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Post by pippsheadache on Dec 26, 2023 12:58:31 GMT -5
Love it. You said you were a pot-stirrer Jeep, and so you are. I don't agree with you in this instance, but I sure love the fire and I love your long baseball memory. You and our all-too-rare poster BonesBoy are the only ones I know of on here who can remember seeing the immortal Joe D. And I suppose Tommy Henrich and my personal guy to crusade for Charlie Keller. Any recollections will be welcomed. |
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Post by pippsheadache on Dec 26, 2023 13:08:35 GMT -5
All of this combined with the revenue from all their national TV partners and the money is flowing for all the teams. I know the World Series had disappointing ratings but I though overall, regular season viewership was up. WS viewership always seems to depend on which teams are playing. Didn’t seem to be much interest in either Rangers or D-Backs outside of Dallas/Phoenix. I’ve been surprised by the number of fans who follow the Yanks religiously, yet have no interest in following the postseason if Yanks aren’t involved. Finally…“Baseball is in trouble…” couldn’t be further from the truth. MLB isn’t “baseball”…it’s a league in which the sport of baseball is played. The game of baseball is played at many levels, from “sandlot” (although not so much anymore) thru youth leagues, high school, college and beyond. From my perspective, youth league baseball is thriving. For sure. I see very popular youth leagues here in SE PA. We have very close friends in the Atlanta area and the high school and especially travel team baseball is insanely popular. Drawing more kids than football or basketball from what I can determine. I don't know that as a spectator sport baseball will ever again top the NFL (it always has for me), and I do buy the argument that the appeal is more regional than national in the sense that millions of people all over the country will watch a regular-season game between between say the Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears whereas a game between the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox would generate very little interest outside of those markets. I've been hearing that baseball is an old man's sport for 50 years. Now that I actually am an old man, they're still saying it. |
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Post by bigjeep on Dec 26, 2023 13:19:12 GMT -5
I remember the days when Casey Stengel would kick sand in the face of an umpire over a call with his hands in his back pockets!  Now they throw red flags!  |
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Post by rizzuto on Dec 26, 2023 13:21:26 GMT -5
Thanks for posting all this great information. I felt like I was perusing through my baseball card collection. It's too bad we'll never see trades like this today. I was managing a restaurant in Florida and got to meet Bullet Bob Turley one night when he had dinner. Could not have been nicer. While working at that same restaurant, I became friends with ex-Yankee infielder and then Braves scout Pedro Gonzales. He would wax poetic for hours about the lack of good power hitting, good fielding catchers during the 80's. He loved Gus Triandos, Earl Battey and of course, Elston Howard. One more thing. The baseball glove I used in little league was a Gene Woodling model. Without re-posting clipper's most informative writing, let me concur in that opinion. To boil that trade down even more, what it really settled into was the Yanks getting Turley and Larsen and the Orioles getting Triandos and Miranda. Triandos gave Baltimore eight solid years as a starting catcher, a guy with decent power and a great handler of the young Kiddie Corps pitching staff of Milt Pappas, Chuck Estrada, Steve Barber and Jack Fisher. Also perhaps the slowest runner ever not named Ernie Lombardi. But the Yanks had so much catching depth in their system they didn't need him. He wasn't better than Yogi or Ellie, and that's who he would have been behind, and we had Johnny Blanchard to fill that role most admirably. Willie Miranda gave the Orioles four solid seasons as a defense-only SS who couldn't hit a lick, but he was good enough to hold the job until Ron Hansen emerged in the late 50s. Hansen was a nice player in his own right. As for the Yankees, the first four seasons of Turley (59-30) and Larsen (39-17) made it all worthwhile. Four pennants in those four years, and it's all Whitey Ford needed as backup along with the rest of the rotating chorus of Tom Sturdivant, Johnny Kucks, Bob Grim, Bobby Shantz, Art Ditmar, etc. You could make an argument that without Turley in 1958 and his Cy Young Award