Irv Noren at 92 recalls his ride from worst to first with the Yankees

Fans of yesteryear will remember Irv Noren as the bridge between Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle roaming center field for the New York Yankees. As much as he is known as an integral part of three World Series championship teams in the Bronx (1952, ’53, and ’56), little do fans know that he was dangerously close to playing for their cross town rivals in Brooklyn.

Signed by the Dodgers in 1946 after serving in World War II, Noren tore up the Dodgers farm system, winning consecutive league MVP awards, first in the Double-A Texas League in 1948, and then in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League the next season (an award ironically DiMaggio had won in 1935). So why wasn’t Noren wearing Dodger Blue instead of Yankee Pinstripes?

Irv Noren at his home in 2012 / N. Diunte

With the Dodgers fielding an outfield that contained Duke Snider and Carl Furillo, Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey had other plans for his budding superstar. During a 2012 visit with Noren at his home in Oceanside, California, he explained how he found out just what those plans were.

“I just came out of Hollywood and had a great year there," Noren said. "That winter, I was sitting for dinner one night in Arcadia where we were living and I heard this come over the radio, ‘Irv Noren’s been sold to the Washington Senators by the Brooklyn Dodgers for $70,000 and a player or whatever.’ I dropped my food and went out in the backyard and said, ‘Washington Senators!’”

With the Dodgers’ finances suffering due to their investment in the Brooklyn football franchise of the AAFC, Rickey sold Noren to recover some of the losses they faced. Little did he know that the sale of Noren would haunt him only a few years later.

After two excellent seasons with the Washington Senators, Noren’s sweet left-handed swing and superb defense in the spacious Griffith Stadium attracted the attention of Yankees manager Casey Stengel. Disappointed with the early season play of the replacements for the recently retired DiMaggio, the Yankees acquired Noren in May of 1952 from the Senators in a six-player deal.

“Perhaps we gave up a lot, but we had to in order to get what we wanted. We wanted Noren. We need a center fielder who can hit, run, field, and throw,” said Stengel to the New York Times.

Within a matter of months, Noren went from worst to first, and rode the elevator all the way up to World Series victory.

“It was different going into the Yankees clubhouse instead of the other way," he said. "I said to myself, ‘Jeez, this is where Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and everybody was, in this clubhouse.'"

High expectations were omnipresent, as none of the veterans wanted anyone getting in the way of their World Series checks. The team atmosphere was a tremendous shift from playing in Washington.

“It was fun to go to the ballpark because you knew that the guys meant business and policed the game themselves," he said. "Some guys stayed out all night and if they couldn’t play the next day or pitch, they’d let them know. ‘You’re screwing around with my money. In the winter do whatever you want, but right now [don’t do it]. With the Yankees, everybody wanted to beat them, and you couldn’t make a mistake against them. You had to produce over there. In Washington, you could go 0-8, but in New York if you went 0-8, someone else would be in there. They had to win.”

Noren played five seasons with the Yankees from 1952-56, which in addition to the aforementioned World Series championships, included a selection to the 1954 All-Star Game. He continued playing in the majors until 1960, making appearances with the Athletics, Cardinals, Cubs and Dodgers. Upon retiring from his playing career, he was involved with a variety of business ventures that included owning a sporting goods store, a screen printing business, and breeding thoroughbred horses. In between all of that, Hall of Famer Dick Williams recruited Noren to serve as a coach for the Oakland Athletics during their championship seasons in the early 1970s. Now completely retired, Noren enjoys the company of his family and looking after his horses.

“I felt I was a pretty lucky guy," he said. "You never give up and something good is going to happen if you hang out and do your best. It was tough in them days. Most of us spent the best years of our life in the service. I went in from 18 to 21; that’s the best three years of your life. That’s fine, we did it for the country.

"We didn’t make a lot of money, but we played for fun and a bit of money like they say. It made us respect a little bit more about what life was about, what the priorities are in life. I’ve got 15 grandkids. I get up after dinner and my grandson said, ‘Did you really play center field for the Yankees?’ [To them] we were never young; we’re [just] old. I have a few horses that keep me busy with my buddies, as well as my grandkids and great grandkids; that’s what I’m living for.”

Read More

Dave 'Boo' Ferriss, 94, twenty-game winner for Boston Red Sox

"Boo Ferriss was a great hitting pitcher. He was ambidextrous; he could throw left handed and right handed. Of course, he was a right handed pitcher. He had two great years, [and] then he hurt his arm. He would have been a great, great pitcher if he hadn’t hurt his arm. And a real class guy, real fine."- Billy Hitchcock to Gene Fehler in, "When Baseball Was Still King: Major League Players Remember the 1950s."

Dave "Boo" Ferris, who started his major league career with two consecutive 20-win seasons that led the Boston Red Sox to the World Series in 1946, passed away on Thanksgiving in Cleveland, Mississippi. He was 94.

Dave "Boo" Ferriss - SportsNola.com

Ferriss won the third game of the 1946 World Series and was left with a no-decision in the deciding seventh game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Ferriss watched helplessly as Enos Slaughter made his famous "mad dash," to score the deciding run from first base on Harry Walker's double in the ninth inning. Ferriss indicated that it wasn't the World Series that was his most memorable baseball moment, but his victory in 1948 to force a one-game playoff with the Indians for the American League pennant.

"It was disappointing to lose both the 1948 and 1949 pennants, after coming so close," he said to Fehler. "In 1948 I was pitching against the Yankees on the last day of the season. If we beat the Yankees and Detroit beat the Indians, Cleveland and us would tie for the pennant. I got in trouble in the sixth inning, I believe. The Yankees loaded the bases with Hank Bauer and DiMaggio coming up. I got Bauer on a sacrifice fly to Ted [Williams] in left field and got DiMaggio out and we went on to win the game. I think it was 10-5, and of course Fenway was going wild because the scoreboard showed Detroit was beating Cleveland. We did end in a tie and that brought about the first playoff game in American League history the next day, and sad to say we lost that. Gene Bearden beat us 8-3 there in Fenway. But it was a memorable moment for me, going into that game that had so much riding on it at the time."

