July 24, 1954. Indians 5, Yankees 4

I went to quite a few games in Yankee Stadium as a kid.  Not the “old” Yankee Stadium that was created in 1976, but THE Yankee Stadium.  The one that Babe Ruth at least subcontracted.  The one where my uncle got great seats because he had worked for WPIX and “knew some people.”

Oddly – several of the games were noteworthy for the kind of things that Yankee fans and legitimate baseball people understand   Things that set the game apart from the thousands of other games played there.

Here’s one.

I was talking to two friends yesterday about the first MLB games we attended.  Mine was at Yankee Stadium on July 24, 1954.  I won’t go into the details of the large expanse of grass in the huge building, or the fact that to leave the ballpark the fans walked across the field and out the gate in centerfield.  Nearly everyone of my era mentions those things. 

I’ll mention what I remember.  I remember Larry Doby hitting a home run to beat my Yankees 5-4 in 10 innings. I remember my mother telling me earlier in the game that he had been the first “Negro” to play in the American League and that he had to overcome the same kind of problems as her favorite player, Jackie Robinson. At that time I didn’t know what those problems were, but if my mother thought it was important enough for me to know, I would remember. That fact may have made the loss seem a little less important, since apparently Doby deserved the chance to hit that home run. 

My hero, Mickey Mantle, tripled in the 10^th but his run only closed the gap to 5-4.  But, that's not the good thing -- looking through the box score verified my memory of  something in that game.  Mantle had come up as a shortstop – and not a very good one –  but in the top of the 9^th, Casey Stengel, following some 8^th inning pinch hitting strategy,  made the  following moves:

Willy Miranda replaces Enos Slaughter (PH) playing 2B batting 8th
Mickey Mantle moves from CF to SS
Gene Woodling moves from PH to LF
Irv Noren moves from LF to CF

And then, the biggie in the top of the 10^th:

Mickey Mantle moves from SS to 2B
Willy Miranda moves from 2B to SS

(http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA195407240.shtml)

As I remember, some of the Mantle/Miranda shifting actually took place batter by batter.  Stengel apparently wanted to keep Mantle out of the line of fire so he and Miranda switched positions according to whether the batter was right or left handed.  This might qualify him as a switch fielder as well as a switch hitter.

Regardless, and what this is really leading up to,  it was the ONLY game Mantle ever played at 2^nd.

NOTE:  For his career, he made 7 appearances at SS (one as a starter) making no errors in 16 innings and one game at 3^rd, in which he made 2 errors in 4 innings.

In his appearance at 2b he handled  2 chances flawlessly.

(http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mantlmi01.shtml)

Baseball Almanac Box Scores Cleveland Indians 5, New York Yankees 4
Game played on Saturday, July 24, 1954 at Yankee Stadium
Cleveland Indians ab   r   h rbi Smith lf 4 1 1 0 Avila 2b 3 1 0 0 Doby cf 4 1 2 3 Rosen 3b 5 0 1 0 Wertz 1b 3 0 1 1   Glynn 1b 2 0 0 0 Philley rf 4 0 2 0 Dente ss 4 0 0 0 Hegan c 4 1 2 1 Mossi p 2 0 0 0   Lemon p 1 1 1 0   Newhouser p 0 0 0 0   Narleski p 0 0 0 0 Totals 36 5 10 5	New York Yankees ab   r   h rbi Noren lf,cf 4 1 2 1 Skowron 1b 4 0 1 1   Sain p 1 0 0 0 Mantle cf,ss,2b 5 1 2 0 Berra c 4 0 2 1 Bauer rf 5 0 0 0 Carey 3b 4 1 1 0 Coleman 2b 2 1 1 0   Woodling ph,lf 1 0 0 0 Rizzuto ss 2 0 0 0   Slaughter ph 1 0 0 0   Miranda 2b,ss 0 0 0 0   McDougald ph 1 0 0 0 Reynolds p 2 0 1 0   Robinson ph 1 0 0 0   Collins 1b 1 0 0 0 Totals 38 4 10 3
Cleveland 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 – 5 10 2 New York 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 – 4 10 1   Cleveland Indians IP H R ER BB SO Mossi   6.2 7 3 3 4 5   Lemon  W(11-5) 2.1 2 1 1 1 0   Newhouser   0.0 1 0 0 0 0   Narleski  SV(7) 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 10.0 10 4 4 5 6   New York Yankees IP H R ER BB SO Reynolds   7.0 7 3 3 2 3   Sain  L(5-3) 3.0 3 2 2 0 4 Totals 10.0 10 5 5 2 7   E–Rosen (14), Dente (4), Carey (13).  DP–Cleveland 3. Dente-Avila-Wertz, Avila-Wertz, Avila-Dente-Glynn, New York 1. Carey-Coleman-Skowron.  2B–New York Noren (11,off Mossi); Mantle (12,off Lemon).  3B–New York Mantle (10,off Mossi); Skowron (5,off Mossi).  HR–Cleveland Hegan (8,4th inning off Reynolds 0 on 1 out); Doby (20,10th inning off Sain 1 on 2 out)..  SH–Avila (10,off Reynolds); Mossi (1,off Reynolds); Smith (3,off Sain).; Carey (3,off Lemon).  Team LOB–6.  IBB–Woodling (2,by Lemon).  Team–10.  CS–Philley (2,2nd base by Reynolds/Berra).  U-HP–Charlie Berry, 1B–Hank Soar, 2B–Larry Napp, 3B–Ed Runge.  T–3:17.  A–39,117.

IT COUNTS!! WHAT?

