OT: Once Upon A Time or Do You Remember When?

[bantamlaker]

Gil batting cleanup followed by the Duke. Roy behind the plate and PeeWee at Short. Carl in right and Jackie at second. And every one of them in the HOF. That's not even mentioning Don Drysdale, Preacher or a young lefthander nicknamed Sandy. If these guys were the team today Gates,Bezos or Buffet coudn't afford them.

The Brooklyn Dodger collection shown here for Steelerone and the other baseball fans on the BY. This also gives me the opportunity to repeat my Sandy Koufax story. In 1956 my older brother graduated from the 6th grade. He took his autograph album that all his classmates had signed and we rode our bikes a few blocks to Sandy’s house in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. He was very kind to us and wrote a nice note in my brother’s album. Sandy was a rookie in 1955 and in 56 he was still as likely to hit the backstop as get it over the plate.
Thanks to all of you for bringing back so many nice memories of the good old days.

 

[veryolddog]

Many years ago, in 1952, my Mom and Dad, my brother and I took a train trip to Brooklyn from Albuquerque to visit relatives. Dad and his cousin took us Ebbits field to see the Dodgers play with the line up being discussed. I was thrilled. They played Cincinnati Red Legs. I think Brooklyn won convincingly.

 

[zymurg]

Talking about train trips, my first was from Hartford to Philly to visit my grandparents.. This was where i got my first comic, the Scrooge Mc Duck. Years later when I returned (after WW II, it was still there.Now I could actually read it. I have no clear memory of VE day, but I remember clearly VJ day including hanging an effigy of Tojo from the lamp post. I also remember Victory Gardens, we had one.

I collected stamps. One of my uncles was a serious collector; he got me started. Our first home had a coal furnace, and naturally had a coal bin. That was in Mayberry Village East Hartford. My first school was literally the Little Red School House. My Kindergarten teacher was Miss Alva Otis; she was a wonderful teacher. She was the first of many. We moved to Manchester when I was in third grade. My sixth grade teacher was Mrs Simpson. She had us make a class yearbook, my contribution was this immortal poem:"When I grow up to be a man; I'll be a scientist mixing things from can to can. A little explosion won't hurt me because that's the man I was meant to be." It was colorfully illustrated; I'm sure I didn't do the colorful Illustration because I have no artistic talent whatsoever.

I attended a number of major league games with my father; I remember particularly a World Series game at Ebbets field. The Yankees lost 2-1. I remember watching Queen Elizabeth's coronation on television in class.
Transmission from abroad wasn't there yet. The picture was assembled thread by thread until we had a picture of her seated on the throne crowned with scepter in hand. My favorite TV program other than quiz show and cartoons was "The Defenders" with E.G.Marshall.

More anon

 

[Steelerone]

I wonder if some of you guys remember these automobiles: Nash, Hudson, Packard, Studebaker, and Wyllis. You remember "hydromatic drive", and "fluid drive".

VOD, When I was stationed at LeJune I had a three day weekend and got a ride to Pittsburgh with a friend who had bought a Studebaker. There were five of us and I wound up in the rear seat. Remember how the rear of the Stude was shaped. The rear seat, believe it or not was the same. It was the single most uncomfortable ride I have ever had in my life. I think that whoever designed that car killed the Studebaker.

 

[Steelerone]

The Brooklyn Dodger collection shown here for Steelerone and the other baseball fans on the BY. This also gives me the opportunity to repeat my Sandy Koufax story. In 1956 my older brother graduated from the 6th grade. He took his autograph album that all his classmates had signed and we rode our bikes a few blocks to Sandy’s house in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. He was very kind to us and wrote a nice note in my brother’s album. Sandy was a rookie in 1955 and in 56 he was still as likely to hit the backstop as get it over the plate.
Thanks to all of you for bringing back so many nice memories of the good old days.
View attachment 52164

What a greaaaat post Bantamlaker. Thank you so much. Two things. The thing that made baseball so popular at that time was the players, whether you think that was right or wrong, were not allowed to move freely so we had a bond. You knew that your shortstop was going to be there next year. Secondly, I was out in LA the year they moved there and went to a game at the Colosseum. The left field fence was about 259 feet. And the stadium was hugh.

 

[donalddoowop]

Many years ago, in 1952, my Mom and Dad, my brother and I took a train trip to Brooklyn from Albuquerque to visit relatives. Dad and his cousin took us Ebbits field to see the Dodgers play with the line up being discussed. I was thrilled. They played Cincinnati Red Legs. I think Brooklyn won convincingly.