and World Series MVP, the Yanks might have won the pennant, but not the Series. Down 3-1 to the defending champion Braves, Turley pitched a complete game shutout in Game Five, came in to get a one-out save in the tenth inning of Game Six (with the tying run at third and go-ahead run at first) and then pitched 6 2/3 in relief of Larsen in Game Seven, allowing only one run, to win the ring. And who would trade Gooney Bird's Perfect Game for anything? He was a favorite of Casey, as many of the carousers tended to be, although the main quote I recall from Stengel about Larsen was "he should be good, but he ain't." A Gene Woodling glove Matt? Wise selection. He was one heck of a player, both defensively and with the bat. Talk about under-rated! A career OBP of .386 -- virtually the same with every team he played for -- and an OPS+ of 123, always among the leaders in putouts and assists, an excellent post-season player -- five years with the Yanks, five rings, a slash line of .318/.442/.529 -- you can live with that. He and Hank Bauer, another post-season hero, were called "The Gold Dust Twins" and were the perfect complement to first Joe D and then The Mick in the OF. Jeez they had talent out the wazoo. My first glove was a Spalding Jerry Lumpe model (yikes), then a JC Higgins Bob Buhl six-finger (my favorite glove ever) followed by a Tony Kubek "deep pocket" Rawlings model. Those were the childhood gloves. Mine was a hand-me-down Bob Friend glove that I found in the attic. My first new glove was a Wilson with no signature from Western Auto. My best glove was a Rawlings unsigned that a friend bought for me during my freshman year at LSU in exchange for taking his college algebra final for him. It was a class of about 600 students, so I easily sat in without notice, signing in as Jerry Hernandez. I was very nervous, especially when I didn’t immediately respond to the name Jerry when I was walking out of the auditorium. I had forgotten to sign the outside of the exam. I relaxed once I was lost in the crowd of the quad. |
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Post by pippsheadache on Dec 26, 2023 13:38:37 GMT -5
Without re-posting clipper's most informative writing, let me concur in that opinion. To boil that trade down even more, what it really settled into was the Yanks getting Turley and Larsen and the Orioles getting Triandos and Miranda. Triandos gave Baltimore eight solid years as a starting catcher, a guy with decent power and a great handler of the young Kiddie Corps pitching staff of Milt Pappas, Chuck Estrada, Steve Barber and Jack Fisher. Also perhaps the slowest runner ever not named Ernie Lombardi. But the Yanks had so much catching depth in their system they didn't need him. He wasn't better than Yogi or Ellie, and that's who he would have been behind, and we had Johnny Blanchard to fill that role most admirably. Willie Miranda gave the Orioles four solid seasons as a defense-only SS who couldn't hit a lick, but he was good enough to hold the job until Ron Hansen emerged in the late 50s. Hansen was a nice player in his own right. As for the Yankees, the first four seasons of Turley (59-30) and Larsen (39-17) made it all worthwhile. Four pennants in those four years, and it's all Whitey Ford needed as backup along with the rest of the rotating chorus of Tom Sturdivant, Johnny Kucks, Bob Grim, Bobby Shantz, Art Ditmar, etc. You could make an argument that without Turley in 1958 and his Cy Young Award and World Series MVP, the Yanks might have won the pennant, but not the Series. Down 3-1 to the defending champion Braves, Turley pitched a complete game shutout in Game Five, came in to get a one-out save in the tenth inning of Game Six (with the tying run at third and go-ahead run at first) and then pitched 6 2/3 in relief of Larsen in Game Seven, allowing only one run, to win the ring. And who would trade Gooney Bird's Perfect Game for anything? He was a favorite of Casey, as many of the carousers tended to be, although the main quote I recall from Stengel about Larsen was "he should be good, but he ain't." A Gene Woodling glove Matt? Wise selection. He was one heck of a player, both defensively and with the bat. Talk about under-rated! A career OBP of .386 -- virtually the same with every team he played for -- and an OPS+ of 123, always among the leaders in putouts and assists, an excellent post-season player -- five years with the Yanks, five rings, a slash line of .318/.442/.529 -- you can live with that. He and Hank Bauer, another post-season hero, were called "The Gold Dust Twins" and were the perfect complement to first Joe D and then The Mick in the OF. Jeez they had talent out the wazoo. My first glove was a