December 4, 2018 by Philip Lewenstein

World Series Memories

Watching the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers in this fall’s World Series rekindled memories of my childhood as an avid baseball fan and my experience viewing the Minnesota Twins participate in the Series three times. The Fall Classic was also a good time for me to reevaluate my love for America’s pastime, a passion that I started and nurtured as a childhood fan of the Milwaukee Braves.

It’s been 27 years since the Twins have qualified for the World Series. Recent seasons have been disappointing, and I did not attend a game at Target Field the past two years. I was sad to see manager Paul Molitor fired and Joe Mauer, one of my all-time Twins’ favorites, retire. Further, the game has been harshly criticized for its slow pace among other problems. Nevertheless, as always, I enjoyed watching this fall’s World Series.

Memories were sparked when I recently cleaned a closet and found several baseball scorecards spanning seven decades of games I attended. These programs, a small sample of games attended, reminded me of some of the great games and great players I have watched throughout my life.

As a child, my friends and I loved to play baseball—in the driveway (where we broke several garage-door windows), in the alley behind the house, in the street, and on the field next to the elementary school. Mostly, we played pick-up games; organized, instructional baseball was not prevalent. We copied the pitching motions of our favorite pitchers and imitated the batting stances of our favorite hitters.

We collected baseball cards, played baseball board games inside, and watched the game-of-the week on Saturdays on our black-and-white TV with Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese broadcasting. Occasionally, we attended the Duluth Dukes’ minor-league baseball games at Wade Municipal Stadium in the west end of town. The Dukes at various times were affiliated with the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox. I read books about baseball: biographies (Babe Ruth) and instructional manuals.

Minnesota did not have a professional baseball team until 1961 when the Washington Senators transferred to the Twin Cities. Until then, I cheered for the Milwaukee Braves. Each day, I diligently studied the box scores in the newspapers, and on Sundays I examined the full list of batting averages.

The Milwaukee Braves’ players were my heroes. My memory is fuzzy on many topics, but I can still recite many of the Braves’ lineups: Del Crandall, the catcher; Joe Adcock at first base; Red Schoendienst at second; Johnny Logan, one of my favorites, at shortstop; Eddie Mathews at third base; Wes Covington in left field; Billy Bruton in center field, and the great Henry Aaron in right field. The top starting pitchers were Warren Spahn, Lou Burdette, and Bob Buhl; Don McMahon was the closer. Aaron, Mathews, and Spahn are in the Hall of Fame as is Schoendienst, who entered as a St. Louis Cardinal.

Often, at night in my bedroom, I picked up broadcasts, not often clearly, on my transistor radio.   I was up late the evening of May 26, 1959, when I heard Harvey Haddix of the Pirates pitch 12 perfect innings against the Braves but lose in the 13^th inning when Adcock hit a two-run double.

The thrill of my childhood to that point came in summer 1956 when our family traveled to visit relatives in Milwaukee, and my uncle took my dad and me to Milwaukee County Stadium to see the Braves play the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Giants with Willie Mays in centerfield.

The 1956 official scorecard was 15 cents, and it was dotted with advertisements for beer (Schlitz, the beer that made Milwaukee famous, Gettleman $1000 beer, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Blatz, and Miller High Life) and for cigarettes (Chesterfield, Camel, Lucky Strike, and Old Golds). During our trip to visit relatives, my dad and I toured a brewery, and I had all the root beer I could handle after the tour.

The Braves moved to Milwaukee from Boston in 1953 and achieved success in the mid-1950s. In 1956, the Braves finished one game behind the National League-pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers. But the Braves won the National League pennant in 1957 and 1958. My uncle attended the World Series games and sent me a program from each Series: the fifth game of 1957 Series in which Braves beat the New York Yankees 1-0 and game 2 of the 1958 Series in which the Braves won 13-5.

The Braves defeated the Yankees (led by Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, and manager Casey Stengel) four games to three in the 1957 Series behind three complete- game victories by MVP Lou Burdette and the hitting of Aaron, who had three homers and seven runs batted in. In the 1958 Series, the Braves led the Yankees 3-1, but the Yankees won the last three games, much to my dismay.

