Somebody Read my Blog

This morning the doorbell rang and I went to see who it was. It was the postman. He had left a package. It was neatly wrapped and said “Don’t Bend.” It was from one of my former professors and good friend Dr. William G. Bellshaw. I quickly opened it, wondering what it was, and it was The Seattle Times from Sunday, February 22. On the front cover was a picture of Griffey with the words, “Remember this smile?” Then inside was the sports page where there was a full page, collectible Griffey poster like in the picture above. What a thoughtful gift in light of my previous story. So, eat your heart out sons!

This is so neat because I don’t know if Dr. Bellshaw knew this, but my dad collected newspapers and I have done the same since I was a kid. I have a newspaper about the ending of World War II from the Cleveland Press, August 15, 1945. But one of most interesting saves I kept was from October 8, 1956. The headlines read, Yanks’ Larsen Joins Baseball’s ‘Immortals” 1st ‘No-No’ Is Also Perfect Game. Then The Wenatchee Daily World went on to say in bold print:

NEW YORK ,(AP)—Don Larsen of the Yankees pitched the first perfect game in World Series history and Mickey Mantle hit a telling home run Monday as the Yankees whipped the Dodgers 2-0 in the fifth World Series game and took a 3-2 lead in the series. Larsen didn't give a hit or a walk. And not a Dodger reached first.

Never before in World Series history has there been a no-hit game, much less one in which a team failed to get a man on base. Larsen, a 6-foot, 4-inch native of Michigan City, Ind., who now lives in San Diego, Calif., pitched superbly with the peculiar no-windup :style he adopted during the regular season. He struck out seven, including the last man to face him, pinch hitter Dale Mitchell.

What I find interesting today besides the perfect game and its write up was that I saved the paper when I was fifteen years of age. I told my son Scott (one of my two baseball freaks) about it and then one day in the early 1990s, I was out of town when Don Larsen came to Salem. Scott quickly went through my old newspapers, found the front page of this story and took it down for Larsen to autograph it. The paper in those days cost seven cents and Larsen took one look at the paper and said, “Where did you get this?” He signed it and we had it framed and then gave it to Scott for a Christmas present. For years now, the front page of The Wenatchee Daily World has hung in his hallway next to his living room. So, maybe I will get this poster autographed some day too! Thanks Dr. Bellshaw for the poster.