Spalding Jerry Lumpe model (yikes), then a JC Higgins Bob Buhl six-finger (my favorite glove ever) followed by a Tony Kubek "deep pocket" Rawlings model. Those were the childhood gloves. Mine was a hand-me-down Bob Friend glove that I found in the attic. My first new glove was a Wilson with no signature from Western Auto. My best glove was a Rawlings unsigned that a friend bought for me during my freshman year at LSU in exchange for taking his college algebra final for him. It was a class of about 600 students, so I easily sat in without notice, signing in as Jerry Hernandez. I was very nervous, especially when I didn’t immediately respond to the name Jerry when I was walking out of the auditorium. I had forgotten to sign the outside of the exam. I relaxed once I was lost in the crowd of the quad. That is hilarious Rizz. No, not the found Bob Friend glove, but taking the exam for another guy as Jerry Hernandez. Algebra yet! You are indeed a Renaissance Man, not merely a master of Liberal Arts but effortlessly swatting away a test in algebra. I assume the statute of limitations has expired on that one. I hope that Western Auto glove had a five-year/50,000 mile warranty. |
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Post by pippsheadache on Dec 26, 2023 13:41:04 GMT -5
I remember the days when Casey Stengel would kick sand in the face of an umpire over a call with his hands in his back pockets! Now they throw red flags! Wouldn't you love to have seen Casey in a meeting with an analytics department? He'd be kicking sand in their faces too. |
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Post by rizzuto on Dec 26, 2023 14:20:13 GMT -5
Mine was a hand-me-down Bob Friend glove that I found in the attic. My first new glove was a Wilson with no signature from Western Auto. My best glove was a Rawlings unsigned that a friend bought for me during my freshman year at LSU in exchange for taking his college algebra final for him. It was a class of about 600 students, so I easily sat in without notice, signing in as Jerry Hernandez. I was very nervous, especially when I didn’t immediately respond to the name Jerry when I was walking out of the auditorium. I had forgotten to sign the outside of the exam. I relaxed once I was lost in the crowd of the quad. That is hilarious Rizz. No, not the found Bob Friend glove, but taking the exam for another guy as Jerry Hernandez. Algebra yet! You are indeed a Renaissance Man, not merely a master of Liberal Arts but effortlessly swatting away a test in algebra. I assume the statute of limitations has expired on that one. I hope that Western Auto glove had a five-year/50,000 mile warranty. Western Auto was where I bought my first tennis racquet as well. Our only sports store in Gueydan, Louisiana. I doubt it’s still in operation. As Jimmy Buffett once wrote, “It’s a dying little town.” Jerry and I were great friends when I was a freshman and sophomore in high school, until he dropped out of sports in favor of drugs and I secured my first steady girlfriend. He was a year ahead of me but because our school was so small, college-bound classes rotated every year, so we were in a lot of classes together. I bumped into him walking across the LSU quadrangle, and he proffered the exchange. He needed a “D” to pass the class and believed I had a better chance than he would. He said he would flunk out unless he passed the class and was desperate. The challenge of passing a course I hadn’t taken intrigued me, as well as helping an old friend. Though I didn’t enjoy mathematics, I was always a clutch test taker for some reason. Stress and nervousness focused my ADHD mind inexplicably. If I recall, he told me later I made a “B” on the final. We drove to a sports store close to campus and I picked out a $75.00 glove - big time money in the Fall of 1983. |
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Post by bigjeep on Dec 26, 2023 17:07:01 GMT -5
I remember the days when Casey Stengel would kick sand in the face of an umpire over a call with his hands in his back pockets! Now they throw red flags! Wouldn't you love to have seen Casey in a meeting with an analytics department? He'd be kicking sand in their faces too. If Casey could see baseball today, he'd be turning over in his grave!  |
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Post by fwclipper51 on Dec 26, 2023 17:40:15 GMT -5
Wouldn't you love to have seen Casey in a meeting with an analytics department? He'd be kicking sand in their faces too. If Casey could see baseball today, he'd be turning over in his grave! Casey would be asking his famous line with 1962 Mets, "Can't anyone here play this game?" My 1st baseball glove was a Johnny Sain made by Hutch, Then I was given a glove that was a Casey Wise model, when I saw his Topps baseball Card stats, I put it away in the closet. Next, I had a Regent glove that was a Phil Rizzuto model. Clipper |
