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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
June 2, 2021
New Blog Topic: RANDOM MUSINGS OF A LIFE-LONG GIANTS FAN
Today, lifelong Giants fan Bill Schaefer shares with us some random thoughts and humorous stories he’s picked up over the years from observing at close hand the great game we all love. I think you’ll enjoy reading what Bill has to say. -GL
BASEBALL UNPLUGGED
Here we go again, nudging the floodgates open just a tad to allow a modest stream of intriguing baseball humor, history, and wisdom – from our vast archives.
Paraphrasing 1950s TV news anchor and later Timex pitchman, John Cameron Swayze, we’ll hopscotch the decades for anecdotes to rivet your attention. One or two on a personal note, others researched with meticulous care.
MY FIRST GAME
Many things are remembered vividly from the age of six, but there are gaps. This is what sticks with me from that long-ago day, like it was yesterday. From Westfield, New Jersey my dad and I took the 222 bus to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan (41st and 8th). After a short subway ride to 59th at
Columbus Circle, we hopped on the express “D” train. It seemed to roar at breakneck speed immediately, with a rushing, hypnotic clackety-clack din as the stations flew by in a blur–20 minutes, two stops, and then…155th St. and 8th Avenue. Coogan’s Bluff-the Polo Grounds!
The first sight of the famous ballpark was breathtaking; the infield dirt seemed flawless; lush, green grass way out into the open spaces of the huge outfield. And double decks extending around the bullpens at the curve of the horseshoe stadium in left and right center, meeting the two bleacher sections in center field divided by a recessed clubhouse—505 feet from home plate at that time, in 1944.
It was a June 11th Sunday doubleheader with the Phillies. I was enthralled with the whole thing but remember only one specific event, occurring in the first game. We were halfway back in the lower deck equidistant between home plate and third
base. A left-handed batter was up for the Giants around the fifth inning (Johnny Rucker maybe). He hit a drive on one hop to the Phils’ right fielder. The cheering crowd was on its feet, including my dad. But in my child’s mind, if the ball didn’t go over the fence it wasn’t so great. I said, “Aw, that’s no good.” My father snapped, “It’s a hit you damn fool, it’s a hit!” I shut up. The Giants won both games. On the way home I asked if they ever played a triple header. My baseball mentor knew he had a burgeoning fanatic on his hands.
OH, THOSE EARLY DAYS
Before the turn of the 20th century, only one umpire would work a regular major league baseball game. This allowed baserunners to take extraordinary liberties when they knew the man in blue was looking elsewhere. “Run with one eye on the ball and the other on the umpire.” For example, if the ump were occupied with action at second base, a baserunner coming around third would cut 15 feet off his path and not bother touching the base at all.
In Cincinnati, circa 1898, National League Hall-of-Fame first baseman, Jake Beckley took outrageous advantage and came around to score without a play being made on him. Umpire Tim Hurst, whose attention had been diverted, nonetheless called Beckley out at the plate. “You got here too quick,” Hurst told the first sacker.
TY COBB
With his .366 lifetime batting average, 12 batting titles, and dominant base stealing exploits, the Georgia Peach is still considered by many the greatest player of all time. But It was widely agreed Ty Cobb had a severe persecution complex, which made him a horrifying figure both on and off the field. Even Cobb himself, in later years characterized his youthful self as “a snarling wildcat.” Teammate Davey Jones said, “He had such a rotten disposition that it was almost impossible to be his friend.”
In his autobiography, Ty acknowledged that during the 1909 season he decided to scare off Boston pitcher Cy Morgan, who Cobb insisted had been throwing at his head. Positioned at second base, Tyrus Raymond got his chance when Morgan uncorked a wild pitch. Cobb was determined to race all the way home, anticipating a violent collision with his nemesis, as the pitcher covered the plate. Cobb had barely rounded third when Morgan was ready at home plate, waiting with the ball. “As I came down the line and went whipping at him with my steel showing,” Cobb wrote, “Morgan…turned and actually ran away from the plate. I scored, and Morgan was released by Boston that night.”
