Reynolds looks in to get the signal from his catcher. He nods assent and brings his hands together. The outfield is straight away and not too deep against Fox. Reynolds is ready. The Yankees right-hander rocks in the box, around with the right arm, in comes the pitch, and Fox takes a fast ball that is high for ball one.
We are in the top of the first inning here at Yankee Stadium. There is one out with no score. The Yankees lead the Sox by two games in the standings and are trying to put some distance between themselves and Chicago.
Reynolds is ready again. Fox stands in with a slight crouch from the left side with his feet close together. He uses the thick handled “bottle” bat and just tries to slap the ball through the infield. He and Bauer have not gotten along lately.
Reynolds, working slowly, gets the signal from Berra, goes into the wind up, and delivers. Fox swings and hits a sharp ground ball to the left of Rizzuto. Rizzuto moves quickly, fields the ball on the second hop, and fires to first. It is ... in time.
Such a description will never again be heard. Mel Allen told the listener what the listener had to see but couldn’t. For the seasoned fan, it was the next best thing to being at the game, and for the casual fan, it might have been even better, because Mel Allen’s description of a game revealed nuances of the game that most fans would never have known.
How many fans at the ballpark are aware of the defensive alignments for each batter? How many television commentators (there are no play-by-play announcers on television) provide the viewer with information he cannot get from the picture alone? How many radio announcers re-create the scene at the ballpark?
Mel Allen did just that. He set up the situation and described what was happening as it happened. He did not, as too many radio announcers and television commentators do today, relate what occurred after the fact.
I remember the time that I actually preferred to listen to Mel Allen than watch the game on television. I chose Mel Allen’s voice and my ears over my eyes. That is quite a compliment.
It was sometime in the late 1950s. The Yankees were playing the Red Sox in Boston. I was a little tired and decided it would be more enjoyable to listen to Mel on the radio than to continue to view the game on television. It was the right decision. I actually “saw” Fenway Park and “watched” the game. Today’s fans have either forgotten or never knew how wonderful it is to close one’s eyes and listen to a great play-by-play announcer describing a baseball game.
No one is always perfect. Mel Allen could be, at least to an intense Yankees fan, irritating at times. Mel had been accused of favoring the Yankees during his broadcasts. It was a false accusation that grew out of his enthusiasm for both the game and the Yankees, but to fans who rooted for the team playing the Yankees, it might have seemed as if Mel favored the Yankees. Sometimes, it seemed as if it were the other way around.
It was 1959, and Charlie Maxwell, a left-handed hitting outfielder with great power, was playing for Detroit. That season, Maxwell had a penchant for hitting home runs on Sunday, and an even greater penchant for hitting them against the Yankees. The day was Sunday, and in a close game (I think there was no score), Maxwell came up with two Tigers on base.
Mel went into his usual great description, reminding listeners not only of Maxwell’s power, but that it was Sunday. Suddenly, without telling the fans that the Yankees right-handed pitcher was delivering the ball, Mel shouted, ”There it is! That ball is going, going, it is gone.”
I was extremely upset. There was no warning that the pitch was about to be delivered or that Maxwell swung and the result was a drive to deep right field. It sounded as if Mel almost expected Maxwell to hit the home run since it was a Sunday in Detroit.
I did what I never thought I would do. I turned off the radio. In the upset of the moment, I didn’t realize that Mel Allen did not favor the Yankees or the opposition in his broadcasts. Mel Allen tried to be so objective; he gave the opposition too much credit.
It really doesn’t matter. It is trivial. Mel Allen was one of the great sports announcers of all time. It was a joy to listen to him describe a game and an experience those who listened to him miss daily.
Fans should listen to tapes of Mel Allen broadcasts. It would be quite an experience. The only problem is that they would discover how lacking so many of today’s commentators are compared to Mel, Red Barber, and the still active and equally great Ernie Harwell.
» Harold Friend is an intense Yankees fan who has followed baseball longer than he cares to remember.
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Posted August 3, 2001.
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