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

[Carnac]

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.

Do you remember without looking it up, who was the first MLB player to break the million dollar a year barrier?

 

[Zanzman]

Andy messer Smith?

 

[donalddoowop]

Andy messer Smith?

It was two names, not three. So no it was not him. Maybe Messersmith? I don't know.

 

[Zanzman]

It was two names, not three. So no it was not him. Maybe Messersmith? I don't know.

Spell check but wasn’t him

 

[Gus Mahler]

Remember when you could remember things that happened almost 60 years ago?

 

[bantamlaker]

Remember when you could remember things that happened almost 60 years ago?

More likely we can remember what happened 60 years ago but not what we did this morning.

 

[Txhoopsalot]

Here's something I really, really miss that I do not think has been mentioned here: letter stationary! Not just cards , but actual full pages to write letters. Texting, face timing, emailing. None of them for me replace the letter. It is just a different kind of communication. When a boy I was dating spent a semester in France, I bought "onion skin" stationary. It was super thin, crinkly, and came with a piece of lined paper to place under each sheet to help keep your lines straight as you wrote. To mail the letters, I had special, also very thin, envelopes marked "airmail" with a picture of an airplane. I have tried in vain to buy letter stationary at a local store that claims to specialize in paper and has every type of card imaginable.

 

[donalddoowop]

Here's something I really, really miss that I do not think has been mentioned here: letter stationary! Not just cards , but actual full pages to write letters. Texting, face timing, emailing. None of them for me replace the letter. It is just a different kind of communication. When a boy I was dating spent a semester in France, I bought "onion skin" stationary. It was super thin, crinkly, and came with a piece of lined paper to place under each sheet to help keep your lines straight as you wrote. To mail the letters, I had special, also very thin, envelopes marked "airmail" with a picture of an airplane. I have tried in vain to buy letter stationary at a local store that claims to specialize in paper and has every type of card imaginable.

I remember "onion skin".

 

[zymurg]

Does anyone else remember aerograms? I sent dozens of those in the 60's when I was in Sri Lanka and India.
They were blue and the envelope and stationary were one piece of paper. While I was in India I started a paper/newsletter for all volunteers in South India named "Bhoomi" which translates to land. One of the pieces I wrote was "Bullocks or aerograms: where do you live."

I remember listening to UConn men's games on the radio. They were sponsored by the Connecticut Milk Producers Association. I can't remember the announcers name. They were on WTIC 1080. Remember Bob Steele the longtime morning drive time host? Antenna check commercials and birthday announcements for those who reached a century.

I remember the Hartford Chiefs the Boston Braves farm team in Hartford. They played at Bulkley Stadium. The two names I remember were Tommy Holmes the player manager and Gene Conley who won championships with both the Milwaukee Braves and the Boston Celtics.

 

[Beemer]

I remember "onion skin".

Carbon paper too. I learned to type on a manual typewriter good luck finding one of those today.

True story- one time a client came in with her two daughters. For some reason the computers weren't working and I had to type a document for her. Her girls were fascinated- they had never seen one before.

 

[Txhoopsalot]

Carbon paper too. I learned to type on a manual typewriter good luck finding one of those today.

True story- one time a client came in with her two daughters. For some reason the computers weren't working and I had to type a document for her. Her girls were fascinated- they had never seen one before.

Well, yes but I don’t miss the carbon paper so much! Remember getting smelly blue carbon copies from teachers at school.

 

[rvwsleep]

Do you remember without looking it up, who was the first MLB player to break the million dollar a year barrier?

Nolan Ryan.
I'm a member of a baseball trivia group that's run by a partner of a law firm here in NYC.
We even meet occasionally for dinner. Terry Cashman was a surprise guest at one of the dinners years ago.
It's like anything else. You think you know a lot of baseball trivia, then you meet people that astound you with their baseball knowledge.

 

[Steelerone]

Carbon paper too. I learned to type on a manual typewriter good luck finding one of those today.

True story- one time a client came in with her two daughters. For some reason the computers weren't working and I had to type a document for her. Her girls were fascinated- they had never seen one before.

Beemer, I handed my Grandson a can of soup without a pop-top and a can opener. He said "What's this?' The only problem I had with carbon paper was I was sort of blue afterwards.

