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1960, Game Seven, Found

G-Fafif Sep 23 2010 04:25 PM

Bing Crosby, that old crooner, turns out to have been a baseball video visionary. ‘Best Game Ever’ Broadcast Found in Bing Crosby’s Wine Cellar By RICHARD SANDOMIR How a near pristine, black-and-white reel of the entire television broadcast of the deciding game of the 1960 World Series — long believed to be lost forever — came to rest in the dry and cool wine cellar of Bing Crosby’s home near San Francisco is not a mystery to those who knew him. Crosby loved baseball, but as a part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates he was too nervous to watch the Series against the Yankees, so he and his wife went to Paris, where they listened by radio. “He said, ‘I can’t stay in the country,’ ” his widow, Kathryn Crosby, said. “ ‘I’ll jinx everybody.’ ” He knew he would want to watch the game later — if his Pirates won — so he hired a company to record Game 7 by kinescope, an early relative of the DVR, filming off a television monitor. The five-reel set, found in December in Crosby’s home, is the only known complete copy of the game, in which Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski hit a game-ending home run to beat the Yankees, 10-9. It is considered one of the greatest games ever played. Crosby, the singer and movie and TV star, had more foresight than the television networks and stations, which erased or discarded nearly all of the Major League Baseball games they carried until the 1970s. A canny preservationist of his own legacy, Crosby, who died in 1977, kept a half-century’s worth of records, tapes and films in the wine cellar turned vault in his Hillsborough, Calif., home. “Bing Crosby was way ahead of his time,” said Nick Trotta, senior library and licensing manager for Major League Baseball Productions, the sport’s archivist. Three years ago, baseball acquired the rights to Yankees pitcher Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series — leaving the finale of the 1960 World Series high on its wish list. The hunt for old games — this one unseen on TV since its original broadcast — is constant, serendipitous and often futile. Great games like the Game 7 in 1960 are often recalled with just a few newsreel clips. Crosby was so superstitious about hexing his Pirates that he and Kathryn listened to the game with their friends Charles and Nonie de Limur in Paris. “We were in this beautiful apartment, listening on shortwave, and when it got close Bing opened a bottle of Scotch and was tapping it against the mantel,” Kathryn Crosby said. “When Mazeroski hit the home run, he tapped it hard; the Scotch flew into the fireplace and started a conflagration. I was screaming and Nonie said, ‘It’s very nice to celebrate things but couldn’t we be more restrained?’ ” After Crosby viewed the 2-hour-36-minute game, probably in a screening room in the house, the films took their place in the vault, said Robert Bader, vice president for marketing and production for Bing Crosby Enterprises. They remained there undisturbed until December when Bader was culling videotapes of Crosby’s TV specials for a DVD release — part of the estate’s goal of resurrecting his body of work. He spotted two reels lying horizontally in gray canisters labeled, “1960 World Series.” They were stacked close to the ceiling with home movies and sports instructional films. An hour or so later he found three others on other shelves. Intrigued, he screened the 16-millimeter film on a projector. It was Game 7, called by the Yankees’ Mel Allen and the Pirates’ Bob Prince — the complete NBC broadcast. The film had not degraded and has been transferred to DVD. “I had to be the only person to have seen it in 50 years,” Bader said. “It was just pure luck.” Bader’s call to baseball last spring initiated months of talks that have led to an agreement allowing the MLB Network to televise the game in the off-season, and wrap interviews and other programming around it, with Bob Costas as the host. “It’s a time capsule,” Trotta said. Hearing of the broadcast’s discovery, Jim Reisler, a historian born in Pittsburgh, sounded stunned. “Wow,” he said. His book about the game — “The Best Game Ever” — would have benefited from seeing the NBC production, he said; he relied on the radio call. “It would have given me a greater sense of the tremendous ebb and flow of the game,” he said. Dick Groat, the Pirates shortstop, said: “It was such a unique game to begin with. It was back and forth, back and forth. It was unbelievable.” The production is simple by today’s standards. NBC appeared to use about five cameras. The graphics were simple (the players’ names and little else) and rarely used. There were no instant replays, no isolated cameras, no analysis no dugout reporters and no sponsored trivia quizzes. Viewers looked at the hand-operated Forbes Field scoreboard that on that day (of 19 runs and 24 hits) got a vigorous workout. Occasionally they saw newsreel cameras atop the ballpark roof. Price and Allen rarely interacted; the former called the first half, Allen the second half — putting him on the air for Yogi Berra’s three-run homer in the sixth inning (Allen first called it foul); Pirates’ catcher Hal Smith’s eighth inning homer to put Pittsburgh on top, 9-7 (“That base hit will long be remembered,” Allen said as the film showed Roberto Clemente — Allen called him Bob —bounding around the bases with joy); and Mazeroski’s winning drive to left field (“And the fans go wild,” Allen said). The game included the play in which a ground ball hit by Bill Virdon to Yankees shortstop Tony Kubek kicked off the dirt and hit him smack in the Adam’s apple. He fell on his back, sat up within a minute looking dazed, stood up, then lobbied Manager Casey Stengel unsuccessfully to stay in. It also included remarkable base-running by Mickey Mantle with one out in the top of the ninth. The Yankees were trailing, 9-8, with Mantle on first and Gil McDougald on third. Berra hit a sharp grounder that was grabbed by first baseman Rocky Nelson, who quickly stepped on the bag for the second out. For a split second, Nelson seemed ready to throw home in time for a tag play on McDougald for the final out of the World Series. But Nelson immediately became distracted by Mantle, who never took off for second when Berra hit the ball and was now standing just a few feet away. Nelson reached to tag Mantle. but he feinted and dived back safely into first. McDougald scored, and the game was tied 9-9. “How about that?” Allen said after Mantle’s play. But just minutes later, Mazeroski stepped to the plate. NBC’s sound was good enough to hear a fan shout, “Just get on, Billy, get on!” Mazeroski did more than that. After his home run, fans poured onto the field and danced on the Pittsburgh dugout. Only later did Bing Crosby witness the joy and jubilation recorded just for him. “I can still see Bing hitting the mantel with the Scotch,” Kathryn Crosby said.