THE WINNING STREAK CONTINUES…WITH A TWIST
It was a glorious, euphoric time for Giants fans as Sunday, August 26, 1951, blossomed into a perfect late summer day. The team had won 12 straight games and my dad and I couldn’t wait to get to the Polo Grounds and watch the twin bill with the Cubs, as our beloveds would surely extend to 14 in a row. Sal Maglie had great stuff in that first game, fanning eight little bears over eight innings with the Giants breezing 4-1.
Meanwhile, over at Ebbets Field, “dem bums” were blasting the Pirates 9-3 in the top of the seventh, in their first of two. Then fans with radios started cheering in scattered pockets throughout the stands. Suddenly a huge “8” went up on the scoreboard for the Bucs. They would go on to beat Brooklyn 12-11. It just didn’t get any better!
But a funny thing happened in the Chicago ninth inning. Maglie had thrown a ton of pitches and was tired. With two on and one out the Cubs sent in a very tall,
angular left-handed pinch hitter. He was thin with a face carved out of granite. The game was wrapped up—but suddenly it wasn’t. This huge character, a cross between Ichabod Crane and James Arness, swatted a long drive deep into the lower deck in right field to tie the game. How dare he do that! And the blow knocked Sal out of the game, relieved by Sheldon “Available” Jones. The Giants prevailed 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth. But who was this towering batter who knocked our best pitcher out of the game?
He was one of only 13 athletes to play both professional basketball (Boston Celtics, ’47) and major league baseball (Dodgers,’50; Cubs ’51). He pursued a freelance acting career on TV and in 1958 was the star of The Rifleman, which was enormously popular and ran for five years. Got it? Yup, it was Chuck Connors. How about that?
A COGENT QUOTE
It’s a wild time in baseball, where pitchers are so profoundly dominant, throwing fastballs that make the radar gun wince at 102 mph. And pitches that whoosh through the hitting zone, while diving a half foot at the knees.
Cincinnati slugger Ted Kluszewski, years ago, offered this analogy concerning the difficulty of connecting with a major league pitched ball that seems particularly appropriate today:
“How hard is hitting?” asked Big Klu, rhetorically. “You ever walk into a pitch-black room full of furniture that you’ve never seen before and try to walk through it without bumping into anything? Well, it’s harder than that.”
That’s all for now, folks. But stay tuned, we’re just getting started!
Bill Schaefer
As always, we enjoy reading your comments
Here’s a link to see the entire Blog Archives
An appropriately romantic telling Bill and thank you for sharing.
Thanks, Mark.
And Gary’s pictures are perfect and worth the price of admission!
OK, thanks…i send you the bill!
Hey Bill. Great fun stuff with personal memories as well as anecdotes from the past. Only with baseball and baseball fans can this kind of thing be so enjoyable. A couple of personal notes. The last game I saw with my father was at the Polo Grounds in 1962, when the departed Dodgers came in to play the expansionist Mets. We had great seats in the second deck right behind home plate, but they weren’t the usual stadium seats. they were individual metal chairs and as uncomfortable as hell. But who cared. The Mets had a pitcher named Craig Anderson on the mound. His fastball was straight as a string and he never lasted long before the hitters had it timed. Big Frank Howard came up and timed one. He hit a line drive that never seemed to get more than four or five feet off the ground but it kept carrying and went to the right centerfield wall on one hop. What a shot. Probably the hardest hit ball I ever say in person.
Secondly, during my many years of interviewing both baseball and basketball players for a variety of books, I’d often ask who was the funniest, craziest guy they ever played with. The same name came up many times with both sports. Chuck Connors. By that time I knew him as The Rifleman and it was hard to imagine Lucas McCain as a cut up. But evidently he was.
So do keep ’em coming. And as John Cameron Swayze used to say every night when he signed off. “Glad we could get together.”
Bill
Great essay, Bill S.
Dazzling photo of Polo Grounds at the top of essay.
You would think that Chuck Connors would be an expert at hitting shots down the baselines. 🤠
As to the allegiance to baseball we old time fans have,as Swayze said, “It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.”
Thanks so much Bill and Paul, you make it worthwhile turning this stuff out. Like most things in life, it’s not that hard to do–but really hard to do well.