 

[Steelerone]

Nolan Ryan.
I'm a member of a baseball trivia group that's run by a partner of a law firm here in NYC.
We even meet occasionally for dinner. Terry Cashman was a surprise guest at one of the dinners years ago.
It's like anything else. You think you know a lot of baseball trivia, then you meet people that astound you with their baseball knowledge.

RV, in my younger days (before things like electricity and McDonald's) I kept tabs on baseball, both past and present. I think every report I did in high school was on Ty Cobb, The Black Sox, or Honus Wagner. There were several more leagues then and, being a Pirate fan, I kept track of both minor and major league players. In terms of memory loss there is no doubt in my mind that it's baseball trivia. I hear people complaining about the length of todays games. When I was younger and would go to a game I'd pray for extra innings. Wasn't Terry Cashman some type of executive in baseball?

 

[rvwsleep]

RV, in my younger days (before things like electricity and McDonald's) I kept tabs on baseball, both past and present. I think every report I did in high school was on Ty Cobb, The Black Sox, or Honus Wagner. There were several more leagues then and, being a Pirate fan, I kept track of both minor and major league players. In terms of memory loss there is no doubt in my mind that it's baseball trivia. I hear people complaining about the length of todays games. When I was younger and would go to a game I'd pray for extra innings. Wasn't Terry Cashman some type of executive in baseball?

Cashman was the singer/songwriter of the 1981 song, "Talkin Baseball".
Featuring the line
"Willie, Mickey and the Duke".

 

[RichZ]

Personality Dee Jays ruled the airwaves ( Jocko, Magnificent Montague, Alan Freed, Murry the K ) There were many more

My bedroom was in the attic. I took a huge spool of bell wire and ran it through the rafters all over the attic to pick up WJW (Cleveland - Alan Freed), WKBW (Buffalo - Tommy Shannon), and on nights that the atmospheric conditions were just right, a station out of the Carolinas that featured a grittier, more blues oriented playlist.

Hardly anyone listened to FM radio

There were very few commercially available FM radios prior to the late fifties, and the ones that existed were prohibitively expensive, plus there were relatively few stations broadcasting in FM. When I built an FM tuner from a Knight kit in 1961, I could receive 3 stations. Two were classical music and one was modern jazz. FM exploded when the LP started to outpace the 45 in the record industry, after the British invasion.

Rhythm and Blues (of which Doo Wop was a part) and Rock and Roll could be heard all day and everyday and was the most popular music among teenagers

It certainly was in my neighborhood.

Your Hit Parade was popular with Snookie Langston (I think his last name was Langston). The show faded when Rock and Roll became popular

It was Lanson. The show alienated its traditional audience when the regular cast of mediocre singers attempted to sing the increasingly popular covers of R&B (especially group harmony) songs. Neither the producers nor the stable of regular singers understood or appreciated the music they were trying to mimic. YHP's previously loyal old fogey audience migrated to Lawrence Welk, and the teens that the Hit Parade producers were comically trying to appeal to were more likely to watch Bandstand.

There was television character named Princess Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring

Her father was Chief Thunderthud. The same show also had a marionette character named Flub-a-dub that was loosely based on a platypus.

Groups of teenage boys could be found on the corners of city streets harmonizing. They could also be found in stairwells and restrooms harmonizing, looking for an echo.

We couldn't have cared less about an echo. We were looking for groups of teenage girls to stop and listen to us. I probably met 75% of the girls I dated in high-school that way.

Children answered grown ups by saying yes mam, yes sir, or no mam or no sir

And now, those same "kids" answer most anyone with "What was that?", "Come Again?" or just "Huh?"

Your neighbor could scold you if they caught you doing something wrong and when your parents found out, you would get another scolding or even a whipping

In my neighborhood, the parents' reaction depended on which neighbor was involved. Some of them were just 'busybodies' to be ignored.

Your teachers could whip you for causing problems at school and you'd get another whipping when you got home

Much worse if you attended a parochial school. The nuns truly believed they were the hand of God, striking down evil wherever it was found.

The salary of baseball players was so low that they needed jobs during the off season

The best example in this case would be Arthur Lee Maye, who played in the majors for more than a decade, and in the off season, was the lead singer of Arthur Lee May & the Crowns.

 

[Bama fan]

You must have been a favorite. We had 40 or so in class, but only 2-3 every got a smack. It was the same in parochial high school too.

There were 54 kids in my first grade class. Teacher was a very young nun. I was one of those "2-3" who got the smack. But I think it was more like 10-12.