I remember when the St. Louis Cardinals were leading the Brooklyn Dodgers by ten runs in the bottom of the ninth with two out and nobody on base. The Dodgers scored eleven straight runs to win in nine innings. That was in the fifties.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

VOD, When I was stationed at LeJune I had a three day weekend and got a ride to Pittsburgh with a friend who had bought a Studebaker. There were five of us and I wound up in the rear seat. Remember how the rear of the Stude was shaped. The rear seat, believe it or not was the same. It was the single most uncomfortable ride I have ever had in my life. I think that whoever designed that car killed the Studebaker.

another old family tale. sometime after ww2, a car guy/Studebaker fan packed his family into his new Studebaker for a regular summer trip to Peekskill or the the catskills for the vaca in the 'mountains.' apparently, and unknown to him, the new stuudy started smokin' more and more as they traveled up the hills from ct to where they were going. finally, it was so bad that they had to stop and get a mechanic/tow truck. tow guy says something like 'ya know, I've been making a good business lately from these stuudys around here because they have a hillholder clutch (or something like that), and lots of owners didn't know that.' not to sure about how that clutch worked or why it was developed, but I do know that guy never bought another stuudy, and he was a big fan.

 

[Steelerone]

another old family tale. sometime after ww2, a car guy/Studebaker fan packed his family into his new Studebaker for a regular summer trip to Peekskill or the the catskills for the vaca in the 'mountains.' apparently, and unknown to him, the new stuudy started smokin' more and more as they traveled up the hills from ct to where they were going. finally, it was so bad that they had to stop and get a mechanic/tow truck. tow guy says something like 'ya know, I've been making a good business lately from these stuudys around here because they have a hillholder clutch (or something like that), and lots of owners didn't know that.' not to sure about how that clutch worked or why it was developed, but I do know that guy never bought another stuudy, and he was a big fan.

And the most memorable word is "was."

 

[rvwsleep]

I remember when the St. Louis Cardinals were leading the Brooklyn Dodgers by ten runs in the bottom of the ninth with two out and nobody on base. The Dodgers scored eleven straight runs to win in nine innings. That was in the fifties.

Close

I'm having trouble finding a game that exactly matched your description. I did find [this game on May 18, 1950](https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BRO/BRO195005180.shtml) where the Dodgers scored 9 unanswered runs in the 8th and 9th, but I'm not seeing a game where both Slaughter and Musial were on the Cards and they lost a 9 run lead in the ninth. [According to this article](https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/april-25-1901-tigers-stage-9th-inning-comeback-al-opener) the only game to feature a 10 run ninth inning comeback was in 1901.

 

[donalddoowop]

I doubt if there were two games like that. I felt sure it was the early 1950's, however, the one you posted must be the one about which I was thinking. Murry Dickson (or Dixon) was brought in by the Cardinals to quell the rally. I remember me talking with a friend about how he strutted in as if he knew he would shut it down. He did not and the Dodgers won the game.

 

[Steelerone]

I doubt if there were two games like that. I felt sure it was the early 1950's however, the one you posted must be the one about which I was thinking. Murry Dickson (or Dixon) was brought in by the Cardinals to quell the rally. I remember me talking with a friend about how he strutted in as if he knew he would shut it down. He did not and the Dodgers won the game.

Donaldoowop, it is Dickson. In 1951 he was 20-16 with the Pirates and two years later he was 10-20. That is deceiving because the Bucs were the bottom of the barrel at the time. They had Ralph Kiner and nothing else. Dickson also was used often as a pinch hitter because they had such mediocre hitting. In the mid fifties Branch Rickey took over as GM and built them back up. The first thing he did was to draft a young player the Dogers were trying to hide, I think is name was Clemente. It's not coincidence that they used the Pirates as the team in the movie "Angels In The Outfield."

 

[donalddoowop]

Donaldoowop, it is Dickson. In 1951 he was 20-16 with the Pirates and two years later he was 10-20. That is deceiving because the Bucs were the bottom of the barrel at the time. They had Ralph Kiner and nothing else. Dickson also was used often as a pinch hitter because they had such mediocre hitting. In the mid fifties Branch Rickey took over as GM and built them back up. The first thing he did was to draft a young player the Dogers were trying to hide, I think is name was Clemente. It's not coincidence that they used the Pirates as the team in the movie "Angels In The Outfield."

The bottom of the barrel is being kind. They were almost as bad as the 1960 team was good.