You’re so right, Paul, a dazzling photo of the PG. And Gary came up with terrific player photos also to enhance the piece big time .
Hey Bill, funny you should mention Craig Anderson. I warmed up next to him in the gym at Lehigh. I’m throwing what I thought was a decent fastball. Then I watched Anderson. His ball was like a freight train barreling down hill. A great big exploding fastball! Wow, so that’s what a major league prospect looks like… Of course, as you say, the ball apparently didn’t move and Craig had an ERA of over five in his brief tenure with the Mets, starting in ’62. He was friendly with one of my fraternity brothers at Lambda Chi Alpha. Anderson told my buddy Clint Miller, “Schaefer’s not bad.” We both dated Clint’s sister–another lifetime ago.
Very interesting that Chuck Connor’s was a cut up on the set. You wouldn’t think it, though I did read where he was a pretty good mimic.
Best, The Other Bill
Hey Bill:
What a coincidence with Craig Anderson. Knew you’d remember him but didn’t realize there’s be a personal connection. If I recall, he would always do well for an inning or two, then they’d start timing that fastball. Also funny you mentioned Lambda Chi Alpha. I was a Theta Chi at Washington College and the Lambdas were our arch enemies. But since that was about 100 years ago for both of us, no hard feelings. LOL.
I don’t know how Chuck Connors acted on the set. He was apparently a cutup in the dugout and on the hardwood. All sports connections. And he was very popular among his teammates.
Bill
We share the same type of baseball memories Mr. Schaefer. More than any other sport, baseball is the quintessential Father-Son game. You captured it well Billy ……. like you always do.
I would readily relinquish two Carroll Lockmans, three Alvin Darks and four, count- ’em four Wes Westrums for a single old-baseball “musing” from one (1) William E-is-for-Esquire (never error) Schaefer, I don’t give a hang how “random” it may be, what his middle initial is in fact, or how deeply through his octagenarian’s corpuscles a mystifying and irrational affection for the dastardly NY Giants happens to run. When it comes to blogging over the beisbol of their ill-spent yute, Drs. W. Gutman (New York, American) and W. Schaefer (New York, National) are captivating contributors without parallel. Please, may each of them go on writing about major-league baseball as played in the 1940s and ’50s until we all drop in a simultaneous heap trying to score from second on a shot to center, thank you ever so Cal Abrams.
That said, this slight query for Germany, who will possibly grasp the purpose behind the pitch: Didn’t Chuck Connors play a villainous cowboy in a ’58 western styled “The Big Country”? ‘S’what I heard someplace.
Many thanks for the memory, Bill, to say little or nothing of the pain which invariably accompanies tales of the ‘fifty-1 season. Your mission next time, should you so choose and should there be a next time, will be to reflect upon your #$*^& New Yawk Gints without actually mentioning my least-favorite year. It’s a challenge, but we have faith in you!
Best wishes,
Michael H-is-for-Humiliated Keedy
You’re absolutely right, Michael. Chuck played the villainous son of Burl Ives, and turned out to be a coward when using dueling pistols against hero Gregory Peck. He was finally shot and killed by his own father, Ives, for breaking the rules of the duel. Charlton Heston was also in the film in a secondary role.
Bill, also a movie maven.
Great comments you guys! Who else remembers Cal Abrams was notoriously slow tryng to score from second?
Keedy has been ragging me to watch The Big Country–now, it’s an absolute must see!
And thanks for the high praise, Michael! I chide you in a kidding way about your over the top praising. But as long as I’m one of the recipients–it’s great!
But what do mean by octogenarian? I resemble that remark!
And, Bill, I met Burl Ives at the Seven Seas restaurant in Miami Beach. A sweetheart!
Real quick.
That was some drive Howard hit, Bill. Would love to have seen it.
And Monte (The World’s Greatest Baseball Fan), Thanks for chiming in. You’re right, baseball is the most conducive to father-son sharing.
Because we were sitting behind home plate I got a birds eye view of it. Think that’s why I’ve never forgotten. I was 19 that summer, going on 20. Three years later my father passed away, so that ended about 10 years of going to games together.