Perhaps much greater than his 65-30 career record with the Red Sox, was his impact on the baseball program at Delta State University. With his pitching career cut short due to arm troubles, Ferriss moved on to the collegiate ranks, literally building up Delta State's program from the field level. Six-hundred-thirty-nine victories and three Division II World Series appearances later, Delta Stats acknowledged Ferriss' indelible impact on the program by naming the baseball field after him when he retired in 1988.

Read More

Clyde King recalls a mound visit from Fidel Castro

On April 20, 1960, Rochester Red Wings manager and former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Clyde King stood inches away from Fidel Castro as he threw out the first pitch of the International League season. Some fifty-six years after their encounter, the Cuban leader passed away November 25, 2016 at the age of 90. Little did King know at the time that the man he once squared off in an exhibition game would become one of the vilest dictators in modern history.

Fidel Castro (l.) throws out the opening day pitch in 1960 as Clyde King (r.) watches

“I think it was 1960 when I got to meet Castro,” King said from his North Carolina home in 2008. “We opened the season there and Castro threw out the first ball. We didn't know he was a bad guy at the time. We went out the mound and he said, ‘Do you remember me?’ I said, “Yes, I remember you.’ He said, ‘I'm Fidel Castro, do you remember going to the University of Havana one Sunday afternoon?’”

King quickly harked back to an exhibition the Dodgers played in Havana during 1947 while Branch Rickey was preparing Jackie Robinson to join the big league club. Castro proudly reminded the Red Wings manager that he suited up against the Dodgers squad that day.

“When the Dodgers were training, one club stayed in Havana and the other went to the University so we could get more players in action,” King recalled. “Castro said, ‘Do you remember who you pitched against?’ I said ‘No.’ He said, ‘Me!’ I asked him if he remembered the score, he said he didn’t. You know what the score was? 15-1!”

King acknowledged Castro’s support of baseball as Cuba’s flagship sport and his failed attempts to play professionally; however, whatever affection Castro had for the sport was overshadowed by the terror of his reign.

“We found out later he wasn't such a good guy,” King said. “He was terrific baseball guy. He tried to work out for a pro team but he couldn't do it. We sort of wore him out that day.”

Read More

Ralph Branca, 90, legacy reached far beyond iconic baseball moment

Ralph Branca, the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher who is most famously remembered for surrendering the home run to Bobby Thomson that catapulted the New York Giants to the 1951 World Series, passed away November 23rd, 2016 in Rye, New York. He was 90.

One of the greatest guys to ever throw a pitch or sing a song is longer with us. Ralph Branca Passed this morning.

— Bobby Valentine (@BobbyValentine) November 23, 2016

The Mount Vernon native and New York University grad stayed true to his local roots when he first suited up for the Dodgers in 1944 at the tender age of 18. His debut began a 12-year major league career that included one 20-win season, three All-Star appearances, and spanned 11 of those seasons with the Dodgers, interrupted by stints with the cross town rival New York Yankees, as well as the Detroit Tigers.

Ralph Branca (r.) with Bobby Valentine in 2011 / N. Diunte

While many know him for his involvement in “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” Branca didn’t let that moment define the entirety of his career. In his post playing days, Branca immersed himself in charity work, first with the Baseball Assistance Team, helping out former major leaguers who fell on hard times, and later assisting youth sports organizations through his own Sports Angels foundation.

“I was chairman of the board of the Baseball Assistance Team and worked especially with the dinner committee," Branca said in 2009. “When I resigned, they all resigned at BAT. We worked together for 15 years. I said, 'Why don't we continue as another charity?' We decided to organize Sports Angels.”

Branca, who was one of the last surviving players from Jackie Robinson’s major league debut, was featured prominently in the movie, “42,” where Branca often gave a kind hand to Robinson during rough patches in his rookie season. He took every opportunity to stress the cultural and historical significance of that event, something he felt the newspapers at the time overlooked.

"That day, if you read the papers, basically, they didn't mention that he was breaking the color barrier,” Branca said in 2009. “It was a strange new territory; people didn't know how to react or behave and the papers themselves didn't note it as a historic event, just as a write up of the game period. The papers said, ‘Robinson went 0-3, walked, scored a run, and bunted successfully.’ It never mentioned that it was a great event in the history of the world. I say the world because he helped baseball number one, but also as baseball integrated, the country took a different view of blacks. It took the government seven years to pass a civil rights law which was to the benefit of everyone, lessening our country's prejudice.”

In 2011, Branca published his memoir “A Moment in Time,” with David Ritz. In the book, Branca had the opportunity to clear the air one final time about his famous pitch and his place in baseball history.

“They’ll find out who I really am,” Branca said in 2011. “I’m not the goat; the goat is the Giants team. They did the most despicable act in the history of the game by going off the field, using a telescope, using a buzzer system, which nobody else did. Stealing signs on the field is part of the game and that includes the dugouts, but to go in your locker room and hook up a buzzer system … that’s totally despicable.”

Read More

Rinaldo 'Rugger' Ardizoia, 95, pitched one sweet game for the New York Yankees

Rinaldo "Rugger" Ardizoia, a pitcher who played in one game for the New York Yankees in 1947, passed away Sunday evening due to complications from a stroke. He was 95.

The Italian born pitcher gained notoriety in his later years as the oldest living alumni of the New York Yankees. He pitched in one game during the 1947 season against the St. Louis Browns, throwing the final two innings in a 15-5 loss. He gave up two runs, including a home run to one of his former teammates in Iwo Jima during World War II.

Rugger Ardizoia / OOTP Developments

 "The guy that hit the home run off me was one of my boyhood idols, Walter Judnich," he said to Bill Nowlin in Bridging Two Dynasties: The 1947 New York Yankees. "I more of less slid it in for him because we were so far behind anyway."

Ardizoia played the majority of his career in the Pacific Coast League with the Hollywood Stars, where he had the chance to befriend celebrities such as Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, and a fellow that would later become president of the United States.

