I've been critical of Rob at times in the past, mainly because I expected so much of him. This is good a time as any to say something nice and here goes: being a baseball fan is more fun because of Rob Neyer. Thanks for your dedication and your love of the game, Mr. Flannel. And may your Royals win it all one day. Or at least win half their games some year.

Man, if I could see any game in baseball history, I think it would be September 23, 1908, at the Polo Grounds...

I'd also love to see Sandy Koufax' perfect game, although knowing he would throw it might take some of the fun out of the experience.

The other TARDIS trip that might be fun would be to find a day in the mid-1950s in New York when the Giants and Dodgers were playing in the afternoon, and the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium at night (or the reverse), and catch both games. Mantle, Mays, Williams, Robinson, Snider, Berra, etc. - quite the day of baseball.

October 9, 1996. I would watch the game from the right field stands... and beat the crap out of Jeffrey Maier before he could stick his hands over the fence.

Irrelevantly, I was listening to that game while strolling through the Philadelphia Zoo.

No, it was the St Louis Zoo. Got to keep my years straight. . .

It would be difficult to explain to security why you beat the crap out of a 12-year old boy.

October 9, 1996. I would watch the game from the right field stands... and beat the crap out of Jeffrey Maier before he could stick his hands over the fence.

Homer Simpson tried that once, but Davey Johnson then brought in Benitez in the ninth and the Orioles lost the game anyway.

But as a consolation prize, David, you might want to go back to Labor Day weekend, 1960, or the Monday night game of August 18, 1980. That was the best game I ever saw at Memorial Stadium, and you'd like the result. It ended with Bucky Dent taking a Tim Stoddard slider right down the middle with the tying run on third, and howling at the umpire until dawn.

Nolans 7th.

The last day of the scheduled 1951 regular season, Dodgers in Philadelphia, the Giants already in the clubhouse one half-game in front, Jackie Robinson saves the Dodgers twice in extra innings.

Red Sox 8, Indians 8, Pedro in relief.

Tea-Totalling Teetotalers vs. Gashouse Gorillas.

Nolans 7th.

This is a great time-travel paradox: if you travel back in time to see a Nolan Ryan no-hitter, but then you talk about the no-hitter during the game, does it still happen? At which point, do you ever go back in time to see the game (because then it's no longer a no-hitter)? So then no one talks about it and it still happens?

::head explodes::

Given that it is no - or much less - fun to see a game that you know the outcome, I think I'd head back to a city and time with a lot of great history (Boston in 1941, Baltimore in 1970, New York just about any time) and just go to some games. I like Rob's Tigers/Senators idea. Maybe catch a Tigers visit to DC for a weekend. I know it said one game, but if I have a time machine, then by god I can stay for an entire weekend. Anyway, point being just some random game that I don't know the result of. I get all the history of seeing the called shot or homer in the gloaming etc, but I KNOW those. It would be anti-climatic.

Of course, maybe I'd go see game 30 of JoeD's streak.

So many games...Bobby Thomson's home run. Jacke Robinson's first Opening Day. Reggie's 3 HR World Series game. Babe Ruth's called shot. Johnny VanderMeer's second no-hitter. The game when Josh Gibson nearly hit one out of Yankee Stadium. Death to Disco Night at Comiskey. Eddie Gaedel's game.

But probably I'd want to see this game most of all!

While it's not the most important or best game I've watched, I would like to go back in time to see the 1979 ALL-Star Game, because somehow those two MONSTER Dave Parker throws (to 3rd to get Jim Rice and to home to get Brian Downing) are imbedded in my mind.

(BTW - I've tried to find video for those two throws on Youtube, and haven't. Does anyone know of a free site where one could watch those throws?).

I'd go to see any game from back when flannel was king, and I'd particularly like to see some of the old Negro vs. Majors exhibition games, particularly when Ol' Satch was in his prime.

Nolans 7th

I drove straight past Arlington Stadium as that game was starting and went to bed without even turning on the TV. Found out about it in the morning. How's that for a cavalier attitude toward your dream of dreams? :)

I guess I'd probably pick the 1934 All-Star Game if I had the TARDIS available. I did not know about the game that Shooty linked to in #13, though, which had similar elements ...