My uncle also sent me autographed pictures of key Braves’ players. I cherished them and still have them. My favorites are my “Good Luck Phil” picture signed by Henry Aaron and the “Best Wishes to Phil” picture by shortstop John Logan.

In summer 1959, our family returned to Milwaukee to see the Braves play the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants. (After the l957 season, the Dodgers left Brooklyn, and the Giants left New York). The Braves and Dodgers tied for the National League pennant, but the Dodgers won a three-game playoff to advance to the World Series.

Then, in 1964, I saw the Braves host the Cincinnati Reds with the infamous Pete Rose and Hall of Famers Frank Robinson and Tony Perez. The Braves had many new faces but still Henry Aaron. The Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966 and played in Atlanta Fulton County Stadium for the next 30 years. I attended a game there in the mid-1970s, and I watched on TV in 1974 when Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s career home-run record. By then, my loyalties had switched to the Minnesota Twins.

Calvin Griffith, owner of the Washington Senators, transferred his team to Minnesota on October 26, 1960, and our family began driving to the Twin Cities for games. I saw some memorable games in that first 1961 season. For example, I watched the Twins defeat Kansas City 9-3 with an eight-run eighth inning. The Twins’ lineup had Earl Battey catching, Bob Allison at first base, Billy Martin at second, Zoilo Versalles at shortstop, Harmon Killebrew at third, Bob Lemon in left field, Lenny Green in center, and Bill Tuttle in right; Camilo Pascual pitched. Box seats were $3, reserved seats were $2.50, and general admission was $1.50.

My most memorable 1961 game was in spring when I and several classmates, top sellers in the school fund-raiser, joined a school counselor for a trip to Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington. We saw Jim Gentile, the Baltimore Orioles’ first baseman, hit grand-slam home runs in both the first and second innings as the Birds won 13-4. Later that summer, I saw Baltimore, with Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson at third base, defeat the Twins 3-0 on a two-hitter by Milt Pappas.

My joy of watching baseball peaked in 1965 as I saw several of baseball’s greatest players like Sandy Koufax perform several times, and I attended the World Series. That summer, my friend and I, a rising high school senior, took a train trip to California to visit relatives and go to baseball games.

On June 27, at the old Candlestick Park in San Francisco, we saw the Dodgers’ Koufax pitch a complete-game 9-3 victory over the Giants. The next day, we saw a long doubleheader with the Giants winning the first game 4-3 in 15 innings over the Pittsburgh Pirates, who featured Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Bill Mazeroski. Willie Mays had four hits and a walk, and, my notes say, there was a fight. Other Giants’ Hall of Famers besides Mays were Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Juan Marichal, and Gaylord Perry.

My friend and I took a bus to Los Angeles to see two Dodger games and were thrilled to learn that future Hall of Fame pitchers Koufax and Don Drysdale would be starting for the Dodgers. The first night, Koufax beat the Pirates 4-1. The next night, the Pirates won 8-3 behind three home runs by Stargell.

We ended our summer trip visiting my friend’s relatives in Portland, Oregon, and we attended a Pacific Coast League game between the Portland Beavers and Tacoma at Beaver Stadium.

At the time, I didn’t realize that I would be seeing more of the National League champion Dodgers, who wound up playing the American League champion Twins. I sent in to the Twins’ lottery for a set of World Series tickets, and the postman in my Duluth neighborhood was ecstatic when he delivered my tickets.

Due to a religious holiday (I observed Yom Kippur as reportedly did Koufax), I had to sell my ticket to the first game in Minnesota, which the Twins won 8-2. But I traveled by train to Minneapolis and by bus to Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington for the second game on a 56-degree, October 7, day to see the Twins behind the pitching of Jim Kaat defeat the Dodgers and Koufax 5-1. However, the Dodgers won the next three games in Los Angeles.

The Twins had many of the same players from the inaugural 1961 season such as Killebrew, Allison, and Versalles; key additions were outfielder Tony Oliva and pitcher Jim Mudcat Grant. Sam Mele was manager, and Billy Martin was the third-base coach.

With the Series back in Minnesota, my dad used my game 6 ticket and drove to Bloomington with a high-school friend. On October 13, the Twins won 5-1, giving me the opportunity to attend the dramatic game 7 on October 14.

