On Cars, Baseball and the Halcyon Days of Summer
The automotive world was introduced to economies of scale in 1954 as Nash and Hudson (yes, those were makes of cars exactly 52 years ago) merged to form American Motors. Both Nash and Hudson models are history now. Heck, American Motors has taken a hike since then too. Two other auto manufacturers—Studebaker and Packard—also merged their production in response to economies of scale. They are both gone now as well. As these four auto manufacturers were headed toward oblivion, another entrepreneur was just getting started. Ray Kroc founded McDonald’s in 1954 and went on to create the fast food restaurant industry as we know it today. The first nonstick pan was produced in 1954, leading to Teflon (a trademark for polytetrafluoroethylene), and Reagan (who would become the Teflon President) was not even President. It was another guy named Ike (Dwight David Eisenhower), who in 1944 was made Supreme Allied Commander for the invasion of Europe during World War II. While Ike was busy making war plans, I was born in Flint (MI), then headquarters of General Motors and its vast manufacturing facilities. The New York Yankees, who had won five consecutive World Series from 1949 through 1953, were watching the World Series from the sidelines in 1954, as the National League Champion New York Giants (the other team from the city so nice they named it twice) swept the American League Champion Cleveland Indians in 4 games. Leo Durocher, the Manager of the Giants, could not say "Nice guys finish last" that year. Interestingly enough, Cleveland’s Bob Lemon lost games 1 and 4 of the Series and Early Wynn lost game 2. Both Lemon and Wynn are in Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Cleveland’s Bobby Avila also won the American League batting title in 1954 with a .341 average (now that is what you call a trivia question), and Larry Doby (who broke the color barrier in the American League) won the home run title with 32 dingers. For the Cleveland Indians, it became what some would call a bad year. Imagine getting to the promised land and coming up short with two eventual Hall of Fame pitchers, a batting champion and an eventual Hall of Fame home run champion. I remember the 1954 Series as the one at the Polo Grounds when Willie Mays made "The Catch," a dramatic over-the-shoulder catch off a line drive by Vic Wertz to deep center field which could otherwise have given the Cleveland Indians a game one victory (remember, the Giants swept the Series that year, winning four straight games). A lot more happened in 1954, but here you get the tidbits I learned later in life, much later. I celebrated my 62nd birthday June 27. In 1954 I was 10 years old and just about my whole world was baseball. We played during the school year but there was never enough time. Summer was a dream come true, no school and lots of hot, sunny days. After rolling out of bed, eating the requisite breakfast and meeting my buddy Tommy, we walked two blocks to St. Michael’s, the private school in our lower middle class neighborhood. We could not afford to go there, but we wore out the brick wall on the side of the school all summer. The Catholics who built St. Mike’s meant for it to stand for a long time. At that point in time, Christianity had been around for 19.5 centuries, and they built it like they meant for it to be there for another 19.5 centuries. No one ever ran us off the property. We were very lucky, too small or too insignificant to be noticed. Maybe they thought we were their students. Back then Tommy and I played several games a day. We were there by 10 and did not quit until after 3. Man, it was hot most days. Having a game with only two players was simple. The home team pitcher took the mound, an appropriate distance away, and fired in a rubber ball. The batter stood about 5 feet from the brick wall, and if he did not swing at the pitch or swung and missed, the ball bounced off the wall and back out to the pitcher. You learned pretty fast how to throw strikes, because if you did not, you were running all over the blacktop lot to retrieve the ball after each pitch. When you connected, the distance of the ball in the air determined what kind of hit you had, hit it to the chain link fence on the fly and it was "Good-bye Baseball, Hello Home Run." The rubber ball you hit never went as far as you thought it would. You had 3 swings for each out, and 3 outs to an inning. Balls were ignored to not cause disputes. The sun would get hotter as the day wore on. Even at age 10, we thought we invented sweat because it was so prevalent in the blistering sun. No one ever called us to come home, both our parents worked when it was not the thing to do. I think it was called survival on the wrong side of the tracks. We never thought about lunch. We were a couple of 10 year olds, dreaming about the 9th inning with the scored tied, 2 outs and a 3-2 count on the batter. Always we thought of Mickey on that fateful pitch. Mickey Mantle of the Yankees did not win the American League home title in 1954, but even at 10 we knew he was a legend was in the making. Mantle did win the home run title the following year (1955) and added 3 more titles in 1956, 1958 and 1960. In 1961, Roger Maris of the Yankees would break Babe’s record with 61 humdingers. We were so excited on that day we could not pee straight. After hours of play we headed to the local drugstore. Both Tommy and I worked or we would not have had money. I had a TV Guide route with about 200 customers. Youngsters today would have no idea that TV Guide, long before it relied on grocery stores