July 1, 1899: The team of the decade, the Boston Braves lead the worst team of all-time, the Cleveland Spider 7-0 in the ninth inning. Improbably, the Spiders rally to tie, then win in the 11th. It was the only victory Frank Bates ever had in his entire career; thus ensuring Terry Felton's unwanted place.

Rick Camp Game.

Opening Day 1947 would be a good won.

Homer in the Gloamin'.

Comiskey Park, May 28, 1971, where I could see the end of this game and all of this game. If you don't understand why that would be special, you haven't scrolled down to see who was pitching for the Sox in those games. I actually had two uncles at that one.

23-22

Marichal-Spahn.

A baker's dozen:

The Merkle game, AND the ensuing "playoff"

The first White Sox game after the eight players were banned with a week to go in 1920

The first games of Fenway Park, Navin Field, and Yankee Stadium

Game 3 of the 1932 Series

The Babe's 3-homer game in 1935

The Homer in the Gloamin game

The 1941 All-Star game

The Mickey Owen game

The Browns win the pennant! The Browns win the pennant!

Robinson's Montreal and Brooklyn debuts

I'd vote for Pittsburgh in 1934, if I could find a day with a Pirates-Cardinals* game and a Crawfords game that I could make it to both of them.

(*The Hubbell-Ott Giants would also be acceptable.)

Comiskey Park, May 28, 1971, where I could see the end of this game and all of this game. If you don't understand why that would be special, you haven't scrolled down to see who was pitching for the Sox in those games. I actually had two uncles at that one.

Dag, Wood isn't the most recent Sox starter to win 2 games in one day. On May 9, 1984, Tom Seaver pitched a scoreless top of the 25th to win the suspended game, and then started and won the regularly scheduled game.

Miserlou,

I think you're pissing part of what makes that Wood game so cool. He didn't pitch an inning. He pitched five. That's enough innings for a starter to win a game. And then he follows it up with a complete game shutout. 14 innings, 6 hits, 3 walks, 1 unearned run for two wins.

Seaver? Threw one inning for a standard reliever win. Then allowed 4 runs in 8.3 against the Brewers. Wood's achievement is the closest anyone has come to the ol' starting-both-ends-of-double-header-and-winning playbook that Joe McGinnity and Ed Reulbach used to play from.

Dag, Wood isn't the most recent Sox starter to win 2 games in one day. On May 9, 1984, Tom Seaver pitched a scoreless top of the 25th to win the suspended game, and then started and won the regularly scheduled game.

I believe the suspended game victory is credited to the day the game started, not the day it was concluded.

Griffith Stadium, Oct. 10, 1924, game 7 of the World Series...until Bobby Thomson's HR in 1951, it was probably considered the greatest game ever played.

If I could have a week or two back in time, I'd like to go up and down the eastern seaboard in the early thirties and see games in pre-Yawkey renovation Fenway, Braves Field, the three NY parks, Baker Bowl, Shibe Park and Griffith. Add another week or two and I would go west to Forbes, League Park, Crosley, Navin, both Chicago parks and Sportsman's Park. Give me another two weeks and I'd head out west for some PCL action...though I'd probably spend most of my time in Los Angeles hanging around the studios, looking for Carole Lombard, Jean Harlow, etc.

I think I would like to goto to the 99 Allstar game. Or the Pedro game... game 5 of the 99 playoffs.

I suppose wicket doesn't count, so I'll go with the game in Pittsfield in 1859 between Amherst and Williams. It was the first college game and I've never seen a game with Massachusetts rules.

September 6, 1950 wouldn't be too bad, either---Don Newcombe blanks the first place Phillies in the opener of a doubleheader, and then starts the second game and only gives up two runs in seven innings in a game the Dodgers came back to win, 3 to 2. Talk about clutch.

Damn, there are a lot of great games to go see. If I could split myself in half, I'd send one half of me to Oakland when McGwire won a game with a walk off homer while across the Bay, Bonds was about to win a game with a walk off home run. That would ahve been a fun night to be two people at once.

Wow - tough list to pare down...

-Merkle game
-Ruth's called shot
-Homer in the gloamin
-Banks' first home run in 1953
-June 23, 1984 - The Sandberg Game
-October 7, 2003 - Cubs lose opener to Marlins, but to participate in Sosa's shot to tie it in the bottom of the 9th would be worth it.

