cincibuck
You kids stay off my lawn!
It was sophomore year when I discovered the joys of baseball at Cooper Stadium. The Jets' (previously the Blue Birds, now the Clippers) season didn't start until May and so you only had two weeks to catch a game before school was out and I was back in Dayton, making shock absorbers or rubber door seals.
A buddy from dorm days and I headed out to Mound Street and discovered that it only cost fifty cents more to sit in a box seat and that beer and hot dogs were a quarter a piece. There we were, first row, just a few feet beyond first base, catching a double header and with enough money to consider doing a beer an inning.
Too cheap to send a broadcast team, The local radio station would carry the road games by simulation. The announcer would set the scene, call the game from ticker tape updates and a helper would make all the sound affects including the sound of the bat hitting a ball.
1967, my senior year, the Pirates traded for Maury Wills, adding defense and speed to a team with Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. The Jets hosted them in an annual game at Cooper and the chance to see a Pittsburgh team that was favored to win the NL pennant brought a full house to the stadium. The Jets jumped off to an early lead and looked to add to it when Jets' Bob Robertson, soon to be a regular with the major league club, lined a ball off the right field wall. Rounding First, Robertson made sure Clemente fielded the ball, turned and began to walk back to the bag. From just outside the warning track Roberto cut loose with one of those famous sidearm rainbow throws to Stargell to nail a stunned Robertson. In the ninth the Pirates pulled within a run, a runner on second, no outs, heart of the order coming up and the Jets called on Sal Maglie, a lefty who had pitched for some strong Giants' teams in the Polo Grounds and Candlestick. Maglie, fast ball long gone, was useless beyond an inning, but for one inning he could be tough. Using sliders, change ups and a wicked curve that seemed to drop two feet in front of the plate, Maglie struck out two and got Stargell to tap out to short to end the game.
One of my fondest memories from many years of watching baseball.
A buddy from dorm days and I headed out to Mound Street and discovered that it only cost fifty cents more to sit in a box seat and that beer and hot dogs were a quarter a piece. There we were, first row, just a few feet beyond first base, catching a double header and with enough money to consider doing a beer an inning.
Too cheap to send a broadcast team, The local radio station would carry the road games by simulation. The announcer would set the scene, call the game from ticker tape updates and a helper would make all the sound affects including the sound of the bat hitting a ball.
1967, my senior year, the Pirates traded for Maury Wills, adding defense and speed to a team with Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. The Jets hosted them in an annual game at Cooper and the chance to see a Pittsburgh team that was favored to win the NL pennant brought a full house to the stadium. The Jets jumped off to an early lead and looked to add to it when Jets' Bob Robertson, soon to be a regular with the major league club, lined a ball off the right field wall. Rounding First, Robertson made sure Clemente fielded the ball, turned and began to walk back to the bag. From just outside the warning track Roberto cut loose with one of those famous sidearm rainbow throws to Stargell to nail a stunned Robertson. In the ninth the Pirates pulled within a run, a runner on second, no outs, heart of the order coming up and the Jets called on Sal Maglie, a lefty who had pitched for some strong Giants' teams in the Polo Grounds and Candlestick. Maglie, fast ball long gone, was useless beyond an inning, but for one inning he could be tough. Using sliders, change ups and a wicked curve that seemed to drop two feet in front of the plate, Maglie struck out two and got Stargell to tap out to short to end the game.
One of my fondest memories from many years of watching baseball.