and direct mail for sales, had routes just like paper routes. We delivered once a week and collected monthly. We lived for two things at that drugstore, baseball cards and cherry Cokes. I purposely down-cased the "c" in cherry because back then you could not buy Cherry Coke off the shelf at your local supermarket like you can today. You got Coke and the fountain person would squirt in cherry concentrate and stir it up, pour in ice and bam, once that hit your throat after 5 hours in the hot sun, it was like visiting another world. We would sock down 4 or 5 of them while buying baseball cards, and with each pack of cards we opened, the bubble gum would go into our mouth, every last slice of it. We were looking for that elusive Mickey Mantle card, and when we got more than one, we had an awesome bargaining chip for trades. Always, we tried to build up enough chewing gum so we could push it out in our cheek, like Nellie Fox, the sure-handed second baseman for the Chicago White Sox with the biggest chaw of tobacco in his cheek you ever saw. Fox was another Hall of Famer, and probably would have been even without the chaw of tobacco. He was a 12-time American League All-Star who never struck out more than 18 times a season in 15 full seasons, and was the American League Most Valuable Player in 1959. We loved Nellie because he was a little guy like us that made it big. Fox had 200+ hits in 1954 and a .319 batting average (his best year in the majors). Man, we thought Nellie was something. We then walked home, exhausted, happy, poor kids who never knew any better. It would be a number of years before we got our first car, and cruised the A&W Root Beer stand on Friday nights after the high school football game. But without any cars or car repair bills, 1954 was a great summer. Copyright © 2006 Ed Bagley Ed Bagley is the author of Ed Bagley's Blog, which he publishes daily with fresh, original writing intended to delight, inform, educate and motivate readers. Visit Ed at . . . http://www.edbagleyblog.com |
Other Baseball Betting Articles
What You Need To Know About Baseball Gloves Baseball gloves have been around for years. The first baseball glove was worn on the field by Al Spalding and others in 1876. In 1920 the first Rawlings baseball glove with a natural pocket was worn on the baseball field.Baseball gloves have evolved a lot since those times. Did you know that Bill Mazeroski dug an outhouse to come up with ...7 Steps You Should Take To Be Successful At Sports Betting Have you ever wondered how sports betting "smart money" became the smart money? Do you wonder what the smart money does differently than the amateurs? The biggest difference between professional gamblers and the amateurs is that the pros always take the following 7 steps. If you do these things, you'll be well on your way to making money like t ...Beware Gambling Can Increase Your Debt Problems Are you the type of person who likes to take a gamble from time to time on things such as the result of a horse race? Would you say that you have an addiction to gambling? Do you lose more money than you win when gambling? Are you in debt? Are you hoping to reduce your debts by gambling? In this article, I write about a friend of mine who tried ...Did Sensitivity Training Kill The White Sox? There are going to be lots of recriminations when the White Sox fail to make it to the post-season, which feels all but assured at this point.Did they have enough talent on the squad, especially depth in the bullpen when it comes to middle relief?Did GM Ken Williams stand pat on trades when he should have acted more like the Dodger ...Baseball Gloves Chairs Youngsters have always idolized baseballs stars, and with time the presence of baseball in playrooms and bedrooms has gone beyond posters and autographed caps. Baseball has now entered homes in the form of furniture.Baseball glove chairs have become a rage with kids. Kids absolutely love beanbag glove chairs and baseball couches. The chai ...Baltimore Orioles Handicapping: 2006 Season Preview The Orioles had a great start to the 2005 Baseball season. At the 40 game mark, they were 26-14 +10 units. Even I thought they could contend with the Yankees and Red Sox for the division. The Yankees were playing bad and the Red Sox looked poised for a letdown. Too bad. But how did their strong start resonate with bettors the rest of the season? ...Baseball Season Tickets Baseball season tickets allow the holder admission to regular season baseball games. Season tickets come in different packages, such as full- and partial-season plans, half-season ticket plans, weekenders, series plans and flex plans to suit your budget, schedules, and tastes. Seating assignments are available on the basis of location demand, av ...The Baseball Minor Leagues - Part 1 The Minor Leagues of baseball are a professional league competing a level below the Major Leagues. They are operated as independent businesses, but the best known leagues are members of Minor League Baseball, the main organization that has agreements with the Major Leagues to operate as their affiliates. The purpose of this affiliation is to d ...Advice on Buying Poker Chip Sets Complete chip sets should be purchased with a few things in mind: How many chips do you need? How much can you afford to pay for your chipset and how many players will be using the chips in a game. As with most things, you pay for quality and the best advice is to buy the highest quality you can afford. It is rare to be sorry that you opted fo ...American Sports Betting Explained: Understanding Odds Sports betting can be a bit intimidating