Clearing The Bases - Issue 025

Read Time:10 Minute, 32 Second

Hello and welcome to Issue 025 of Clearing The Bases, an email newsletter in conjunction with the My Baseball History podcast hosted by Dan Wallach.

The latest episode of the podcast with NANCY FAUST went live on Wednesday, October 9, so if you haven’t had a chance to listen to that yet, make sure you do. Nancy played the organ at Chicago White Sox games for 41 years, starting at the old Comiskey Park in 1970. She played at more than 3,000 games, with her last for the White Sox coming on Sunday, October 3, 2010. Nancy and I talked about her process of picking songs to play during games, where she is essentially playing a never-ending game of musical word association.

When you listen to the episode, you’ll hear Nancy and I talk about her playful relationship with Harry Caray, and how their interactions led to the popularization of “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” being sung across ballparks nationwide during the 7^th inning stretch. We also got the true story of how Nancy played “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” at the ballpark for the first time on July 29, 1977, starting a craze which resulted in Nancy being awarded an RIAA gold record. It’s a really fun conversation, so if you haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, take some time on one of the nights without a World Series game to get caught up.

Something I have always loved about baseball is the fact that fans celebrate its history in a way that doesn’t really happen with other sports. We revere retired numbers. We honor former players and care about their stories and insights. And we commemorate anniversaries of big moments. A number of years ago, I heard of a tradition which takes place every October 13 at the former site of Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Each year, a group of people gather there to listen to the broadcast of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, which took place on October 13 of that year, to re-live the moment when Bill Mazeroski hit a game-winning, series-clinching, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9^th to beat the New York Yankees in thrilling fashion.

I knew from the first time I heard about this tradition that it’s something I wanted to experience for myself someday. This year, I finally made it happen. They start playing the broadcast at 1:00 pm, specifically so the climactic moment of Mazeroski’s home run happens at 3:36 pm – right when it did on that day in 1960. Over the course of the two and a half hours, you hear the names of SIX past, present, or future MVPs who participated in that game: Dick Groat (1960) and Roberto Clemente (1966) for the Pirates, and Yogi Berra (1951, 1954, 1955), Bobby Shantz (1952), Mickey Mantle (1956, 1957, 1962), and Roger Maris (1960, 1961) for the Yankees.

While Elston Howard didn’t play in Game 7, he did play 5 of the first 6 games. Since Howard was the 1963 MVP, that means the 1960 World Series saw seven total MVPs participate, which is a staggering number. The 2024 World Series which starts tonight will most likely feature five, but potentially six or more: Shohei Ohtani (2021, 2023), Mookie Betts (2018), and Freddie Freeman (2020) for the Dodgers, and Aaron Judge (2022) and Giancarlo Stanton (2017) for the Yankees have each already won an MVP. While it is unlikely that he pitches at some point during the 2024 World Series, it is worth noting that Clayton Kershaw was the 2014 MVP, as well. There is also a decently high chance that before his career is over, Juan Soto wins an MVP award at some point, too.

I drove to Pittsburgh with my mom to listen to Game 7 of the 1960 World Series thinking it was going to be kind of hokey, honestly. But the weather looked nice, and October 13^th fell on a Sunday this year, so what was the worst that could happen? I had heard that in years past, some of the living players would show up at these listening parties, but that over the past few years as the players had gotten older and started passing away, and as the anniversaries were falling during the week instead of on a Saturday or Sunday, attendance had kind of dwindled. To make sure our day was going to be great regardless of how the listening party turned out, I booked tickets for my mom and I to tour the Roberto Clemente Museum beforehand. I’d been to the museum – which is about 10 minutes away from the site of Forbes Field – a couple times before, but my mom never had, and I figured it would be the perfect lead-in to the listening party.

If you’ve never been to the Clemente Museum, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s one of the most visually stunning baseball museums in the country, and I’ve been to most of them. Its curator, Duane Rieder, is a world-class photographer who has an incredible eye. He was also friends with Roberto’s widow, Vera, and has access to photos, documents, and artifacts that will leave you speechless. From game worn uniforms and game used bats, to all sorts of awards and trophies, including half of the dozen Gold Gloves Roberto won during his legendary Hall of Fame career.