- the Walter Johnson/Smokey Joe Wood duel from the 1912 World Series
- any 1968 Cardinals game started by Bob Gibson
- game 7 of the 1955 World Series (Johnny Podres throws a CG shutout to beat the Yankees)
- Larsen's perfect game from the 1956 World Series

Oct. 1, 1950.

Phillies win the pennant at Brooklyn.

One other time trip: Los Angeles, 1961...see the Dodgers in their last year in the Coliseum and the Angels in their only year at Wrigley Field.

It would be anti-climactic.


Pet peeve.

Thomson's home run game and any random game in 1890 then in 1899.

October 25, 1986, except I wouldn't transport myself to Shea Stadium, but rather to the Cask & Flagon on Lansdowne Street. There, I would sit at the bar and quietly snicker to myself as the 10th inning got under way.

I would go back to the Jurassic Period and sneeze on a butterfly so that the Yankees are a cursed franchise and its the Cleveland Indians that win 27 World Championships.

Any game I could go to....

June 4, 1974 Texas vs Cleveland.

Game 5 of the 99 ALDS was just a completely weird game... up until the moment Pedro came in. And then you just had to hope that (a) the Red Sox could just score a run, and (b) Pedro's arm didn't fall off.

I was a kid home from school when I watched the tail end of the 23-22 Phillies-Cubs game on TV. That was fun.

Being from Philly, and getting to be at the 1993 NLCS Game 6 win over the Braves and see all the zaniness that happened around that, I can only wonder what it would have been like to be at the Vet for Game 6 of the 1980 WS...

I'd also love to see Sandy Koufax' perfect game, although knowing he would throw it might take some of the fun out of the experience.

That's a good point. I think I'd prefer my time machine to be rigged somehow, so that I wouldn't know why I was at the game.

Of course, I'd just love to get to see Mantle, Clemente, Aaron, Ruth, or any of the other greats in person. It wouldn't matter to me so much whether I got to see a milestone or not - just seeing them play would be really cool.

That's a good point. I think I'd prefer my time machine to be rigged somehow, so that I wouldn't know why I was at the game.

Quantum Leap!

I'd love to have been at Crosley Field on the day when Louisville's own Pee Wee Reese draped his arm around Jackie Robinson's shoulder.

I'd have loved to see the following men pitch the best single game of their lives, because I think they were, at their very best, the best pitchers I never saw (or don't remember seeing):

Lefty Grove
Walter Johnson
Cy Young
Pete Alexander
Sandy Koufax

And I want to go ahead in time to the first no-hitter thrown by a Mets' pitcher. But undoubtedly, the time machine would be destroyed when it ran smack dab into the sun going supernova that many millenia into the future, so alas, I guess that's just a pipe dream . . . .

I'd love to have been at Crosley Field on the day when Louisville's own Pee Wee Reese draped his arm around Jackie Robinson's shoulder.

I'm trying to remember, wasn't this story apocryphal? I remember there was a story about Robinson's first year that no one ever had proof of, I'm not sure if it was this one.

I'm trying to remember, wasn't this story apocryphal?

No, it definitely happened. There is some uncertainty over exactly when it occurred, but it did occur, on a day when Robinson was taking particularly outrageous abuse from the stands. Reese just decided enough was enough, and thought a gesture of pure and simple support and humanity was called for. Coming from a southerner, it was especially meaningful. Jackie and Rachel Robinson talked about it afterwards as a turning point, and they and Reese became lifelong friends. Reese was a hero.

No, it definitely happened. There is some uncertainty over exactly when it occurred, but it did occur, on a day when Robinson was taking particularly outrageous abuse from the stands. Reese just decided enough was enough, and thought a gesture of pure and simple support and humanity was called for.

okay, I thought so. I definitely remember hearing about a Robinson story being apocryphal, but I guess it wasn't that one.

I definitely remember hearing about a Robinson story being apocryphal, but I guess it wasn't that one.

The story that Jackie blessed a newborn Butch Huskey and said it would be an honor if he were to one day wear the same uniform number... sadly, not true.

I'd definitely watch one of those mid-'30s Pittsburgh Crawfords games with Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and Oscar Charleston.