 

[Steelerone]

Getting your mouth washed out with soap when you said a swear word.
Having your milk delivered to your house, and then returning the empty bottles to the delivery man (yes, everyone I ever saw was a man).
You had to walk up to the television to change to one of the other 3 or 4 channels and to adjust the volume.
Home music came on vinyl.
Every store was closed on Sunday.
No one complained about Daylight Savings Time. It was just accepted.
Station wagons had a rear facing third row of seats and the rear window went up and down.

And I think that they actually had more entertaining shows on those three or four channels than they have on the seven hundred they have now. I can remember painting my Grandmothers living room ceiling while standing on a stepladder. Jackie Gleason was doing one of his Reginald Van Gleason skits and I started laughing so hard I fell off the ladder. Unfortunately, so did the paint can. I was more scared of what my Grandmother was going to say when she got home than in any of my thirty five years in law enforcement.

 

[Steelerone]

The bottom of the barrel is being kind. They were almost as bad as the 1960 team was good.

It was the height of my father's sports life. Even when they played out on the West coast he would stay up and listen to the games until two or three. Then get up at five thirty for work. Their house in Oakland was two blocks from Forbes Field. One of the greatest layouts ever. The personification of a hitters park unless you were a power hitter. Then it was a graveyard.

 

[Steelerone]

Talking about train trips, my first was from Hartford to Philly to visit my grandparents.. This was where i got my first comic, the Scrooge Mc Duck. Years later when I returned (after WW II, it was still there.Now I could actually read it. I have no clear memory of VE day, but I remember clearly VJ day including hanging an effigy of Tojo from the lamp post. I also remember Victory Gardens, we had one.

I collected stamps. One of my uncles was a serious collector; he got me started. Our first home had a coal furnace, and naturally had a coal bin. That was in Mayberry Village East Hartford. My first school was literally the Little Red School House. My Kindergarten teacher was Miss Alva Otis; she was a wonderful teacher. She was the first of many. We moved to Manchester when I was in third grade. My sixth grade teacher was Mrs Simpson. She had us make a class yearbook, my contribution was this immortal poem:"When I grow up to be a man; I'll be a scientist mixing things from can to can. A little explosion won't hurt me because that's the man I was meant to be." It was colorfully illustrated; I'm sure I didn't do the colorful Illustration because I have no artistic talent whatsoever.

I attended a number of major league games with my father; I remember particularly a World Series game at Ebbets field. The Yankees lost 2-1. I remember watching Queen Elizabeth's coronation on television in class.
Transmission from abroad wasn't there yet. The picture was assembled thread by thread until we had a picture of her seated on the throne crowned with scepter in hand. My favorite TV program other than quiz show and cartoons was "The Defenders" with E.G.Marshall.

More anon

That was a great show Z. I think at that time tv was making a transition from westerns to either law or medical shows. You make a great point of how important teachers are, especially in the grade schools. Two things I have never complained about in terms of spending money. Education and utilities. I used to work road jobs in weather where everyone else was at home drinking hot chocolate and the linemen were on top of the poles, rain or snow.

 

[Kaizen]

I used to watch American Bandstand by Dick Clark and Soul Train.

 

[zymurg]

Minor league baseball, the Hartford Chiefs. How about the Eastern Basketball League. I went to games at the Manchester Armory. Was anyone else in Model UN? My most anticipated movie for a Saturday matinee; they had the poster in the lobby for what seemed like months, It was John Ford's "Fort Apache;" It was worth the wait.

Boy scout camp. I belonged to troop 91 in Manchester. My mother was a den mother for Cub Scouts; my father was ab assistant scout master. My first dance was an event managed by my scout troop. Of course I had ballroom dancing lessons beforehand. I wasn't very good.

I wasn't really very musical, but I did have an decent voice. I sang in choirs for years. I was never a soloist. One of my best friends in high school, Kenny Miller, years later became a choir director for the Bolton Congregational Church. He said to me: "We have the type of voices which make choirs great." I was a willing draftee.

Part time jobs:I started caddying when I was about 12. I rode my bike to Manchester Country Club for quite a few years. I caddied twice in the Greater Hartford Open when it was played in Wethersfield. My first real job was in maintenence at Manchester Memorial Hospital. I washed and polished floors. My supervisor was Anne I forget her last name, but she was one of the greatest Yankee fans of all time. In her office she had signed pictures from all the Yankee teams from 1949-54.

