, Mays stuck out his bare hand and made the catch. It was an incredible feat.
Durocher told all the Giants to give Mays the silent treatment when he returned to the dugout. But Pittsburgh's General Manager Branch Ricky sent the Giant rookie a hastily written note: "That was the finest catch I have ever seen ... and the finest I ever expect to see".
There is that catch and so many others. There are also the images of Mays playing stickball in the streets of Harlem with neighborhood kids, running out from under his cap pursuing a fly ball, pounding one of his 660 career home runs, playing the game with a verve, a gusto, and an attitude that awed those who were around him.
"Willie could do everything from the day he joined the Giants," Durocher recalled.
"Everybody loved him," notes his former teammate Monte Irvin. "He was a rare talent. Having him on your team playing center field gave us confidence. We figured that if a ball stayed in the park, he could catch it."
Mays was The Natural. He led the NL in slugging percentage five times. He won the home run crown four times. Twice, he won the NL MVP Award.
"He lit up a room when he came in," Durocher said.
The superstar of superstars, the man they called the "Say Hey Kid" was on the scene for 22 major-league seasons. He is all over the record book and in the memory of so many baseball fans.
Happy Birthday, Willie Mays!
# # #
2011 marks Harvey Frommer's 36th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 41 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball."
Frommer's newest work REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF RED SOX NATION (Abrams) is his 41st sports book.
He is available for speaking engagements.
FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
FOLLOW Harvey on Twitter: http://twitter.com/south2nd. Web: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~frommer.
FOLLOW Harvey on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit?trk=hb_tab_pro_top
REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: http://harveyfrommersports.com/remembering_fenway/
=================================================
"Remembering'' has everything a fan could want: iconic images, funny stories, and a sense of reverence. - BOSTON GLOBE"A handsome coffee table book marks the centenary of the grand old park." -SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
"Gem of a book about a jewel of a ballpark -- --GEORGE F. WILL
"Worthy of its sacred subject.. Unforgettable." -DAN SHAUGHNESSY, BOSTON GLOBE
NEXT EVENT:
Greenwich CT Saturday May 14th 2-3pm Greenwich CT Library Talk/Book Signing 101 West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT. Marianne Weill, Events Coordinator (203.622.7933, mweill@greenwichlibrary.org). (250)
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