OT: MLB HOF becomes even more of a joke

[zappaa]

Thanks for reminding me. BTW, Mickey Mantle was the first to hit a homer in the Astrodome, although it was in an exhibition game.

And the first to laugh his ass off at a fly ball that landed 3 feet from him he never saw.
Mickey before the booze took a hold of him long after he retired, was the funniest, nicest guy of all the Yankees.
What a practical joker he was!

It was really sad for my brothers and I to watch him turn down signing an autograph for our kids when he got older.

 

[retired711]

And the first to laugh his ass off at a fly ball that landed 3 feet from him he never saw.
Mickey before the booze took a hold of him long after he retired, was the funniest, nicest guy of all the Yankees.
What a practical joker he was!

It was really sad for my brothers and I to watch him turn down signing an autograph for our kids when he got older.

I'm sorry to hear that about Mantle. I have heard the same as you say: that while he was a player, he was a great guy. Even Jim Bouton had to remember Mickey laying down towels for Bouton to walk on after Bouton pitched a shutout. Mickey was a god to me when I was growing up. I rooted so hard for him to break Ruth's record in 196, and his many injuries would break my heart.

 

[ponyfoot19]

I'm old enough to remember the days of Bob Cerv, "Bullet' Bob Turley and of course Berra, Mantle Maris et.al. Long before ESPN came along, most of America could only see the Game of the Week on Saturdays, In Northern NJ we were able to watch the Yanks on channel 11 WPIX and the Mets on channel 9 WOR, and most, if not all the games were televised.There was no inter league play, but we could watch Al Kaline.vs the Yanks and Roberto Clemente vs the Mets. Good times. Special times, not many other fans the US had.

 

[retired711]

I'm old enough to remember the days of Bob Cerv, "Bullet' Bob Turley and of course Berra, Mantle Maris et.al. Long before ESPN came along, most of America could only see the Game of the Week on Saturdays, In Northern NJ we were able to watch the Yanks on channel 11 WPIX and the Mets on channel 9 WOR, and most, if not all the games were televised.There was no inter league play, but we could watch Al Kaline.vs the Yanks and Roberto Clemente vs the Mets. Good times. Special times, not many other fans the US had.

I lived in Queens, so I remember the Channel 9/Channel 11 days well. Both teams had excellent announcers for radio and TV. (Rizzuto was not yet a joke in those days.) I think the Game of the Week came along in 1960 or so. Rather than do the NFL thing of dividing revenues evenly, baseball (under the strong influence of the Yankees) divided revenues according to how often the team was shown on TV. At least that's what Bill Veeck said in his autobiography, Veeck as in Wreck. My law firm represented the White Sox when Veeck owned them, so I actually got to have a little contact with him.