My first read each morning is Mack’s Mets. Sometimes I feel compelled to share my
contrarian views and I have posted comments under rds900. However, I have a longing to share my
thoughts on all things Mets and asked if I could become a writer for Mack’s
Mets. My goal is to provide unbiased
opinions on the hot issues involving the Mets and to inspire reasonable
discussions.
My name is Ray Savage and I will be hitting my 80th
birthday in December. Grew up in
Greenpoint as an avid Dodger fan, with Gil Hodges as my favorite player. My second favorite team was anyone who played
the Yankees. I happily jumped aboard the
Mets bandwagon when they entered the league in 1962.
When I retired 12 years ago, my wife and I moved to New
Bern, NC. Prior to that we lived in
Franklin Lakes, NJ for 35 years. WillieRandolph lived not too far away.
I would like to share my story about attending one of the
most important baseball games of the 20th century.
It was a little more than 69 years ago that my life was
upended for good. It was a typical fall
afternoon, that Wednesday, October 3rd 1951. I was sitting in the right field grand
stands at the Polo Grounds. This was an
event that never should have happened.
The Brooklyn Dodgers, under Charlie Dressen, managed to
surrender the13 ½ game lead they held in mid-August which forced a three game
playoff with the New York Giants. The first
game was at Ebbets Field and the Giants won by a score of 3-1. What people tend to forget is that the losing
pitcher was Ralph Branca with Bobby Thomson hitting the decisive 2 run homerun? What I remember is that Thomson owned
Branca. Also, Branca had a terrible
couple of months coming into these playoffs.
Game 2 moved to the Polo Grounds and this time the Dodgers
prevailed 10-0 with Clem Labine pitching the shutout. I remember Rube Walker hitting a home run and
Gil Hodges hit # 40. To this day, I
wonder why Roy Campanella was not catching.
He must have been hurt.
The final playoff game was at the Polo Grounds. I was ten years old at the time and I believe
I came out of the womb a Dodger fan. What
a team these Bums were. Robinson,
Campanella, Furillo, Reese, Snyder, Hodges, Newcombe, Erskine and more. I had forgotten that Andy Pafko hit 30 homers
for the ‘51 team. I was a huge Gil
Hodges fan and still cannot understand why he is not in the Hall of Fame.
I was in the fifth grade at St. Stanislaus in
Greenpoint. I decided to play hooky on
this fine day. I thought the game was
being played at Ebbets Field and took the bus there. Unfortunately, I found out that I was at the
wrong venue. Even at ten years old, I
knew my way around the city. I was able
to catch a train to the Polo Grounds. I
got there shortly before the game was scheduled to begin. The price of a grandstand ticket was $1.25
and I found myself short of funds. As I
stood outside the ballpark, I put my hand out to raise the 25 cents needed. The first person I hailed initially turned me
down and then came back and gave me a quarter.
I purchased a grandstand ticket to sit in right field. I was one of 34,320 to attend the game. Don Newcombe vs Sal “The Barber” Maglie. It was a perfectly enjoyable game with the
Dodgers leading 4-1 going into the bottom of the ninth and then the bottom fell
out. Newcombe runs out of steam and
there’s a call to the bullpen. I
remember saying to myself. “Anybody but
Branca, Anybody but Branca”. Dressen,
of course brings in Branca to face Thomson and the rest is history.
“The shot heard round the world” certainly took the stuffing
out of me. My best friend was a Giants
fan and I dreaded having to face him.
Ironically, had the Giants simply beaten the Dodgers in any
other manner, Branca and Thomson would have been relatively anonymous
players. Instead, their celebrity
probably earned them more money than they made during their baseball careers.
I wonder how many of us who were in the ballpark that day
(other than Mays and Erskine) are still around?
8 comments:
Ray that was before my time. Some game to be at. Amazing you could get in for $1.25.
I only went to one World Series game ever. Ken Griffey's sister worked at a client of my firm. Ken was in town and gave her two tickets for each game. She liked our lead guy, and offered him the tix. He said how much? She said, what it says on the ticket is fine.
$12. Still ridiculously dirt cheap. Pretty high up, off of first base.
There were 4 of us. We drew straws. I got game 6. Reggie Jackson hit 3 HRs on 3 swings. A Mets fan at the greatest Yankee game in their history - go figure. Yankee fans would have killed to be at that game.
Of course, Reggie should have been a Met.
from a septuagenarian to a soon-to-be octogenarian, welcome aboard! though I must say that we have a lot of social security eligible writers and readers here, looking forward to reading your thoughts, because so many good memories come with the experiences. my one in-person world series was 1973; it was a short run in September and October, but it was very intense and joyful while it lasted. I'll never forget Tug McGraw and "ya gotta believe!"
Almost 80???
Hell, they can start calling me "the kid" on this site!
Welcome aboard Ray.
Welcome Ray. Look forward to more great posts and memories.
Thanks to John for helping this old guy get setup.
Welcome Ray great story. My best game was Fathers day 64' when Bunning pitched a perfect game unfortunately not for us but it was the first perfect game I believe in 80 something years and the ticket cost $2.50...yes the old days. I did see one WS game and that was game 5 in 73' great game Koos and McGraw pitched but we went back to Oakland and all know how that ended.
I was at game 2 of the 1986 series.
Ive heard you describe that game on many occasions, being able to read it made me feel as if I was there. Being a life long Met fan thanks to you Im sure I could describe acts of torment that would rival that. One thing I cant imagine is growing up to be a Dodger fan.
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