Road Trip
Growing up in Scranton PA as an avid New York Yankees fan, my grandfather, we grandkids and other family members and friends made regular road trips to Yankee stadium during the sweltering summer months. If you are going to travel three hours each way for a game, why not make it for a Sunday doubleheader and, of course, bat day or ball day. Be certain to show up for batting practice as well. We sure got our money's worth. Always ate at the Jerome Street cafeteria before and after the game. Left Scranton around 7:00 a.m. Arrived home way past bedtime. Those were the days.
We never saw the Pittsburgh Pirates play at Yankee Stadium though. My buddy and I are about to change that, with a road trip from the 'Burgh to the Bronx for Thursday night's game and then on to Beantown and Fenway Park for the Red Sox - Pirates game on Friday.
Now a Pirates fan, I still have warm feelings, unlike most Pirates fans, for the Yankees, but I have to say I will be rooting for the Buccos this week.
The Pirates and the Yankees have met in the World Series twice, with the Yankees sweeping in 1927 and the Pirates surprising the Bronx Bombers in 1960.
For a look at the sixty series from the point of view of a Pittsburgher turned Yankees fan, see this article from The Pinstripe Press on Baseball Almanac that states in part:
"On October 13, 1960, Bill Mazeroski became an instant hero when he became the first player ever to end the World Series with a home run. In one of the greatest games ever played, 'the Maz' hit a fastball off of Yankee pitcher Ralph Terry over Yogi Berra's head in left field, giving the Pirates a 10-9 victory and their first World Championship in 35 years. It still remains as one of the most shocking moments in sports history and many middle-aged Yankee fans are still trying to forget that day. 'As an 8-year-old Yankee fan in 1960, I literally wept when Bill Mazeroski's home run cleared the ivy-covered wall of Forbes Field.' Bob Costas said, '35 years later, I believe I have come to terms with it, and can see Bill Mazeroski for what he really was: one of baseball's all-time great second basemen.'
Not only was Mazeroski the greatest second baseman in Pirate history...he achieved instant fame offensively with one swing of the bat. He had already made his mark in the Series against the Yankees with a two-run homer in the opener, but no one could have predicted his game 7 winner."
Anyway, I am off to New York for a bit of history today.