“Ronald Reagan — he used to hang out with us,” Ardizoia said to the New York Times in 2015.

At the completion of his professional baseball career in 1951, he went to work selling rental linen for 30 years. Still, his passion for baseball did not dwindle, as he played on the semiprofessional level until he was 61. He continued to attend old-timers reunions well into his 90s, willing to share his stories of playing with the legendary Yankees no matter how brief it was.

*Note - This was originally published July 21, 2015 for the now-defunct Examiner.com.

Read More

Bob Addis, 91, infamous play changed the fortunes of Dodgers 1951 season

Even though it was a play that only happened in front of a few thousand fans, a well-timed slide by Boston Braves outfielder Bob Addis led to a decision so impactful on the 1951 pennant race that some have called it, “The Call Heard ‘Round the World.” Barreling towards home plate on teammate Earl Torgeson’s ground ball to Brooklyn Dodgers second baseman Jackie Robinson, Addis deftly slid underneath the tag of Roy Campanella, evoking an emphatic safe call from umpire Frank Dascoli. Chaos of the resulting call ensued, with the results quickly altering the course of the Dodgers season. For the next 65 years, Addis held steadfast to the umpire’s call, never wavering from the outcome. On November 15th, 2016, Addis passed away at the age of 91 in Mentor, Ohio.

Bob Addis / Author's Collection

As quickly as Dascoli ruled on the play, Campanella jumped up to protest the decision; without hesitation, Dascoli tossed Campanella out of the game, leaving the Dodgers without their star catcher after Addis scored the go-ahead run. The loss way a key factor in setting up the Dodgers three-game playoff with the New York Giants that led to Bobby Thomson’s infamous, “Shot Heard ‘Round the World.” Despite the ensuing fracas that resulted in not only Campanella’s ejection, but also future NBA Hall of Famer Bill Sharman, who was sent packing when the umpiring crew cleared the Dodgers’ bench, Addis remained fond of the Dodgers catcher who was also his former minor league teammate.

“Roy Campanella came down for a very short time [in 1948] and played in St. Paul,” Addis recalled in a 2008 phone interview. “He hit five home runs in a row playing down there. ... He was a great guy too. I was really disappointed when he got into the accident. I talked to him often and he was a very friendly person.”

The Hartland company immortalized Addis’ memorable play with a limited edition statue in 2013. Michael Swank, who helped to bring Addis' statue to reality with Hartland, queried the former Brave about the disputed call while he was signing the collectibles for the company.

"When he came over for the signing of the statues ... we really broke the play down," Swank said. "When we finished I asked him, 'Were you safe?' He looked at me, took a sip of his water, and said, 'The only thing I have ever been more sure of was the fact that I chose the perfect bride.'"

Bob Addis Hartland Statue / Hartland LLC

Addis played for four seasons in the major leagues from 1950-1953 with the Braves, Chicago Cubs, and Pittsburgh Pirates, compiling a lifetime .281 average in 208 games. Of the three organizations that he played for, he was most fond of the Pirates in retirement for how they reached out to him during his post-playing career.

“I played so briefly with the Pirates, but they treated me better than any team that I played with,” he said. “I could go to Pittsburgh anytime and see a game. They fly me over to do a signing for a few hours, pay me, and put me up in a hotel. They do well by their alumni.”

After his baseball career, Addis went back to school to become a history teacher. He served as a teacher, coach, and Athletic Director at Euclid High School for 34 years before his 1993 retirement. Surveying the landscape of the major leagues during the 1950s, Addis felt that there were so many talented ballplayers that could never fully experience a break through due to the limited amount of roster spots and rules on player movement at the time.

“The big difference between then and now is that there were only 16 major league teams,” he said. “I saw so many good ballplayers in Triple-A that really didn’t make it. They had so many players to choose from. They had players today that were as good as the players back then, but not as many. You could come up now and play 20 games and get two hits; if you did that back then, you were on the bench. They had so many players trying to make it back when we played. A lot of these guys got up only briefly or never at all.”

Read More

New York Mets alumni stir memories of the final Polo Grounds game

One-thousand-seven-hundred-fifty-two people attending a baseball game would be something one can expect from the low minors; however, on September 18, 1963, that is how many people watched the Mets play host to the Philadelphia Phillies at the final major league game at the Polo Grounds.

While the Coogan family was battling that day in court over payments from the city taking over the Polo Grounds, Craig Anderson was on the hill making his first start of the season for the Mets. After leading the Mets in appearances during their inaugural season, Anderson found himself at Triple-A Buffalo until rosters expanded in September. Prior to the game, Anderson was in the dark regarding the circumstances surrounding its significance.

“Nobody said anything to me,” the 73-year-old Anderson said from his home in Dunnellon, Florida. “It’s funny, but I don’t remember any fanfare of it being the last game at the Polo Grounds.”

1963 Mets at the Polo Grounds / Yashicad - Flickr

When the Giants left in 1957, most New York fans had their moment to wax poetic; however, the Mets left the Polo Grounds to little fanfare. In this age of continuous sports media coverage, it is mind-boggling how the Polo Grounds closed to such a whisper.

Brooklyn born Ted Schreiber made his way into the record books by making the final two outs at the Polo Grounds when he pinch-hit for fellow native New Yorker, Larry Bearnarth. The James Madison high school alum stepped to the plate against Chris Short with one out in the ninth inning.

“Sure I remember the game because I made the last two outs,” the 73-year-old Schreiber said via telephone. “I thought I had a hit because I hit it up the middle, but Cookie Rojas made a great play on it. … That’s why I’m in the Hall of Fame; they put the ball there because the stadium was closed after that.”

Schreiber did not give much thought to the historical consequences of his at-bat. It wasn't until well after the game that he realized that he was indeed the final batter at the Polo Grounds.

“I knew that was the last game; [but] I didn’t realize I made the last out until later,” he said.

