Imagine Being An NYC Kid Who Was A Baseball Fan In The 1950s

Damaged Goods

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If my memory is correct, in the 18 baseball seasons 1947-64, a NY team was in the World Series 16 times, and in 7 of those years, both teams were NY.

Talk about being a spoiled, entitled kid! In heaven before dying.

Focus especially on most of the 50s when your centerfielders were named DiMaggio, Mantle, Snider, and Mays.
 

I remember part of the 1950s and do recall baseball fun back then. Semi pro leagues were still thriving as well. What a time it was!
 

Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks
I don't care if I ever get back!



I traveled to Chicago's old Comiskey Park to watch the White Sox in that famous stadium's final year. What a great baseball atmosphere it had! And all throughout my time at that stadium I kept singing that refrain to myself. Great place to watch baseball.
 
There was at least one more team the good folks of Brooklyn had in those day - the Bushwicks!


BrooklynBallParks.com - the Semipros (covehurst.net)


bushwicks-1024x528.jpg
 
I remember part of the 1950s and do recall baseball fun back then. Semi pro leagues were still thriving as well. What a time it was!
Baseball was fun back in the 50s...I was the pitcher for our little town team and threw a hard fast ball as I was taught to do by my father. I sure missed it over the years. When I was visiting my daughter in Toronto, she took me to a Blue Jay game for the fun of it. It was great!
 
I don't have to imagine. As a NYC kid in the 50's my biggest thrill was a trip to Yankee Stadium.
Man... who could forget The Mick, Whitey Ford, Don Larson, Billy Martin (then Bobby Richardson), Yogi Berra (followed by Elston Howard), and on and on and on. Say what you want about them, but nobody is even close when it comes to championships.
Number of World Series championships won by team from 1903 to 2020
Number of World Series won
New York Yankees27
St. Louis Cardinals11
Boston Red Sox9
Los Angeles Dodgers7
 
When Roger Maris hit HR #61 the fans would not stop applauding until he came out of the dugout to take a bow unheard of back then. Roger half stepped half way out of the dugout and raised his hat. Today's players leap out of the dugout and do a dance if the hit a sac fly.
 
My first baseball game was watching Sandy Koufax beat the Mets in 1966 - at Shea. It was magical to see Sandy completely dominate the game, as if the contest had been altered somehow and a pitcher like Koufax (or Drysdale or Gibson) were now to good to be hit.
Then My Dad took me to Yankee Stadium, the original stadium -- it was majestic. I was in the cathedral. Mickey Mantle hit a home run. The Yanks lost to the Orioles 2-1...but then I got to see Brooks and Frank Robinson in their prime. Back then the famous Yankee monuments were in Center field - in the playing field. I always thought Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were buried back there. I can still smell the cigars and beer from those moments. It is etched in my memory.
I wish I had been to Ebbets field or the Polo Grounds. I do visit them in the multiverse - but not in this existence.
The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!
October 1951 - magical
 
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Back when the bases were made of burlap sacks filled with straw and when you hit a homer you'd hear a thapy "crack" rather than a "ping!"

 

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Note that in January, MLB gave official Major League Status to those leagues.



This changes sports history in more ways than one. Up to now Manon Rheaume was considered the first woman to play professional sport in one of the four American Major Leagues because she played one game in the NHL in 1991:

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Now that MLB recognizes the old black owned leagues as major leagues this means Marcenia "Toni" Stone becomes the first woman to be a major leaguer as she played about 2 to 3 years for the old Indianapolis Clowns in the 1950s:


toni-stone.jpg





Toni Stone - Wikipedia




Toni lived in St Paul, Minnesota. The ball field at Dunning Park is named after her.
 


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