if you're trying to bet on sports played in a foreign country. However, one of the best opportunities to profit from sports betting is to place bets on American sporting events.Now that the United States has passed laws making it even more difficult for Americans to place bets on sporting events in ...Why You Should Consider Online Gambling During the last few years, online gambling has grown into one of the largest and most successful business in the world. As technology advances and becomes more efficient and user friendly the benefits to online gambling are becoming more evident. Consider just a few of the advantages of online gambling and see why you should consider gambling on ...Play The Game Safely With The Right Baseball Catching Equipment Take me out to the old ball game has been the theme song for America's favorite past time for decades. We're talking of course about baseball! Although many sports need a lot of room or equipment, an informal baseball game is relatively easy to organize with a little effort and some basic baseball and catching equipment. Other sports may actu ...Tips for Baccarat You’ve seen it in casinos. You’ve seen James Bond play it in the movies. Of course, we’re talking about the game of Baccarat. It’s a challenging game of chance which can test the nerves and determination of even the most seasoned gambler.In order to do well at the game, there are several tips which you should keep in mind. While these ...One of The Best Baseball Ever Saw: Roger Alan McDowell All baseball players need not necessarily be good coaches and vice versa. However in the case of Roger Alan McDowell, the former is true. While talent, hard work, right grooming, burning ambition, and good amount of luck are the factors required to make a celebrity player, the team spirit, proper mix of talents, and leadership, makes a te ...Focus on Joseph Hachem In 2005 World Series of Poker main event was captured by none other than Joseph Hachem. The 39-year-old Lebanon-born Hachem knocked out over 5,618 players making him the greatest poker player on earth, at least until this year’s World Series of Poker.Joseph Hachem, a spokesperson for the PokerStars website paid his $10,000 entry fee and b ...Casino Sportsbook With the continuing growth in the popularity of sport betting many people are looking for a good casino sportsbook where they can do their betting. There are many to choose from but if you want to find the best casino sportsbook you need to know what to look for. Probably the most important factor is the reputation of the casino sportsbook. ...Post-Season 2006 Baseball Predictions: Rating the Teams Let’s take a look at baseball’s post-season rivals and predict who will prevail when the autumn leaves have touched down.American League:Oakland A’s: They’re a balanced team with solid pitching, but they’re not particularly deep.Detroit Tigers: Hands down, their record was the best in the majors for 85% of the season. But we ...Gaming Winners Before you plan a trip to Las Vegas or Atlantic City or going on a cruise with legalized Gambling, certain things you must know of, and the most important one being How To Win. Gamble is all about taking a calculated risk, using your skills combined with a strategy and finally one thing that all of us want, Luck.The first and the foremost ...Selecting The Right Baseball Bat For More Home Runs Baseball bats can be made from many materials, but two of the most popular materials for wooden bats are hard rock maple and northern white ash. Rock maple bats are known for their durability and heavy hitting power but are heavy and can get to be a bit expensive. The white ash bats are more of a lightweight bat but won’t stand up to every pit ...September National League Trends It's time to go over the National League and see how teams are trending. What's a trends sheet? Basically, I will run down each team in the National League and alert you to what teams are hot, heating up, cooling down or cold. The game is heating up as teams start to get desperate. Let's take a look at the National League to see who's worth putt ...Softball Equipment Through the passing of time, the game as well as the equipment of the game of softball have developed to a great extent. Among the various components of the game of softball, the most important ones are the ball itself, gloves, the bat, the jersey, shoes and the protective gear that is so essential for the catchers.The size of the ball va ...Baseball - Approach To Pitching They say that good pitching stops good hitting. But what makes a good pitcher besides how hard he throws. If you ask Tom Glavin, who doesn't throw hard enough to knock a tin can off of a shaky bar stool, he'll tell you that it's all in the approach. And a lot of that has to do with knowing your hitter.In a situation where there is nobo ...OnLine Slot Myths - Avoid These Common Errors and Win Online slot myths are common and are made by both noivice and experienced players. If of course you can avoid these online slot myths and play with a coll head you can of course make money.Lets look at these online slot myths why they cause players to lose money and how to avoid them.The modern slot is a form of computer, and uses ...Colorado Rockies Handicapping: 2006 Season Preview Much like the rest of the National League West, the Colorado Rockies are just horrible. Bad. Pathetic. Shall I go far as to say they are as bad as a Minor League team?Despite being so bad, these Rockies have always proven to have a strong home field advantage. Over the past 7 seasons, these Rockies are 302-265 (53%) +9 units. On the road, ...
|
