By Edwin Cooney
I wore my Yankees jacket and hat when I visited my taxman last Wednesday. "How many World Series have the Yankees won?” he asked, even as he read the answer to his question on my jacket. "How long have you been a Yankees' fan?" he wondered. “Since 1954!” I responded. "Who did they have other than Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra?” he wondered. “Oh, Hank Bauer, Gil McDougald…And Whitey Ford," he added!
My taxman Pat isn't as old as me, although his daughter is about to present him with a new granddaughter. Pat let me know he was no Yankee fan, but those names brought back a time in his early existence that obviously pleases him.
No other sport marks time and even eras as much as baseball. Baseball goes back to the Ulysses S. Grant administration. The Cincinnati Red Stockings began playing that spring even before the golden spike was hammered into place by Leland Stanford on Saturday, May 10th, 1869 linking the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads at Promontory Point, Utah territory.
That means that 2024 marks the 155th season of wins, losses, base hits, walks, and player umpire rhubarbs are all facts and matters of history.
Between 1869 and 1947, most players came from the dirt farms of rural America. Opening day, April 15th of 1947, Jackie Robinson's entry into baseball broke the “color barrier” and, as the post World War II era continued, more and more college players made the scene.
Since President William Howard Taft tossed out the first baseball of the 1910 season that Thursday, April 14th, our presidents have played a side but sometimes dramatic role in events. On that particular day, Walter Johnson (“TheBigTrain") of the Washington Senators shut out Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics three zip. Thirty years later on opening day, Cleveland's Bob Feller pitched a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox by a score of one to nothing. That very day, President Franklin Roosevelt who was opening the season at Griffiths Stadium hit Washington Post photographer Irving Schlossberg with his opening day pitch. Eleven years later, President Harry Truman dared to open up the 1951 season the day after General Douglas MacArthur addressed Congress following his dismissal by President Truman. Mr. Truman stayed through seven innings of boos!
Then, there's that opening day, April 17th, 1945, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Frankie Zach had walked and was leading off first base. Suddenly Zach looked down to see that his shoe was untied. Frankie called time just as Bucky Walters, the Reds' pitcher, was making his windup. Bucky threw and Jim Russell, batting just behind Frankie, hit the ball into the right field bleachers. It couldn't count as a two run homer because Frankie had called time. The Pirates lost the game 7 to 6. But Frankie received a present from Manager Frank Frisch the next day. You guessed it! It was a pair of buckle shoes.
Yes, indeed, these are just some of the things that every baseball season potentially brings players, fans and even visiting United States presidents.!
The 2024 season in its fourth day of existence has already featured a no-hitter by an Astro's pitcher, the 30-year-old rookie Ronel Blanco, whom few ever have heard of.
So, what's on deck in 2024, do you suppose?
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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