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Baseball Digest, Nov, 2002
by Joe Falls
* Maris and Mantle, batting back to back, and two balls landing in the lower deck of Yankee Stadium, back to back.
* Dwight Evans, looking straight into the sun, making another great catch in right field of Fenway Park.
* French fries with vinegar in old Comiskey Park.
* The overhang in Detroit.
* A hot August Sunday afternoon in Cooperstown, the leafy home of the Hall of Fame, men in white shirts, ladies with parasols and Reggie Jackson grinning at everyone.
* John F. Kennedy throwing out the first pitch in Washington.
* Willie Mays making the catch at his belt buckle.
* Al Kaline getting up after getting knocked down at the plate, digging in and sending a double crashing against the wall in left-center; nobody ever did it better than this man.
* The Citgo sign beyond the left-field wall in Fenway Park--Joe Carter saying it was his favorite sign in baseball: "C-it-go!"
* Nellie Fox with tobacco juice on his mouth and the front of his shirt, and spitting into his glove.
* Bill Mazeroski's home run in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, setting off the biggest celebration I'd ever seen.
* The sign reading 296 feet on the right-field wall in Yankee Stadium and measuring from home plate three times with a steel ruler and finding Babe Ruth had to hit it only 292 feet.
* Minnie Minoso, then Jim Rivera, sliding head-first into third base, keeping the White Sox rally going.
* The ride over to Winter Haven, Florida, to see Ted Williams one more time, watching him twitch, moving this way, then that way, as he tells what it was like hitting against Bob Feller.
* Seeing Don Larsen pitch his perfect game in the 1956 World Series and hearing a New York writer ask Casey Stengel if he ever saw Larsen pitch a better game.
* The orange piping on the St. Louis Browns' uniforms.
* Feeling the stands tremble and Candlestick Park shake in the 1989 earthquake and racing down the ramp with a dozen other people to get out of there ... and all of us stopping at the gate to have our hands stamped so we could get back in.
* Stan Hack and Billy Herman leading off for the Cubs.
* Pitcher Red Ruffing pinch-hitting for the Yankees and getting a hit.
* Al Schacht, the Clown Prince of Baseball, taking infield practice with an invisible ball at Yankee Stadium.
* The technicolor sheep grazing on the embankment of Charlie Finley's Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, tended by a shepherd with a staff.
* Our airplane, caught in a hail storm taking off from Kansas City, turning sideways and Hank Aguirre's shirt turning from white to gray because he was sweating so much.
* Snapping off a leaf from the vines on the left-field wall at Chicago's Wrigley Field and a policeman wanting to arrest me for destruction of public property before Cubs manager Don Zimmer stopped him.
* Satchel Paige, such a spindly man, coming around with his delivery, hesitating for just a moment, then unleashing a fastball on the outside corner, strike one.
* Roger Clemens taking his stretch, sneaking a peek over to first base, and booming one through there so the batter could barely see, much less hit.
* The anxiety of Wade Boggs coming to the plate because we were likely to see a line-drive single to left or a sizzler through the middle.
* Denny McLain, with his cap tilted forward and a stiff leg kick, throwing his high, hard one and getting one more pop-up to the second baseman.
* Mark Fidrych, leaning over and talking to the ball: "Come on, ball. Stay low. Stay low."
* The 237 dim lights at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, and fireballer Ryne Duren, who couldn't see too well, cutting loose those fastballs that took off and hit the screen behind the plate.
* As a kid in New York, getting off the train at the North Philadelphia Street Station and seeing Shibe Park only a few blocks away, knowing it was going to be another great Sunday of baseball.
* Norm Cash lugging the leg of a table to the plate to hit against Nolan Ryan, who is working on a no-hitter.
* Rocky Colavito twitching those shoulders as he gets set in the box.
* Alan Trammell's throw to first, always accurate, always on time.
* Billy Bruton's smile when asked how old he was.
* A quiet night at home, with the weight of the Baseball Encyclopedia on my lap, looking up Nap Lajoie's batting record, Walter Johnson's pitching record and Walt Alston's managerial record.
* Sparky Anderson, leaning over his desk and taking forever to eat his postgame sandwich when he didn't want to answer any questions from reporters.
* Anything hit over the left-field wall in Boston--or off the Green Monster.
* The Redbird perched on a bat on the front of the St. Louis Cardinals' uniforms; Marty Marion wore it in the 1940s. And, so did Ozzie Smith.
* Jackie Robinson at the plate, pumping the bat back and forth, while rubbing his right hand on the back of his pants; the intensity never let up with this man.
* Watching a Cubs game from the rooftop on Waveland Avenue.
* Watching the Blue Jays and Tigers from a hotel room inside the SkyDome.
* Rick Ferrell on facing Bob Feller: "I could hear the ball. I just couldn't see it."
* Catcher Gabby Harnett of the Cubs throwing from a crouch on attempted base stealers at second.
