WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. October 25, 2003 UPDATED WITH ACTION FOTS October 26, 12:00 A.M.: Ryan Smalls executed two clutch runs on 1st Down and a do or die 3rd and 11 reception and run for a first down for the Tigers in the third quarter today, after personally recovering a fumble to set up Spencer Ridenhour for the tying touchdown at Parker bowl. Pablo Siaba drilled the uprights in the golden autumn shadows for the Point After Touchdown to give the Tigers a 7-6 victory over Gorton in a quarterfinal Sectional Bowl game. White Plains will play the winner of North Rockland-Ramapo next Saturday afternoon at the football shrine in the Highlands.

JUST LIKE JIM BROWN: Ryan Smalls (32) closing in on the Gorton 17 yard line after rumbling 20 yards for a first down around the end, after a great block by Evan McGuire. The play put the trailing Tigers in business inside the Gorton 20 for the first time all afternoon. Photo by WPCNR Sports.

The Tigers in their toughest game since their opener, stopped Gorton on a goal line stand in the first half and stalled two Gorton drives in the 4th quarter. Ridenhour contained brilliantly by Gorton all the long autumn afternoon, ran for two first downs on 3rd and 7 situations with 4 minutes and 2 minutes to go deep in White Plains territory to run out the clock. Evan McGuire, John Corretti, Smalls, Jason Indelicato, Gary Morello, all played outstanding defense for the Tigers to keep Gorton at bay and give the Tigers a chance to come back. The Tigers won their 11th straight football game, and improved their record to 8-0.

No team contained the Tigers as well this season as Gorton did Saturday, other than New Rochelle. The Wolves ran 36 plays to White Plains’ 15 plays in the first half, moving the ball and enjoying advantageous field positions thanks to fast-moving receivers and fleet running backs able to get outside on the Tiger cornerbacks. 

 

White Plains had big time trouble stopping the over the middle pass for 8 to 10-yardage throughout the game. Coach Anthony Sardo of Gorton has to be commended on the most imaginative offense the Tigers have seen this season.

 

Conversely, the Tigers defense  made two goal line stands in the first half, bent but did not break until the last play of the first half.

 

In the first quarter, the Tigers knew it was going to be a rugged afternoon, when after the Tigers stopped Gorton on their first series (thanks to a holding penalty on the Wolves), the Tigers themselves were stopped on three and out on three running plays.  Jason Indelicato punted 36 yards to the Gorton 24, and again went three-and-out. So far, so good.  Then things went bad.

 

Strip Puts Orange and Black in Hole. Tigers Make a Stand.

 

After the Gorts punted, on White Plains’ first play from their own 39, The Wolves stripped Spencer Ridenhour of the ball and recovered on the Tiger 43.

 

On second down, Gorton got a fine run around left end, with Michael Lane saving a touchdown by corralling him at the 26. Ryan Smalls and Evan McGuire sacked Gorton’s QB Billy Gomes back at the 32, and on  4^th and 7, a quick pass over the middle Gomes to fullback Denzil Foster carried for a first down on the Tiger 11.  Two runs by Foster moved the ball to the 4. On third down Ryan Smalls sacked QB Gomes going back to pass, a huge play. On 4^th down, Gomes pass fell incomplete harmlessly in the flat. The Tigers had made a huge stand as the First Quarter ended, 0-0, dealing with a first and 10 at their own 6. They were able to make their out to the 12 as the second quarter began, but now Jason Indelicato had to punt into the 10-knot crosswind from the southwest end of the bowl.

 

Second Quarter Same as the First.

 

Jason was only able to muster a 25 yard punt and the Wolves took over at the Tiger 37, another test for the White Plains “D.”

 

Gorton got a first down on two dive plays at the 25 and a 4^th and running play was turned aside at the 17. A second scoring opportunity was snuffed, and again the Tigers could not move the ball out, and Jason Indelicato punting into the wind again shanked it off the side of his foot for a 17 yard punt from scrimmage, allowing Gorton to take over again at the White Plains 40.

 

Gorton was in business again. A holding penalty set them back to the 44, and they were again forced to punt.  Gorton’s punter failed to find coffin corner and White Plains had the ball at the 20 with about 4 minutes left in the half. On second and 6 at the 20, Mike Devere fumbled on the exchange and a Wolf pounced on the football, giving Gorton their third scoring opportunity of the first half.

