Mickey's Home Run: 10/10/64

from Joe Bruno:

I WAS AT THAT GAME. MY FIRST WORLD SERIES GAME.
I WAS HANGING OUT ON MULBERRY STREET EARLY THAT MORNING, WHEN I WAS APPROACHED BY AN OLDER GUY NICKNAMED JOMAN (REAL NAME JOE PRELLI) HE HAD ONE TICKET FOR THE GAME. HE ASKED ME IF I WANTED TO GO. I RAN HOME AND TOLD MY FATHER. AND HE SAID OK. I TOOK THE TRAIN (WOODLAWN-JEROME AVE.IRT) AND GOT OFF AT 161ST STREET. AT THE TIME I WAS A STUDENT AT CARDINAL HAYES, WHICH WAS ONE STOP BEFORE (149TH STREET). THE SCHOOL WAS ACTUALLY AT 155 AND GRAND CONCOURSE. I GOT TO YANKEE STADIUM JUST IN TIME FOR THE GAME TO START, 2PM I THINK. I HAD ON A THIN TEE SHIT. I WAS SITTING IN RIGHT FIELD, RIGHT BEHIND THE RIGHT FIELDER WHO THAT DAY WAS MICKEY MANTLE. ROGER MARIS WAS PLAYING CENTER FIELD. I WAS MAYBE 10-15 ROWS BACK IN THE RESERVED SEATS, NOT THE BOX SEATS.
I REMEMBER EARLY IN THE GAME A BASE HIT TO RIGHT WENT UNDER MANTLE'S LEGS, HEADING RIGHT TOWARD ME IN THE SEATS, AND A RUN SCORED FROM FIRST BASE. THAT WAS THE ONLY RUN THE CARDS SCORED THAT DAY. AS THE GAME WENT ON, I WAS SHIVERING COLD. THE TEMPERATURE HAD DROPPED 10-15 DEGREES. A MAN SAW ME BY MYSELF (I HAD JUST TURNED 16), AND HE GAVE ME A BUTTON-DOWN SWEATER TO WEAR. I WAS REALLY EMBARRASSED AND UNCOMFORTABLE WEARING THIS MAN'S SWEATER SO AROUND THE EIGHTH INNING I GAVE HIM HIS SWEATER BACK AND SAID I WAS LEAVING. THE SCORE WAS 1-1 AT THE TIME. INSTEAD I WALKED AROUND BEHIND HOME PLATE. ACTUALLY BETWEEN HOME PLATE AND THE YANKEE DUGOUT.. I GOT A HOT CHOCOLATE AND STOOD IN A STANDING AREA RIGHT BEHIND THE LAST ROW OF SEATS. BECAUSE OF THE OVERHANG FROM THE MEZZANINE, ALL I COULD SEE WAS THE INFIELD AND THE POLES BLOCKED MUCH OF THAT VIEW.
I SAW BARNEY SCHULTZ WALK IN FROM THE BULLPEN AND MANTLE WALK TO THE PLATE. I'M PRETTY SURE MANTLE LED OFF THE INNING, BUT I COULD BE WRONG. IT WAS EITHER THE FIRST OR SECOND PITCH THAT MANTLE SWUNG AT. BY THE SOUND OF THE BALL AND KNOWING THE POWER OF MANTLE'S SWING, I KNEW IT WAS A HOME RUN. BUT ALL I COULD SEE WAS THE INFIELDERS TURNING AROUND. THE BALL ACTUALLY LANDED IN THE UPPER DECK. THE GAME WAS OVER, YANKEES WON 2-1, BUT THEY LOST THE SERIES IN SEVEN GAMES. I THINK BOB GIBSON WON THREE OF THOSE GAMES. YANKEE STADIUM WAS SHAKING. I WAS JUMPING UP AND DOWN WITH MY HOT CHOCOLATE. I WATCHED MANTLE ROUND THE BASES ALMOST EXACTLY FROM THE SAME ANGLE AS IN THE PICTURE ABOVE, MAYBE A LITTLE BIT TO THE LEFT. YEARS LATER, IN THE LATE 1980'S I BECAME FRIENDLY WITH MANTLE. WE HAD MANY SPORTS PRESS CONFERENCES IN MICKEY MANTLE'S RESTAURANT ON CENTRAL PARK SOUTH (ACTUALLY OWNED BY BILL LIEBERMAN, THE BROTHER OF DAVID LIEBERMAN OF DAVID'S COOKIE FAME). I ALSO HUNG OUT THERE WITH FRIENDS ON MANY OCCASIONS. ONE NIGHT, I WAS SITTING AT THE BAR WITH A FEW FRIENDS AND MANTLE CAME AND SAT NEXT TO US. HE KNEW WHO I WAS AND FRANKLY, HE DIDN'T LIKE SPORTS WRITERS TOO MUCH.
I TOLD HIM MY STORY ABOUT HIS FINAL WORLD SERIES HOME RUN, NUMBER 18. I THINK IT'S STILL A WORLD SERIES RECORD. BABE RUTH HAD ONE LESS. MANTLE ENJOYED THE STORY. HE TOLD THE BARTENDER TO GIVE ME AND MY FRIENDS A DRINK ON THE HOUSE. I WAS ALSO AT YANKEE STADIUM THE DAY FRANK GIFFORD GOT BLIND-SIDED BY CHUCK BEDNARIK OF THE EAGLES IN THE 1960 EASTERN DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. IT WAS THE LAST MINUTE OF THE GAME. THE GIANTS WERE DRIVING FOR THE WINNING TOUCHDOWN. WHEN GIFFORD WENT DOWN, YANKEE STADIUM SOUNDED LIKE A FUNERAL PARLOR. GIFFORD SAT OUT THE ENTIRE NEXT YEAR, AND CAME BACK AS A WIDE RECEIVER. BUT HOW I GOT THERE, AND WHERE I SAT IS ANOTHER LONG INTERESTING STORY, FOR ANOTHER TIME.