Scoring two runs in the fourth inning, the Dodgers won 2-0 on a complete-game three hitter by Koufax. I can picture and still feel the tension in the bottom of the ninth inning as Oliva grounded to third and Killebrew singled to left before Koufax struck out Battey and Allison to end the dream. Hall of Famers in the 1965 Series were Killebrew, Koufax, Drysdale, and Dodger manager Walter Alston.

The Twins qualified for the American League Championship Series in both 1969 and 1970 but lost both playoffs three games to zero to the Baltimore Orioles.

My love of baseball continued. As a college student working on the University of Minnesota Daily, I covered the Gopher baseball team under the legendary Dick Siebert, who coached the team to three national titles. Years later, I enjoyed coaching several youth baseball teams, especially those that included my youngest daughter, who successfully lobbied for a spot in the pitching rotation.

Between 1965 and 1987, I saw many Major League games in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Atlanta, Oakland, San Diego, and Chicago. And I saw many great players from Rod Carew of the Twins to Reggie Jackson of the A’s to Don Sutton of the Dodgers.

Fast-forward 22 years from 1965 to 1987. The Twins qualified for the American League playoffs, and I was fortunate to get tickets for the playoff series against the Detroit Tigers (the Twins won four games to one) and World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Twins won the first Series game 10-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis on October 17 and the second game 8-4. After losing three straight games in St. Louis, the Twins were down 5-2 in game 6 at home on October 24 but rallied to win 11-5. Kent Hrbek hit a grand slam. My mother was my guest, and she survived the climb to my seats in row 30 of the upper deck in leftfield. The next night, the Twins won the Series finale 4-2 behind the pitching of MVP Frank Viola. Hall of Famers were Bert Blyleven and Kirby Puckett of the Twins and Ozzie Smith and Whitey Herzog, manager of the Cardinals.

And four years later, I was again fortunate to get tickets for the American League Championship Series versus Toronto (Minnesota won four games to one) and the World Series versus the Atlanta Braves, ironically my favorite childhood team.

The Twins won the first game of the 1991 World Series at the Metrodome 5-2 on October 19 behind the pitching of 36-year-old St. Paul native Jack Morris and then won the second game 3-2. The Braves won the next three games in Atlanta, but back home on October 26 the Twins won game 6 by 4-3 in the 11th inning on Kirby Puckett’s dramatic home run. Then, the next night, the Twins won Game 7 by 1-0 in ten innings behind Jack Morris’s complete-game shutout. ESPN called this Series the greatest of all time in its “100^th Anniversary Countdown.”

Hall of Famers for Minnesota were Puckett and Morris. For Atlanta, Hall of Famers were pitchers Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, manager Bobby Cox, and general manager John Schuerholz. Overall, I have watched more than 60 Hall of Fame players and managers.

Arguably, nothing compares to the drama of World Series games, and I was lucky to attend three game 7s. Every Series has its special moments, and this year’s event, won 4 games to 1 by Boston over Los Angeles, was no exception. The Red Sox overcame an epic, record 3-2 walk-off loss in game 3 that took 18 innings in seven hours, 20 minutes. I retired for bed at the start of the 13^th inning.

Nevertheless, in the marketplace for sports fans, baseball is losing interest. Minneapolis Star Tribune sports columnist Jim Souhan recently highlighted some of the major problems (“Baseball can’t wave off signs of self-inflicted ills,” October 31, 2018). Souhan said that “With rules that anger traditionalists and repel the undecided, baseball may have reached its nadir as a form of entertainment.”

Baseball, Souhan says, is becoming unwatchable. Games are longer and yet contain less action, he says. “Going to a baseball game these days is like going to see The Rock in an action movie and having him pause every five minutes to read Hamlet soliloquies.”

Yet despite baseball’s problems, and the Twins’ downturn, it is still enjoyable to watch a game, professional or Little League, on a warm, sunny, summer day under blue skies and big white clouds. And no sports event compares to the World Series, particularly the drama of a game 7. These Braves and Twins’ World Series games are among my greatest memories as a sports fan. I hope these memories will become reality again in my lifetime. I also hope baseball makes changes to enhance the entertainment value of the game while maintaining the best of the game’s traditions.