Loge13 is back from an extended All-Star break.
We will be back in Loge13 tomorrow night with the kiddies on Met t-shirt night (thanks Ron Hunt).
Meanwhile, we let the boys stay up late to watch the All-Star game last night. But since Fox started the game at close to 9:00 PM EST, there wasn’t much for them to watch, except Willie Mays.
And it gave me a chance to tell my Willie Mays story. Met fans know that back in the early-mid 1970’s, Mays was a coach. Out in the player parking lot, we could always see his pink Cadillac, complete with his personalized “SAY HEY” license plate.
One afternoon, our family was crossing the Throgs Neck Bridge. Up ahead, I saw that familiar Caddy and plates. I told my dad, who sped up next to Willie. We waved. He turned, waved and honked, then we dropped back.
As I told my kids that story last night, Willie was on TV, getting into a pink Cadillac and driving around Pac-Bell AT&T Park. So they knew I wasn’t making it up.
Here’s some vintage footge of a Giants-Mets game in brand new Shea Stadium, 1964.
Comments
Wow, great home movie. It brought back a lot of memories. I saw Willie Mays hit a homer at Shea during a doubleheader in '68. I had forgotten that they used to show slides on the top of the scoreboard! There was no padding on the outfield fences, so players could hurt themselves chasing flies. And did you notice how little advertising there was around the stadium then?