Born in 1950, Frank C. grew up in the New York Metropolitan area.
The World Series is just not the same anymore.
I can hear my kids muttering, “there he goes, the old fart going on about ‘back in my day.’ ” But no, I’m talking specifically about The World Series. The difference is that today The Series is primarily played at night. You can conveniently enjoy the games in the comfort of your home or get together with friends at a local sports bar. The games don’t intrude on your normal routine.
Back then a good part of the magic of the World Series was catching as much of each game as possible while still taking care of business, whatever that business may be. Listening to the radio at work, schoolboys with transistor radio ear pieces, customers stalling at the bakery or butcher shop listening to the radio, or as in my case sitting on the floor of D’Marco’s Appliance Store after school with my cousins watching the game IN COLOR. (Color TV was still something new and exotic in 1960.) Mr. D’Marco would let us sit there clogging up the aisle for the whole afternoon and never say a word. This is in part a way of finally saying thanks to him for being such a generous guy.
Back in the Sixties in New York you still rooted for the Yankees, the Giants or the Dodgers even though the latter two had skipped out of town in 1957 to San Francisco and L.A.
It really was Willie, Mickey or the Duke. I was a Willie Mays guy, still
am. But, the Fall Classic belonged to the Yankees. It was their private property. Everyone else was a guest.
The 1960 World Series was unique because going into Game 7 tied three games apiece the Yankees had won their three games by a combined total of 38-3 while the Pittsburgh Pirates had won three squeakers. Here it is Game 7, everything on the line. Being a Giants fan, the prospect of the Yankees’ losing didn’t concern me. However, my cousins were tense.
The game was very close and as it progressed the crowd around the color TV floor model began to grow but because we had been there since about the 3rd inning, we had front floor seats. The dramatic finish with Bill Mazeroski hitting a game-winning 9th inning home run is part of baseball legend.
The disappointment for most of the people there was evident by their faces and language. (I learned a few new words that day.) Learned something else that day. The Giants were too far away and never coming back.
Watching these Yankee fans suffer over this loss was new for me. My team had never even been to the series as far as I was concerned. Oh yeah, the Gint’s won it in 1954 when I was 4. Heck I don’t even remember being 4. In spite of their losing I walked out of D’Marco’s not sad but glad that I was now a Yankee Fan.
Roll forward to 2010: the little boy in me was happy to see the Giants at the top after a 56 year absence but the old man only thought “When do pitchers and catchers report?”
At right, Mazeroski and his mother, Mayme, celebrating his hero status.© Boomersrememberwhen.com, Boomers Remember When, Inc.