1963 Mets Yearbook / Author's Collection

Talk of the final game established a different connection for one of the team's earlier stars. Frank Thomas, who was the left fielder that day, belted 49 home runs during the Mets first two seasons. When queried earlier today about that final home game, he chose to discuss his part in history there with another team, the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“The only one I can tell you about was when the Giants played in the Polo Grounds the last game, I was the first baseman," the 82-year-old Thomas said from his home in Pittsburgh. "A ground ball [was] hit to [Dick] Groat; I made the last putout and gave the ball to Tommy Henrich. From what I understand, somebody stole it from him and it was sold for about $15,000.”

Revisiting the Polo Grounds brought up the nuances of playing in the oddly shaped ballpark for the veterans. The dimensions often turned short pop-ups into home runs and crushed fly balls into the pockets of outfield gloves.

“I didn’t try to think of the short fences because we had to play the game," Anderson said. "There were several home runs that I gave up that I thought should have been pop-ups or routine fly balls. Occasionally, I’d make a bad pitch and the ball goes to center field 400 feet and we’d catch it. Sometimes, it balanced out because of the deep center field, some of the balls were caught out there that should have been home runs in other ballparks."

As a pull hitter, Thomas feasted on the 279-foot fence in left field. Sometimes his eyes grew too big and drew the ire of manager Casey Stengel.

“When I went to bat, they had a big sign in left field and right field on the wall and whoever hit the sign got points," Thomas remembered. "Whoever hit the most balls against that wall would get a boat at the end of the year as a gift. I remember I was hitting one time and I pulled one foul and I heard Casey stand up and yell, ‘You want to be a sailor, join the Navy!’”

- Note - This article was originally published for now-defunct Examiner.com on September 18, 2011.

Read More

Wayne Terwilliger details the hazards of The Battle of Saipan

Wayne Terwilliger spent over 60 years in professional baseball as a player, coach, and manager. He was teammates with Jackie Robinson, a close friend of Ted Williams, and won two World Series championships as a coach with the Minnesota Twins; however, the crowning moment of the 91-year-old’s career on this Veterans Day remains his time as a Marine in World War II.

“I’m more proud of my Marine service than of anything else I’ve done before or since,” Terwilliger said in his 2006 autobiography, Terwilliger Bunts One.

Wayne Terwilliger (circled) of Company D of the 2nd Armored Amphibian Battalion at the Battle of Saipan in World War II. / US Coast Guard

One of a rapidly declining number of living World War II veterans, Terwilliger has fortunately left behind vivid details of the harsh realities of war in his memoirs. One of the first to enter the Battle of Saipan, he recounted his feelings some 70 years ago from the morning of June 15, 1944, as he anxiously sat in his amphibious tank awaiting entry into the water.

“The nose of our tank dipped down into the ocean, and for just as second my heart skipped a beat,” he said, “but the pontooned sides of the tank did the trick and we bobbed up like a huge cork.”

The tone quickly changed as soon as they approached the reef; this was no game of friendly fire, the Japanese wanted their death. Their landing would signify the beginning of one of the most hazardous days of Terwilliger’s young life.

“As soon as we got over the reef,” he said, “we were in range of the Japanese, and they started shooting. I started seeing these puffs of water all around us, and it took a second to realize what was causing them. Then we heard small arms fire hitting our tank, and the reality sank in: There were people on that island who wanted us dead.”

His crew was one of the few fortunate ones not to have their tank destroyed by enemy fire. They endured attacks all the way until they reached land. It didn’t get any better once their tank bogged down in the sand and they had to disembark.

“Japanese mortars kept whistling over our heads,” he said. “Most of them were headed toward the beach area, but we never knew when one would come our way. We also had no idea how long we’d be stuck there. We were there at least a couple of hours, though it seemed like forever.”

Stuck in a foxhole, they heard the sound of an unfamiliar tank, one they quickly realized was of the Japanese forces. Spending only a short time in action, he wondered if he was going to meet his demise.

“The tank kept moving closer to us until we could see the 37-mm turret gun and the big red “Rising Sun” on the side of the tank. … The tank stopped just short of our hole and I wondered, ‘What do we do now?’”

From their position in the fox hole, his infantry each took out their grenades and aimed them at the tank. A cloud of smoke ensued and they ran out onto the beach looking for cover.

“I ran until I came to an old Japanese artillery piece, and I thought, ‘S—t, this is the wrong way,’ so I turned and found a little path, and somehow this time I was going the right way, toward the beach. Then I looked back and there was the Jap tank coming after me. … I started zigzagging back and forth in case the tank tried to shoot at me, still running as fast I could. Guys on the beach were waving me in, yelling, ‘Come on, come on!’ I made it to the beach and dove over a small sand dune for cover, and I looked back just in time to see one of our tanks made a direct hit, which knocked the Japanese tank on its side. … That was my first six or seven hours of combat.”

Terwilliger’s story about his first day of combat is a riveting tale of World War II military action that has often been kept a secret by those who have experienced it, a memory too painful to relive. His book remains as an example of our baseball heroes having their careers preempted or interrupted to face death directly in the eyes, and then return home to compete for their jobs once again – a reality our current major leaguers will never again have to experience.

Read More

2016 Topps Update captures the magic of a landmark baseball season

Cracking open the packs of 2016 Topps Update as the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs battle for the World Series title, one gets the perfect opportunity to relive many of the fabulous moments of 2016. From the rookie debuts, to the career milestone achievements, and the late season switches, Topps captures all of the magic of a landmark baseball season.

2016 Topps Update / Topps

Clocking in at 300 cards, the set is a sleeker version than last year’s 400-card issue. Rookie card collectors will be pleased to find additions to their favorite player’s stash with a Rookie Debut subset that commemorates the first time they set foot on major league soil. The All-Star Game is also a major focus, with an additional subset highlighting the All-Star rosters and Home Run Derby participants.

Topps puts a finishing touch on Ichiro’s quest for 3,000 hits, by adding an insert set to chronicle the remainder of the hits he rapped out to reach the vaunted milestone. Carrying on with the tradition of Series 1 and Series 2, Topps puts the spotlight on an additional 10 ceremonial first pitches.