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Post by inger on Dec 26, 2023 18:04:01 GMT -5
My first glove, though I didn’t know it at the time was quite similar to those tiny gloves you see in the display case at the HOF. My first bat was also quite tiny. I think it might have been a 26 inch model. I can’t remember my second glove for some reason but my second bat was my 34/34 Mickey Mantle Hillerich and Bradsby, which I used until my last hardball game. My last glove was bought as a young adult, a red Frank Robinson signature outfielder’s glove which I used until it caught the last ball I caught of any kind…Both the Mantle bat and the FRobby glove were from Western Auto. I got an employee discount on them… I found the glove in a tote when we were moving. It’s been pressed flat as a pancake, won’t open without using two hands to pull it open… 🤓
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Post by pippsheadache on Dec 26, 2023 20:35:28 GMT -5
If Casey could see baseball today, he'd be turning over in his grave! Casey would be asking his famous line with 1962 Mets, "Can't anyone here play this game?" My 1st baseball glove was a Johnny Sain made by Hutch, Then I was given a glove that was a Casey Wise model, when I saw his Topps baseball Card stats, I put it away in the closet. Next, I had a Regent glove that was a Phil Rizzuto model. Clipper A Casey Wise model? I'm surprised they ever made one of those, Clipper. My brother and I used to say he was the worst player in baseball. He probably wasn't, but he was in the running. Hope you got that one at a discount.  |
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Post by inger on Dec 27, 2023 10:24:06 GMT -5
Casey would be asking his famous line with 1962 Mets, "Can't anyone here play this game?" My 1st baseball glove was a Johnny Sain made by Hutch, Then I was given a glove that was a Casey Wise model, when I saw his Topps baseball Card stats, I put it away in the closet. Next, I had a Regent glove that was a Phil Rizzuto model. Clipper A Casey Wise model? I'm surprised they ever made one of those, Clipper. My brother and I used to say he was the worst player in baseball. He probably wasn't, but he was in the running. Hope you got that one at a discount. I had to look Casey Wise up. Need I remind you that the man once batted as high as .197? One fun thing I like to do with low value players is to look at their transaction history. He once helped net Charlie Lau… November 16, 1957: Traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Milwaukee Braves for Leonard Williams (minors), Ben Johnson, Chick King and cash. October 15, 1959: Traded by the Milwaukee Braves with Don Kaiser and Mike Roarke to the Detroit Tigers for Charley Lau and Don Lee... |
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Post by bigjeep on Dec 27, 2023 10:52:32 GMT -5
If Casey could see baseball today, he'd be turning over in his grave! Casey would be asking his famous line with 1962 Mets, "Can't anyone here play this game?" My 1st baseball glove was a Johnny Sain made by Hutch, Then I was given a glove that was a Casey Wise model, when I saw his Topps baseball Card stats, I put it away in the closet. Next, I had a Regent glove that was a Phil Rizzuto model. Clipper Loved Phil Rizzuto when he did the games. He was fun! To bad he retired just before the winning years! My Grandmother lived down the block from his house in Hillside! Now Mel Allen with 3 ringed Pete was also good! |
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Post by pippsheadache on Dec 27, 2023 13:44:45 GMT -5
Casey would be asking his famous line with 1962 Mets, "Can't anyone here play this game?" My 1st baseball glove was a Johnny Sain made by Hutch, Then I was given a glove that was a Casey Wise model, when I saw his Topps baseball Card stats, I put it away in the closet. Next, I had a Regent glove that was a Phil Rizzuto model. Clipper Loved Phil Rizzuto when he did the games. He was fun! To bad he retired just before the winning years! My Grandmother lived down the block from his house in Hillside! Now Mel Allen with 3 ringed Pete was also good! Three-Ring Pete -- "Hey get your cold beer. Hey get your Ballantine Beer." Mel Allen probably sold more Ballantine and White Owl Cigars than any ad ever could have with his "Ballantine Blasts" and "White Owl Wallops." P. Ballantine and Sons, Newark, NJ. The brewery was sold to Falstaff in 1972, which in turn sold the name and company to Pabst in the mid-80s. I have no