Choosing one per decade --

October 8, 1908 -- Cubs @ Giants (Replay of Merkle Game)
April 23, 1914 -- Kansas City Packers @ Chicago Chi-Feds (Opening Day, Wrigley Field)
October 10, 1926 -- Cardinals @ Yankees (World Series Game 7, Alexander K's Lazzeri, Ruth CS to end game)
September 28, 1938 -- Pirates @ Cubs (Hartnett's Homer in the Gloamin')
July 9, 1946 -- National League @ American League (Williams homers off Rip Sewell)
August 19, 1951 -- Tigers @ Browns, Game 2 (Eddie Gaedel)
October 13, 1960 -- Yankees @ Pirates (World Series Game 7, Mazerowski walkoff HR)
October 21, 1975 -- Reds @ Red Sox (World Series Game 6, Fisk walkoff HR)
October 25, 1986 -- Red Sox @ Mets (World Series Game 6, Buckner error)
September 6, 1995 -- Angels @ Orioles (Ripken's 2131st to break Gehrig's record)
October 17, 2004 -- Yankees @ Red Sox (ALCS Game 4, Roberts SB spurs comeback)

I'm intrigued by Neyer's impending "baseball myths" book. I'm sure he covers the Pee-Wee Reese/Jackie thing in there. Also, there better be an entire chapter devoted to Kevin Mitchell ending an argument with his girlfriend by decapitating her cat.

Also, there better be an entire chapter devoted to Kevin Mitchell ending an argument with his girlfriend by decapitating her cat.

I'd assume that while that might end one argument, it would probably start another one.

No, it definitely happened. There is some uncertainty over exactly when it occurred, but it did occur, on a day when Robinson was taking particularly outrageous abuse from the stands. Reese just decided enough was enough, and thought a gesture of pure and simple support and humanity was called for. Coming from a southerner, it was especially meaningful. Jackie and Rachel Robinson talked about it afterwards as a turning point, and they and Reese became lifelong friends. Reese was a hero.

Jules Tygiel says this occurred early in the 1948 season in Boston and that it was the Boston bench -- not fans -- that was abusing Reese about playing with Robinson (as opposed to abusing Robinson himself). Tygiel lists as his source Robinson's 1960 book with Carl Rowan.

me i would have LUUUVVVED to see peanut johnson pitch!!

yes that is right. 5'4" and pitching!!!

or toni stone face satchel paige

yes!!!

- if not them then i would like to go back in time and watch walter johnson or lefty grove pitch, see what he threw, see how many pitches/AB it took to get guys out

because i want to see what kind of hitters the old times were.

i would also want to see ty cobb and tris speaker and rogers hornsby play. any game. i just would like to see how things really was back then instead of having to hear someone tell me what they thought things was really like. and why so many people really thought all the 20s and 30s players were so much better than modern players.

- because you know if they was alive right now wouldn't nobody let them play because they, um, were not the goody 2 shoes that people are now demanding that ballplayers pretend to be...

because you know if they was alive right now wouldn't nobody let them play because they, um, were not the goody 2 shoes that people are now demanding that ballplayers pretend to be...

I must have missed all those recent bannings and suspensions, not to mention the Great Hushed Up Blackballing and Collusion Scandal of 2006. I'd spell out the details except that they'd kill me....

andy

do you REALLY think that anyone would draft a ballplayer who was an out of the closet racist? or who had the uh, "character failings" that rajah supposedly had?

You can't go back in time. time travel will never be invented. If it had been it already would be. It would make the original inventor rich, so some insolent SOB would find out how to do it and go back in time and invent it before the original inventor ... ad nauseum

But if I could I'd like to see the Brooklyn Dodgers finally win the series from those damn Yankees.

I saw Nolan Ryan's 7th on TV. That would be cool to see in person too.

do you REALLY think that anyone would draft a ballplayer who was an out of the closet racist? or who had the uh, "character failings" that rajah supposedly had?

John Rocker, Milton Bradley, Elijah Dukes, and several others have somehow found their way to the majors in recent years.

Also, Chris Truby and Albert Belle.

do you REALLY think that anyone would draft a ballplayer who was an out of the closet racist? or who had the uh, "character failings" that rajah supposedly had?