Ichiro Update Autographed Card / Topps

Each box guarantees an autograph or relic card. The box provided for this review yielded a cool 3,000 hits relic card of Roberto Clemente. Additional inserts included Topps Fire, and the Team Franklin set, which not-so-cleverly disguised as advertising for Franklin’s baseball gear.

Topps Fire Insert / Topps

The design follows Topps’ base card pattern for the year, with clear photography and a clean design that adds to the appeal of the set. Set collectors will appreciate the ability to build an entire base set from a hobby box, with the 36 packs making a complete set with a few doubles to trade.

Julio Urias Rookie Debut / Topps

With the ability to pull multiple rookie cards from the likes of Corey Seager, Trevor Story, and Julio Urias, build an entire set from one box, and uncover autographs from some of the top stars in the game, Topps Update only adds to the exciting ending of a legendary season for the baseball annals.

Read More

Clint Conatser recalls how he almost changed the course of the 1948 World Series

Clint Conatser was just 17 years old when he started in the depths of the Cleveland Indians organization in 1939. Some 77 years later, he is only one of two living participants from the last Cleveland World Series championship in 1948. Unfortunately, Conatser didn’t enjoy the fruits of the Indians victory, but the labors of defeat as a member of the National League Champion Boston Braves.

Conatser almost never got to the big stage, as he asked to be put on the voluntarily retired list in 1941 so that he could enlist in World War II. They obliged.

“I wrote Cleveland and I asked them to go to the voluntary retired list,” Conatser said during a 2008 interview from his home in California. “If you went in the service, they had to pay $150 to pick you up. They didn’t pick me up and I’m in the South Pacific getting letters from little towns in Georgia and South Carolina that wanted to give me a contract.”

Clint Conatser as a Boston Brave / Author's Collection

Upon his return home, he started to work out at Manchester Playground in Los Angeles, where he attracted the attention of area scouts. He credited his resurgence to physically maturing during his service time.

“I was better than when I left because I was bigger, stronger, and I had matured,” he said. “I had started when I was 17. I just matured and had control of everything.”

He signed with the Detroit Tigers in 1946 and spent two seasons in their minor league system before the Braves purchased his contract prior to the start of the 1948 campaign. He earned the favor of manager Billy Southworth during spring training and seven years after he voluntarily retired from baseball, he was a big leaguer.

Conatser hit .277 in his 90-game rookie campaign while patrolling the outfield for the National League champs. He made two appearances in the 1948 World Series, starting in Boston’s Game 3 loss, and then pinch hitting in the deciding Game 6. During our 2008 conversation, Conatser’s clearest memory of the World Series was how his bases loaded sacrifice fly was inches from helping to force a potential Game 7.

“In the sixth game of the World Series when I pinch-hit with the bases loaded, I hit a shot and a guy made a great play on it,” he said. “They read the box scores and it said I hit a long fly ball to center field; I didn’t, I hit a shot. If the ball goes in, we win, and come back with [Johnny] Sain the next day. [Lou] Boudreau had taken [Larry] Doby out of center field because he played short like Tris Speaker used to and he put in a guy Thurman Tucker who was a world class sprinter; he could really run. He made a great play and Boudreau said that was the defining play because he put him in for Doby. If the ball goes in, it’s a different story. Every series is like that.”

Read More

A 2016 postseason trip down to the farm with Topps Heritage Minors

With the attention of baseball fans focused on the postseason, Topps takes a trip through the minor leagues with the release of the 2016 Topps Heritage Minor League set. Crafted in the vintage design of the 1967 Topps motif, the stars of tomorrow are given the major league treatment with the look and feel of classics pieces of cardboard.

Headlining the set is Atlanta Braves phenom shortstop and first-overall draft pick, Dansby Swanson. Accompanied by the likes of Red Sox upstarts Andrew Benintendi and Yoan Moncada, as well as Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and Houston Astros rookie sensation Alex Bregman, collectors will find immediate familiarity with the prospects in the 215 card set.

2016 Topps Heritage Minors Yoan Moncada / Topps

Those purchasing the product might notice that Topps reduced the amount of cards per pack to eight cards, one less from last year’s product. The significant difference will put consumers much farther away from a complete base set than last year, with the box provided for this review falling well short of yielding a base set compared to 2015’s product.

2016 Topps Heritage Minors Drew Jackson Autograph

Topps attempts to make amends for the reduced amount of product with on-card autographs. The blue ink on the vintage backgrounds jumps off of the cards, providing an attractive addition for this year’s release. Sticking with the blue theme, Topps also inserted blue parallels numbered to /99, giving fans of the Heritage line even further incentive to make a purchase.

2016 Topps Heritage Minors Jorge Mateo 61 Mint Insert / Topps

The box opened for this review yielded two autographs (including a blue parallel autograph limited to 50), a jumbo coin relic card, a half dozen short prints, ten sticker inserts, and three blue parallels. With a retail price of $50, 2016 Topps Heritage Minors is an entertaining value product, as collectors can hedge their bets on prospects of the future, while looking forward to a box packed with inserts.

Read More

2016 Topps Heritage High Number is a perfect bookend for the collecting season

Topps bookends what is quickly becoming their flagship set with the release of the 2016 Topps Heritage High Number series. This second issue of Topps Heritage features exciting rookies who were excluded from the first set earlier this year, as well as players who changed teams mid-season. This combination of top prospects with players who might have their only on-card appearance with their new team, makes the High Number series a coveted asset in collecting.

The 225-card High Number set features a 200-card base (501-700) with an additional 25 short prints (701-725). Topps gave the short prints an added touch of flair with a slightly brighter color on the card backs, making them even easier to differentiate from their base card counterparts.

2016 Topps Heritage High Numbers Box / Topps

Collectors will enjoy finding the rookies featured in this set are on their own individual cards, as opposed to the first series which had prospects sharing cards together. With the likes of Julio Arias, Lucas Giolito, Aledmys Diaz, Trevor Story, Nomar Mazara, Kenta Maeda, and Seung-Hwan Oh all getting the rookie card treatment, this set has the potential to be one to watch in the future as these players become the superstars of Major League Baseball.

