Mays, McCovey and (especially) the great Ali, all gone. But not in my memories!
From James Earl Jones' monologue in Field of Dreams: "... and cheered their heroes. And it will be as if they'd dipped themselves in magic waters. And they'll watch the game and the memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces".
Any Bay Area kid born after ~1960 can't imagine how the Giants owned the Bay Area in the early 1960s I grew up the oldest boy in a non-sports family with, from age 4-10, a single parent, so everything I learned about sports was from friends, listening to Russ and Lon, and watching the occasional Giants game on Channel 2. Baseball wasn't even my favorite sport, but like all my friends, I tried to imitate his swing and make basket catches.
As an eight year-old walking back to school from a class picnic, I remember a friend who had snuck along a transistor radio telling us about a catch Mays made in the 1962 World Series. At age 11, I was sitting in the backyard listening to my transistor radio when he hit his 52nd home run in 1965. I only made it to one game where I saw Willie play - maybe 1966? Naturally, a cold, foggy day. Ron Herbel pitched, the Giants lost, and the only notable thing Willie did was to hit a pop foul so high in the fog that the infielder dropped it. But it didn't matter, because I got to see him play.
So, life goes on, but now there's a little less joy in the world. RIP Willie.
Mays, McCovey and (especially) the great Ali, all gone. But not in my memories!
In the late 1980's my wife and I were playing as guests at Monterey Peninsula Country Club. Willie McCovey was in the foursome ahead of us. One of the guys we were with while we were on deck on the 1st tee said, "How are you hitting them, Willie?" The comment was not recieved well…..which vindicated my policy of never acknowledging a celebrity I see in public. It served me well at Metropolitan GC in Oakland many years later when I was hitting balls on the grass driving range when Bill Russell was next to me hitting balls and our faces were two feet apart (his was higher up) because he was a lefty. I was going to say, "Have a nice round today Mr. Russell," but I took a hard pass. No one said a word to him.
…..in other news, this is a very clear photo of this:
The Catch: Willie Mays makes his famous eighth-inning grab in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series at the Polo Grounds in New York. Photo: Frank Hurley/New York Daily News via Getty Images
*I saw Willie Mays play at least once as a boy and always held dear his Topps baseball cards for the years 1964, 1965, and 1966, and his glove I played with.
*No one liked Bob Gibson on the mound (Mays BA vs: .196)
"Hank Aaron told me) 'Don't dig in against Bob Gibson, he'll knock you down. He'd knock down his own grandmother if she dared to challenge him. Don't stare at him, don't smile at him, don't talk to him. He doesn't like it. If you happen to hit a home run, don't run too slow, don't run too fast. If you happen to want to celebrate, get in the tunnel first. And if he hits you, don't charge the mound, because he's a Gold Glove boxer.' I'm like, 'Damn, what about my 17-game hitting streak?' That was the night it ended." Dusty Baker
Bob Gibson Quotes, Stories, and Anecdotes Mop-Up Duty
He was sitting up there for more than an hour Way up there on the Texas Tower Shooting from the twenty-seventh floor, yahoo
He didn't choke or slash or slit them Not our Charles Joseph Whitman He won't be an architect no more
Got up that morning calm and cool He picked up his guns and walked to school All the while he smiled so sweetly And it blew their minds completely They'd never seen an Eagle Scout so cruel
Now won't you think for the shame and degradation For the school's administration?
He put on such a bold and brassy show The Chancellor cried, "It's adolescent And of course it's most unpleasant But I got to admit it was a lovely way to go"
There was a rumor about a tumor Nestled at the base of his brain He was sitting up there with his .36 Magnum Laughing wildly as he bagged 'em Who are we to say the boy's insane?
Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed
You uppity women I don't understand Why you gotta go and try to act like a man, But before you make your weekly visit to the shrink You'd better occupy the kitchen, liberate the sink.
Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed That's what I to my baby said, Women's liberation is a-going to your head, Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed.
