Last night the Chicago White Sox won the 2005 American League championship, and therefore qualified to play in the World Series for the first time since 1959. The last time the White Sox won a World Series was in 1917, just a few months before I was born, so I missed that one.
I will miss this one too in person. We will be in Ft. Myers Beach, Florida, and I told daughter Martha that no, even if tickets were miraculously found, I wouldn't come back to Chicago. But I strongly encouraged our family to seek tickets, and offered monetary assistance if they succeeded, because for real baseball fans, it can be a most memorable experience. Here are my memories of some World Series games that I attended in person (To get exact dates I referred to the Baseball Register).
10/8/29 Chcago Cubs vs Philadelphia Athletics. I was 11 years old, and my dad took me to the opening game. Connie Mack had two super pitchers, Lefty Grove and George(?) Earnshaw. Which one would pitch the opener? Neither. A lesser light named Howard Ehmke got the call. All he did was strike out 13 Cubs, a World Series record, and he won the game. This series was notable for the 4th game played in Philly. The Cubs had an 8-0 lead going into the last of the 7th inning, when the As scored 10 runs. During that inning Cubs center fielder, Hack Wilson lost two fly balls in the sun. Allegedly one of them hit him on the head. Since there obviously was no TV, I cannot vouch for that. Wilson still owns the season record for RBIs. I think it is 193.
10/1/32 Chicago Cubs vs New York Yankees. Yes, the Babe did point generally toward deep center field before he hit that home run. I'm sure my 14-year-old eyes didn't deceive me. Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth each hit 2 home runs that day, and one of Lou's shots hit the right field foul pole. Obviously, the Cubs lost both the game and the series. I hope dear Uncle Bill Gottlieb was with us that day.
10/9/38 Chicago Cubs vs New York Yankees. This one was in Yankee Stadium. Somebody gave me a ride from Woods Hole to the Bronx, and I was standing in line before dawn to buy a ticket. It wasn't much of a game. I did remember that Cub catcher Ken O'Dea homered, and the Register reportsd that so did Tommy Henrich of the Yankees, who won that series 4 games to zero.
10/8/45 Chicago Cubs vs Detroit Tigers. A very special day. Jean and I came west by train from Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey for terminal leave from the U.S. Army. My parents met us at the train station, and dad, bless his heart, hands me his one ticket for the game and says he'll take care of Jean and any luggage, get yourself to Wrigley Field. The most interesting thing about this game was Cub 3rd-basemen Stanley Hack's game-winning hit in the 12th inning. It was originally called a single plus an error on left fielder Hank Greenberg. But later the scorer reversed and called it a double. Years later Bill Veeck told us he was responsible for the scoring change. He had worked for the Cubs when his father was a team executive, and was responsible for installing a sprinkler system. There was one faulty place in left field, and Hack's ball hit a pipe. He persuaded the scorer that the error was on him, not on Greenberg.
10/3/53 New York Yankees vs Brooklyn Dodgers. I took my friend Gray Larkum to this game, and Bill Veeck of the St. Louis Browns furnished the tickets. The Dodgers won this game but not the series. What I remember best is that Carl Erskine of the Dodgers struck out 14 Yankees, breaking Ehmke's record set 24 years earlier, and I was present for both. (I think Koufax broke this record, but I missed that one.) The game was played in historic Ebbets Field.
10/1, 10/2, and 10/8/59. Chicago White Sox vs Los Angeles Dodgers. During the first game Jean, 5 days prior to giving birth to David, hiked up to our great uppeer deck seats. She now claims that she threatened to give birth right then and there had not the White Sox won. But they did win, and big. Big Klu hit his two home runs, and Early Winn pitched superbly. Game 2, which lives on in my nightmares, featured a long double to left-center field by Al Smith. Sox catcher Sherman Lollar was on first base, and he chugged around the bases like he was wading through a sea of marshmellows. The relay was from left fielder Wally Moon to shortstop Maury Wills to catcher John Rosebore, who was having a beer and smoking a cigar while waiting to tag out Lollar. The 10/8 game was anti-climax. Early Winn just didn't have it this time. The Dodgers won the series, 4 games to 2. I recall that on the morning of the first game I received a phone call from Doug Kramer. "Linda is in labor. What shall I do?"
I sure hope that my kids and grandkids stumble into some tickets. It should be a blast! I will be rooting with you.
A.M.