The variety of inserts to chase is enough to keep the product interesting, but not so much to overwhelm the average collector. The box Topps provided for review yielded an image variation, a Chrome parallel, a gum stained back, and three of each of the following series: Now and Then, Award Winners, Clubhouse Combos, and Rookie Performers.

2016 Topps Heritage Inserts / Topps

The collation of the product was excellent. Each pack yielded some type of insert or short printed card. The 24 nine-card packs were just nine cards shy of yielding a complete base set. The box advertised either one relic card or one autographed card as its main hit. This box revealed an autographed card of Hall of Fame pitcher, Phil Niekro.

2016 Topps Heritage Phil Niekro Real One Autograph / Topps

Collectors will enjoy the 2016 Topps Heritage High Number series for both its value and collectability. With boxes priced at $60 that yield almost a complete base set with valued inserts in every pack, fans will have a tough time passing on this release. Whether their attraction to the High Number series is due to nostalgia, or the fun of scoring the next big hit, this product is a win that comes just in time for the World Series.

Read More

2016 Topps Heritage is as close as it comes to a sure bet with baseball

When it comes to a sure thing in baseball cards, nothing comes closer than the Topps Heritage series. Continuing with the trend of merging the current with classic, Topps makes a smash hit with their 2016 Topps Heritage set.

Paying homage to the 1967 Topps card design, this year’s Topps Heritage series is perfectly timed with the start of the spring training season. As the 2016 crop of veterans and rookies take the field with fresh faces and the uniforms of new teams, fans and collectors can get a similar rush of excitement by delving into the 2016 Topps Heritage set.

2016 Topps Heritage Mike Trout Clubhouse Collection / Topps

Staying in line with past Topps Heritage releases, this year’s series will keep collectors busy trying to pursue a master set, with 75 short prints, as well as a myriad of image variations to chase down. The design of the base set also has a fine touch of including dual rookie cards of the top young talent that will impact the major leagues in 2016.

Going past the base set and its variations, there are also Flashback inserts paying tribute to significant happenings of the 1967 season, as well as the classic Then and Now inserts that help to merge the stars of 1967 with 2016.

Each box guarantees either one autograph or one relic card. The autograph checklist for this year’s product is rather strong, featuring Real One single, dual, and triple autographed cards, as well as rare cut autographs of deceased players from the 1967 set. The box provided for this review produced a Mike Trout Clubhouse Collection Relic, highlighting a game used jersey from arguably the top young star in the game.

Whether it is the nostalgic design of the 2016 Topps Heritage set, the many layers of their master set, or the desirability of their autographed inserts, this year’s Topps Heritage set proves that if there is one Topps product that you have to put your money on, it’s this one.

Read More

Jim Zapp, Negro League teammate of Willie Mays, dies at 92

Jim Zapp, a star outfielder for the 1948 Negro American League Champion Birmingham Black Barons, died Friday September 30, 2016 in Harker Heights, Texas. He was 92.

Born April 18, 1924 in Nashville, Tennessee, Zapp attended a Catholic school that lacked a baseball team, so ironically his first real exposure to the game wasn't until he enlisted in the Navy during World War II. Stationed at Pearl Harbor in 1943, Zapp played third base for their Black baseball team. His abilities caught the attention of Edgar “Special Delivery” Jones, a former All-American football player at the University of Pittsburgh who was coaching the white team on the base. Zapp made history when Jones selected him to integrate his team.

Jim Zapp with the Birmingham Black Barons / Author's Collection

After returning to the United States in April 1945, Zapp was stationed in Staten Island, New York. Due to the good fortune of a recommendation from a base teammate, Zapp had his first taste of the Negro Leagues when he joined the Baltimore Elite Giants to play on the weekends. His teammates included Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella, whom Zapp recalled in Neil Lanctot’s “Campy,” the catcher used to, “like to sit on the back wheel” during bus rides.

Zapp played with the Elite Giants through 1946 before returning home briefly as a member of the Nashville Cubs. After one season with the Atlanta Black Crackers in 1947, he joined the Black Barons in 1948 off the strength of a recommendation of a player in the league. It was there in Birmingham in 1948 that things came together for Zapp and his teammates. Buoyed by a squad that included an outstanding double play combination in Piper Davis and Artie Wilson, Zapp provided much needed power to a lineup that included a 17-year-old center fielder by the name of Willie Mays. Zapp was one of many mentors to the talented teenager, and the news of his passing greatly touched the now 85-year-old Hall of Famer.

“Willie took it really hard,” his son James Zapp Jr. said in during a phone call Sunday afternoon. “His secretary e-mailed me yesterday; he’s going to write a letter that he wants read at my dad’s funeral.”

Zapp saved one of his greatest performances for the 1948 playoffs. In Game Three of the Negro American League Series against the Kansas City Monarchs, Zapp hit a game-winning ninth-inning home run to lead the Barons to a 3-2 victory. Unfortunately, he could not carry that magic into the World Series, as the Barons succumbed to the Homestead Grays 4-1 in a best of seven series.

At the close of the season, members of the Barons were invited to barnstorm with the Jackie Robinson All-Stars as well as the Indianapolis Clowns. The Clowns offered Zapp a spot, one which he declined on the basis of a reduced draw. Years later, speaking with author Brent P. Kelley in, “The Negro Leagues Revisited” Zapp lamented about his decision to leave the team.

“I told them to just give me my release,” Zapp said. “That’s probably one of the biggest mistakes I made in my life.”

He came back to Nashville to play semi-pro ball after parting from Birmingham. Not completely done with the game, he went for another round with the Elite Giants for two years from 1950-51 until he was signed into organized ball.

