At age 12, I found myself totally addicted to baseball. That was in 1957.Mickey Mantle was my boyhood idol, and I was a St. Louis Cardinal fan through my teen years and beyond. I recall with fondness hearing Harry Cary’s “holy cow!” when Ken Boyer would make a diving stop of a sizzling grounder, or when Lou Brock stole another base. Back in those days, I knew virtually every player on every team because trades were rarer than they are today. Mantle was always a Yankee; Stan “The Man” Musial a Cardinal, Ernie banks a Cub, and Eddie Matthews a Brave. The sports page headlines were about the Mick’s mammoth home run that came within inches of leaving Yankee Stadium, Musial’s five home runs in a Sunday double header, and the Yankee “M & M” squad’s historic chase for Ruth’s record. read more
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