This post brought back a great memory. When the book came out (it was either 1966 or 1967) there was a special book signing. It was held at a famous NYC bookstore called "Brentano's". I don't know if it still exists. I was 19 and took the train to the city from my home in Connecticut. The signing had been promoted by ads published in The New York Herald Tribune which my parents had delivered to our home every morning.
I got to Brentano's, bought a copy of the book, and saw five men seated behind a table who were signing autographs. One was much younger than the rest (Ritter). He inscribed my book, "To Paul" on the title page. The other four were older: Lefty O'Doul, Edd Roush, Rube Marquardt, and Chief Myers. I recall O'Doul looked great, almost like he didn't really belong with the other three. He signed, along with Roush and Marquardt. O'Doul and Roush had a strong signature. Marquardt's was a little shaky, but still very clear. Myers' was considerably shaky. He asked me what my name was, I told him, and he started to write an inscription, "To ---, but realized he was mis-spelling my name. He apologized, and then said he "would give me a little something extra" for his mistake. So he signed twice, and wrote a little note next to each signature. Each man signed by his photograph in the book.
Myers was the highlight of the show to me. I tried not to stare at his hand, but his throwing hand looked more like a mis-shaped claw than a hand with four fingers and a thumb. Every digit was broken from foul tips, and some had multiple breaks. The best description might be five twisted pipe cleaners extending from his palm.
There were few people in the store when I was there, so I took full advantage of the opportunity. I remember asking Myers why he thought the best pitcher award in the MLB was called the "Cy Young Award" (and I believe at that time there was not one per league, only one overall) instead of the "Christy Mathewson Award". I don't know when the Cy Young Award was first given out, but I believe Young himself died in my lifetime. Myers said Mathewson was indeed a better pitcher than Young (I anticipated this answer since Myers caught Mathewson), but his explanation for the named pitching award caught me somewhat off-guard. Myers simply said, "Because no one today remembers Mathewson". I recalled reading that Mathewson died sometime around WWI, which would have been almost a full 50 years earlier. My trip to Brentano's was 43/44 years ago, and I still remember it. Looking back, I would have thought some old time (in the 1960s) sportswriters would have remembered Mathewson, but I guess "The Chief" was right.
The next day Myers, Ritter, et al. appeared on "The Today Show" and later in the week Myers and Ritter were Curt Gowdy's guests on NBC's broadcast of "The Game of the Week". I remember feeling I had been in the company of greatness when I saw these men on TV.
Thanks for giving me a reason to recall those great memories. By the way, I still have my signed copy of the book. I also remember buying a few pins on that trip from junk shops in NYC, back when the rents still permitted NYC to have junk shops.
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