Zapp with the Big Springs Broncs / Author's Collection

Zapp turned heads immediately with his prodigious power while playing for the Class D Paris Lakers, crushing 20 home runs with a .330 batting average in 1952. His continued to terrorize minor league pitching in 1954, setting a Longhorn League record by swatting 32 blasts in only 90 games for the Big Springs Broncs. He played one more season in 1955 with Port Arthur and Big Springs before hanging it up for good.

Zapp stayed involved in sports after finishing his professional baseball career, serving as an athletic director at multiple military bases until his 1982 retirement. He continued to share his knowledge of the game through coaching and umpiring for an additional 20 years. With the Negro Leagues experiencing a resurgence in popularity throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Zapp frequently attended reunions and was honored with multiple baseball cards, including one in 2010 by Topps, as well as his own Hartland statue.

Within the last year, Zapp experienced a renaissance of sorts rarely seen by nonagenarians. In January 2015, Zapp Jr. sent correspondence indicating due to his father’s advancing Alzheimer’s condition, his grim prognosis no longer allowed him to accept fan mail. Amazingly, 18 months later, not only was Zapp alive, but Bill Nowlin reported in a July 2016 National Pastime Museum article, Zapp’s condition had actually improved due to his family stepping in and altering his treatment.

“It’s been a little over a year since I took him off that medication and it worked out great,” Zapp Jr. said. “It got to the point where it was great to come see him because he was back to himself.”

Early in the morning on September 30, 2016, his son received a call from his father’s caregivers that his dad passed away. Sadly, the elder Zapp had premonitions it was soon to be his time to go. 

“He said he wanted to lay down awhile before he had breakfast,” Zapp Jr. said. “They put him back in his bed in his clothes and 20-30 minutes later, he was gone. He made a comment to them the night before that he wasn’t going to be around much longer. He was at peace.”

To be able to have that last year with his father’s improved condition and care meant the world to the Zapp family. They watched in amazement recently as Zapp reconstructed memories 70 years ago about his baseball career.

“He could remember things in the past that I was astonished that he could remember,” Zapp Jr. said. “A great era just came to an end.”

Funeral services will be held at Heritage Funeral Home in Harker Heights at 10AM on October 6, 2016.

Read More

2016 Bowman Chrome gives a fresh look at a September baseball card release

September is one of the most exciting times in the baseball season, as contenders furiously battle for a spot in the playoffs, while second-division teams get a chance to show off their top prospects as rosters expand. Both breathe life into every game of the final season of the month, giving each team the opportunity to write their own final narrative. The release of the 2016 Bowman Chrome baseball card series only adds to the drama of fall baseball, offering collectors the opportunity to chase the prospects that are on the verge of stardom while getting a fresh look at the current stars of the game.

2016 Bowman Chrome / Bowman

Bowman highlights two rising young players on the cover of the 2016 Chrome product, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays and Michael Conforto of the New York Mets. The latter is contributing to the Mets playoff run, while the former had a torrid start to his first minor league season that finished before his 18th birthday. This year’s product came in the form of two mini boxes, each guaranteeing two autographs as part of the 60 cards contained therein.

Unlike its Topps Chrome sister set, Bowman Chrome adds new photos to the players featured in the 2016 Bowman set, while revamping the 100-card condensed base set checklist. A host of new minor leaguers populate the prospects in the set, giving Bowman Chrome a fresh appeal to those who purchased Bowman earlier this year.

2016 Bowman Chrome Kris Bryant Base Card / Bowman

Some fresh eye-catching inserts highlighting the Arizona Fall League All-Stars and an update to the Bowman Scouts Top 100 series allow collectors to find something new to enjoy in this late season release. The box provided for this review yielded one base Chrome Prospect autograph, as well as a green refractor autograph that was limited to a run of 99 cards.

Trayce Thompson Bowman Chrome Green Refractor Autograph / Bowman

While outside of Guerrero Jr. and Gary Sanchez, there aren’t many hot prospects in the set; however, that shouldn’t stop collectors from giving 2016 Bowman Chrome a look. With today’s frontline players captured in new photos on their patented Chrome stock and the chance to catch a sleeper pick in the mix, 2016 Bowman Chrome fits snugly into the theatrics of late season baseball.

Read More

How Vin Scully predicted he would broadcast Fordham Prep classmate Larry Miggins' first MLB home run

With Vin Scully’s incredible 67-year run as a broadcaster for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers coming to an end, one of his more inspirational stories involves his Fordham Prep classmate Larry Miggins. In 1952, Miggins was a reserve outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals and Scully was splitting broadcast duties with the legendary Red Barber. During a 2013 interview with Miggins, he explained to me how the Fordham Prep alumni crossed paths at the major league level in a most unlikely way.

“I was a senior and he was a junior,” Miggins recalled. “We had an assembly for some reason and he ended up sitting right behind me. He grabbed me by the shoulder and said, ‘Larry, you’re going to be in the big leagues and the first time you hit a home run, I’m going to be the announcer to tell the world about it.’ Can you imagine that? He’s 15 years old. I’ll be damned if it didn’t happen.”

Vin Scully / Wikimedia Commons

During the 1952 season, Miggins found sparse playing time behind two Hall of Famers in the Cardinals outfield, Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter. As the Cardinals started a 16-game road trip, manager Eddie Stanky gave Miggins a rare start. His spot in the lineup on May 13, 1952 set the stage for Scully to earn his stripes as a thinly veiled fortune teller.

“I hit the home run off of Preacher Roe and it just so happened that he only had two innings out of the nine innings of the ballgame because Red Barber took them all," Miggins said. "He had the microphone when I hit that home run and told the whole world about what he had told me back in school in 1943.”

Larry Miggins Signed Baseball Card / Baseball-Almanac.com

For many years, Scully’s improbable tale of predicting that he would broadcast his schoolmate’s first major league home run was one that he told at a multitude of speeches he’s given around the country. Of the myriad of rich baseball experience that Scully’s had throughout his career, Miggins pondered why his was chosen.

