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THE BASEBALL HISTORY COMES ALIVE BLOG
Please note: As we compose new blog entries, we will now send each one out to all our subscribers as we post them. Here’s a link to see the entire Blog Archives -GL
March 23, 2021
New Blog Topic: BECOMING A BASEBALL FAN IN THE 1950s
All longtime baseball fans have vivid memories of how it all started, whether it be collecting baseball cards, watching games on television, playing ball with your friends, having a catch with your dad, and especially going to your first big league game. The whole is really the sum of all the parts, and the parts are what make us baseball fans for life. What we did as kids often correlates with the era in which we grew up, so while some of the memories will be the same, others will be very different.
I know I’m dating myself, but my love of baseball was firmly cemented in the 1950s, when the game and the world were very different. At the beginning of the 1950 baseball season, I was just seven years old and just starting to have an awareness of the game. Of course, it helps if your father is a big fan, which mine was. He was a high school classmate of Hank Greenberg and was lucky enough to attend Lou Gehrig Day at Yankee Stadium in 1939. And he was always ready to have a catch with me in the backyard. That started early and I often used those wonderful words from Field of Dreams. “Hey Dad, you wanna have a catch?” The answer usually was yes.
I have a vivid memory of watching the 1950 All-Star Game at a neighbor’s house. When I saw Joe DiMaggio make a catch in centerfield, I mistakenly called the American League stars the Yankees. I still didn’t quite get it but was coming closer. A year later, I ran home from school on an early October afternoon just in time to
watch Bobby Thomson hit his Shot-Heard-Round-the-World home run. By then I did get it because I said to my mother right before he hit it, “Only a home run will save [the Giants] now.”
[Ed. note: In the featured photo above, we see a scene of fans flocking into the 1950 All-Star game, which Bill Gutman remembers watching on TV. It was played at Comiskey Park with the National League winning 4-3. -GL]
In 1952 my father took me to my first game at Yankee Stadium, a night game. I can remember walking up the ramp and getting my first glimpse of the field. I couldn’t believe the brightness of the lights and bright green color of the grass. Talk about a wide-eyed kid. After that, we went to quite a few games. Living in
Stamford, Connecticut, we had about an hour’s ride to the Bronx. We would talk baseball during the entire trip with me asking question after question. He also took me to a number of Old Timers Days in the mid-1950s and I can recall seeing both Ty Cobb and Cy Young coming out on the field. They didn’t play, of course, being too old at the time. But what a thrill for a young kid who was already reading all about them.
Yep, by then I was devouring everything I could about baseball and its history through books and magazines. And it didn’t hurt that my grandfather, also a lifelong fan and supposedly a fine player in his day, told me stories of the old days, a great oral history that gave me a feel for the old game during the Dead Ball Era. There was a television show back then called Joe Franklin’s Memory Lane. It dealt mainly with
movie stars and entertainment celebrities. Franklin would often show close-ups of photos that he’d have mounted on some kind of cardboard. Sure enough, I began cutting out photos of baseball players from magazines and mounting them on cardboard.
And then there were baseball cards. No one I knew thought about collecting them in those days. We’d buy them, read the backs of the cards religiously, memorizing statistics and birth dates. But we also played with the cards. We’d flip them, trying to match the fronts and backs that were already on the ground. If you matched, you won the cards; if you didn’t, you lost them. So you might have 50 or 60 one week and only 25 the next if you weren’t on your “game.” We’d also flip them out overhand, each player taking a turn, and the first to get a card to land on another one would take the whole pot. And, of course, we attached them to our bikes with a clothespin so that the spokes of the wheel would snap the end of the card making it sound like a motor. Needless to say, the cards we used didn’t fare too well. At the end of the year, the old ones somehow disappeared and we’d buy the next set that came out the following spring. P.S. I never liked the bubble gum that came with them.