 

 

On 3^rd and 7 from the 20, Gomes hit one of his receivers over the middle for a first down on the Tiger 11. Three running plays failed to get the ball in, then on 4^th down and goal on the 5 with 23 seconds remaining in the half, Gomes from the deep pocket, rolled slightly to his left, freezing the pass defense in the end zone, then threw across to his left to Denzil Foster tip toeing along the goal line to the endzone pontoon. Foster made a great reception turning to his left and around to catch the ball waist high then taking a long flat angle to the goal line at the left end zone pontoon.

 

As a Tiger came up to make the tackle to keep Foster out of the end zone, Foster cleverly thrust the hog  over the goal line for a TD, right in front of the White Plains High School Marching Band which did not make a play on him.

 

It was 6-0 Wolves with seconds to go in the half. The Point After Touchdown was wide left.

 

AT HALFTIME, THE WHITE PLAINS MARCHING BAND CHEERED UP THE PALMER STADIUM GLOOM: Gorton had to be pumped. They had taken away the vaunted White Plains running game, bottled them up in their own territory. But, significantly, the Tiger Defense had stopped the Wolves on 2 of 3 scoring opportunities, retaining their poise. White Plains did not make a first down in the First Half, having possession of the ball just  5 times. Photo by WPCNR Sports.

 

A False Start.

 

The Tigers took the kickoff in the second half, and Gorton’s big massed line continued to hang tough. After Mike Lane returned the KO 23 yards to the Orange and Black 29, Mike Lane ran for the first WP First down of the afternoon on the 40. The 400 fans in the Parke bowl were coming alive. But a motion penalty stalled the drive (one of the Tigers’ few penalties for this all season).

 

Two Devere darts to Paul Scotman were incomplete although a Gorton defender was on Scotman’s back as he went up for the ball on the second pass at the 50. A pass to Evan McGuire just missed and once again Jason Indelicato was called on to punt. A penalty pushed the punt back to the 25 yard line.

 

This time a low snap forced Indelicato to punt poorly again and Gorton had a first and 10 on the 50 yard line. The Grandstand Offensive Coordinators were grim. There were 9 minutes and 30 seconds to go, and Gorton had the Tigers where they wanted them: good field position and they had been moving the ball well.

 

The Hit and the Break.

 

On first down from midfield, the Gorton (moving South to North) call goes to Curtis Norman who takes the handoff and moves to the near sideline right at the Tiger bench, is about to turn the corner and Evan McGuire surging from left defensive end, (unblocked), hits Norman solidly in the small of his back with a sharp “CRUNCH” of pads on pads that is heard all the way up to the Press Box and the football pops loose! It is LOOSE!

 

It comes right to Ryan Smalls who says“Come to me, baby” seizes it clean, hugs it, cradles, loves it in the fetal position. It is a huge break.

 

The Drive.

 

Rocked by the turn of fortune, Gorton is disheartened. Emboldened, the Tiger line reaches back for that little something extra and springs Spencer Ridenhour for 7 yards off tackle to the 43.

 

It is Ridenhour again for 1. Then Ridenhour again off-tackle seeing daylight for the first time all day, he gets a first down on the Wolves’ 37.

 

 

BIG PLAY MAN: Ryan Smalls, the 3 of his “32” obscured by the linesman, runs over the last Wolf between him and a first down at the 17. Photo by WPCNR Sports

 

First and 10 on the 37, the call for Ryan Smalls, crosses Gorton up they are expected another up-the-middle job, and as Number 32 turns into the flat, Evan McGuire throws a huge clean block and Smalls, who seems to get bigger as he runs, is off on a diagonal dash running over  a tackler to the Gorton 17. White Plains had only achieved its third first down of the day.

 

Gorton  calls a timeout. They regroup. This was to cost them late in the 4^th quarter.

 

The Grab.

 

A run by Spencer gains 3. Then a handoff to Ryan Smalls is stopped in the backfield for a 5 yard loss. It is 3^rd and 12 from the 19.

