It was an unforgettable evening at the Byham Theater last night for Marilyn and I, as we were lucky enough to be invited to attend the taping of the MLB Network's screening of the recently discovered kinescope of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. (Many thanks to Pirates Prez Frank Coonelly for extending the invitation!)
The show was hosted by Bob Costas, and joining him on stage were '60 Bucs Bill Virdon and Dick Groat and the Series MVP that year, Yankee Bobby Richardson. Costas opened by giving the background of the discovery of the film of the game in the Bing Crosby wine cellar, and introducing Bing's son, Nathanial, from the audience, along with actor Michael Keaton, who had done an intro video, recalling his memory of the '60 Series as a 9 year old living in Robinson Township. Also introduced were other members of the team in attendance: Joe Christopher, Roy Face, Bob Friend, Vernon Law, Bob Oldis, Hal Smith, and Vera Clemente. In a poor twist of fate, the star of the night, Bill Mazeroski, was not there. He had recently had a bout with kidney stones and was in the hospital. However, Costas assured everyone that MLB would be visiting with Maz so that he will appear on the MLB telecast on December 15.
The format was that three innings of the game would be shown, then they would break for comments from the panel, then show another three innings, etc. At certain points in the game, the sound was lowered on the telecast, and Costas would ask questions of the players seated in the theater while the game was being shown. For example, he asked Law about how he wanted to pitch to Maris and Mantle during the Series. They also broke the format by stopping the game and talking to the panel after the Pirates' five run bottom of the eighth, after the Yankees tied it in the top of the ninth to lead into the dramatic bottom of the ninth.
Some bullet point highlights of the evening:
- Bob Prince broadcast the first four and half innings and Mel Allen did the last four and a half innings. I was struck by what a really good broadcaster Mel Allen was. Really good.
- Your enjoyment of the broadcast did not suffer, not one bit, by only having one man in the broadcast booth. There is a lesson to be learned there, I think.
- While NBC broadcast the game in color, the kinescope was taken from a black and white TV set, so what you will see will be a B&W telecast. No replays, no color commentators. We have become spoiled by constant instant replays, but as you got caught up in watching the game, you almost - almost - didn't miss not having them.
- From the audience, we could see that Virdon, Groat, and Richardson were as engrossed in watching the game as we in the audience were. It was like they were still playing the game.
- Many batters would walk to the plate swinging two bats to loosen up and then hand one to the batboy just before they stepped into the batter's box. I immediately remembered batters doing that, but I can't think of any ballplayer who does that today.
- Nobody wore batting gloves, so no batter stepped out of the box after each pitch to adjust his gloves. This could explain why a game with 19 runs and seven mid-inning pitching changes took only 2 hours and 36 minutes to play.
- No player wore pants down to their shoe tops. It looked a LOT better than current day unis. I couldn't resist adding that.
- The crowd at the Byham would react and cheer every time, and I mean every time, Roberto Clemente would appear on screen. Bob Costas commented on this during one of the breaks and asked Vera Clemente to talk about this. A very moving part of the program.
- Allen blew the call on Berra's three run HR that put the Yanks ahead 5-4. He called it foul, but immediately corrected himself.
- Perhaps one of the most touching parts of the night involved Hal Smith's three run HR that put the Bucs ahead 9-7 in the eighth. The crowd in the Byham all stood and applauded, and when they stopped the telecast after the inning, Costas recognized Hal Smith in the audience and another standing ovation was given. Smith was pretty overcome. I hope this is included in the December 15 broadcast.
- After Smith's homer, Allen kept referring to it as "perhaps the most dramatic home run in World Series history" and as a "home run that will be remembered forever." Knowing what was to come, these comments were pretty funny and one guy in the crowd yelled out "not for long" after Allen said it.
- The play in that inning where Jim Coates failed to cover first on Clemente's grounder to first was interesting. When talking about it, you could see that Richardson is still upset over it. "You practice covering first from the first day of spring training" he said. Interestingly enough, he also said that in watching it again, and this may have been the first time Richardson was seeing the play in 50 years, too, he said that (a) it looked like Coates biggest mistake was trying to make a play on the ball initially, which prevented him from running directly to first base, and (b) had Skowron not fielded the ball, had he let Richardson make the play, he thinks that he would have thrown Clemente out.
- Then there was Mantle's base running play in the top of the ninth that allowed the Yankees to tie the game at 9-9. Mantle has long been praised for his instinct in diving back to first base, and while his slide to avoid Nelson's tag was a great athletic play, the better move would have been to proceed to second base, get in a rundown and allow MacDougald to score the run before he could have been tagged out. Virdon said that in watching the play from centerfield, he thought that Nelson had caught the ball on a line before it hit the ground and that was why Mantle dove back.
- Either way, it was interesting to watch Virdon, Groat, and Richardson analyzing what went on fifty years after the fact. Once a ballplayer, always a ballplayer.
- Getting back the Mel Allen, I was again impressed as to how he was able to describe and decipher that Mantle play instantly, without benefit of replay or a color analyst. As I said, Allen was good.
- And speaking of good, I can't say enough for how good Bob Costas was in managing the show. A real pro.
- And, of course, what more can be said about the bottom of the ninth? We all know what happened, and watching it again as it was televised, and not in the official highlight film that we've all seen a million times, was wonderful.
- It was interesting to see that in the mob of Pirates players and fans that were on the field, you could see the Yankees players walking in the crowd trying to get to the clubhouse through the Pirates dugout.
- And for high comedy, wait 'til you see Bob Prince interviewing players in the locker room after the game. Get 'em on, ask a question, and get 'em off - that was the way he did it.
- And if you think Bud Selig is a stiff, wait until you get a load of Ford Frick being interviewed.
We have all been overdosed on the 1960 Pirates throughout this 50th Anniversary season, and, frankly, it will be good to give it a rest once we turn the calendar, but the event at the Byham last night was really and truly a fun and unforgettable experience. We are glad that we were fortunate enough to be there.
Beat 'em Bucs!!
