Day 7 brings us the kid of a HOFer, but after getting my Google on and finding Jerry Casale, I thought I'd tell you about him instead. I found an article from about 15 years ago, when Casale was running his Italian restaurant in NYC. It intrigued me at first, because it was right by a place I like to go, called The Ginger Man, on 36th and 5th Ave...great beer joint. Anyway, his place, Pino's was just three blocks down, on 33rd. Evidently, his brother had made a recording of him hitting a home run off of Bob Turley at a game in Fenway, during the 1959 season. So his patrons would be treated to this call by Phil Rizzuto a couple times a night, "Ohh! That’s gone! A home run! Holy cow! Did he hit that one!″ He also hit one off of Early Wynn that year, which Wynn didn't appreciate, and cursed the rookie the whole around the bases. In the picture on this card, he has just signed a $12,500 contract to pitch for the Sox, with a promise of $25K if he wins 15 games. He thought that was pretty good, since he'd been getting $90/month, driving a tank in Germany. He started out 1960, beating the Yankees twice, then blew out the arm. We all know that story, as it happens to seemingly 90% of pitchers. He stuck around, and even gave up Yaz's first homer as an expansion draft Angel the next season. But, he loved his restaurant, which is mentioned in The Teammates, and was frequented by ball players. And he loved playing that tape of his homer, according to his wife, presumably with an eye roll. Reminds me of coming home last night from my hockey game and telling the wife that I scored a sweet goal, with one minute left, to win the game 5-4! "That's nice, honey, did you feed the dog?" I get it, Jerry...I totally get it.