Most folks these days are smart enough to keep their racism to themselves. Cobb wouldn't have gone around slapping black people if he were playing today. Rajah was a jerk which might put him in the strong majority among ballplayers. Both would be making gazillions of dollars if they were around today.

Most folks these days are smart enough to keep their racism to themselves. Cobb wouldn't have gone around slapping black people if he were playing today. Rajah was a jerk which might put him in the strong majority among ballplayers.

Also, if they were alive to have been raised during the period of time that would have them in Major League baseball today, they might be radically different types of a-holes instead of the creeps/jerks they were. Might even be nice guys.

Rajah was a jerk which might put him in the strong majority among ballplayers. Both would be making gazillions of dollars if they were around today.

Indeed, Clemens has made a lot of money.

I'm surprised baseball chick didn't include April 10, 1962 -- the Houston Colt .45s' first=ever game, an 11-2 rout of the Cubs in the first-ever major-league game played in Texas (at temporary Colt Stadium, a place whose huge dimensions -- 360 down each line, 395 to the power alleys, 420 to center -- make Nats-era RFK seem like Baker Bowl). Bobby Shantz goes the distance in the opener and Roman Mejias hits a pair of homers. Plus, I believe the P.A. announcer was none other than future CBS radio-TV newsman Dan Rather.

I'm trying to remember, wasn't this story apocryphal?

No, it definitely happened. There is some uncertainty over exactly when it occurred, but it did occur, on a day when Robinson was taking particularly outrageous abuse from the stands. Reese just decided enough was enough, and thought a gesture of pure and simple support and humanity was called for. Coming from a southerner, it was especially meaningful. Jackie and Rachel Robinson talked about it afterwards as a turning point, and they and Reese became lifelong friends. Reese was a hero.

It's been researched at length by Jules Tygiel and the guy who wrote opening day. It happened, but in 1948, not 1947. It happened in Boston, not Cincinnati. I think it was in response to abuse from the players, not the stands, but that I'm less sure of. Reese and Robinson didn't become really close until Robinson moved to second in 1948 with the tradnig of Eddie Stanky.

Reese and Robinson later said of 1947 (not quite exact words but mighty close):

PWR: I never went out of my way to be nice to you.
JR: That might be what I liked about you the most.

terpnats

dan rather was a very hot white boy back when he was still an actual texan. i've seen the pics.

i've heard the nightmares about colt stadium particularly the mosquitoes. my mama got friends haven't missed a game since Opening Day. complete scorebooks too.

Or I could've read post #47 . . .

While most folks today keep their racism to themselves, I'm far from convinced that Cobb would. I don't get the impression that Cobb was ever all that concerned with societal norms.

andy

do you REALLY think that anyone would draft a ballplayer who was an out of the closet racist? or who had the uh, "character failings" that rajah supposedly had?

No, but OTOH I doubt if there are many of those types floating around the top ranks of amateur baseball today, unless they've already decided that they'd rather go into the oil business instead.

i've heard the nightmares about colt stadium particularly the mosquitoes. my mama got friends haven't missed a game since Opening Day. complete scorebooks too.

You don't mean that they have all the Colt Stadium programs from 1962 to 1964? That'd be an unbelievable collection. I've dealt in baseball memorabilia for over 20 years and I've never seen anything quite like that. Too bad it's not the Mets and it'd really be worth some bucks. (smile)

While most folks today keep their racism to themselves, I'm far from convinced that Cobb would. I don't get the impression that Cobb was ever all that concerned with societal norms.

But don't you also get the impression that he was pretty damn sweet on money?

And for the record, Jackie Robinson was one of a tiny handful of "modern" players that Ty Cobb ever had anything good to say about. IIRC he even made a positive comment about his intelligence.

Of course that comment was made in the 50's and not when he was himself an active player, but the point is that as several others above have implicitly noted, racism is usually something that's far more a product of one's particular set of circumstances (time, place, peer group, etc.) than it is of any special sort of inherent trait. Which is why even a complete racist like Strom Thurmond wound up hiring black assistants, when the earlier Strom Thurmond would've jumped off a cliff before doing any such thing.