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He was sitting up there for more than an hour Way up there on the Texas Tower Shooting from the twenty-seventh floor, yahoo
He didn't choke or slash or slit them Not our Charles Joseph Whitman He won't be an architect no more
Got up that morning calm and cool He picked up his guns and walked to school All the while he smiled so sweetly And it blew their minds completely They'd never seen an Eagle Scout so cruel
Now won't you think for the shame and degradation For the school's administration?
He put on such a bold and brassy show The Chancellor cried, "It's adolescent And of course it's most unpleasant But I got to admit it was a lovely way to go"
There was a rumor about a tumor Nestled at the base of his brain He was sitting up there with his .36 Magnum Laughing wildly as he bagged 'em Who are we to say the boy's insane?
Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed
You uppity women I don't understand Why you gotta go and try to act like a man, But before you make your weekly visit to the shrink You'd better occupy the kitchen, liberate the sink.
Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed That's what I to my baby said, Women's liberation is a-going to your head, Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed.
That last one enraged a lotta feminists in Santa Cruz a while back.
*No one liked Bob Gibson on the mound (Mays BA vs: .196)
"Hank Aaron told me) 'Don't dig in against Bob Gibson, he'll knock you down. He'd knock down his own grandmother if she dared to challenge him. Don't stare at him, don't smile at him, don't talk to him. He doesn't like it. If you happen to hit a home run, don't run too slow, don't run too fast. If you happen to want to celebrate, get in the tunnel first. And if he hits you, don't charge the mound, because he's a Gold Glove boxer.' I'm like, 'Damn, what about my 17-game hitting streak?' That was the night it ended." Dusty Baker
Bob Gibson Quotes, Stories, and Anecdotes Mop-Up Duty
One of my favorite games featured the Giants and Willie facing the Cubs with Ernie Banks at Candlestick.
It was afternoon in a San Francisco summer at Candlestick Park. It was sunny and cool when the game started, and early on, the score was tied at 1-1. Soon the sun disappeared, the winds came, increasing as the game wore on. Then the fog rolled in, and it got colder and colder. It was freezing, and the players on both teams were struggling to get a solid hit, or get any hit at all.
The game dragged on into the 10th inning, and most of the fans had left the park. To start the inning, Willie Mays came up to bat, and Willie was paid to hit home runs, so everyone hoped for a home run to end this thing. But Willie and all the players knew that in that wind and cold, no one, not even Ruth himself could hit one out. Mays, who hardly ever bunted for a base hit, decided to lay down a perfect bunt, beat the throw, and reached first base with a single.
Then Willie stole 2nd base. Then he stole 3rd base. And then he stole home, coming in with the winning run. Everyone cheered, and gratefully went home to get warm. Willie must have thought something like, "This is ridiculous. I want to go home, and everyone in the park wants to go home. I need for us to win this game, so I'm bunting for a hit, and we'll see what happens." He was the best player I ever saw.
~ the great Marty Mull, shouted-out in this beautiful early 70s classic tune, along with Berkeley's own hot women-fronted dance rock band Joy of Cooking, & Kris K & Rita Coolidge . . .
" Well, I know Kris and Rita, and Marty Mull Are meeting at the Troubadour We'll get it on with the joy of cooking While the crowd cries out for more 'Round six o'clock this morning I'll be gettin' kinda slow When all the shows are over, honey Tell me, where do you think I go?" -Lonesome L.A. Cowboy, NRPS
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Your post triggered a mental muscle memory. In 1962, the local radio stations played a baseball novelty song about Orlando Cepeda. It took me a while to find it because the song wasn't about him. It was a Dodgers' song that contained a verse about Cepeda….and that verse was the only part of the song they played in Northern California (sung by Danny Kaye).
Orlando Cepeda Is at bat with the bases jammed Orlando Cepeda With a wham, bam He hit a grand slam
*As a boy in 1966, this was in my stack of cards I never played gambling games with on the playground (other sacred cards were Mays, McCovey, Aaron, Mantle, Marichal, and Koufax)
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~ from comments "@simkenglee 4 years ago "You want a good life? It's not complicated. Tell the girl you love, that you love her. And tell the truth to everyone"
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muting more than 300 handles, turnaround is fair play