Written by Jack Norworth in a matter of a few minutes while commuting on a train in 1908, I imagine he had no idea how well this little song would stick.  Everyone knows the words to the chorus, including most American five-year-olds.  But did you know that the song is about a GIRL!?  Yes.  A second version was written by Norworth in 1927, but even after changing the girl’s name from Katie Casey to Nelly Kelly, it’s still about a girl who doesn’t want to go to Coney Island or any show.  She wants to be taken “out to the ballgame.” She knows the player’s names.  She’s their best cheerleader.  She’s a consummate baseball junkie… like me.

Here’s a LINK to both sets of lyrics, courtesy of Baseball Almanac.  And for you Yankee lovers here is a LINK  to an Ed Sullivan show in 1958 in which Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Micky Mantle, and Bill Skowron sing the chorus to this anthem while Jack Norworth shows some of his Vaudeville moxie by singing along.  This is classic footage all true baseball fans should not miss, and I am grateful to Youtube and their users, otherwise I might never have seen this.

Play ball.

Gary Carter (04-08-1954 – 02-16-2012)   Nicknamed “The kid”  A local Southern California kid.  He was born in Culver City, CA.   I saw him play with the Montreal Expos.   He played for the Dodgers in 1991.

Ed Stevens (01-12-1925 – 07-12-2012)  Played for the Dodgers 1945-1947)

From the New York Times:

Ed Stevens played first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1946, hitting 10 home runs and driving in 60 runs, and he came to spring training the following year expecting to be one of the key figures in the lineup.

“I had no animosity toward Jackie,” Stevens wrote in his memoir, “The Other Side of the Jackie Robinson Story” (2009). “Branch Rickey was my object of anger.

Ed was a coach for the Padres in 1981.

Bill Skowron (12-31-1933  to 4/27/2012)  The Yankees first baseman from 1955 to 1962.  A World Series hero for the Yankees in 1958, came to the Dodgers in 1963 but he was not the slugger he was with the Yankees.  Still the Dodgers won the World Series in 1963.   He finished his career with a .282 average, 211 homers and 888 RBI.

Ken Rowe.  Born December 31, 1933.  Died November 22,2012.  Ken Rowe played three seasons in the Major Leagues and worked in the Indians’ player development system for more than two decades.

Rowe made 26 career big league appearances from 1963-65, posting a 3.57 ERA in 45 1/3 innings. In all, Rowe coached for 35 years in the Appalachian League, Northern League, Minors and Majors.

Rowe spent over 50 years in the game of baseball. He pitched professionally for 15 seasons from 1953-1968 and spent time with the World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers in 1963 and the Baltimore Orioles in 1964 and 1965. In 1964 while with the Dodger’s Triple-A affiliate, he pitched in a then-record 94 games, finishing with a record of 17-11 as a relief. He missed the 1957 season while serving in the United States Army.

Boyd Bartley (02-11-1920 to 12-21-2012)   He was 92.  See my post on Boyd Bartley here: http://crzblue.mlblogs.com/2012/12/23/rest-in-peace-boyd-bartley/

You have gone to the Big Dodger in the Sky Boys of Summer but you are not forgotten.  Rest in peace.

I compared all 76 major league players passed away in 2012 to double check who was a Dodger.    From Howie Koplitz that passed away on 01/02/2012 to Ryan Freel on 12/22/2012.  In alphabetical order from Herb Adams to Eddie Yost.  From Frank Pastore who was killed very close to my house, two exits away on the 210 freeway.  Mr. Pastore was riding his motorcycle on his way home from work.

There were four that passed away  outside of the United States:  Jack Pierce in Monterey, Mexico; John Kralick in Sinaloa, Mexico; Roberto Rodriguez in Maracay, Venezuela and Pascual Perez in the Dominican Republic.

Hope you all are playing a good game up there.  Rest in peace.

ref:  New York Times, Examiner.com LA Times, Basebal-reference, Deadball era, baseball almanac and my handy Dodger 2012 guide.