People adapt. When I was a small kid living on West 110th Street (now called Cathedral Parkway) across from Morningside Park, 109th St. was all Puerto Rican, and when we had our little encounters with them on Columbus Avenue, we didn't refer to them as distinguished gentlemen, and they didn't call me a Son of Norway. And I'm sure I'm not the only one here with that kind of a background. You don't usually transcend your surroundings without first being influenced by them.

i don't know if they have programs - i'll ask

i DO know they both have complete scorebooks. actually my mama knows a whole LOT of women who have a whole LOT of stuff

- very VERY interesting that ty cobb had something good to say about jackie. you got a link?

ty cobb was a very VERY interesting man. in a lot of ways. it disappoint me that so many people SEEM to want people to be over simple - the Hero. the Villan. all good. all bad.

my mama she always said about men from the time i can remember - when it comes to men you gotta take the good with the bad. she meant it to mean that most men are bad and if you can find any good in em best enjoy iy while it last. but thing is that she was more right then i think she knew. because everyone got good and bad in em because that is what makes people people and not ideas.

racism is a very complicated thing

and strom thurmond had a black daughter who he always took care of - even back when he didn't have to. so i would ask this - if he detested balck people, why have sex with one? and if you have sex with one, if you think it was like doing some animal or masturbating, why care for you ofspring with an "animal"

ty cobb supposedly hated/was hated by his own children but left money to a childrens hospital

youneverknow

Which is why even a complete racist like Strom Thurmond wound up hiring black assistants, when the earlier Strom Thurmond would've jumped off a cliff before doing any such thing.

He wouldn't have hired them, but we know he would have ###### them....

(which baseball chick mentioned sometime ahead of me, but after I last updated the page, but more generously....)

Can't we all just sit down and discuss this over a cold brew. And if we are in Cleveland on June 3, 1974, the first few rounds are on me.

People adapt. When I was a small kid living on West 110th Street (now called Cathedral Parkway) across from Morningside Park, 109th St. was all Puerto Rican,

Andy, this is pretty much where I live now, on 109th, and it's mostly Dominican, although we seem to get along better these days. What did the neighborhood look like, uh, back in the day? It's gradually gentrifying these days as Columbia extends further and further outwards ("Ivy is an invasive species"), although there's still a lot of overt drug dealing and downscale-ish businesses, particularly on Columbus. Also, on Cathedral Parkway/110th and Columbus, St. John's recently sold some of the land and they're currently tearing down part of the hill to put in some apartments with a view of (or rather right up in the grill of) the cathedral...

What about Harvey Haddix's 12-inning perfect game, the 1924 World Series game allegedly decided on a bad hop off of a pebble on the infield, the final series between the Yankees and Red Sox in 1949...maybe going to some of the 1919 Series and seeing just how fishy things looked from the crowd.

Can't we all just sit down and discuss this over a cold brew. And if we are in Cleveland on June 3, 1974, the first few rounds are on me.

Was that when the lake caught fire? Because the Indians were idle that day.

BBC, every time I read one of those posts of yours I wish you and your family lived in Washington. You never fail to add insight to almost any topic that comes up. I completely agree with you that Ty Cobb was a very complicated man. I'd have given a pretty penny to have seen him in his prime, even with all that personal baggage. They didn't call Jackie Robinson "the black Ty Cobb" for nothing.

I don't have a link to that Cobb comment about Robinson, and the problem is that I'm 99% sure it was in an old issue of The Sporting News somewhere around 1952, when for quite awhile there was a lot of back and forth going on about the famous article that Cobb wrote in LIFE. In that article he said that the only two modern players who could've been stars in his day were Musial and Rizzuto.

Needless to say there was a backlash to that POV, and since The Sporting News was (among other things) the closest thing there was to BTF back then, there was a lot of opinionmongering on both sides, mostly anti-Cobb. And in one of Cobb's follow-ups I'm almost certain that he made that comment about Jackie Robinson.

But the problem is that although I have all those issues, I don't have an Sporting News index, and the issues themselves are buried in a closet along with about 990 other issues from 1944 to 1962. I hope you can sympathize, or at least sympathize with my poor wife. But I can almost guarantee that Cobb made that comment at some point in the aftermath of that LIFE article. The next time I dig into that stack and I run across it I'll make sure to give you a quote.