 

Devere who had not completed a pass all afternoon, dropped back rolled slightly right and zinged a missile to Ryan Smalls at the 10 in the flat. He turned, took it waist high and rumbled ominously for the first down stick.  He was actually caught at the 7 but dragged two Wolves with him to the 6 for a clutch first down.

 

THE EQUALIZER: It is First and goal from  the 6, and the handoff goes to Ridenhour, off-tackle the line scatters the Wolves like a litter and Ridenhour, untouched runs to the sunset, high steps in joy into paydirt for his 52^nd touchdown of his White Plains career. It is 6-6. Arms are thrown skyward in the stands. Michael Della Posta (51) and Gabriel Robles(72) exult after having opened up a Holland Tunnell in the Wolf line. Photo by WPCNR Sports

 

 

THE NEW TOE DOES IT AGAIN:  Next comes Pablo Siaba for the crucial Point After Touchdown. The stands grow silent. The snap comes back, and Pablo “Gogolaks” it slightly left of center but it is GOOD. It is GOOD. White Plains leads 7-6 with  5:28 to go in the Third Quarter. He is shown picking up the kicking tee. The ball has gone through the uprights landing slightly ahead of the second School Bus in from the right. Photo by WPCNR Sports

 

White Plains had cashed in a huge break for a touchdown, going 50 yards in 9 plays, gaining only their 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th first downs of the game.

 

Gorton Is Stopped 5 Times in the Last 18 Minutes

 

It was now up to the defense. They were their 5 times with what it takes.

 

Gorton got to the Tiger 46 and were stopped on a sack for the first stop. White Plains could only move the ball to the 35 and were forced to punt.

 

Gorton got the ball at their own 45, and two plays later the third quarter ended, 7-6, White Plains.

 

On third and 18 on the Wolf 48, Gomes eluded a Tiger sacker and dashed cross field to the Tiger 41, only to have the drive stalled by another crucial holding penalty on first down. Evan McGuire stopped  a 3^rd down play, and Gorton was forced to punt driving White Plains back to their 22 yard line with the kick.

 

52 yard Punt

 

Two runs and a pass failed and, standing on his own 10, Jason Indelicato had a big punt to make.

 

He lofted it and the Gorton single deep back at his own 40, misplayed it, letting it get behind him and it rolled and rolled to the Wolf  23 yard line, it was a 52 yarder from scrimmage, 62 yards from the point where toe met ball.

 

Gorton was not done. On 3^rd and 6 from the Gorton 42, another pesky 14 yard strike over the middle gave the Wolves a last shot at the White Plains 45 with 6:13 to go in the game.

 

The Prosecutor to the Rescue

 

Ryan Smalls and Jason Indelicato stopped the first plunge by fullback Foster. Then on 2^nd and 11, Ryan Smalls and Michael Della Posta lined up Gomes in their sites, Smalls “The Prosecutor” grabbing him first, and Della Posta finishing him off for a sack at the Gorton 48, a 9-yard loss.

 

It was 3^rd and 18. Gomes was looking over the middle, felt John Corretti coming on in from his left. Gomes hurried the pass and it fell incomplete. Gorton was again forced to punt.

 

Ridenhour Delivers Two Clutch 3^rd down conversions.

 

 

White Plains put itself in a hole with a clip on the return, and took it over on their 10 with 4:19 to go in the game.  Smalls took it for a yard to the 11. Ridenhour ran for 3 to the 14. This was a very fragile point in the game. A fumble, a botched handoff, a poor punt could put Gorton back in the game fast.

 

 

PLOWING FOR A FIRST DOWN: On third and 7 on the 13, the Tiger line pulled together, opened it up for Ridenhour and he extended himself to the 21 for a first down by inches, taking a pack of Wolves on his back. It is the second time Ridenhour has shown he has what it takes in crucial 3^rd down conversions this season. Now there were 2 minutes and 30 seconds to go in the game. Photo by WPCNR Sports

Mr. Big Time: Spencer Ridenhour, arm held high, being congratulated by Evan McGuire (13) and Mike Della Posta who cleared the hole for Spencer to secure the crucial 3rd and 7 conversion at the White Plains 31. It clinched the game with about a minute to go. Photo by WPCNR Sports.