“I asked him, ‘Why do you tell that story?’” Miggins said. “He said, ‘What am I going to tell these guys? I’ve got a science degree from Fordham. These guys have masters and doctorates, and are highly educated. What can I tell them that will inspire them? I tell them that story for one reason; it puts something out there that you can shoot at. It may not happen, but it can happen. Have something to drive you to excel in your work to do better and have a goal.’ That’s why he tells that story, so you’ll have a goal to do something that’s almost impossible, and when you strive hard enough, it will happen.”

Read More

Comedian Ari Shaffir fulfills childhood dream of being on a Topps baseball card

Thumbing through a pack of 2016 Topps Allen and Ginter baseball cards, the tally of superstars read like a who’s who of baseball. Mike Trout, Clayton Kershaw, Kris Bryant, Ari Shaffir, Albert Pujols … wait whose organization has a top prospect named Shaffir? A quick flip of the card reveals that Shaffir is not in the set for his mammoth home runs or his unhittable curveball, but for his prowess at making people laugh.

2016 Topps Allen and Ginter Ari Shaffir / Topps

Shaffir is a comedian best known for his Comedy Central series, “This is Not Happening.” Continuing with Topps’ efforts to diversify their Allen and Ginter set, Shaffir’s inclusion in the set represents Topps’ eye for highlighting rising stars. After a recent performance at The Stand in New York City, Shaffir sat down to discuss the experience of being immortalized on a baseball card. The opportunity arose from a recommendation by a fellow comedian who was in last year's set.

“Sal Vulcano had one [2015 Topps Allen and Ginter] and he knew some people [at Topps] so he recommended me,” Shaffir said. “They e-mailed me and I thought it would be cool.”

Shaffir performing at The Stand in NYC / N. Diunte

Growing up, Shaffir collected Topps baseball cards. The hallmark of his collection was an iconic card of Hall of Famer George Brett.

"I was into baseball cards," he said. "I always had Topps when I was little. My favorite was a 1975 George Brett rookie card; it was the center of my collection.”

One of Shaffir’s favorite players growing up was Frank Thomas. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that he would be in the same baseball card set as the Hall of Famer, but with the advent of 2016’s Allen and Ginter set, that dream became a reality.

“I was really into Frank Thomas,” he said. “I followed his career all the way up, from being drafted all the way to the Hall of Fame.”

Part of Shaffir’s inclusion in Topps’ set involved him autographing cards, as well as providing event worn memorabilia for limited edition inserts. He went behind the scenes at Topps' iconic headquarters in New York City to meet with their representatives to fulfill his duties for the set.

“I went to the office in Manhattan and signed a bunch [of cards],” he said. “I ended up giving up my shirt that I wore from my [Comedy Central] special. They gave me a Topps shirt too; it was cool.”

Now that Shaffir has an official baseball card, he is receiving major league treatment from fans. When he recently returned from touring, his mailbox was full with unexpected requests to sign his rookie card.

“I’ve been getting people sending me stuff,” he said. “I got back from two months on the road and I had 6-7 letters waiting in my mailbox. I sign them, ‘S--k it, Love Ari.’”

Shaffir welcomed fans to send him his new card to sign. He offered time-tested advice for making a mail request; send return postage.

“My address is up on my website,” he said. “People can send me some as long as there is a self-addressed stamped envelope; otherwise the card’s never coming back.”

Read More

Trying to hit Bob Feller - 'All you saw was a leg, a face, and an arm!'

For any major league hitter, facing Bob Feller was never an easy task. Armed with a fastball that hovered around 100 miles per hour, Feller made even the most dangerous hitters just another notch in his rising strikeout totals.

Philadelphia Athletics shortstop Al Brancato was barely 19 years old when he first squared off against Feller during 1939 spring training. During a visit to the late Brancato's Upper Darby, Pennsylvania home in 2007, he shared just how difficult it was to hit Feller, who was then a grizzled veteran of three major league seasons at the ripe age of 20.

Bob Feller at the 2009 MLBPAA Dinner / N. Diunte

"With Feller you never knew where the ball was going to be," Brancato recalled. "He hid the ball behind his body and all you saw was a leg and an arm coming. His ball moved a lot and he threw very hard; he had everything. ... The first time I faced him, I was on the bench and Mr. Mack called me to pinch hit. I went up, he threw three balls past me and I’m standing like a statue. You saw a leg, a face, and an arm. ... You didn’t see it until the last minute. He hid the ball and you never saw it until the last moment, and then boom!" 

Read More

Ryback's athletic roots trace back to baseball

With his hulking figure manning the third base coach’s box, WWE superstar Ryback appeared to be out of place at MCU Park in Brooklyn; however, the current Intercontinental Champion couldn’t have been more at home than on the baseball field. Ryback, aka Ryan Reeves, played college baseball at the College of Southern Nevada, Washington Nationals star Bryce Harper's alma mater, before a leg injury derailed any hopes for him following in the family trade.

“That was the first real skill I learned sport wise as a kid growing up coming from a baseball family,” Ryback said at MCU Park.

Ryback at MCU Park / N. Diunte

His baseball lineage is traced to his mother’s side, as both his maternal grandfather and uncle played in the major leagues. His grandfather Ebba St. Claire was a catcher for the Boston Braves in the 1950s, and his uncle Randy St. Claire pitched for five major league teams in nine seasons. Ironically there was a family connection for Ryback at MCU Park, as New York Mets Hall of Famer John Franco who was also in attendance, was his uncle’s teammate in 1988 with the Cincinnati Reds.

Ryback was at the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones as part of MCU’s Second Annual Civil Servant / Celebrity Softball Challenge, which benefited WFAN’s morning radio show host Craig Carton’s Tic Toc Stop Foundation. While fans wanted to see Ryback relive his old glory and swing for the fences, his recovery from a recent injury and preparation for Sunday’s SummerSlam limited him strictly to coaching duties.

“Unfortunately with SummerSlam around the corner, just coming back from a serious staph infection, and having shoulder surgery years ago, Sunday is where my focus is at. Coming out today, showing face, and letting all the kids have a good time out here today is all in the name of a good cause.”

*Note - This piece originally ran in August 2015 on Examiner.com

Read More