1954 Topps Bill “Moose” Skowron rookie card

]]> http://campaignoutsider.com/2012/04/28/remembering-moose-skowron/ Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:38:06 +0000 Campaign Outsider http://campaignoutsider.com/2012/04/28/remembering-moose-skowron/ Growing up in New York in the ’50s and ’60s, I loved the Yankees – all of them – and especially the ones at the corners: the sharp-fielding Clete Boyer at 3rd and the power-hitting Moose Skowron at 1st.

Boyer died in 2007. Skowron died yesterday.

From the New York Times obit (shown in photo with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Roy Camapanella):

Bill Skowron, the slugging first baseman who played on seven pennant-winning teams with the Yankees in the 1950s and early ’60s, died on Friday in Arlington Heights, Ill. He was 81.

His death, at a hospital, resulted from congestive heart failure, although he had recently been treated for cancer, his son Greg said.

Known for a scowl and a muscular frame that presumably intimidated opposing pitchers, Skowron hit 211 home runs in 14 major league seasons and batted .300 five times as a Yankee.

Two things I learned from the obit.

1) How Skowron got his nickname:

“When I was about 8 years old living in Chicago, my grandfather gave all the haircuts to his grandchildren,” Skowron told John Tullius for the oral history “I’d Rather Be a Yankee.” “He shaved off all my hair. I was completely bald. When I got outside, all the older fellows around the neighborhood started calling me Mussolini. At that time, he was the dictator of Italy. So after that, in grammar school, high school and college, everybody called me Moose.”

2) What I thought at the time was revenge for Skowron actually turned out to be torture for him:

In 1963, after being traded by the Yankees to the Dodgers, he hit .385 with a home run in Los Angeles’s four-game World Series sweep of the Yankees . . .

“Twelve years I was with New York, three in the minors, nine in the majors [he said in “Bombers: An Oral History of the New York Yankees”]. I loved those guys and it killed me to beat them. My uniform might have said Los Angeles, but in my heart I was always a Yankee.”

In my heart too. Rest in peace, Moose.

1954 Topps Bill Skowron Rookie Card

]]> http://connecticut.cbslocal.com/2012/04/27/goodbye-moose/ Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:49:58 +0000 WTIC News http://connecticut.cbslocal.com/2012/04/27/goodbye-moose/ By RONALD BLUM   AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP) _ Moose Skowron, a five-time World Series champion
and one of only two players to hit three home runs in Game 7s, died
Friday of congestive heart failure at Northwest Community Hospital
in Arlington Heights, Ill. He was 81.

Skowron helped the New York Yankees win four titles in the 1950s
and 1960s.
“There weren’t many better guys than Moose,” said former
teammate Yogi Berra, the only other player with three Game 7 homers
in the Series. “He was a dear friend and a great team man. A darn
good ballplayer, too.”

Skowron became a star first baseman with the Yankees and went on
to appear in eight All-Star games over six seasons.
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig called him “an integral part of
the wonderful Yankee teams of Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.”
“He was a wonderful storyteller and an important link to a
great era in baseball history,” Selig said.

After Skowron’s playing career he returned to Chicago, where he
was born and had worked for the White Sox since 1999 in the team’s
community relations department, making appearances.
“We all have lost a dear, dear friend today,” White Sox owner
Jerry Reinsdorf said. “While Moose may have become a star in New
York with the Yankees, he was a Chicagoan through and through. I
certainly will miss his priceless stories about Casey Stengel,
Roger Maris, Hank Bauer and of course, his good friend, Mickey
Mantle. … My guess is that right now Mickey, Roger, Hank and
Moose are enjoying a good laugh together.”

Skowron played for the Yankees from 1954-62, then won a fifth
title with Los Angeles in the first season after he was dealt to
the Dodgers for Stan Williams. He hit .282 in 14 major league
seasons with 211 home runs and 888 RBIs, also spending time with
the expansion Washington Senators (1964), the White Sox (1964-67)
and the California Angels (1967). He was an All-Star from 1957-61,
appearing in both games in 1959 and 1960, then was picked one final
time in 1965.

