A TALE OF THREE CITIES: NEW YORK, L.A. AND SAN FRANCISCO IN OCTOBER OF ‘62 (77 page)

Nevertheless, he became a caretaker of baseball
purity. He found the likes of Barry Bonds, with his steroids and an
attitude that made Mantle look like Mother Theresa, to be a stain
on the game.

****

In 2002, with inter-league play now a regular event,
the San Francisco Giants visited Yankee Stadium. With the reigning
single-season record holder, Barry Bonds, the return of the Giants
caused enormous excitement in the Big Apple. At the time, it was
seen as a preview of the World Series (the Giants made it, but New
York was upset by eventual World Champion Anaheim). The games were
total sell-outs, although by this time all Yankee games sold out,
with attendance now topping 4 million per season. Average crowds at
Yankee Stadium are now over 50,000, a virtually unheard-of concept
in 1962, and a testament to the remarkable popularity of baseball
since several teams approach this kind of support. In San
Francisco, the "Giant 68," KNBR, re-played game seven of the 1962
World Series. A large audience tuned in.

In 2007, the Yankees visited AT&T Park in San
Francisco for the 45
^th
anniversary of the '62 World
Series. A ceremony was held including the likes of Ralph Terry as
well as numerous Giants luminaries. Many retrospectives of the
Series were offered, with the
San Francisco Chronicle
running large-scale articles about the Series, its impact on the
Giants and The City.

ESPN Classic and other sports stations have
showed game seven of the 1962 World Series many times, along with
numerous highlight reels. In 2008, the Los Angeles Dodgers honored
their 50
^th
year in Los Angeles by playing a special game
at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. In 2009, the Yankees will
move into a brand new Yankee Stadium.

****

The 1962 season and World Series remain among
the very most exciting in the history of baseball. The year itself
is seen as a touchstone of American culture; like the Declaration
of Independence (1776); Abraham Lincoln's assassination (1865);
Babe Ruth's 60 homers, the Jack Dempsey-Gene Tunney fight, and
Charles Lindbergh's Atlantic crossing (1927), symbolizing the
"Roaring '20s,": the winning of World War II (1945); later winning
the Cold War when the Berlin Wall fell (1989); and 9/11 (2001).

It was the last year of innocence before Jack
Kennedy's assassination, Vietnam, the protest generation, and 1968
assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy; before
Watergate, corruption and political divisiveness that appears
unhealable.

It remains the ultimate in nostalgia; far off
enough to be part of our past, for sure, but modern enough to be
part of our times. It was the "Sunset Strip summer" of Bo Belinsky;
the end of sophistication and elegance that marked both San
Francisco and New York.

For those who lived through it, 1962 was a
year of memory like none other, particularly for Californians and
New Yorkers; the recounting of tales of this magical season, from
March to October, washing "like magic waters" over folks who, again
in the words of James Earl Jones in
Field Of Dreams
, are
perpetually searching for "something good."

The end.

Notes

Introduction: The worship book

Go ahead, take a bite out of the Big
Apple

The cultural divide

The heroes

The elder Cepeda was "a great player, a very intense
player," said Cepeda. Bitker, Steve.

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.
Champaign, IL: Sports Publishing L.L.C., 2001.

Told that it would be his only chance to meet Mays,
Marichal expressed confidence that

"maybe I will get to meet him later." Marichal, Juan
with Charles Einstein.
A Pitcher’s

Story
. New York: Doubleday & Co.,
Inc.,1967.

On the mound, however, Drysdale was surly and
mean, "one of the finest competitors I have ever known," according
to Duke Snider. Travers, Steven.
Dodgers Essential:
Everything

You Need to Know to Be a Real Fan!
Chicago: Triumph Books, 2007.

"Everybody knew about it and they were scared
to death of him," said catcher John Roseboro. Plaut, David.
Chasing October: The Dodgers-Giants Pennant Race of
1962
.

South Bend, IN: Diamond Communications,
1994.

"It's rough batting against him," said
Cincinnati's Frank Robinson.
1963 Official Baseball

Almanac
, edited by Bill Wise.
Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, Inc.