 

The call went to Ridenhour on first down, and he got 2 yards to the 22. Ryan Smalls got 1 yard to the 22. On third and 7, the give went to Ridenhour. The same off tackle play with superb clearout by the Tiger line springing Spencer whose fast dash got another big time first down on the 31. The measurement was good by a foot.

 

Devere took a knee three times and Gorton had run out of time.

 

 

One for the Gipper:

 

It was the kind of win to remember. White Plains made big plays when they had to and came back against a team that had handled them most of the game.

 

There were a lot of heroes, and a lot of bright stars to look to the future to. Shawn Jimison at end, got open deftly on two passes, made a key stop to save a touchdown and he will catch those next year. Mike Lane, fearless on punt returns, and relentless on pursuit is another. Paul Scotman has shown a talent for getting open on those routes, too.

 

Meanwhile the Tigers are going to be working on North Rockland next Saturday afternoon at Parker Stadium in the Sectional  Semi-Final. Both teams are undefeated. Come on out. It should a good one.

 

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. October 24, 2003: Danielle McGuinn, a resident of White Plains, missing since October 1, when her car was found abandoned on the New Jersey Turnpike, was located early Friday morning by the Boulder Colorado Police investigating  a  group of youths for a noise complaint, it was announced today by the White Plains Department of Public Safety.

Danielle McGuinn Is Safe and Sound. Photo by White Plains Department of Public Safety.

In a press conference this morning, Commissioner of Public Safety Dr. Frank Straub said Ms. McGuinn was found in good physical health, had spoken with her mother, who was expected to travel to Boulder to reunite with her daughter. Dr. Straub would not comment on how Ms. McGuinn made her way to Colorado, after having abandoned her vehicle, but said White Plains detectives had interviewed Ms. McGuinn, and said there was no evidence of foul play involved.

 

Dr. Frank Straub Commissioner of Public Safety delivers the good news. Captain Ann Fitzsimmons is at right, Mayor Joseph Delfino, left. Photo by WPCNR News.

Straub said McGuinn was identified when Boulder, (Colorado), Police Officers Richert and Burke in dealing with young persons causing a distrubance, asked for their identification. The missing woman gave her name as Danielle McGuinn, and the officers ran a National Crime Information Center check  (The NCIC is a national criminal justice network that contains records on stolen property, license plates, guns, securities, boats and serialized articles; persons for whom arrest warrants are outstanding, unidentified persons and missing persons meeting certain criteria, and criminal histories of persons arrested for serious offenses.)

The Commissioner said Ms. McGuinn was taken to Boulder Community Hospital for a routine check, and White Plains Police notified Mrs. Lynn McGuinn at 5 A.M. to tell her that her daughter was safe and well. Straub reported the mother had spoken to her daughter and was making arrangements to meet up with her daughter in Boulder.

Straub commended Captain Ann Fitzsimmons for leading the White Plains Police effort to find Ms. McGuinn, which he said consisted of interviewing 50 of her friends. Detectives in charge of the search and investigation for the White Plains Police Department were Detectives Todd Moskallik and Detective Richard Lee. They also interviewed professors and students at Iona College, family members, hospitals, shelters and used computer technology including cell phone information and e-mail use to find her whereabouts. This fact-finding effort led White Plains Police to believe she was in Colorado based on two e-mails they discovered that were sent by Ms. McGuinn since October 1.

She sent an e-mail to wish a friend happy birthday on October 17, from the town of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, the first indication that she was alive. Then police were made aware of another e-mail sent from Carbondale, Colorado, by Ms. McGuinn to another friend. The White Plains Police began working with Glenwood Springs and Carbondale police at that time. Colorado authorities as a result of the White Plains Police effort were made aware that Danielle could be in their state. This effort paid off with the discovery of Ms. McGuinn Friday morning.

In response to reporters’ questions, Dr. Straub gave no reason for Danielle’s apparent flight, or how she traveled from the New Jersey Turnpike where her car was found to the Colorado area. Asked if her emotional state at the time of disappearance was a factor, Straub said, “We have talked to her. There are no details now. There was a lot of emotion.”

He allowed there may have been “a myriad of reasons” for her disappearance, saying police would be talking to her in more detail. He did say “she went out (to Colorado) on her own. We’re not 100% sure what her motivation was. She had been out to Colorado before. We believe she had a couple of friends out there, staying in 2 or 3 different places. We have some ideas how she got out there.”

