Baseball at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Highland Park (1960 – 1972)

Baseball at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Highland Park (1960 – 1972)

Two of three plaques dedicated to Mickey Mantle

A World II and Korean War fighter bomber and later a champion fly fisherman,Ted Williams was considered an All American hero. John Updike’s short story, “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu,”, (The New Yorker, October 22nd, 1960) immortalizes Williams’ final home run.

For more Updike, see 30 years ago when Billy Buck broke Rhode Island’s heart

SEE Babe Ruth and Eugene Kramer’s 5 to 10 minutes of fame. and The six games Babe Ruth played in Rochester

In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the African-American player in the major leagues. In 1946 in Rochester, Robinson broke the color line at Red Wings Stadium.

 

SEE 70 years ago today when Jackie Robinson broke the color line at Red Wings Stadium and NY Times asks for help with “A Jackie Robinson Mystery.” Well, Eugene Kramer was there. (Almost)

 

An baseball icon of the 1950’s and 60’s, Mantle merited three references on the Walk. To contemporary eyes, the headline of Mantle and Mays’ $100,000 salary is indeed meager compared with the tens of millions now commanded by superstars.

SEE On Yogi Berra and Dale Berra and the 1973 World Series and Willie Mays and my father

Today, I doubt most baseball fans would immediately recall McLain’s achievement. The closest since was Bob Welch with 27 for the Oakland A’s in 1990. As current pitchers start fewer games with fewer decisions, McLain’s mark should last a long time.

SEE You never forget your first

SEE The wait is over. Adding ’69 to the Series.

1972 marked the first of many major strikes and work stoppages in American sports history.

SEE Baseball was better 45 years ago and The 1981 baseball strike comes to Rochester. When Dave Winfield made 1.3 million a year!

December 27th, 1972

SEE 45 years ago when the Pittsburgh Pirates fielded a team of “All brothers out there”

SEE On Yogi Berra and Dale Berra and the 1973 World Series and Willie Mays and my father

SEE Henry Aaron’ connections to Rochester: 1974, 1977, 1982 and 1986

SEE ALSO

In search of the missing 19 granite timepieces at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial: 1973 – September 11th, 2001

About The Author

dkramer3@naz.edu

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle  blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C  ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones.  So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.

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