There is a complete collection of every card of Roberto’s issued during his playing career, each of them highly graded, along with beautiful, large format images of The Great One looking like something between a god and an angel. The tour starts with an emotional story about Roberto’s humanitarian efforts, and the series of unfortunate events which led to the plane crash which took his life. But that story gives great perspective for the rest of the tour, which covers so much more than just the facts and figures of his playing career. You hear as many stories about his family and his military service as you do about his statistics and accomplishments on the field. You come away knowing that who he was as a person is just as impressive as what he achieved on the diamond.

Our tour ended at about 12:45 pm, which gave us just enough time to hop in our car and scoot over to Forbes Field to catch the start of Game 7. We parked about a block away, and before we even got to the site, I knew it was a great decision to have gone. There were somewhere between 200 and 300 people, I would say, all gathered around a set of speakers and a hand-operated scoreboard which someone was updating in real time as we listened. There was someone with a hot dog cart, and another family brought their grill. Multiple people brought their dogs, and a couple different vendors set up tables selling artwork and other things related to the 1960 World Series.

I’ve listened to a number of old sports broadcasts over the years, and have many vinyl records in my collection which are either highlights of significant moments or full broadcasts of important games. One of my favorite parts about listening to a full broadcast is being able to hear the period advertisements. The Gillette Safety Razor Company had been advertising during the World Series since 1939, but under commissioner Ford Frick, NBC, Gillette, and MLB signed a $16.25 million deal for the 1957-1961 seasons which meant that not only did NBC retain exclusive national television coverage, but it additionally gained the official World Series radio broadcast rights. Nearly every half inning and sometimes even during the game play, we would hear a Gillette ad, or hear about a famous player watching in the stands (such as Stan Musial) who was a Gillette man with a smooth face. It was silly, and usually kind of ham-fisted, but it really did help set the mood and take you back in time to 1960.

Another thing that was notably different was just how quick the pace of play was. Game 7 of the 1960 World Series saw the Yankees collect 9 runs on 13 hits, while the Pirates scored 10 runs on 11 hits of their own. So, 19 total runs, 24 total hits, and a game duration of just 2 hours and 36 minutes. A World Series game, no less! Five years ago, a World Series game which saw 19 runs scored would have taken five and a half hours, not two and a half. With the pitch clock speeding things up, we’re back down closer to the pace of play seen throughout most of baseball history, but it was still a nice reminder listening to this broadcast that baseball used to be truly captivating.

After the game ended, our Pittsburgh friend Andy Terrick took my mom and I on a quick walking tour of Schenley Park, seeing the historical markers commemorating Forbes Field and Barney Dreyfuss, as well as the plaque in the ground noting the spot where Mazeroski’s ball flew over the outfield fence which once stood there. We walked inside the building on Pitt’s campus where the site of the original home plate was, we checked out the beauty of the Carnegie Library (both inside and out), and admired the Cathedral of Learning, which helped produce one of my favorite World Series images of all time. Pittsburgh is always a fun visit, and this trip was made even more special thanks to Andy and his hospitality. If you’ve never been to Pittsburgh, try to get there when the Pirates are in town, because PNC Park is truly a gem, as well.

Four days later, I was lucky enough to be in attendance at an instant classic when I went to Game 3 of the 2024 ALCS between the Cleveland Guardians and the New York Yankees. The game reminded me a lot of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, with lots of hits, lots of runs, a handful of lead changes, and a dramatic walkoff home run. When Aaron Judge hit his 2-run homer in the top of the 8th to tie the game, you could feel the air let out of the crowd. Then Giancarlo Stanton followed it up with a solo shot of his own to give the Yankees the lead, and it was almost like the Guardians fans gave up all hope. They’d been here before. They’d had their hearts broken, especially by the Yankees, so many times.

When Josh Naylor grounded into a double play with the Guardians down 5-3 in the bottom of the 9th, nearly half of the upper deck started walking down the steps toward the exits. But Lane Thomas doubled, and Jhonkensy Noel hit a pinch hit 2-run blast to tie it up, and the stadium was in disbelief. The Yankees didn’t score in the top of the 10th, and when David Fry hit his walkoff in the bottom half of the inning, I think it was the loudest stadium pop I’ve ever experienced in person. A truly great week of baseball for me. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be able to afford to go to any games in person this week…

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Until next time, I’m Dan Wallach, and this is My Baseball History.