Kong76 Sep 23 2010 04:32 PM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Nice story, hopefully it will find it's way on MLB network in the off-season.

Frayed Knot Sep 23 2010 04:55 PM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

If MLBN doesn't lay their hands on that they have no reason for existing. Mel Allen & Bob Prince alone would be worth the price of admission. A game with 19 runs scored completed in 2 hours 36 minutes. What's that game run today? Four hours minimum and if it involves either the Yanx or Sawx we're at 4:30. If BOTH the Yanx & Sawx are involved then we're talking 4:50 and if Papelbon pitches there no way it's under five.

G-Fafif Sep 23 2010 06:22 PM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

It's coming: Bader’s call to baseball last spring initiated months of talks that have led to an agreement allowing the MLB Network to televise the game in the off-season, and wrap interviews and other programming around it, with Bob Costas as the host.

Kong76 Sep 23 2010 06:34 PM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

My lack of reading comprehension skills are well documented on the internet for 13 years now and counting ...

Valadius Sep 23 2010 06:49 PM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Oh wow, this is phenomenal. I wonder, has the 1964 World Series survived? I read David Halberstam's book a while back, and I would love to see the final nail in the coffin of that period in time that made the MFYs so vomit-inducing today.

Willets Point Sep 23 2010 07:02 PM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Crosby probably lit up a victory joint in celebration.

Fman99 Sep 23 2010 07:37 PM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Willets Point wrote: Crosby probably lit up a victory joint in celebration. The Mazeroski HR made Bing so happy that he beat his kids up with a sack full of doorknobs.