I went to church camps while I was in High School. The camp was on an island outside Potsmouth. Harbor.
It was co-ed. Of course it was getting time to get ready to go to college. That madness will wait for another day

 

[Centerstream]

And I think that they actually had more entertaining shows on those three or four channels than they have on the seven hundred they have now. I can remember painting my Grandmothers living room ceiling while standing on a stepladder. Jackie Gleason was doing one of his Reginald Van Gleason skits and I started laughing so hard I fell off the ladder. Unfortunately, so did the paint can. I was more scared of what my Grandmother was going to say when she got home than in any of my thirty five years in law enforcement.

I live in NC, close to "Mayberry" and a local TV station stills runs The Andy Griffith Show" daily (the ones that actually starred Andy Griffith and Ron Howard, etal.). Up until recently, they televised back to back episodes in the late afternoon but now it is only a daily single episode.
Ah, the good ol days...…...

 

[donalddoowop]

Minor league baseball, the Hartford Chiefs. How about the Eastern Basketball League. I went to games at the Manchester Armory. Was anyone else in Model UN? My most anticipated movie for a Saturday matinee; they had the poster in the lobby for what seemed like months, It was John Ford's "Fort Apache;" It was worth the wait.

Boy scout camp. I belonged to troop 91 in Manchester. My mother was a den mother for Cub Scouts; my father was ab assistant scout master. My first dance was an event managed by my scout troop. Of course I had ballroom dancing lessons beforehand. I wasn't very good.

I wasn't really very musical, but I did have an decent voice. I sang in choirs for years. I was never a soloist. One of my best friends in high school, Kenny Miller, years later became a choir director for the Bolton Congregational Church. He said to me: "We have the type of voices which make choirs great." I was a willing draftee.

Part time jobs:I started caddying when I was about 12. I rode my bike to Manchester Country Club for quite a few years. I caddied twice in the Greater Hartford Open when it was played in Wethersfield. My first real job was in maintenence at Manchester Memorial Hospital. I washed and polished floors. My supervisor was Anne I forget her last name, but she was one of the greatest Yankee fans of all time. In her office she had signed pictures from all the Yankee teams from 1949-54.

I went to church camps while I was in High School. The camp was on an island outside Potsmouth. Harbor.
It was co-ed. Of course it was getting time to get ready to go to college. That madness will wait for another day

I saw the movie "Fort Apache". I am an American Indian history fan and the Apaches are my favorite tribe, Geronimo my favorite Indian ( Native American). I also had a Fort Apache toy set. I hand painted the cowboys and Indians and kept them until my son was old enough to play with them. I also went to camp but with my church. It was a YMCA camp. My pastor was the secretary of the YMCA and we got the choice time in the Summer.

 

[zymurg]

I neglected to mention that I started at $.75 an hour at the hospital. Not to worry by the time I left, I was making $1.09 an hour. While the cleaning the lab I got instruction on how to make a laboratory slide.

I graduated from HS in 1959. My grades were decent, but nothing special. Back in that time I was in what was termed the "accelerated class." We received no extra boost to our GPAs for being in those classes. Fortunately,
my SATs were considerably better. I did even better on the achievement tests. I took the AP test in Western Civilization. I received a 5. I went on the usual college trips. I ended up at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn. I had never visited the school. They had an excellent reputation in History my best subject. The deciding factor was the offer of a full tuition scholarship, wait for it $750 a year. It's $49,816 now. That is a microcosm of how the college system has changed. Even with extensive scholarship help; tuition still runs $20,000 a year.

I had some difficulties adjusting . I had been together with the same class of around 25 students for three years.
I started a circulating letter to about 12 of those students. It worked pretty well. This group evenly split between the sexes did a lot of things together. We played bridge, went to movies, went to the Newport Folk Festivals, and many other activities. This close relationship lasted through Grad School and a little beyond.

Things worked out at Vanderbilt. I became involved in activities, made friends, and had many opportunities. brI think we were all pretty optimistic. The first real wake-up call was the Cuban Missile Crisis in the fall of 1962. I was lucky enough to win a Fulbright Scholarship. As I mentioned I was in Sri Lanka when JFK was assassinated.
I returned briefly to Vanderbilt to continue a project I started my senior year. In 1964 Vanderbilt held its first
Presidential Nominating Convention. We were the only school to nominate Richard Nixon.

 

[Rixxx]

Being a Phillies fan, I will never forget the 1964 Fightin Phils collapse. With 12 games to play and with a 5 1/2 game lead on Cincinnati, the Gene Mauch led Phillies proceeded to lose 10 games in a row. They won the last two games from the Redlegs and allowed St. Louis to squeak in for the pennant.
Local radio "hosts" hammered Mauch for pitching Bunning and Short with two days rest during that stretch. Gene Mauch never came close to winning a pennant again. The Phillies regrouped and won the World Series in 1980.

