Share your "vintage" baseball stories

I thought I would start a different type of thread.

I was wondering if any of the Vintage board members had the chance to watch some of the Baseball greats play the game. I would have loved to be at Shea Stadium sitting in the bleachers watching Sandy Koufax pitch. Or the sound of the ball coming off of Mickey Mantles, Ted Williams bat. Or what it felt like opening up the little wax packs from the 50's or 60's and what it felt like to get a card that you needed. Please tell your story to the guys who were born too late! :lol:

The best I can do is Tom Seaver in '67, his rookie year, probably not considered "vintage" but still a great memory. He started against the Reds at Crosley Field. Cincy won 6-3 and the winning pitcher was an outfielder turned pitcher named Mel Queen who had his best year in '67.

I remember an older fan saying that Seaver was supposed to be the Mets best pitcher and he was pretty happy the Reds were beating him. I still have the scorecard.

The best memory of that day was walking into the stadium, it was my first MLB game, and the grass really did seem greener than any I had ever seen.

Great topic!

RC

An older friend of mine tells me a Clemente story, 1969 Pirates at Cubs, Santo lead of an inning w/ a double and the the next hitter hit a long fly to deep right and Clemente snagged it on the run near the right corner of the outfield right where my friend sat and Santo tags up for an easy base and Clemente couple crow hops and nails Santo with the longest hardest throw my friend said he ever saw and Clemente said to the crowd in Spanish "Somebody tell that guy who plays right field for Pirates" A Latin lady told him what he said. He has a lot of other stories he told me too, alot of Milwaukee Braves and Phillies too.

coltsnsox07 said:

An older friend of mine tells me a Clemente story, 1969 Pirates at Cubs, Santo lead of an inning w/ a double and the the next hitter hit a long fly to deep right and Clemente snagged it on the run near the right corner of the outfield right where my friend sat and Santo tags up for an easy base and Clemente couple crow hops and nails Santo with the longest hardest throw my friend said he ever saw and Clemente said to the crowd in Spanish "Somebody tell that guy who plays right field for Pirates" A Latin lady told him what he said. He has a lot of other stories he told me too, alot of Milwaukee Braves and Phillies too.

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My family wasnt wealthy so major league games were a rare thing to us. My dad was a teamster and he was usually able to snag tickets to a Cubs game 1-2 times per year. We would go to the games and see the green grass and ivy of Wrigley as we walked up the steps to the field. One of my most vivid memories as a child was waiting to get into the stadium and hearing the crack of the bat as batting practice was in full swing inside while anxiously awaiting to enter the park..

One of the other vivid memories I have as a kid is being at that game where Clemente threw out a runner from deep in the right field well. I never recalled the runners name but I can still see Clemente winding up and letting go of the ball on a straight line to throw the runner out. As a six year old I was just in awe of the fact that the ball was thrown on a direct line with only a hop or 2 to nail the runner. I remember this game vividly!! Thanks for reminding me of that game!

On a side note, I used to work in the front ofice for the Cubs and had access to the field. One Saturday when the team was out of town I went down to the area in right field where I remember Clemente threw the ball from and I was amazed how far from home plate he really was when he threw that ball. I knew it was a long way but to actually stand there and have the same view he did was just amazing to me. I had a strong arm back in the day but when I tried to re-create that throw I could barely get it to the cut off man!!

The first time I ever saw Clemente was also the first time I ever visited the Astrodome -- July 21, 1970 (I still have the program). During the game, Joe Morgan singled to right and took a wide turn at first. Well, Clemente threw a strike behind him to first. Morgan was trapped off base and tried to go to second, but became an easy out. We were sitting in the second row in center field so we had an excellent view. From that point on, we marveled at Clemente's arm. He made a pretty good throw from right field to third base too that night.

Just an awesome experience.

Bob