 

[RichZ]

Great cars: Studebaker, Henry J, Hudson,

Other than the 55 dodge wagon that belonged to my boss, but I drove like it was my own until shortly after high school, my first daily driver was a 51 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe. Took it on our honeymoon, and drove it until 66. Wish I still owned it. I also owned (as a project car, not a daily driver) a Henry J, and I used to borrow my (then future) father-in-law's 49 Kaiser on occasion.

 

[Bama fan]

Even though I didn't care for the Giants, Willie Mays was/is/and will forever be my favorite MLB player. He was a 5 point/tool player.

"Maybe you've heard the term "Five Tool Player" before and wondered what that meant. Or maybe you know the term, but want to learn how to achieve that lofty title. When I was a kid, I remember the first time that I heard someone use it. I didn't know exactly what it meant, but I knew that I wanted to be one - a five tool player that is. So, what are the five tools in baseball?

Simply put, the five tools are the categories that scouts use to break down a player's abilities on the field. If you rate highly across all five tools, you're known as a five tool player and you're showered with love, money and respect.

It should be noted that this applies to position players mostly, and not pitchers. Pitchers have a different scale with which they are rated." Most major leaguers have at least 3 of the five, other wise, they get get to the majors.

The Five Tools in Baseball Are:

1. Speed
2. Arm Strength
3. Fielding Ability
4. Hitting for Average
5. Hitting for Power

There were several other 5 tool players such as Roberto Clemente (Pittsburgh Pirates). Lots of guys had "brute strength", but no speed, e.g., Harmon Killebrew, Frank Howard, Dave Parker and Willie McCovey. Willie Stargell (twice), Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Pizza, and Mark McGwire all hit a ball completely out of Dodger stadium into the parking lot. The longest being Stargell's 506' blast over the right field visitor's bullpen in 1969. That ball is probably still bouncing.

Willie Stargell played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and he owned a fried chicken restaurant in an area of town called the Hill District. One close game Stargell came up to bat and the home radio announcer, a guy named Bob Prince, claimed that if Willie won the game there would be free chicken at the restaurant to all who were there. Stargell got the winning run, and he was later greatly surprised at the clamoring customers at his place. Bob Prince coined the phrase "Spread some chicken on the Hill, Will" and pulled it out often after that day. Not sure if Willie welcomed the shout out. Prince was an infamous character in Pittsburgh for many years. Much like Tim Finnegan of the wake fame, Bob had a sort of a tippliing way too.

 

[Bama fan]

That's not all they had in Pittsburgh. They also had the immortal Skyliners, one of the greatest of all time.

Yes but they were not overhead electric powered.

 

[RichZ]

Kate Smith singing God Bless America as the television stations signed off. She is the fat lady Yogi Berra talked about when he said "it's not over til the fat lady sings".

Had nothing to do with Kate Smith. Or Yoggi Berra (He said, "The game's not over until it's over.") The line is usually attributed to Dick Motta, but he admitted that he "borrowed" it from San Antonio sportscaster Dick Cook, and it's first utterance was actually, "The opera ain't over until the fat lady sings."

 

[donalddoowop]

Reportedly, Berra said it also.

 

[RichZ]

Everyone knows the big hit, but I always liked this one too.

This was always my favorite Skyliners tune.
Then again, I liked Whispering Bells better than Come Go With Me, so maybe I'm just a contrarian.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

talking 'boot this wayback stuff at a family dinner recently, gramps said that 'back in the day' when everyone was chomping stogies, a popular thing was 'sen sen' candies, to fight 'bad breath.' as a mos def 'not a fan of licorice' kinda guy, I have a hard time wrapping my brain around everyone eating that stuff. any reviews?
someone said something aboot this old school habit with copies:

typewriters, and a lot of other pioneer stuff?
Connecticut rules!

Part 4: Inventions Elsewhere Spark Innovations In Connecticut For The Masses

Three new inventions had a big debut at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. None was sparked in Connecticut, but all three would drive innovation in the state, and the rise of mighty co…

www.courant.com

 

[JordyG]

We couldn't have cared less about an echo. We were looking for groups of teenage girls to stop and listen to us. I probably met 75% of the girls I dated in high-school that way.

In my neighborhood they cared greatly about echo. They sang in hallways, but also in subway tunnels to get that echo. They harmonized at night and huddled under the streetlights because at that time the lights shone straight down like a spotlight.