October 13, 1960 - Bill Mazeroski (enough said)

A good second choice might be October 13, 1909. Pirates beat the Tigers 8-4 to take a 3-2 series lead. Honus Wagner versus Ty Cobb. Babe Adams gets his second of three complete game wins in the series. Four in the seventh for the Pirates gives them the lead for good.

Can't we all just sit down and discuss this over a cold brew. And if we are in Cleveland on June 3, 1974, the first few rounds are on me.

Was that when the lake caught fire? Because the Indians were idle that day.

June 4, 1974 -- 10-cent beer night...the game ended up as a forfeit to Texas.

Zack,

352 West 110th Street was torn down somewhere in the 90's, and I'm assuming that it's going to see a luxury high rise at some point.

But in the early 50's, 110th Street was (let's be blunt here) the last English-speaking block that a six year old kid could know of, at least as far as he could tell. It was definitely a neighborhood unto itself, and since I can remember every other kid in the group pictures I've retained, I can tell you that there were a lot of kids on that block. In terms of ethnicity, it was one of those Hollywood blocks from the mythical 1940's---a mix of Italians, Irish, Jews, Greeks, Scandinavians and even a Russian or two. No blacks or Puerto Ricans, though there were plenty of black kids I played with in Morningside Park (which was NOT considered dangerous at that time---this was when street crime in New York was only a decade removed from its alltime low). The numbered blocks south of 110th Street were Puerto Rican for as far as I could see.

I left in 1951. When I went back to visit just three years later it was much more run down. And when I came back again in 1960 the whole block had "turned" Puerto Rican. All the old families and kids I knew had left, to where I had no idea. I went back a couple of times in the 70's and 80's and my old building was boarded up and more or less left for dead. Do you know if there's a building there now? 352 was the second apartment building west of Manhattan Avenue, about 30 or 40 yards going towards Columbus, directly across from the south entrance to Morningside.

And I can tell you this: To a kid in 1951, that neighborhood was Paradise. It took me over a decade to forgive my parents for having moved to Washington, which was to me nothing but a cow town.

Oh, and one last bit of trivia: The two bedroom apartment we had was $40.00 a month, including utilities. There was a ton of affordable housing in Manhattan all the way up through the early 80's, and not all of it in the slums.

10-cent beer night...the game ended up as a forfeit to Texas.

When was Disco Demolition Night in Chicago? I have some relatives of in-laws who might have been, um, participants.

10-cent beer night...the game ended up as a forfeit to Texas.

OK, right game, wrong night. It was June 4th. But you're forgiven if you were too drunk to remember the details....

While most folks today keep their racism to themselves, I'm far from convinced that Cobb would. I don't get the impression that Cobb was ever all that concerned with societal norms.

But he could have... if he wanted to.

I'm too lazy to go back and read the whole thread; has anybody mentioned Jackie Robinson's first game? That would have been pretty amazing.

I'm too lazy to go back and read the whole thread; has anybody mentioned Jackie Robinson's first game? That would have been pretty amazing.

Several people did, David.

One of my longstanding window displays in my book shop during the 40th anniversary festivities in 1997 was a repro of The Sporting News writeup of that debut. It showed a big picture of Robinson, with a headline that read, "Debut 'Just Another Game' to Jackie." That headline pretty much expressed why Robinson has always been my favorite player.

I'd love to see some part of the Ruth tour of Japan or the Gehrig/Ruth barnstorming tour out West.

Do you know if there's a building there now? 352 was the second apartment building west of Manhattan Avenue, about 30 or 40 yards going towards Columbus, directly across from the south entrance to Morningside.

Google Maps shows a pile of dust there, but their photos can be a few years old. I haven't been on that block in 3 years, and I don't have much recollection how it looked, so I have no idea.

The two bedroom apartment we had was $40.00 a month, including utilities.

I hate your parents.

The two bedroom apartment we had was $40.00 a month, including utilities.

I hate your parents.

You'll hate them even more when I tell you that they paid $18,500 for a 4-bedroom house in the Cleveland Park section of Washington. The mortgage was less than $200 a month on a 15-year loan. And there was a bigger house around the corner that sold "as is" for $5,000 cash---in 1966. Worth about $800,000 today.