He was beloved by Yankees fans for his clutch performances in
three World Series Game 7s. He hit a seventh-inning grand slam off
Roger Craig in a 9-0 win over Brooklyn in 1956, and a three-run
homer against Lew Burdette in the eighth inning of a 6-2 win over
Milwaukee in 1958. He also had a leadoff drive in the fifth inning
off Vernon Law in 1960, when the Yankees overcame a four-run
deficit at Pittsburgh to take a 7-4 lead only to lose 10-9.

Skowron had a .293 World Series average with eight homers and 29
RBIs in 39 games.

Born William Joseph Skowron on Chicago’s North Side, he said he
was given the nickname Moose when he was 7 after his grandfather
gave him a haircut that caused friends to call him “Mussolini” _
after the Italian fascist leader. The nickname was shortened to
Moose.

After attending Weber High School, Skowron went to Purdue on a
football scholarship and signed with the Yankees.

He hit .304 or better in each of his first four major league
seasons and five times overall. He topped 20 homers four times but
never reached 100 RBIs, getting a high of 91 in 1960.
“Moose could really hit the baseball _ especially home runs to
right field,” former roommate Bob Turley said. “I was glad Moose
was on my team because he always wanted to win.”
In addition to his Game 7 feats, Skowron had an RBI single in
the 10th inning of Game 6 in 1958 that gave the Yankees a two-run
lead and they held on to beat the Braves 4-3.
“Moose will always be remembered as being one of the key
members of the Yankees’ dynasties in the 50′s and early 60′s,”
Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said. “He was a
winner in every sense of the word, and someone the Yankees family
cared deeply for.”

He is survived by wife Lorraine (nicknamed Cookie), daughter
Lynnette, sons Greg and Steve, brother Edward and four
grandchildtren. Funeral arrangements were pending.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

(1930-2012)

wikipedia

In a statement on their website today, the Chicago White Sox have announced that they will retire Frank Thomas’ number. Thomas played for the White Sox from 1990 to 2005 and is regarded as not only one of the best players in White Sox history, but also one of the best hitters of a generation.

[photogallerylink id=26169 align=left]In addition to Thomas having his number retired, he will also be rejoining the organization as a team ambassador. Thomas will join the team’s speaking bureau which is already comprised of Carlton Fisk, Minnie Minoso, Ron Kittle, Bill Melton and Bill Skowron.The ceremony to retire The Big Hurt’s number will take place on August 29th on “Frank Thomas Day” at U.S. Cellular Field. Thomas’ number 35 will become the tenth number retired by the White Sox; the other nine being Nellie Fox (2), Harold Baines (3), Luke Appling (4), Minoso (9), Luis Aparicio (11), Ted Lyons (16), Billy Pierce (19), Jackie Robinson (42) and Fisk (72).

I did go to the Wellness Center last night and hit the treadmill for 35 minutes, walking 1.75 miles and burning 401 calories.  I was back in action again at 8:30 a.m., again on the treadmill, and again walking 35 minutes.  This workout was a little harder, as I walked 1.80 miles and burned 432 calories.  That made 70 minutes and 3.55 miles walked, and 833 calories burned in just 15 ½ hours.  I’ll take that.  I won’t run with it, not on these knees, but I’ve started feeling in that slate, and will try for no more false starts.

About baseball-something I haven’t mentioned for awhile, I am reading the book “Glory of Their Times,” originally published in 1966.  I seem to be fascinated with early 19^th century baseball the past year.  Or maybe reading about the glory days of baseball is part of my nostalgia for the sport.  I do know that I would love to do a book similar to “Glory of Their Times,” only using 50’s and 60’s players.

To me those decades were the last of baseball “innocence,” where even stars took off-season jobs to help pay their bills.  My idea is a chapter each on about 20 major leaguers of that era, not the super stars like Mays or Mantle, but solid everyday players like Bill Skowron or Harvey Kuehn or Bob Cerv, and pitchers like Harvey Haddix. Throw in photos of their Topps baseball cards, and make it not just about their baseball careers, but also what they have done since they stopped playing baseball.  Maybe where have you gone Moose Skowron isn’t quite as lyrical as “where have you gone Joe Dimaggio,” but a lot of male baby boomers would like to know.

Well, off to part two of my work out, mowing my lawn.