Sunday, May 5, 2013

Mickey Mantle and Sandy Koufax: Heroes From a Different Time by Peter Reum

In the Fifties and Sixties, before baseball was upended by use of steroids and the Curt Flood case, I found heroes in that sport, and followed them loyally. I was 7, and my Great Aunt Olivia taught me the game, watching it on a small black and white television in remote New Mexico, far from any level of professional play, even class D ball. I sent off to Manny's Baseball Land for a plastic New York Yankees batting helmet, and fell  in love with my mother's friend's sporting goods store, where I had my first job when I was 13.

My dad built a baseball field on the vacant lot next door (with the owner's permission), and we had pick up games every weekend. I saw two or three games a week, learned how to keep score, and life was good. Baseball became an obsession. I became a fan of the Yankees and the Dodgers. The Yankees were in the prime of their Sixties streak, and Maris and Mantle were chasing the Babe's record.

That season, 1961, I think, was an amazing thing to watch. Even though  I was in remote rural New Mexico, it was a thrill to follow. Mickey Mantle was my sentimental favorite to get the record, but Roger Maris got it. I don't remember who won the series that year, but I think it was the Yankees. In 1962, the Dodgers were hot, and Sandy Koufax was on a roll. Sometimes during that year, he became injured and the Giants snuck in ahead of them to enter the Series. I rooted for the Yankees, and they won. As I remember, Mickey Mantle was hurt part of that season.

In 1963, the unthinkable happened....the Dodgers and the Yankees faced off in the Series. The Dodgers were my pick. I listened to their games nightly on clear channel station KFI in Los Angeles, and it was a treat to listen in rural Northern New Mexico. I bet $5 on the Yankees with the money I had with a friend of my dad's, and of course the Dodgers swept the Yankees, and Koufax beat the yankees twice and Drysdale once.

In 1964, my family and I traveled to Southern California to have a vacation. Dodger Stadium was still new, and I got to see a double header with the Cardinals. I got to see 4 Hall of Famers that day. Koufax beat the Cardinals in the first game, and The Cardinals with Bob Gibson beat Drysdale and the Dodgers that afternoon. Lou Brock was there, playing for the Cardinals. If Maury Wills made the Hall of Fame, that would be 5. I can't ever top that afternoon. It doesn't get any better. On the way home, we were in Vegas the same time the Beatles were playing a concert, and the whole town was agog with them.

Sandy Koufax pitched for a few more seasons, and Mickey Mantle played through 1967. They went on with their lives, and Mickey Mantle died of cancer, and Sandy Koufax still coaches in spring training with Dodger pitchers. I joined the Columbia Record Club and became enmeshed with music. I took up the trombone, euphonium, and tuba. I marched in the band, and generally transferred my love of sports into music. My mother discovered my copy of Highway 61 Revisited, and cut off my membership in the Club. I ended up having to buy music myself, which was much more difficult, seeing how my dad paid me 10 cents an hour to dig ditches and prune orchards. There were no child labor laws in our family.

These days, I don't watch baseball. I don't know the stats like I once did, and the Dodgers are still my favorite team, but I don't follow them the same way. My friend David Leaf has brought Mickey Mantle's story to Broadway with the consent of his family.  I wish him every success. Mickey was a hero in a more innocent age. He had his flaws, but to kids across the country, he was The Man, and no one will ever replace him as a hero from my youth.

Copyright 2013 by Peter Reum-All rights reserved


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