Baseball on television was a whole different story then. One camera behind home plate in glorious black and white. It didn’t give you the multi-views and slo-mo replays they have today. But we still devoured the games, imitated the batting stances and pitching motions of our favorites, and loved the announcers then. For me, living in New York with three teams, it was the likes of Mel Allen, Russ Hodges, Jim Woods, Ernie Harwell, Red Barber, Connie Desmond, and a very young Vin Scully. They all put today’s broadcasters to shame.
Sometimes we’d turn off the sound and “call” the games ourselves. We pretty much knew all the players so it was great fun and we all felt we were already very good at it. Wish I had a tape recording of how I sounded. That would sure be interesting. And, of course, we listened on the radio when we couldn’t watch on TV. It was the same group of announcers and they painted beautiful word pictures of the games to the point that you felt you were there. And at some point I got my own scorebook and would sit and keep score of the games, learning all the symbols and shortcuts that are still used today. Mine had a spot for balls and strikes, so you knew the count when the batter finally made contact.
And we played as often as we could. Sometimes just four of us would play “two-a-cat” on the street. Pitcher, hitter, catcher, and one fielder. Or we’d go to a nearby park and play a real game. I also went to day camp several summers back then and our camp team would play some other camps. We played both hardball and softball, whatever the situation called for, sometimes playing until it was almost dark outside.
So it was all baseball back then. I even had a small pinball machine, not an electric one back then, and it had a baseball game on it. I would create fictitious teams, keep records of each player and then figure out his batting average and the earned run average of the pitchers. That taught me all about the statistics of the game long before there was that confusing thing called analytics. Of course, we went from season to season then, throwing a football in the fall instead of a baseball and later playing basketball. But it was baseball that was the favorite and there was always something special about watching the last game of the season and opening day the following year. That became a ritual that continued right into adulthood. In some ways, when baseball was back, all was right with the world.
I was fortunate enough to be a New York Yankees fan then, so I knew mostly winning, at least until 1955 when I was just about 13. By that time I knew I’d be a baseball fan forever and when I began writing about the game and its history it got even better. I even still have the glove I bought back in 1963. I can’t use it now, but I admit I still put it on my hand every now and then and smack a ball into it. And it feels good.
Of course, the 1950s was a very long time ago and I’m sure things were different for young fans in the ensuing decades. If you have any stories about how your own childhood helped make you a lifelong fan feel free to share. I’ve love to hear them.
Bill Gutman
As always, we enjoy reading your comments
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Yeah, Bill, what recollections! You capture perfectly the mood and images growing up as a Yankee fan–virtually the same as I experienced as a Giants fan. You’re so right. It helps to have a father and grandfather who were great baseball fans. “Pop,” as we called him, played checkers with Christy Mathewson up at Saranac Lake, NY in the early 20’s when both were being treated for TB. My grandfather described Matty as, “a perfect gentleman.”
My dad took me to Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds at the age of six. My “live and die” allegiance to the Jints began at the age of eight and my first full year of fanaticism started with the exciting “221 (homer) Club” in 1947. Never out of a game, but the team was slow, challenged defensively and riddled with meatball pitchers. Larry Jansen (21-5) was a notable exception. Lefty Dave Koslo was decent.
We played “two-a-cat” at Tamaques Park and “left-handed” softball in our dead end Norman Place. We were all righty batters, so the prospect of broken windows was greatly diminished. We also played different sports through the seasons. On August 31, out came the football. We played tackle in the back yards with no helmet or padding. Never got hurt.
We all thought Yankee fans were only front runners, and the real fans were Giants and Dodgers rooters. We also thought the Yankees were just damn lucky.
Then, it dawned on me that every team gets breaks. But the Yankees took advantage of them!
I Could listen to a Giants game and just write down the line-ups for both teams and remember every play. I kept score but didn’t have to, every at bat was burned into my mind. When the announcer made a mistake I’d scream at the radio.
Yes, the play-by-play guys were terrific. Loved Russ Hodges when he came over to the Giants. Also liked Mel Allen, Red Barber, Connie Desmond. Jim Woods was a real pro. Vin Scully, the best. Ernie Harwell got better when he left New York–wasn’t crazy about him behind the mike for the Giants. But today, Bill, I think you’ll agree Gary Cohen is right up there, one of the best especially on radio.