"If you had seen Sandy Koufax the first time I saw
him, you never would have imagined that he would become what he
became - the greatest pitcher I've ever seen and possibly the
greatest ever," recalled Duke Snider of his old teammate. Travers,
Steven.
Dodgers

Essential: Everything You Need to Know to Be a
Real Fan!
Chicago: Triumph Books, 2007.

"He's either awfully good or awfully bad,
just the way I play pool," said Alston. Whittingham, Richard.
Illustrated History of the Dodgers
. Chicago: Triumph Books,
2005.

"He shortened his stride on his front foot,"
said pitching coach Joe Becker.
1963 Official

Baseball Almanac
, edited by Bill
Wise. Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, Inc.

"The first impression you get of Tommy is
that he's too nonchalant and a little lazy," Alston observed of
him.
1963 Official Baseball Almanac
, edited by Bill Wise.
Greenwich, CT:

Fawcett Publications, Inc.

"Tommy was probably the best pure hitter I
ever saw," claimed Dodgers broadcaster Jerry Doggett. Plaut, David.
Chasing October: The Dodgers-Giants Pennant Race of
1962
.

South Bend, Indiana: Diamond Communications,
1994.

Philadelphia manager Gene Mauch said it was
"an education just to watch him" before games; testing his footing,
practicing turns, "like a guy tuning a violin for a concert."

Graham, Jr., Frank.
Great Pennant Races of
the Major Leagues
. New York: Random

House, 1967.

"He gave up three hours every day that he
could have spent with his family," Maury remembered. Plaut, David.
Chasing October: The Dodgers-Giants Pennant Race of
1962
.

South Bend, Indiana: Diamond Communications,
1994.

"Being a line drive hitter, the larger
playing area gave me a better chance to run," said Wills. Plaut,
David.
Chasing October: The Dodgers-Giants Pennant Race of
1962
. South Bend,

Indiana: Diamond Communications, 1994.

The New Rome

Empire

Houk described himself "as corny as Kansas in
August." Houk, Ralph, transcribed and

edited by Charles Dexter.
Ballplayers Are
Human, Too.
New York: G.P. Putnam's Son, 1962.

"I'm glad you're here," Houk said to Ford
when he saw him. Ford, Whitey with Phil Pepe.

Few and Chosen: Defining Yankee Greatness
Across the Eras
. Chicago: Triumph

Books, 2001.

"I always thought records like this belonged
to men such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio," said
Richardson.
1963 Official Baseball Almanac
, edited by Bill
Wise.

Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, Inc.

Tresh's father, Mike, had been a catcher for
the Chicago White Sox, but "Even when I went to a game when my
father was catching, I always dreamed of one day being a Yankee,"
Tresh said during Spring Training.
1963 Official Baseball
Almanac
, edited by Bill Wise.

Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications,
Inc.

"Don't bet too much against us," said Houk.
1963 Official Baseball Almanac
, edited by Bill

Wise. Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications,
Inc.

"With our big sluggers not hitting the homers
the way they did last year, there is no denying that Bobby's steady
hitting, especially with those timely two-baggers, played a
tremendous role in putting us over the top," said Houk. New York
Times
Book of Baseball History
,
The
,

foreword by Red Smith. New York: The
New
York Times
Book Co., 1975.

A midsummer's dream

“Chance was the best pitcher
I ever managed,” Rigney said.
Angels Essential:
Everything

You Need to Know to Be a Real Fan!
Chicago: Triumph Books, 2007.

There's no business like show business

"Jack Benny used to sit with Walter O'Malley
almost every night," recalled general manager Buzzie Bavasi. Plaut,
David.
Chasing October: The Dodgers-Giants Pennant Race
of

1962
. South Bend, IN: Diamond
Communications, 1994.

Los Angeles

"With a year under his belt, Alston became a
better manager," said Duke Snider, who was never president of the
Walt Alston Fan Club. Travers, Steve.
Dodgers Essential:
Everything

You Need to Know to Be a Real Fan!
Chicago: Triumph Books, 2007.

