This is not "The Pride of the Yankees," the 1942 silver screen Gehrig biopic for which Gary Cooper (Gehrig) and Teresa Wright (Eleanor Gehrig) picked up Oscar nominations. But it is a very good treatment of the end of Gehrig's career and life. This live teleplay, part of the Climax! series that ran on CBS from 1954 to 1958, stars Harry Carry Jr., the great Western actor, as Bill Dickey; Wendell Corey as Gehrig; and Russell ("The Professor") Johnson as the young fireballer "Rusty."
In this short documentary-style video, apparently produced before Mickey Mantle's death in 1995, there's some excellent archival footage, including his 500th home run. There are also shots of Mantle hitting in the 1950s, his retirement news conference on March 1, 1969, and Mickey Mantle Day at Yankee Stadium later in 1969.
Perhaps the saddest moment is when Mantle says that at age 35, he "could barely make it around the bases" and, "I was over the hill at age 33 ... It was my own fault." Mantle also talks a bit about his battle with alcoholism and going to the Betty Ford Clinic.
In the first half of the 1960s, Leo Durocher must have been very bored. Returning to baseball after five years as an announcer, he was no longer a manager -- instead, The Lip was a coach who had to answer to Dodgers' manager Walter Alston.
So Durocher, who always dug show biz, put in some guest appearances. In April 1963, he played himself on "The Beverly Hillbillies," then the top-rated show on TV. He thinks he's found a pitching prospect in Jethroe (Max Baer Jr., son of the former heavyweight champ). Los Angeles Times columnist Sid Ziff was impressed with Durocher's abilities.
"During the shooting, which I watched for over an hour, Durocher didn't blow a line," wrote Ziff in the Feb. 15, 1963 edition, almost two months before the episode ("The Clampetts and the Dodgers") aired. "He was perfectly at home. And he has a big part. It's not one of those walk-in things to take advantage of a sports name. There are lots of typical Hillbilly lines."
You can watch the complete episode below.
Durocher enjoyed acting so much that he later agreed to make an appearance in "The Munsters." Check it out after the jump.
As the old saw goes, I was born a Mets fan. The Mets were less than a month old when I entered this world, and on some level when the team started play in 1962 I was already rooting for Chris Cannizzaro, Choo Choo Coleman, Jay Hook, Gil Hodges, and Al Jackson. Then there was poor Roger Craig, who lost 24 in 1962 and, thanks to an 18-game losing streak, 22 in 1963.
I could go on about the characters on those early Mets teams, but the point here is to talk about one particular triumph that came four years later, when the Flushing front office was wise (and lucky) enough to draft a young fastballer named Tom Seaver. The Braves had actually taken him first, but lost him due to a technicality.
I remember also when the Mets traded Seaver to the Reds in 1977, in what was called "Grant's Massacre," in honor of Mets GM M. Donald Grant, who made the boneheaded move. Seaver enjoyed 4 1/2 fine seasons in Cincinnati (and one lousy one); one year he was an All-Star; in two other seasons he finished fourth and second in the Cy Young voting.
This first video, after the jump, has some nice footage of Tom Terrific during his time at Shea.
A classic, hilarious Earl Weaver argument. The year, I believe, is 1982. The Orioles are hosting the Tigers. One out in the top of the first. An ump (is it Ron Luciano?) calls a balk on O's starter Mike Flanagan. Earl Weaver is out of the dugout in a heartbeat, and carries on an argument for three minutes -- about 2:45 after he's been ejected.
This was caught with a handheld camera, and the audio is terrific, although the level of conversation isn't very sophisticated:
Earl: "You ain't no good!"
Ump: "You're no good either!"
Earl: "In five or 10 years who's going to be in the Hall of Fame?"
Ump: "For f****** up the World Series?"
A few years back, I listed Stan "The Man" Musial as the most underrated athlete of all time. I change my mind often, but I'm still inclined toward that particular opinion. One marker: it's extremely unusual to find free action footage of Musial on any of the Web's video-sharing sites, while it's relatively easy to find material on other greats from the same era.
Here's part of what I wrote for ESPN.com a few years back: "Current MLB players didn't rank Stan the Man as among the top six living ballplayers in a recent SI survey. But they're not alone in their ignorance. In 1999, Musial, No. 4 all time in hits, seventh in slugging, and near the top of the all-time leaderboard in just about every major batting category, wasn't voted by fans onto MLB's all-century team (he was added as a special pick). In 22 Major League seasons, Musial was an All-Star 20 times, an MVP three times, a batting champ seven times. ..."
So I was thrilled to find this short snippet of Musial hitting a homer, making a great catch, and running the bases. The quality is awful, but it's watchable.
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