My first encounter with live, big-time sports occurred way back in 1964. My father had journeyed to Boston from Cape Breton that year seeking employment. His undertaking turned out to be successful, and the remainder of the
family eventually joined him there.
It was summer, and of course summertime in Boston is synonymous with Red Sox baseball. One afternoon my dad and I ventured to the distinguished ball yard they call Fenway Park to watch the home team play host to the New York Yankees.
Too bad for me, though, I was quite young at the time and have no recollection of the on-field happenings. But, according to my dad, we were sitting in the rightfield bleachers directly behind Red Sox rookie
phenom Tony Conigliaro. Then, when the inning turned over, a Yankee by the name of Roger Maris trotted out close to where we sat.
The Red Sox were, to put it mildly, a poor team in 1964. How bad you ask? Well, they would go on to finish below the .500 mark for the sixth successive year.
The Yankees, on the other hand, were in the process of winning their fifth consecutive American League pennant. Actually, from 1936 to 1964, the Yanks had captured an amazing twenty-two pennants and sixteen World Series
titles. Unfortunately for them, though, ‘64 was to be the final season of that spell which saw them rule the majors. In fact, twelve years would pass before the Yankees returned to post-season play.
The Yankees’ skipper in 1964 was the legendary Larry "Yogi" Berra. Yogi
had retired as a player the previous year and was replacing Ralph Houk, who had moved upstairs to the general manager’s chair. Berra proceeded to guide the “Bronx Bombers” to the World Series, but was promptly fired after the Yanks
lost the seventh game to the St. Louis Cardinals. Team brass said he couldn’t
control his players.
Then, in a strange twist of events, Johnny Keane, the gentleman who managed the Cardinals in the above-mentioned fall classic, succeeded Berra in New York. Keane, however, fell flat on his face as the Yankees placed sixth
in the ten-team American League -- twenty-five games behind first place Minnesota. Needless to say, Yogi had the last laugh.
Getting back to my first live encounter with big-league baseball, I began to wonder who might have played in that game I saw 37 years ago, but can’t remember seeing and discovered that Berra’s defensive alignment could very well have went like this: first base - Joe Pepitone; second base - Bobby Richardson; third base - Clete Boyer; shortstop - Tony Kubek; left field - Tom Tresh; centerfield - Mickey Mantle; right field - Roger Maris; catcher - Elston Howard; pitcher - Whitey Ford. In the bullpen were Hal Reniff and Pete Mikkelsen.
Ex-Red Sox star Johnny Pesky managed Boston. His likely starting nine: first base - Dick Stuart; second base - Dalton Jones; third base - Frank Malzone; shortstop - Eddie Bressoud; left field - Carl Yastrzemski; center field - Lee Thomas; right field - Tony Conigliaro; catcher - Bob Tillman; pitcher - Bill Monbouquette. In the ‘pen’ were Dick Radatz and Bob Heffner.
Four Hall of Famers may have been in uniform that afternoon. From Boston there was the man they called “Yaz” -- Carl Yastrzemski. On the other side, outfielder Mickey Mantle, pitcher Whitey Ford, and of course the manager,
Yogi Berra.
Yep, I missed a heck of a lot that day my dad and I visited the ball-yard called Fenway.
» John White writes a weekly sports column for the New Waterford Community Press.
Also by John White
» Sam "The Jet" Jethroe
» More submissions
Posted July 16, 2001.
BALLPLAYERS | TEAMS | CHRONOLOGY | TODAY | BOOKS | NEWSLETTER | ERRATA | FAQ