The WABC-TV correspondent questioned if the 24 hour, 7 day a week effort to find Ms. McGuinn was taking the police effort off other matters, and whether the police were investing too much effort and if the police resented the young woman’s apparent running away.

 Straub appeared dumbfounded by the question for a moment, then responded,

“This is what Police work is about. A distraught mother called us and asked us to help find her daughter. Our job is to help members of the community.”

 

 

 

 

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WPCNR CITY HALL DISPATCH REPORTER. By John F. Bailey. October 23, 2003 UPDATED 5:15 P.M. E.D.T.: Mayor Joseph Delfino announced today that he and Herbert Pardes, Chief Executive Officer of New York Presbyterian Hospital have personally reached a “handshake” agreement in principle that will furnish 55 acres of parkland on the New York Presbyterian Hospital Site for the people of White Plains to use as a public park.

“A GREAT DAY:” Mayor Joseph Delfino of White Plains proudly announcing the historic Pardes-Delfino plan to bring 55 acres of parkland, running the length of Bryant Avenue, West to East, and from Bryant Avenue at Mamaroneck Avenue North to the entrance of the Hospital on Maple Avenue. Photo by WPCNR News.

The 55 acres would be leased to the city for “no cost” over a longterm, in exchange for the city rezoning the north end of the hospital property along Westchester Avenue as commerical medical.

Mayor Delfino announced the agreement Thursday afternoon, saying it was “a great day.” He said he and Mr. Pardis had been meeting 1-on-1 for many months, at least 15 meetings since the Common Council had approved the biomedical-proton accelerator facility on the driving range sector of the hospital property in July, 2002.

City Gets Park. Hospital Can Consider Corporate Partners.

The Mayor said the mutual agreement that Dr. Pardes and Mr. Delfino have forged allows the hospital through the commercial medical zoning piece to “partner with the corporate sector to create approximately 720,000 square feet of commercial medical research facilities.”

George Gretsas, the Mayor’s Executive Officer, said the 720,000 square feet would be built out following the procedures required of any building proposal the hospital would suggest, building by building, and not all at once. Gretsas said he had no knowledge at this time of hospital plans for usage of the northend piece of the property.

Jim Benerofe, of SuburbanStreet.com, queried by WPCNR, said 720,000 square feet is roughly the size of Westchester One at 44 South Broadway, or, he said, would work out to three 6-story buildings.

Bryant Corridor, Western glen, “Bloomingale Pond” Go to City.

The Mayor added the Delfino-Pardes Plan “guarantees” no development would take place along the Bryant Avenue corridor, preserving it for a park. The Mayor said the park would include the portion of property including a pond that is between the Bloomingdale’s site and the Bloomingdale Road entrance to the hospital.

The parkland to be leased “at no cost to the city” is three times larger than any city park presently owned by the city, the Mayor explained.

The Mayor said he plans to discuss the details of the “Pardes Delfino Park Plan” at a special meeting of the Common Council next week. The Mayor said he had explained the proposal to the council in Executive Session in August, informing them of the direction his talks with Dr. Pardes were headed. WPCNR had learned of these discussions after that meeting.

Asked whether Dr. Pardes had received approval from his Board of Directors, the Mayor said Dr. Pardes was the only person who could supply that information.

Shortly after the Mayor’s announcement the New York Presbyterian Hospital released a statement saying the agreement had to be approved by the NYPH Board of Trustees. The statement also said that the hospital required an enforceable regulation that would prevent any future reversal of zoning privileges by the City, after commercial medical status is granted, should the Common Council accept the agreement in principle announced today.

Leaders, 1-1 Get Things Done.

The Mayor said “Today is a great day. We’ve had 25 years of dialogue with New York Presbyterian Hospital. Their proposal for “a city within a city” in the 1980s, created lots of hard feelings in the city. But, they are a great hospital, and we are proud and honored to have them in our city. I have taken time of late to deal privately with Dr. Pardes. One-on-one meetings are very productive. Two leaders sitting down together can accomplish a lot more. They can get things done.”

