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Howard Cosell, introduced as "ABC's sports editor," narrates an ABC Evening News story on the Mets victory in the 1969 World Series. The video quality isn't great, but some terrific plays are shown, including the Cleon Jones "shoe polish" play. Also included: Mets fans going nuts and tearing up the field.
Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver had a relatively simple managerial philosophy -- hold the other team with pitching and defense, and blast a couple of big homers to win it. He still argued over the details -- which is why he holds the A.L. record for ejections, with 98. But his managing style certainly didn't hurt the O's, who won four A.L. flags under him.
Weaver spoke about his philosophy in a brief discussion on "Manager's Corner" -- an exchange which almost certainly never made it to air. If you don't mind a little language, so to speak, you might find this brief interview amusing.
Earl Weaver: Manager's Corner (mp3)
Middle of winter, icy rain coming down, and as usual Ball Four provides me with some baseball comfort -- and lots of laughs. It's remarkable, when you think about how businesslike today's game is, to consider just how loose and informal Pilots manager Joe Schultz was with his players in 1969, which, to me at least, wasn't all that long ago.
While perusing Ball Four this year, I decided to focus particularly on Schultz's wit and wisdom, and after gathering some quotes, ranked them. You may disagree with my ranking. But I hope you'll laugh.
The 10 list follows after the jump.
From StoryCorps ... “Opening day, 1956. It was the Yankees versus the Senators…”
Charlie Brotman tells his friend Tom Wiener about his first day as a baseball announcer:
"I went to Griffith Stadium … Here I am introducing Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, and in addition I introduced the President of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower, throwing out the first ball."
Hearing the excitement in Brotman's voice is terrific, especially considering that he wasn't only the voice of the Senators, but also announced almost every Presidential Inaugural Parade since 1960.
Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of the baseball memoir Wait Till Next Year: Summer Afternoons with My Father and Baseball, speaks at the Smithsonian on "History, Baseball, and the Art of the Narrative." Good stuff. This link is to RealAudio of the speech, which also includes some good material about how she got to know Lyndon Johnson after his presidency.
Continue reading "Doris Kearns Goodwin on baseball history and the art of narrative" »
This short movie from around 1930, entitled “Play Ball with Babe Ruth—Fancy Curves," has a terrific plot. Some sorority girls are watching Babe play an exhibition game and get a great idea -- would the Sultan of Swat coach them so they could beat the boys in a sorority-fraternity game the next day?
With Mrs. Ruth's approval, Ruth agrees.
The girls show up for the coaching session wearing shorts and very tight shirts. Mrs. Ruth looks on, and scolds the Babe -- who's just guiding, of course -- for putting his arms around a hitter a little too tightly for a little too long.
During the actual game, Babe is in uniform with the girls. One gets a hit and pauses on the basepaths to put on makeup.
Then, with the girls in a position to win, Ruth dons a wig and goes up to bat in disguise, and hilarity ensues.
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