Friday, February 24, 2012

I'm On TV @ Ch 13 @ 5am ~ Telling a Mickey Mantle Story

If you close a bar tonight, or get up early tomorrow to milk the cows, I’m on TV telling a Mickey Mantle story at 5am on Channel 13.

They’re replaying “Baseball: A New York Love Story.” I’m interviewed in the 5th episode titled: “Heroes, Pioneer, Superman and the Voice,” @ 5am.

In my segment, I have a haircut so short my father would have beamed with pride and I would have worn a baseball cap all summer long till my hair grew back. I also tucked in my shirt quite nicely.

If someone tapes it please let me know, I’d like to make a copy.  Thanks, Tommy

My scorecard below is from Mantle's 500th Home Run game in May 1967. I dragged Dad to three straight games to make sure I saw Mickey hit it. Third game Sunday, he did it, and we were in the right field upper deck. I thought the ball was coming right to me and my glove, my heart was whacking my rib cage, when it dropped safely into the lower deck and the crowd roared, Dad and I jumped, hugged, and cried for five minutes.
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If you are watching the Ch 13 show, look behind Bob Costas head on the left,that's my scorecard, and my 1961 Yankees program and Mantle New York Daily News newspaper headlines are flying through the background during each broadcast.
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It was a blast pulling all my stuff together, and remembering my reckless obsession with sports that made me deliriously happy as a kid, and how connected all this made me to Dad. If we were talking sports, I couldn't lose.




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