The Way We Were-Baseball, Childhood, Bonding With a Blind Man, Economics, & a Small Step Away From Racism.

This is Jim Morgan's response to this baseball video about St. Louis.  Click here if you want to see it, but it's not necessary to appreciate his thoughts.

"Thanks for that great link.

Sportsman's Park, like a lot of the old parks, had a charm that just isn't there in the newer stadiums, even the retro parks.  I was fortunate enough to see the Cardinals play there several times.  In 1956, I believe it was, my Dad got tickets to the All-Star game through one of American National Bank's (later First National) correspondent banks in St. Louis.  He and Joe Mitchell took Jon and me up to St. Louis for the game.  What a great experience.

I remember sitting next to a blind man who would ask me what happened after each play.  To frame up the difference in baseball economics then and now, he only had $.06 in his pocket, not enough to buy a lemonade for $.15.

I would recommend two books to anyone who is interested in the history of baseball in St. Louis:

The Spirit of St. Louis, A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, by Peter Golenbock.  This one covers the history of professional baseball in St. Louis clear back into the 1800's

and

October, 1964, by David Halbertstam.  This one covers the 1964 pennant races in the American and National leagues, and is really interesting from a baseball perspective.  It may be just as interesting as a social commentary, however.  By 1964, the Cardinals had embraced integration and number of their stars were African-American or Latin American, including Bill White, Bob Gibson, Curt Flood, and Lou Brock (who came over from the Cubs that year in a trade for Earnie Broligo, one of the great one-sided trades in baseball history).  The Yankees on the other hand, and had at that point signed few black players - I believe Elston Howard my have been onboard by then.

1964 was the year the Phillies blew a big lead at the end of the year.  I believe they were 6 games ahead with only 12 left to play.  I remember sitting in the officer's club at Tuy Hoa Air Base in Vietnam in 1968 talking baseball with a friend from Philadelphia.  He pulled out two tickets to the '64 World Series --- between the Yankees and Phillies, which obviously didn't happen.  I hope he held on to the tickets; they're probably valuable today."