Cards clipped to the bicycle spokes like a motor, yes! But we used regular playing cards. For some reason didn’t collect the bubble gum baseball cards. Color photos of the players (mostly from the Daily News) was an obsession-pasted all over the bedroom wall.
With my dad and best friend, saw Willie Mays make his greatest catch on opening day Ebbets Field, 1952. And died when Duke Snider robbed Monte Irvin with an impossible grab, opening day Polo Grounds, 1955. Trust me, one of the all time great catches!
Thanks for the memories!
Hi Bill. Love your recollections. So much similar to mine and it exemplifies the period. Love the Mathewson checkers story, though not good that both had TB. Matty has been described as a gentleman so many times in things I’ve read that he certainly must have been one. From what I understand, my grandfather was offered a minor league contract. Not sure which team, but it would have required him to go to Alabama. He already wanted to marry my grandmother and she didn’t want him to go. So that was it. Love triumphed over baseball and they were married for more than 70 years. I took him in to live with me when he was about 95 or 96. I was the only one left who could deal with him and he wanted to be with me. He was still lucid, telling me stories of baseball’s old days and especially “Muggsy” McGraw, as he always called him.
Love that you saw and remember the’47 Giants. As I’m sure you know, once Leo became manager he made his famous, “Horace, back up the truck” statement about that ballclub. Wasn’t Leo’s type of team. I have to admit I don’t remember too much about Ernie Harwell in New York. Memories of the others I mentioned are much more clear. Loved Mel Allen and used to love it when he just talked baseball off the cuff during a rain delay. Did you ever hear the story that when Thomson hit THE home run Russ Hodges was on radio with his call and wanted to rush down to the clubhouse? Pirates announcer Bob Prince was in the booth so Hodges asked him to sign off in place of him. Being the ultimate “homer,” Prince closed by saying, “The Giants may have won the pennant, but the Pittsburgh Pirates still have the National League home run champion in Ralph Kiner.” Great stuff. The Mets do have one of the best announcing teams around now, and there aren’t many, but I’ve never listened to Gary Cohen on the radio, just TV. Didn’t think he did radio since today they seems to all have different broadcasting teams for TV and radio.
Surprised you didn’t collect the baseball cards. Like I said, mine always ended up dirty and dog-eared from flipping them and doing the other competitive things we did. So we ditched them at the end of the season. Duke was also one helluva centerfielder, as good or maybe better than Mickey. Willie, of course, was in a class by himself. I once went to Ebbets Field with a camp group and we sat in the centerfield stands. Duke made one of his leaping catches against the wall, but we didn’t see it because a player would disappear from view after he hit the warning track.
But, ah, the memories. You can’t beat them.
As always, Bill, great getting your responses. Very touching about love winning out for 70 years plus. Taking in your grandfather at that age is laudable, glad he was still lucid.
Mugsy did the vaudeville circuit during a few off seasons. He prepared stories and had notes comprising various tidbits about players, managers, umpires…and would take questions from the audience.
Never heard that story about Hodges and Prince. Very funny, “homer that he was…” throwing in Kiner’s home run title.
Snider was certainly better than Mantle in center. And the equal of Mays and DiMag. The Duke ran like a gazelle and tracked the ball perfectly. If you had seen the Irvin catch…
Mel Allen also did Movietone news and sports for movie house newsreels. Wonderful voice. Story about him at a hot stove dinner in NJ, where I interviewed him in the mid-70’s. Later on that.
Gary Cohen started on radio for the Mets and then was promoted to TV.
