A Kid at the Ballpark

Charles Dickens once wrote that "It is good sometimes to be children."  He had Christmas in mind, but for many of us, it's also true of the memories of unforgettable childhood visits to major league baseball games.  Reading Chicago Daily News sportswriter Angelo Biondo's story of his first game made me think it might be worthwhile to publish some such memories starting with my own. After that, beginning next week, a series of contributors will share their stories of a childhood baseball adventure.  My friend, Lynne Di Pietro will lead off the series which will continue as long as there are stories to tell.  I've enjoyed the ones I've seen so far and hope you will too.

My Wayne P.A.L. uniform was my ticket to the Polo Grounds

Biondo’s story of his first game reminded me of my visit to the Polo Grounds on August 22, 1957, a mere 68 years ago.  My first game was very different from his.  Biondo's day at Wrigley Field was literally the first time he ever saw, indeed could have seen, major league players in action.  By the time I saw the New York Giants play the St. Louis Cardinals on that warm Thursday afternoon, I had already watched two years of major league baseball on television albeit in black and white.  It's no small difference, but what struck me about Biondo's story was how his first game gave him a perspective that stayed with him for the rest of his life.  Similarly,  I learned something from another meaningless August game that I've never forgotten. 

1957 Giants Scorecard - I'm pretty sure I was not yet keeping score at games

My first game was also different, not just from Biondo’s, but likely from most kids. Typically, boys and girls see their favorite team.  Unlike them, I didn't get to see the team I loved. I was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, but I was never fortunate enough to see a game at Ebbets Field. Instead, I was at the Polo Grounds because I was a player in the Wayne P. A. L. baseball league. At that point, the Giants' ownership must have figured they had nothing to lose by giving us kids free admission.  Just a day or so earlier, the Giants' board of directors voted to move the team to San Francisco something I was completely oblivious to at the time.

 

Picture of the last out of the Giants' final game at the Polo Grounds, a month after I was there.  Our seats were in left field more or less above the visiting bullpen in left-center field - yes it was in fair territory.

That, and the Giants' position in sixth place, may explain why there were only 5300 paying fans in the stands when Stu Miller threw the first pitch.  Miller had a successful career as a reliever, but on this day, long before there were bullpen games, he was the Giants starter.  Miller's relief appearances were brief, but few could have been shorter than that day.  After retiring the first batter, he gave up back-to-back home runs to Wally Moon and the great Stan Musial.  Shortly thereafter, Miller left the game having retired only one batter. Eighteen-year-old Mike McCormick took over and allowed one more first-inning run. The Giants got one back in the bottom of the inning on a Willie Mays home run. In the first inning of my first major league game, I saw two of baseball’s greatest hitters hit home runs.  Not a bad start for this 10-year-old.

This is a picture of Bobby Thompson's home run that won the 1951 National League pennant for the Giants. It was a horrible moment for Brooklyn Dodger fans, but on my 1957 visit, I wanted to see where the ball had gone out.  Only 10 at the time, I was already interested in baseball history, no matter how unpleasant. 

The Cards still led 3-1 going to the bottom of the third when the Giants loaded the bases with two outs.  At that point, Lindy McDaniel, the Cardinals pitcher blew up even worse than Miller had in the first.  Six Giant runners crossed the plate and gave New York a lead it would not relinquish in route to a 13-6 win.  McCormick who came in with only one out in the first went the rest of the way for the victory.  And while, as a Dodgers fan, I didn’t like the Giants, I was glad they won since it helped Brooklyn gain a game on second place St. Louis.

 

Wally Moon on the cover of Sports Illustrated - April 22, 1957

It was a good day. The first-inning home runs alone were worth the price of admission, had I paid admission. But I've never forgotten two second-inning Giants at-bats reported as “Sauer popped out to short” and “Spencer lined out to left.”  The description couldn't have been any more matter-of-fact, but that’s not how they appeared to this aspiring major leaguer.  Sauer hit a pop fly that went straight up, but I'd never seen or believed a ball could be hit that high.  It literally went above the roof of the top deck of the Polo Grounds and I remember thinking it had been hit out of the park, at least vertically!  Spencer, the next batter hit a line drive to left and Wally Moon made a fine running catch.  It was an impressive play, but what surprised me was not the play, but the reaction of young Giant fans around me who yelled at Moon that he had been lucky.

 

Box Score from the Daily News of August 22, 1957 of what was thought to be the Cardinals' final visit to the Polo Grounds.  However, they would play there again in 1962 and 1963 after the Mets joined the National League

Part of my surprise, if not shock was due to my naivete about major league baseball players.  To me, like Biondo, they were god-like men. That a fine play was lucky was unthinkable while yelling disrespectfully at major leaguers was simply unfathomable.  It took some time for me to accept that baseball players are human.  But those two plays, on that long ago day at the Polo Grounds, taught me something I've never forgotten - how difficult it is to play major league baseball. I learned that day to respect both the game and those who play it at the highest level.  I've had that respect ever since and I hope I always will.