1964 was a big year. The World's Fair took place in NYC. The Yankee dynasty came to an end. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law. LBJ decisively beat Barry Goldwater. It was a year of transition.
My reading in honor of this year's Series. I remember this Series well. The Cards ended the Yankee dynasty. Curt Flood, who would start the process that ended baseball's system of chattel slavery, played centerfield for the Cardinals. The Yankees fired Yogi after the series in favor the Cards's manager Johnny Keane. How'd that work out for you, Bronx Bombers? I still remember seeing that menacing figure on the hill called Bob Gibson. Back when MLB pitchers were expected to finish what they started Gibson came back out in the 9th pitching on nothing but adrenalin and guts to preserve the 7 -5 win and make the Cards world champions. In today's baseball the 4th pitcher would have been in the game for the Cardinals by then and the game would have lasted an hour longer. It was better back then; it really was.
The Yankees arrived at spring training in 1964 as confident as ever. They still had Mantle and Maris and Ford, but they were aging, and the fall of the Yankee empire was not yet in sight. P. 3
Who signed Mantle's baseballs? P. 5
Much about Branch Rickey in this book, most of it unfavorable. Much about how baseball players back then were treated like chattel. How can anyone like the history of the NY Yankees and how they treated their players over the years? The Cardinals as the South's team and their resistance to integration. Harry Walker visiting Bill White after both had long retired and White telling Walker the he was living with a white woman and Walker saying the didn't matter.
In the good old days there were super baseball scouts like Tom Greenwade, who discovered Mickey Mantle. Then the draft destroyed their way of life. Sooner or later, everything changes
Branch Rickey was a Victorian Man, nicknamed The Mahatma. According to Leo Durocher, he was cheap, hard-hearted, and shrewd. He left quite a reputation and record in baseball. P. 31-32
The Yankees might have had Ernie Banks if they were not racist. P. 55
He writes extensively about Yankee pitcher Mel Stottlemyre. Funny how I remember this guy, known for being a sinker ball pitcher. P. 64
"He had to think about every pitch now." P. 66
Ozzie Virgil. I love seeing in print the names of these players that I used to have in baseball cards. P. 69
Mickey and Whitney being Mickey and Whitney maybe I would have gotten along just fine with them. P. 78
Mickey could tell the worst jokes yet make them funny. That's a good talent to have. P. 79.
But he had bad moods when he wasn't hitting well. P. 79
The myth of Mantle as the greatest player of his era had to be partly due to his playing in New York and the fact that Mays and Aaron were black. P. 80
For American boys growing up in the 50's and 60's, at least white ones, Mickey Mantle was an iconic myth who could do no wrong. P. 80
Home to first in 3.1 seconds, said to be the fastest time ever. P. 81
Father Mutt named him after Mickey Cochrane, his favorite player. P. 81
Superscout Tom Greenwade's story. P. 81-87
Bob Gibson was reaching his full potential by 1964. He was a man of unusual self-discipline. He attended Creighton University. He was offered a position with the Harlem Globetrotters. He hated to lose. Wanted to win as badly as anyone, but didn't openly celebrate after winning like many professional athletes.
Bob Gibson was not just a great pitcher; he was a gifted all-around athlete. P. 104
Gibson thought Keane was as color-blind as man can be based not on a liberal conscience but based on simple human decency. P. 105
Was Solly Hemus a racist? No one knows what is in a man's heart. P. 108
Harry Walker thought that Gibson was the greatest athlete to pitch in the big leagues. P. 112
Good man Johnny Keane. P. 116
Bob Gibson mastered his anger and turned it into a positive force. P. 120
Generational conflicts between Keane and some of his players P. 130
Good insights on how managers had to relate to a new generation of baseball players in the 60's.
Roger Maris became more and more superstitious as the '61 season developed. P. 168
Breaking the record in 162 games, Ford Frick and the asterisk, trying to escape the crowds. P. 169
Players like Hank Aaron were shortchanged because they did not play in New York. P. 164
Whitey Ford---tart and cocky P. 165
Television and iconoclastic sportswriters started changing everything in the 60's. P. 165
Joe Namath and his $400,000. Such a big deal at the time. P. 166
New sportswriters called "Chipmunks." P. 175
Distanced themselves from the players rather than being one of them. P. 176
A volatile time in America: changing consciousness about race and an unwinnable war in S.E. Asia. P. 178
Joe Reichler. P. 179
The changes were hard on old-time writers like Jimmy Cannon. P. 179
Sometimes you settle your differences with another person by never taking to them again. P. 179
Pitching coach Johnny Sain says the body muscles are all about memory. The body desires to keep doing what it has been doing. P. 213
Gibson hated it being assumed that he was a minister because he was so well-dressed. P. 221
One of Mickey Mantle's goals was to transcend being a mere mortal and hit a ball out of Yankee Stadium. That would set him apart for all time. He never did it, but came close at least twice. By 1964 he was wearing down. P. 250
Bing Devine is fired as the GM of the Cardinals over something Gussie Busch's daughter told him. Harry Caray dd not like Devine. After Devine was fired, the Cards began their late push to the pennant in the '74 season. P. 253
There was a stoic quality to Boyer. P. 258
Harry Caray rode Boyer. P. 259
The Boyers played hard, worked hard, and accepted life as full of hardship and disappointment. P. 260
Bunting's perfect game against the Mets on Mother's Day 1964. P. 301
Reading about Gene Mauch and the collapse of the Phillies in 1964. P. 304
The psychology of a 7 game losing streak by the Phillies as they blew the pennant race to the Cardinals with the stress and pitchers going on two days rest like Jim Bunning and the crazy Gene Mauch. P. 307
It's been good reading this book this October as I remember October of 1964. The result of that season and the Cardinals winning the Series over the Yankees ended a long Yankee dynasty. The Houston Astros just ended the Yankee season for 2019. I remember the 7th game conclusion in 1964 as the Cardinals won the Series. I was happy to see the Yankees go down just as I am happy to see them go down this year short of the World Series. The year 1964 featured a country in transition. Nobody could have guessed that the same issues of race would still be with us in 2019.
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