 

[donalddoowop]

Being a Phillies fan, I will never forget the 1964 Fightin Phils collapse. With 12 games to play and with a 5 1/2 game lead on Cincinnati, the Gene Mauch led Phillies proceeded to lose 10 games in a row. They won the last two games from the Redlegs and allowed St. Louis to squeak in for the pennant.
Local radio "hosts" hammered Mauch for pitching Bunning and Short with two days rest during that stretch. Gene Mauch never came close to winning a pennant again. The Phillies regrouped and won the World Series in 1980.

I was a Phillies fan starting in 1950 with the Whiz Kids. I was also a baseball fanatic. After the 1950 season the Phillies struggled but I continued to love pulling for them. My favorite players were Robin Roberts, Ritchie Ashburn and Granny Hamner. However, that 1964 season soured me against baseball big time. Even before he did it, I said it was a mistake to pitch Bunning with two days rest. That was an anniversary year for the St. Louis Cardinals and I beieved that Gussie Busch bought the pennant because I did not believe Mauch could make the decisions he made (really bad ones) after making so many smart decisions all season. Of course, I was wrong about the pennant being bought but still, I lost a lot of my desire for baseball and it's never been the same. I did enjoy the Phillies in 1980 and during the Mike Schmidt years. The Phillies winning the World Series was a dream come true for me.

 

[Rixxx]

One thing about Schmidt, at his peak we was making $2mill per year. Just like Mays in the 60s making $150K per year. Place them in the current era, and the salaries would be astronomical. Similar to NFL QB salaries. Just a fantasy of mine. However, $150K in 1964 bought more than it does today.

 

[Carnac]

The Brooklyn Dodger collection shown here for Steelerone and the other baseball fans on the BY. This also gives me the opportunity to repeat my Sandy Koufax story. In 1956 my older brother graduated from the 6th grade. He took his autograph album that all his classmates had signed and we rode our bikes a few blocks to Sandy’s house in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. He was very kind to us and wrote a nice note in my brother’s album. Sandy was a rookie in 1955 and in 56 he was still as likely to hit the backstop as get it over the plate.
Thanks to all of you for bringing back so many nice memories of the good old days.
View attachment 52164

I didn't begin to follow the Dodgers until they moved west. I remember all of those depicted on these cards. Admittedly, I don't remember seeing Don Newcombe or Sandy Amor'os though they were both with the LA team in 1958, Amor'os through 1960. I heard stories (in my youth) about Koufax being "wild" early in his career. Hard to imagine because of the pin-point accuracy he developed during his heyday 1962-1966.

The break on his curve ball was once described (by an opposing player) "like it rolled off a table."
As popular as Fernando Valenzuela was during "Fernando Mania", Koufax was also popular and revered by Dodger fans. Like Fernando, he was very close to being a demigod during the height of his career that was cut short by an arthritic elbow. He was easily the highest profiled player on the team during the early 60's. During Fernando Mania, on the days Fernando pitched, the attendance swelled to near capacity. The same can be said when Koufax was scheduled to start.

Vin Scully (HOF Dodger radio/TV play-by-play announcer) would belabor the thought that when you watched Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench play, you were watching a future HOF. He was right of course. He said the same thing about Koufax. Even at a young age, I could tell who the future hall of famers were when they came to town. e.g., Mays, Musial, Aaron, Gibson, Clemente, Spahn, Randy Johnson, Ozzie Smith, Mike Schmidt, Ernie Banks, Steve Carlton, Sever, Drysdale, Glavine, Eddie Mathews, Robin Roberts, Marichal, The Express (Nolan Ryan), etc. Too many to mention here, but you knew them when you saw them.

Sanford "Sandy" Koufax, at age 36 in 1972, became the youngest player ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Wikipedia

 

[Ex Nutmegger]

I remember listening to Vin Scully announcing a Dodgers-Pirates game on the radio from Ebbets field in the 50’s. Dick Groat, the Pirates shortstop booted a grounder and Vin says “and the big E lights up on the Shaefer scoreboard!” The big Shaefer sign had the “e” and the “h” wired so the scorekeeper could push a button(high tech then) and tell fans in the stands wether it was a hit or an error. I never got to Ebbets Field to see that; but I “saw it” through Vin’’s eyes and voice.