idea if that brand name is still marketed. I remember Chemical Bank being a sponsor of Yankee games too, and I believe Botany 500. I do recall Botany 500 having big ads in the Yankees' annual yearbooks, which I purchased faithfully for many years at the price of 50 cents. The year after the Phil Linz harmonica incident, Hohner Harmonicas advertised on the back page of the yearbook, showing Linz with his shiny new Hohner. Very nice that your grandmother was a neighbor of The Scooter. I guess she got to see him getting home early to beat the traffic on the GWB. Phil in his early years was much more focused on the game and provided interesting analysis. At some point his mind started to wander a bit, but nobody cared because he was such a beloved figure and a genuinely sweet man. Remember Jerry Coleman did Yankee broadcasts with Mel, Red and Scooter in the 60s? Joe Garagiola replaced Mel when he was mysteriously dumped after the 1964 season. The Yanks have had their share of excellent broadcasters over the years -- and certainly Red Barber is near the top of any list of all-time greats -- but Mel Allen made an indelible mark as the first Voice of the Yankees starting in 1939, the first year any of the New York teams permitted radio broadcasts. They were the last to do so because they thought it would cut into attendance. Does anyone remember that one season when Yankee radio broadcasts would open with a barbershop quartet singing "Yankee Doodle Dandy," changing the lyrics to apply to baseball? "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy, a Yankee rooter do or die..." I believe it was 1964. It was very retro and the team retired it quickly after CBS took over and wanted a more youthful image. |
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Post by rizzuto on Dec 27, 2023 15:19:21 GMT -5
Loved Phil Rizzuto when he did the games. He was fun! Too bad he retired just before the winning years! My Grandmother lived down the block from his house in Hillside! Now Mel Allen with 3 ringed Pete was also good! Three-Ring Pete -- "Hey get your cold beer. Hey get your Ballantine Beer." Mel Allen probably sold more Ballantine and White Owl Cigars than any ad ever could have with his "Ballantine Blasts" and "White Owl Wallops." P. Ballantine and Sons, Newark, NJ. The brewery was sold to Falstaff in 1972, which in turn sold the name and company to Pabst in the mid-80s. I have no idea if that brand name is still marketed. I remember Chemical Bank being a sponsor of Yankee games too, and I believe Botany 500. I do recall Botany 500 having big ads in the Yankees' annual yearbooks, which I purchased faithfully for many years at the price of 50 cents. The year after the Phil Linz harmonica incident, Hohner Harmonicas advertised on the back page of the yearbook, showing Linz with his shiny new Hohner. Very nice that your grandmother was a neighbor of The Scooter. I guess she got to see him getting home early to beat the traffic on the GWB. Phil in his early years was much more focused on the game and provided interesting analysis. At some point his mind started to wander a bit, but nobody cared because he was such a beloved figure and a genuinely sweet man. Remember Jerry Coleman did Yankee broadcasts with Mel, Red and Scooter in the 60s? Joe Garagiola replaced Mel when he was mysteriously dumped after the 1964 season. The Yanks have had their share of excellent broadcasters over the years -- and certainly Red Barber is near the top of any list of all-time greats -- but Mel Allen made an indelible mark as the first Voice of the Yankees starting in 1939, the first year any of the New York teams permitted radio broadcasts. They were the last to do so because they thought it would cut into attendance. Does anyone remember that one season when Yankee radio broadcasts would open with a barbershop quartet singing "Yankee Doodle Dandy," changing the lyrics to apply to baseball? "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy, a Yankee rooter do or die..." I believe it was 1964. It was very retro and the team retired it quickly after CBS took over and wanted a more youthful image. I think I first learned of Mel Allen from “This Week In Baseball” in the 1970s. The indelible voice still reverberates in my head when I see those four words. Only later did I discover he was a Yankee broadcaster. You guys were indeed spoiled with such a wonderful voice and personality who really loved the game. It makes no sense that he should have been unceremoniously booted from the Yankees broadcast booth. That would have been like the Dodgers getting rid of Vin Scully - inconceivable. |
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Now they throw red flags! 