 

 

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WPCNR WESTCHSTER COUNTY CLARION-JOURNAL. From Department of Communications. October 23, 2003: County Executive Andy Spano has signed a local law designed to make sure that people arrested for drunk driving in Westchester will have a chance to sober up before they can drive away.

The law was signed Wednesday and goes into effect Jan. 20.

The law, which Spano initiated last May, was approved by the Board of Legislators Monday. It allows police to impound the vehicles used by persons arrested for DWI offenses for a minimum of 12 hours after such an arrest and until the person is able to establish his or her sobriety, unless the car is released to the custody of someone other than the arrestee.

“We want to make sure that this potentially drunk person is not able to drive away his car and hurt someone else,” Spano said. 

With respect to minors, anyone arrested on DWI charges who is under 18 can only be released to the custody of his/her parent or guardian while the minor is still intoxicated. Furthermore, the law prohibits the release of a vehicle driven by a minor arrested for a DWI offense to anyone other than that person’s parent, guardian or third-party owner.  

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WPCNR PRESS BOX.  “View From the Upper Deck” By John Baseball Bailey. October 21, 2003: Every baseball fan should go to a least one World Series game in their lifetime. In no other sport is the air so charged, the stakes as high, the egos as challenged as they are in the 7 games for the ring. Indulge an old fan for awhile as we travel back in time. As Vin Scully would say, “Pull up a chair, we’re just getting under way.”

PREGAME GAME 1, 2003 WORLD SERIES. Photo by WPCNR Sports

 

 

I have been lucky. I have gone to four. Game 2 in 1957 when Yankee Stadium was Yankee Stadium, Game 4 in 1958, and Game 2 in 1961. And Game 1 of this year’s World Series. The Yankees have lost all four games I have seen.

 

Yankee Stadium is different today than it was in 1957. Today the walls are shortened, the infield and outfield grass cross-cut instead of the long lanes of grass that extended forever to the black walls in left with the numbers 396, 407, 457 and 461 on them, and the tantalizing 344 in right.

 

THE BIG BALL PARK 1956: Andy Jelinko’s painting brings to life the Westminster Abbey of baseball as I remember it.. Drink in the vast outfield. The way the grass is cut straight-out. The auxiliary scoreboards in left and right center. The sprawl of the multitudes in the bleachers, and the friendly lazy green hue. The rich red dirt. Note the monuments in dead center looking like gasoline pumps. Photo by WPCNR Sports. From the Author’s Collection.

The seats are dark blue instead of soft aqua green. There are no auxiliary scoreboards in left and right center, with 0’s and 1’s sliding down after each inning with perfunctory finality.

 

There is no bright sunshine and long shadows to ratchet up the drama. The prefabricated façade hangs on the bleacher advertising today, instead of “lifting the curtain” from its former place of elegance hanging from the roof of the upper deck. There are no posts in the new Stadium. I once sat behind a post at a Series game, but they framed the action.

 

STADIUM PAST: Yankee Stadium in the 1951 World Series. Note the elegant facade on the upper deck. The higher, grander grandstand, the metal fence running out to the Visitors’ Bullpen in leftcenter and the magnificent sweep of the bleachers, as left field and left center run on forever. Photo: Yankee Stadium: 75 Years of  Drama, Glamor, and Glory.

 

The outfield is no longer as pretty as it once was. Once it was a great immense green extended to a high black wall from left to right center between the two bullpens, with leftfield a small metal link fence running from left center to the leftfield foul line. Right field from the rightfield bull pen to the foul pole was a short green concrete wall that outfielders could boost themselves up on to make one-hand catches. There was a 344 sign in dead right on that wall.

Ruthville: 1961: The painting is by Bill Pudom, showing Roger Maris belting Number 61. You get an idea of the sweep of the blechers. The drama of the short right field porch (344 feet). From Yankee Stadium: 75 Years of Drama, Glamour, and Glory.

 

In dead center there were the three monuments to The Babe, Colonel Ruppert and Edward Barrow. Like Billy Crystal, as a kid, I too thought those men were buried there. They let you walk on the field then too, after a game. The crunch of the red dirt on the running track was like walking on gold dust…it was that soft.