Something to think about:

The All Star game should not “count.”   The concept is ridiculous.   Why should a game count if:  

•  fans  vote for the starters -- 25 times for every email address they can create
• the managers pick almost all the rest -- um, even though some players get contractual bonuses for making the team
• fans then vote again to pick the last player – a player who, a la Nick Swisher can campaign  to make the team. 
• every team has to be represented even though they may not have a legitimate all star
• a retired manager can manage
• players can opt out because of “injury”
• etc.

If alternating home field advantage is too logical, why not let interleague play (another dopey idea) determine home field advantage?  Whichever league has the better overall record would get the home field advantage.  After all, interleague games ALL actually count.  Players try to win becaue they are real games that really count. These games actually have  a bearing on what teams get into that World Series.    

Anyone who thinks that the commissioner did this “the road to October starts here” thing for any other reason than caving in to outraged fans and media when the 2002 “Midsummer Classic” ended in a tie (11 innings couldn’t satisfy people) probably thinks that fans and media have a right to run baseball.  Hmmm – as far as this instance, apparently they do. 

More on my thoughts on media in another post.  For now, I just hope that no one who might frighten the commissioner starts suggesting  the home run derby count as well.

I’ll get into interleague play and the designated hitter another time – but anyone  who argues against it for the sake of tradition  had better also be arguing against the All Star game counting and interleague play.

MLB has a squirrel, AAA has a mouse.

As  a sports photographer for the (AAA) Syracuse Chiefs, a day at the ballpark with the home team on the road is something of a busman’s holiday.  So – I snapped a couple of hundred shots of the  Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees hosting the Buffalo Bisons, and decided to head for home.  A buzz in the crowd drew my attention to a confrontation on the field where SWB  third baseman Ramiro Pena had come to the aid of shortstop  Corbin Joseph who was going head to head, so to speak, with – with – a mouse.  The mouse, which made its way to short left field in the bottom of the seventh avoided capture for several minutes. 

Joseph and Pena attempted to capture the critter in their gloves, but when Joseph tried to barehand it, it bit him and attached itself to his pantleg.  

  

After some crowd-pleasing fruitless pursuit, the two managed to trap him with their gloves and transport him to head groundskeeper John Stewart.  Stewart then transported the little guy out of the stadium and released him in the woods.  

 

OK – so that’s about as strange as it gets, right?  No.

On my way out, I came across Andrew Berlucchi, one of the Chief’s interns holding an ice pack on his shoulder.  He had dislocated the shoulder while performing his duties at the ballpark – tonight, that was putting on a Dunkin Donuts coffee cup costume and throwing tshirts to the fans.  That’s right – the former college and independent league professional catcher had dislocated his shoulder on his  first  shirt toss of the night.

As a true athlete, he sucked it up and finished the tosses left handed.  Kind of fitting since ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte pitches for SWB.  Ironically, he is on the DL at the moment.

Luckily, the Buffalo trainer was able to pop Andrew’s  shoulder back into place.
There is no word yet on a possible rehab toss in Auburn.

Preview

One of the issues I have with “blogging” is that I don’t like the word.  There is nothing about it that suggests the art of writing.  A web log is suggestive of mere record keeping – “blog” is merely another sign of  pervasive abuse of the language (i.e;  There is no reason for sports reporters to call the Astros the 'stros other than to be clever). If you have read Fahrenheit 451 or 1984 (and if not, WHY NOT?) you will understand what I’m getting at.

So in 2005, when the New York State United Teachers magazine decided to  publish my chronicle (my word) of my final year of teaching, they called it a blog: (http://nysut.org/herm/index.html).    

Since I firmly believe in the adage that “you don’t argue with people who buy ink by the barrel,” I decided that if they wanted it to be a blog, so be it.  I say “chronicle,” you say “blog.”

So – as my chronicle unfolds, I will deal with areas in which I possess some expertise:  baseball, baseball rules, education, language, photography, poetry, writing, irony, and a few other things.

I will not engage in any writing that reflects political or religious contexts.  It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just that I don’t care to write about them.

I am not inviting you to debate me on any of the topics.  I realize you may have differing opinions. I am not looking to make you think I am convinced of the universal truth in what I say, but there are some things that are beyond dispute.  If I express an opinion, let it go at that.  There is no proof or disproof necessary.

When I wrote my newspaper column, people were invited to express their opinions.  People only responded that they liked what I said or disliked it.  People who are so-so on something seldom take the time to express that.

Some things are essentially universal truths, with situational exceptions.  For example, a foul popup behind third base is the shortstop’s ball, BUT there are factors that might affect that case by case.

When  I say that Fahrenheit 451 is the scariest book ever written, don’t feel that you need to tell me I am  wrong.  When I say I don’t care for asparagus, don’t tell me what I am missing out on or accuse me of being anti-vegetarian.

When I tell you that Billy Collins is my favorite poet, don’t tell me that Charles Bukowski or Emily Dickinson or anybody else is better – I read them, too.

I won’t debate steroid users and Hall of Fame credentials – leave that to the writers.  However, don’t say that if steroid users get in, Pete Rose should, too.  He broke a rule – steroid users just manipulated the system that existed at the time.  And instant replay on every play is ridiculous.

OK – that’s the beginning – I have to go take some photos.

Even a journey of a thousand miles...

A few weeks ago, a photograph I had taken for my weekly newspaper was named the 2012  runner up for best sports photo by the Syracuse Press Club.  The next night I filed my weekly education column, "School is IN."  Two days later, the paper was out of business and I found myself somewhat stranded.

The thing about being a photojournalist is that one needs an outlet for his work.  Shooting photos that no one sees makes you a voyeur and writing something that no one sees makes you a diarist.

When several friends suggested I start a blog, I resisted -- I don't like the term "blog" and I don't like the easy accessibility that it provides to whomever wants to write.  However, since I want to write, I decided to drop the elitist attitude and take a shot at it.

So -- starting in a few days, I will.