Quote:
Originally Posted by repsher
David - You certainly have great memories. Must have been a great time to be alive. My first games were in the mid 80's at The Vet. At least I did get to see Mike Schmidt play. I would have loved to see Mantle in person and at a place like Yankee stadium.
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Ryan: Things were very different in those days, in baseball and in life in general. My wife and I are a couple of nattering old senior citizens now, just shaking our heads at all the changes. That right field grandstand is where my love of baseball got started. We lived in NYC and environs from 1953 to 1961. Saw a lot of games and have a headful of grand and precious memories. Mantle taking his cuts, Yogi chasing a foul pop-up, Ford throwing heat, Tony to Bobby to Moose for the double play, Ol' Casey slouching to the mound (nobody could slouch to the mound like Stengel, it was theatrical) to threaten to trade the pitcher to Kansas City. Waiting outside the clubhouse after the game to get as many autographs as I could on my scorecard from Yanks and visiting ALers. Never occurred to me to bring my Topps cards to the ballpark. Prescient I was not. When they tore down Yankee Stadium a few years ago a little bit of me died (although the reno in the '70's pretty much ruined the ballpark I knew).
Some home movie screen caps of me and some boyhood friends at an Orioles game on the occasion of my eighth birthday, April 20, 1958. We sat in the upper deck, third base side that day. Reserved seats. Big time!
Mantle at the plate