 

The World Series programs were different in the 50s. For decades, individual teams would print up their own programs, providing a colorful history of the era in which the game was played. Now Major League Baseball prints the program that features all eight teams in the postseason.

Series Past: Original Programs from 1957, 1958 and 2003. Photo by WPCNR Sports, The Author’s Collection.

 

Another nostalgic touch I miss is afternoon games. You never had cold weather for the series as you had on Sunday evening. You listened to the games at school on transistor radios.

 

I especially associated the World Series with a song, the Gillette jingle that started each World Series telecast, it went “To look sharp, you need a razor that’s right for you. To be sharp, you need a razor that’s right for you…Light, regular, heavy, only way to get a decent shave.” When you heard that you knew it was World Series time.

 

The drama remains the same though. Although kids rarely get to see the ends of the games.

 

Every pitch is important. Every mistake is magnified. The uninitiated tourist observer  of the game does not understand they are watching the greatest ballplayers pit their skill levels and instincts against each other. They are trying to outthink, overpower, outrun, outwit, bringing all their concentration to bear on every pitch, play and batted ball.

 

Each confrontation between pitcher and batter is a test. The pressure is magnified because their reputations ride on the line. Each player has to have amazing self confidence to deal with the canards of criticism heaped on them by sportswriters and commentators who have never been out there inbetween the lines and worked to have the privilege of being out there when no one else is playing in the major leagues because they are not good enough.

 

SERIES SCORECARDS  from Ballparks of the Past: At left is a replica of the program from the first World Series between Boston and Pittsburgh in 1903. In the center is the 1929 Program for the Philadelphia A’s-Chicago Cubs Series, and on the right is the program from the 1918 Series when the Red Sox and Cubs played. The programs rest on an original Yankee Stadium Reserved Seat. Photo by WPCNR Sports. From the Collection of the Author.

 

Unlike the Super Bowl or the playoffs in other sports, there are pitching rotations to consider: The competitive matchups adjust each day as the players become familiar with the opposition.

 

There are various levels of pressures in each game. The First Game there is no pressure. The second game the team which lost wants to even it up, but is still confident even if they lose. The third game is a swing game, the fifth game is perhaps the game with the most pressure in the sequence until the seventh game is reached, at which point the teams have shown they are pretty evenly matched and even the loser has given a good account of themselves.

 

In the 1950s, when World Series games were played in the afternoon, the sun played an important factor in Yankee Stadium. Left field in the autumn was brutal. I remember watching Norm Siebern freeze, losing three fly balls in left field on a brilliant autumn afternoon when the stadium shadows in the  sixth and seventh innings were dark and long.

 

The base ball would come out to leftfield hidden a blue fog bank haze of cigarette and cigar smoke  only to reappear dazzled in dappled sunlight. Picking up fly balls was difficult. Siebern’s miscues treated the Milwaukee Braves to unearned runs, as I watched the great Warren Spahn shut out New York, 3-0.  Spahnie’s curve, change, and slider just handcuffed the Bombers that day. I still see him yet.

 

I was there to see the crafty workhorse righthander Lew Burdette win the first of three games in the 1957 Series in Game Two. Lew was saved by a great catch by Wes Covington in the second inning of that game, when Covington, shading the Yankee pitcher, Bobby Shantz (a lefthanded hitter), to left center was caught way right as Little Bobby as he was called sliced a liner down into the left field corner, a sure double and two Yankees were on.

 

Covington, not a great outfielder,  raced to the line and backhanded the ball on a line for a double play. It was the last Yankee threat, as Burdette kept the ball low and the Yankees power hitters beat the ball into the dirt the rest of the day.

 

Some players, after the ignominy of making a bad play in a World Series, are never the same. Norm Siebern was one. After that fourth game in 1958 he never had another good season. He had hit .300 in 1958.

 

What has not changed around the Stadium at World Series time is the oldtime feel around the ballpark. There are the dark and jammed streets, the smell of pretzels and hot dogs from street corner vendors. The roar of the overhead elevated subway on the IRT No 4 & 6 Lines. You used to be able to see the subway trains from beyond the rightcenterfield bleachers at the old stadium. Now since the park was remodeled in 1974-76, the high wrap-around electronic scoreboard obscures the “EL.”

