Fifty years ago, August 23, 1958, I saw my very first baseball game.
I still remember it like it was yesterday. A seven-year-old kid, walking into Yankee Stadium with my Dad and seeing the immense ballfield, the green facade, the monuments in center field. The pinstriped legends on the field.
That Saturday afternoon, the Chicago White Sox beat the Yankees, 7-1, as Billy Pierce bested Whitey Ford in a battle of southpaws.
Six future Hall of Famers played in that game — Ford, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Enos Slaughter for the Yankees and Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio for the ChiSox.
Ray Boone hit a solo home run and knocked in four runs for Chicago. Moose Skowron homered in the seventh for the only Yankee run.
I’ve been hooked ever since.
PS — Exactly 10 years later, August 23, 1968, I saw 28 innings of baseball at the Stadium. The Yankees won the first game of the twi-night doubleheader, 2-1; the two teams played to a 3-3, 19-inning tie in the nightcap.
Nice!
I ran in to Moose Skowron at a gas station in Schaumburg today. His snow blower had run out of gas. I asked to see his ring, it was from the ‘61 World Series. He reiterated that the ‘61 Yanks was the best team that he had played on.
I am 56 years old. I felt like a little kid. It wasn’t the first time that I had seen him about town, but it was the first time that I chatted with him.
“The three “Ms” he said, “Maris, Mantle, and Moose!”
PS, I was a fan of your uncle’s too.. I also remember him from “The Dick Van Dyke Show”.
What a great story. Thanks for your note. I hope you helped the Moose get the snow blower started. About 50 years ago, Uncle Allan once sent me a postcard signed “To Ricky. The Moose Skowron of White Plains.” I still have it.
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