Lucky

I can close my eyes and see the baseball diamond at old Buffalo Stadium in Houston. I was eight or nine the first time my Dad took me to a game. Buffalo Stadium was an old fashioned ballpark with wooden bleachers and rudimentary concessions. But the hot dogs were great and the buns came from a bakery right down the right field line. The ball didn’t carry so power hitters didn’t prosper in Houston. We probably went to 10 or 12 games before I saw my first dinger. The Buffs were a St Louis farm team and I seem to remember that the Cards built their teams on speed and defense. Minor league baseball is about player development and weeding out the guys who are talented but dumb or uncoachable, not necessarily about winning the Texas League pennant every year so most seasons were disappointing to a kid my age. The Buffs lost a lot of games the first 3 years Dad and I started going to the games.

Now for the luck part. When you went to the movies there was always a newsreel and major league baseball was on the radio every afternoon. The NY Yankees were the name team then (pretty much like they are now). The history of the team and the great players made playing for the Yankees every kids dream. Joe DiMaggio was my hero. His smooth swing and sure base running were something to see even in B/W movies. 1951 was Joe D’s last year and my chances of seeing him actually play were about zero. Then the Yankees got into a dispute with the owners of the complex in Florida where they took Spring training. Yankee management, as was their practice, decided to teach the complex owners a lesson and went to Arizona to train. In those days player salaries were nothing like what they are today. Some of the stars made big money but lots of great ballplayers worked regular jobs or played winter ball in the off season. Soooo … the Yankees barnstormed their way home to New York. They played almost every day, mostly against the local minor leaguers and the players picked up some extra money. They played an exhibition seven inning game against the Buffs on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Dad got tickets and off we went. All the way to the park Dad kept up a stream of directions for watching the Yankees. “These guys have the best infield in baseball. Watch the infielders, they really play this game” Etc. Etc. We arrived hours early to watch infield and batting practice. And there he was, Joe DiMaggio, the real Joe D. Swinging a couple of bats, chatting with the sportswriters, getting his picture taken. My dad was pointing out all the other Yankees but I couldn’t name you one of them today. Well, except for one. Joe was hitting fourth, in the first inning the Yankees got a couple of men on base and Joe stepped into the batters box. He took a pitch, don’t remember if it was a ball or a strike, and hit the next one over the left field fence for a three run homer. I can close my eyes and see it. It just went up and up and cleared the fence by about 5 feet. Joe played three innings, made a nice running catch in center field and came out. He was replaced by a young man, 19 I think, from Oklahoma. Kid by the name of Mantle. My Dad read the Sporting News almost every day and knew who Mickey Mantle was. Mickey’s first at bat he hit a line drive that was still going up when it cleared the scoreboard in right center field. It made a different sound when he hit it. It got out of the park really fast. Until Reggie Jackson came along I never saw a ball hit that hard. Nobody hit balls over the scoreboard in the afternoon in Houston. Noooobody. The air got thin from people going “Uhhhh” So the first time I saw major league ballplayers I saw two of the real greats, plus a supporting cast of the best players in baseball. Tell me I’m not lucky.