WHEN I first heard of Hank Aaron’s passing final weekend, my first thought turned to the place I used to be the second he hit No. 715. Each baseball fan over the age of, say, 55, remembers that evening prefer it was yesterday.
The second thought was a query. Did Aaron ever make it to the celebrated Union Chief Fund Inc. Baseball Dinner?
The day was Wednesday, Jan. 15, 1958. New Hampshire Sunday Information Sports activities Editor Leo E. Cloutier secured commitments from not solely Aaron, however two different future Corridor of Famers in Stan Musial and Al Kaline, to attend the annual mid-winter baseball gala on the State Armory in Manchester.
However wait, there have been extra. Lew Burdette, who three months earlier joined Aaron in main the Milwaukee Braves to the 1957 World Sequence title, over the Yankees, was in attendance. (Extra on Burdette later.). Bob Turley, the successful pitcher in Sport 6 for the Yanks, made it. too.
The visitor checklist continued. Roy Sievers, Jimmy Piersall, Nashua’s Birdie Tebbetts, Joe Garagiola and Johnny Pesky joined the enjoyable. Frank Malzone couldn’t make it, although, blaming dicey street circumstances round his dwelling in Oneonta, N.Y.
Oh, and Ty Cobb made it, too. The Ty Cobb who some suppose could have been the most effective participant of all time. Inducted into the Corridor of Fame in 1936.
“We used each mode of transportation however dogsled,” stated the Georgia Peach after arriving in frigid and snowy Manchester from … Georgia.
Attendance was estimated at 2,500, breaking some type of nationwide document for winter baseball dinners.
Judging by the outdated clips, Aaron, practically 24 years outdated, didn’t say a lot — not less than publicly — on the dinner. Months earlier, he let his bat do the speaking, successful the Nationwide League MVP in his fourth season, then batting .393 with three homers within the Sequence. That evening in Manchester, Aaron stated he was honored to be there, then predicted the Braves would repeat in 1958.
Aaron’s prediction was half proper. The Braves did win the NL pennant once more, however fell to these hated Yanks (and Turley) in Sport 7 of the Sequence.
It’s an excellent wager Aaron was simply as gracious in that defeat as he was the earlier 12 months in victory. His wrists have been highly effective, for certain, however his braveness, energy and kindness have been stated to be simply as highly effective.
“He was greater than a baseball participant,” remembers Epping’s Bob Benoit, 73, who helped Cloutier arrange later baseball dinners and met Aaron at future Baseball Corridor of Fame inductions. “He was second to Jackie Robinson in altering the tradition in baseball.”
Benoit didn’t attend the dinner in ’58. He was solely 11. So, is there anybody on the market who did attend and remembers Aaron? If that’s the case, please be happy to contact me right here at 668-4321, extension 333. I’d love to listen to extra concerning the man.
As promised, right here’s extra about Burdette’s 1957 World Sequence: He gained all three of his begins, going the space in all three, together with seven-hit shutouts in Sport 5 (1-0) and Sport 7 (5-0). He was the Sequence MVP. Duh.
Burdette completed his profession with 203 victories. He’s not within the Corridor of Fame.
So the place was I on April 8, 1974, when Aaron hit his 715th? Nowhere particular, simply within the household room watching the TV.
Oh, however I used to be someplace particular when Aaron, now enjoying for the Milwaukee Brewers, hit his solely Fenway Park homer greater than a 12 months later. It was a Sunday, Sept. 14, 1975, with the Crimson Sox nicely on their solution to the A.L. East crown. I used to be sitting in that little slice of heaven, grandstand Part 33, about 20 ft from the place it landed within the display. (Sure, children, there was a boring outdated metallic display atop the wall the place the Inexperienced Monster seats are actually.)
Aaron’s homer that day was No. 745, his final of the season. His sufferer that day was lefty Invoice Lee. The Spaceman threw some form of breaking pitch and Aaron didn’t miss it, giving the Brew Crew a 5-1 lead.
The Sox got here again to win, 8-6, so it was an amazing day throughout.
Against this, I’ve no reminiscence of the place I used to be when Barry Bonds hit his 756th homer.
We misplaced a good friend and former colleague the opposite day with the passing of Dave Johnson, who was 72. The general public didn’t know Dave, however you knew Dave’s distinctive work because the longtime Sunday Information sports activities editor.
Dave was an amazing journalist who helped to offer informal sports activities readers a product price its appreciable weight and sports activities junkies the scores they craved.
A long-lasting reminiscence will at all times be Dave updating a web page on the eleventh hour to incorporate West Coast outcomes for the ultimate version. The phrase “diligent” didn’t start to explain him.
Vin Sylvia, our former deputy managing editor for information and sports activities, labored intently with Dave and expressed these ideas.
“I’m most likely the one hundredth particular person to say this, however Dave was the proverbial mild big. He might have damaged me in two if he’d chosen — and I’m certain I gave him simply trigger on a number of events in the course of the 20 or so years we labored collectively — however he had a knack for recognizing the great in folks and drawing that out. Dave was extremely smart and really well-informed a few huge array of topics, however what stood out most about him was his empathy. As huge as he was, he was at all times capable of put himself in another person’s footwear.”
Our deepest sympathies exit to Dave’s household, together with his spouse, Leslie.
We go away you with an fascinating notice from final Tuesday’s New York Instances. In line with the Instances, probably the most widespread sports activities for playing as of late is Russian desk tennis.
Evidently when the pandemic first hit and video games have been arduous to seek out, People {dollars} turned to one of many few sports activities nonetheless kicking: semipro Ping-Pong. Months later, the Russian Liga Professional remains to be widespread with the playing populace.
In fact, there’s a New Hampshire angle to only about every thing, and the Instances discovered Nashua’s Nick Webster to element how he tracks gamers and makes his picks. Webster even has a favourite participant, somebody named Aleksey Lobanov.
“Impulsively, I discover myself rooting for Lobanov, I man who I’d by no means heard of in my life, and now he’s like one in every of my favourite athletes,” Webster informed the Instances. “It’s too dangerous I can’t go into a store and get a Lobanov jersey.”