 

Dave and Candyce Corocoran Arriving for Game One. The modern entrance to the stadium celebrates the tradition of the Bombers, but has lost the “Roman Coliseum” look which distinguished the old Stadium. Photo by WPCNR Sports.

 

THE OLD STADIUM WAS STATELY AND RESEMBLED THE COLISEUM OF ANCIENT ROME. I loved the simple game announcement which would read, depending on the opponent: “Milwaukee Today, 1 PM” From Yankee Stadium: 75 Years of Drama, Glamour, and Glory

 

There is also the massive traffic jam getting into the ballpark, the smell of beer in the air. The brightly lit plazas around the new Yankee Stadium are just too clean and neat. I liked the old cluster of “Baseball Joe’s,” a block long souvenir stand that ran along the first base side of Yankee Stadium that stood there in the 1950s through the 60s before it was torn down to build the parking garage that no one can get out of after the game.

 

Once inside the park, there is the lining up of the two ball clubs, the pomp of the National Anthem, and finally the game. No matter how official baseball tries to pomp up the start of these games, the game takes over once the first pitch is thrown.

SERIES OPENER LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENTS, 2003. Photo by WPCNR Sports

 

Then for nine innings it is mano a mano. Pitcher trying to outthink the hitter. Fielders trying to align themselves where they believe the hitter will hit the ball. There is strategy too. In the World Series, fundamentals count. The team that executes the fundamentals, building runs by moving the runner, making the unexpected play or the great catch usually wins.

 

As each game is played the level of intensity is picked up. The teams get to know each other it becomes a contest of who will transcend their abilities the most to determine who is the Champion.

 

The mental anguish over the bad break. The ability to take defeat and use it to motivate yourself to be better is the lesson the losers take home into the cold winter as they sit in the loser’s dugout watching the other team celebrate on the field. It is bitter. Some cannot handle it, like Donnie Moore the Angels pitcher who committed suicide shortly after giving up a three-run homer to cost the Angels a pennant.

 

Out after out, threat after threat each game wends its way to conclusion, the tension wound taught. The concentration of players tested. Their abilities to bounce back challenged. Their willingness to reach back for “that little something extra” that wins.

 

Ahh, the mistakes. They are cruel in that the unfortunate player that makes them is immortalized, perhaps more than the heroes. Fred Merkle of “Merkle’s Boner,” Freddie Lindstrom. Tony Kubek, Fred Snodgrass of “The Snodgrass Muff,” Mickey Owen, Julio Franco, Bill Buckner, Curt Flood, the unfortunate players who in one moment could not make a play that cost a series.

 

Then there are the pitchers who made the one mistake: Branca, Terry, Torres, Root, Hrabosky, Moore, Whitfield. Cruelly they are remembered for the one pitch they wished they could have back that cost a championship.

 

Baseball, softball, it is the cruel, unforgiving game that is the supreme judge of player ability.

 

What I noticed Saturday evening was how things have changed since I was last at a Series game. The umpiring was not as good. I did not know the umpires. In the 1950s, you knew the umpires. They were as much stars as the players because they were well-respected and you never had a controversial call in a World Series: Augie Donatelli, Frank Umont, Al Barlick, Dusty Boggess, Jocko Conlan, Nestor Chylak, Frank Dascoli, Frank Secory, Bill Summers, Jim Honochik, just to name some I remember. The umps Saturday night missed a couple of calls. I can never remember that happening in the 50s Series.

 MANO A MANO: “Ugie” Urbina, Man on the Mound for the Marlins, fans on their feet, going at Alphonso Soriano of the Bombers in the 9th with the winning run on. Photo by WPCNR Sports

 

In the bottom of the eighth and the ninth Saturday night, watching “Ugie” Urbina pitch out of a jam in the eighth and the ninth was a throwback. For the first time all season, I saw a reliever come in and put out a fire. Ugie rose to the occasion throwing a terrific pitch a changeup to Jorge Posada in the eighth for the last out.

 

In the ninth, he froze Alphonso Soriano on a change on a 3 and 2 count. That’s real pitching, throwing change-ups on a full count. It was that confidence the concentration that just is a little bit better that one time.

 

Watching these individual confrontations between players consumed by the game, concentrating at such a high level is what the World Series is all about.