Alston was "a quiet, strong and honest man who never
makes excuses - I have always felt he should have ridden shotgun
through Indian territory in the old days," broadcaster Vin Scully
said of him. Alston, Walter with Jack Tobin.
One Year at a
Time
. Waco, TX: Word,

Inc., 1976.

"I appreciate a good shotgun," Alston said.
Plaut, David.
Chasing October: The Dodgers-

Giants Pennant Race of 1962
. South
Bend, IN: Diamond Communications, 1994.

"I'm one of the lucky ones," said Gilliam in
1969.
From Cobb to Catfish
, edited by John

Kuenster. Chicago: Rand McNally & Co.,
1975.

"He was a little troublemaker, always
fighting," recalled Norm. Plaut, David.
Chasing

October: The Dodgers-Giants Pennant Race
of 1962
. South Bend, IN: Diamond Communications, 1994.

"Two years before I signed, I was still
getting players' autographs," he said. Plaut, David.

Chasing October: The Dodgers-Giants
Pennant Race of 1962
. South Bend, IN: Diamond Communications,
1994.

San Francisco

"Since I had been a kid, the ways I have
used to express myself have been mostly physical . . . I was not
good at expressing my thoughts verbally or on paper," said
Dark.

Plaut, David.
Chasing October: The
Dodgers-Giants Pennant Race of 1962
. South Bend, IN: Diamond
Communications, 1994.

"Felipe was a very classy person, and a good
team ballplayer," said Billy Pierce. Plaut,

David.
Chasing October: The
Dodgers-Giants Pennant Race of 1962
. South Bend, IN: Diamond
Communications, 1994.

"It was really noticeable when we made a trip
back to the Polo Grounds," said Boles. Plaut,

David.
Chasing October: The Dodgers-Giants
Pennant Race of 1962
. South Bend, IN: Diamond Communications,
1994.

Death struggle

"Usually, in the batting cage, guys on the
other teams would come over and exchange ideas,

say hi," Orlando Cepeda said. Plaut, David.
Chasing October: The Dodgers-Giants Pennant Race of 1962
.
South Bend, IN: Diamond Communications, 1994.

"I didn't see how I could ever improve on
that," Wills said of the club record 50 bases he stole in 1960.
Reichler, Joseph.
30 Years of Baseball’s Great Moments
. New
York: Crown

Publishers, 1974.

Beat L.A.!

Meltdown

The Missiles of October

"Kruschev was so cocky and sure of himself because he
believed that President Kennedy indeed was a 'rookie,' I mean has
has 'no experience,' " said former KGB Major General Oleg Kalunin.
In the Face of Evil: Reagan's War in Word and Deed
. Capital
Films I, LLC.

The East-West Fall Classic

"You win the pennant, then you have to go out
the very next day and play the Yankees," said Orlando Cepeda.
Plaut, David.
Chasing October: The Dodgers-Giants Pennant Race
of

1962
. South Bend, IN: Diamond
Communications, 1994.

The brink

Rivals then and now

Carthage is destroyed

The October of their years

“I don’t know that there
were more words written about Bo than anybody else,” Maury Allen
said in 1999, “but he was up there.” Travers, Steven.
"Once
He Was An Angel."

StreetZebra
, 1999.

"He comes closer to being unhittable than any
other pitcher I ever saw," said Frank Shaughnessy, the late
President of the International League, who had seen Christy
Mathewson, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Walter Johnson.
From
Cobb to Catfish
,

edited by John Kuenster. Chicago: Rand
McNally & Co., 1975.

1963 Official Baseball Almanac
, edited
by Bill Wise. Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications,

Inc.

2001 New York Mets Information Guide
.
New York: Mets Media Relations Dept., 2001.

Adell, Ross and Ken Samelson.
Amazing Mets
Trivia
. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade

Publishing, 2004.

Allen, Maury with Bo Belinsky.
Bo:
Pitching and Wooing
. New York: The Dial Press,

1973.

Alston, Walter with Jack Tobin.
One Year
at a Time
. Waco, TX: Word, Inc., 1976.