Bedtime for Bonzo
Hey Bill. Well, now we’re channeling old Ronald Reagan movies. Miracles never cease. Would have loved to have seen McGraw on the vaudeville circuit. Was it during or after his baseball career? Also remember Mel doing This Week in Baseball for years, but I don’t think he ever got over being canned by the Yankees. Several stories why it happened. One involved a certain physician he recommended to Mickey Mantle when he was injured late in the 1961 season. Mickey ended up with an abscessed hip. But always loved his work and you knew he loved his job. Very popular in the tri-state area and I’m sure at those sports dinners.
bill my recollections of baseball in the 50’s was our local minor league team the corning red sox it was from 1954 through 1960 but that 6 short years was one of the greatest for my love of baseball and my collection of corning items along with my collections of cards and my 1st one a 1952 topps of ned garver. fast forward to the 90’s I became a friend ned through next 25 years visiting his house many times along with phone calls frequently. this did not slow me down collecting any corning items along with going to a nearby city of elmira new york after corning left. my collections of ned garver items corning red sox items and elmira pioneers items is irreplacaeble to me its not major baseball it is the memories of a kid growing up with baseball in his blood. Thanks bill for bringing the memories.
Hello Donald. Great stories about your early days with baseball and how it has continued unabated. Collections like yours are priceless and I loved hearing about your friendship with Ned Garver. I certainly remember him and recall having his baseball card way back when. Living close to a minor league team is the next best thing to having a big league team close by. I’m sure those are memories that will never leave you. Baseball memories seem to have a way of sticking with all of us who love the game. Thanks for sharing yours.
Bill
Donald,
Those collections must be worth some serious money. But certainly you would never part with them.
Very interesting about Ned Garver and your relationship with him. He was a pretty fair pitcher and was notable for winning 20 games with the lowly St. Louis Browns in 1951. He also led the league with 24 complete games that year.
Sounds like a nice guy and must have regaled you with stories about the Browns over his five years with them.
Thanks for joining us. Glad you enjoyed Bill’s fine essay.
Bill S.
I loved these stories and I am glad I could tell you mine It was a great era for me.
Sure was a great time for all of us back then, Donald. Great memories and also great to talk about them and hear from others like yourself
Bill
Bill, what a great column for us oldsters! Like you, my dad took me to my first MLB game when I was seven. We sat in the upper deck at Wrigley Field. I tried to cheer for the Dodgers because I liked their uniforms. My dad, who grew up not far from Wrigley, taught me then and there that I was to cheer for our hometown Cubs! Every time a batter hit a high fly, or even a pop up, I would yell out “It’s a homer” to everyone nearby. My dad must have been really patient.
The next year Dad took me to my first night game at Comiskey Park. Just like you, I was hit by the lighting as we came up the stairs to our seats. I attended a lot of games at Comiskey with my dad. Whenever a co-worker had tickets, Dad would only go if they gave him a ticket for me!
We played similar games with three kids. But we used the brick wall at the local school. We chalked a strike zone on the wall and played games with a tennis ball. We also took over a vacant lot along I94 in our neighborhood and mowed it into a field. We used it for three or four years. I think we were a group aged around 9-13 then. No idea who owned the lot but nobody stopped us. Later, as teenagers, we played in the grassy area of the exit ramp from the highway. Even later than that (GL may remember this.), we played 16” softball games in that same grassy area. Police cruisers would just drive by and wave. Only one ever kicked us out. Guess what, we were indignant. Just went back the next day.
Good time! Way different than today, which is a shame for kids. Many things are better today but not playground or sandlot sports for kids.
Hi Jay. Love the stories. We all seem to have similar stories. We also made up all kinds of games. There was a rock wall directly across the street from my driveway. When I was still you one of us would bound a tennis ball or Spalding ball off the wall and the other would be the fielder. If you hit the wall just right at the top, you’d get a fly ball or home run. If you miss, you have to climb over the wall to retrieve the ball. Later on, when we were older, we’d used a PG ball, the old practice golf ball with the holes in it. Home plate was in my driveway. There was a batter, pitcher, catcher and outfield. We used a stick bat and if you hit it over the wall it was a home run. Sometimes on a nice summer day we’d play for hours. Fortunately, there was little traffic on the road. But if a car was coming, someone would yell, “Car!” and we’d get off the road for a few second. Then after dinner it was over to a nearby park to play basketball. Always outside all the time. A much better life for kids then. No cellphones, no social media, no video games. Would love to do it all over again.
Bill