* Never really knowing how good Al Kaline was in right field until all the balls started falling in after he left.
* Yogi Berra hitting three homers in a doubleheader for the Newark Bears, a Yankees farm team. Both wrists were taped, and his third home run was a pinch-hit grand slam.
* Jimmy Piersall signing his name in the dirt--an X--before stepping into the batter's box.
* Joe DiMaggio saying in the dressing room at an old-timer's game: "Are you Joe Falls? I would like to thank you for all the nice things you've written over the years."
* Kirk Gibson's two World Series home runs--one with the Tigers, the second with the Dodgers--forcing me to completely rewrite my column from top to bottom on deadline. Thanks a lot, Kirk.
* Frank Lary putting a dead 10-foot snake in the Yankees dugout during spring training and watching Casey Stengel bolt up the stairs and run all the way out to second base, screaming.
* The aroma of those hot dogs on the grill as you entered Tiger Stadium.
* A day with Stan Musial at Ebbets Field: One off the Schaefer Beer sign atop the scoreboard, one off the screen, one onto Bedford Avenue and two walks. A double off the baggies in right field in Minneapolis.
* My man, Nellie Fox, fouling one back into the press box at the Los Angeles Coliseum during the 1959 World Series and the ball landing in my lap--a 93,000-to-1 shot.
* Rip Sewell's blooper ball--30 feet high--coming down at the plate in the 1946 All-Star Game and Ted Williams hitting it deep into the right-field bleachers at Fenway Park.
* Frank Robinson hitting balls over the left-field wall at Crosley Field in Cincinnati and watching them land on the roof of a laundry shop across the street.
* Watching them slip the numbers into the slots in the hand-operated scoreboards at the Polo Grounds.
* Sparky Anderson saying hello to everyone on Opening Day, smiling, shaking hands, making everyone feel important. I How does he do it anyway?
* My first game with the Tigers in 1953 and Vic Wertz walking over to the visitor's dugout, where I was trying to hide, and introducing me to his teammates on the St. Louis Browns, who were at the batting cage taking their pregame swings at Sportsman's Park.
* The feel of a new white baseball.
* The smell of a new glove.
* Seeing Harvey Kuenn wobbling out of a bar on Lexington Avenue late on a Saturday night before a Sunday doubleheader against the Yankees and watching him and Al Kaline combine for 15 hits in the two games.
* A storm hit Tiger Stadium, covering the grass with hail stones.
* The day a rainstorm filled the tunnel back to the clubhouse and the Tigers had to go through the stands or swim for safety.
* Willie Horton, who hated to fly, getting locked in the restroom by his teammates during a bumpy flight.
* Red Sox catcher Sammy White getting so mad at a call at the plate, he fired the ball into center field and another Tigers runner scored.
* The grace of the fountain in Kansas City.
* Traveling secretary Vince Desmond getting so angry over an argument with Billy Martin that he stormed off the team bus in Chicago and walked back to the hotel.
* Opening Day in our press box at Tiger Stadium, seeing faces I've never seen before, knowing I might never see them again, wondering who they all are.
* Asking President Richard Nixon to sign a baseball at a White House reception before the 1969 All-Star Game--"Just below Denny McLain's name"--and Nixon saying, "Of course. Nobody is above Denny McLain."
* A single to right by George Brett.
* "Ladies and gentlemen, will you please rise for the national anthem."
* An afternoon with Bill Veeck in his garden in Chicago.
Getting two Mickey Mantle rookie cards in the mail from the Topps Bubble Gum Company and losing both of them.
* Lightning striking the shortstop area during a rainstorm at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, sending up a huge puff of smoke, and Willie Tasby, center fielder for the Orioles, refusing to come back out and finish the game.
* Barry Bonds' short swing--whack!--and watching him watch the ball as it heads out over the right-center-field fence.
* Nolan Ryan pulling the ball close to his chest as he turns to go into his windup.
* Visiting Lou Brock at his florist shop in Clayton, Missouri, and saying, "What the heck do you know about flowers?" Brock saying, "I know a lot about flowers. Those are red, those are yellow, and the ones over there are purple and green."
* Getting thrown out of the umpire's dressing room during spring training after asking them how come Tigers manager Bob Scheffing stayed in the dugout after getting ejected from the game.
* The day manager Jack Tighe tried to throw me off the Tigers' train while it was moving through North Carolina because he didn't like what I wrote about him.
* A perfect relay getting the runner at third.
* Hilda Chester and her cow bell at Ebbets Field.
* Jackie Robinson bouncing up and down at third base when the pitcher tried to pick him off.
* That spread-eagle stance of Joe D. and the ball rocketing down the left-field line for a bases-clearing double off Hal Newhouser.
* 1:30 in the afternoon. The best time of all.
By JOE FALLS
The Detroit News
Joe Falls has been a Detroit News columnist since 1978 and a major journalistic presence in Detroit since 1953. He was elected to the writers' wing of the Hall of Fame in 2002.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Century Publishing
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