Nymr83 Sep 23 2010 08:06 PM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

this is really cool

Edgy DC Sep 23 2010 08:36 PM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

I just know a complete copy of the Steve Henderson game is going to turn up in my Mom's attic in a box of Dungeons & Dragons books or something. Talk about best game ever.

MFS62 Sep 23 2010 09:24 PM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Crosby loved baseball, but as a part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates he was too nervous to watch the Series against the Yankees, so he and his wife went to Paris, where they listened by radio. They broadcast World Series games to France back then? When I was in Paris many years later (the 80's) I couldn't find out the score of the Super Bowl. Later

Gwreck Sep 23 2010 10:00 PM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Armed Forces Radio, probably.

Lefty Specialist Sep 24 2010 07:11 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Shortwave radio. Imagine being so afraid you'll jinx the team that you leave the country. Anything that causes Yankee fans pain, even if it's 50 years old, is a welcome find.

RealityChuck Sep 24 2010 07:34 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

G-Fafif wrote: Bing Crosby, that old crooner, turns out to have been a baseball video visionary. Not surprising -- he was part owner of the team.

MFS62 Sep 24 2010 07:45 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Frayed Knot wrote: Mel Allen & Bob Prince alone would be worth the price of admission. Especially if they are shown. For those of you who never saw Bob Prince (I'm ashamed that I didn't mention him in my retrospective Buc KTE), he and Lindsay Nelson must have shopped at the same sport jacket store. The only difference was, Nelson liked the more conservative ones. Later

Frayed Knot Sep 24 2010 08:26 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

The other good thing about Prince (who I heard a few times although never, to my knowledge, saw) is that he wasn't shy about occasionally sampling the sponsor's products while working a game.

MFS62 Sep 24 2010 09:02 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Frayed Knot wrote: The other good thing about Prince (who I heard a few times although never, to my knowledge, saw) is that he wasn't shy about occasionally sampling the sponsor's products while working a game. IIRC, he had sampled so much of the sponsor's product during one game that afterwards he decided to dive into the pool at the hotel while fully clothed. He did it from a second story balcony. I'm pretty sure that Bob Uecker's character in Major League must have been modelled after Prince. His most famous call was when the Pirates scored 9 runs in the last half of the ninth to win a game. As the winning run crossed the plate, Prince said "We had 'em all the way". Later

Willets Point Sep 24 2010 10:07 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

The Pirates need to be re-acquired by a crooner in order to return to greatness. Who are possible candidates - Tony Bennet? Andrea Bocelli? Andy Williams? Neil Sedaka? Neil Diamond? Justin Bieber? Just a little too late for Eddie Fisher. Perhaps David Bowie could pick up the mantle for his old singing buddy?

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Sep 24 2010 10:14 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Andrew McCutchen China Doll day at PNC Park. Now please give a warm welcome for yoooooooooour Pittsburgh Diamond Dogs!"

Edgy DC Sep 24 2010 10:28 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

1) Ziggy Stardust, cf 2) Alladin Sane, 2b 3) Major Tom, 1b 4) Spaceboy, rf 5) Starman, lf 6) The Man Who Sold the World, 3b 7) Joe the Lion, c 8) DJ, ss 9) Screaming Lord Byron, p Manager: Ground Control Bench: Cat People Bullpen: Scary Monsters Other Rotation Members: Super Creeps

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Sep 24 2010 10:43 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Seems like a good, well-drawing team. Don't lean on me, man, if you can't afford the ticket.

Lefty Specialist Sep 24 2010 11:30 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

I'm much too fast to take that test.

Frayed Knot Dec 05 2010 05:33 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

G-Fafif wrote: It's coming: Bader’s call to baseball last spring initiated months of talks that have led to an agreement allowing the MLB Network to televise the game in the off-season, and wrap interviews and other programming around it, with Bob Costas as the host. Wednesday, December 15 @ 8PM

G-Fafif Dec 15 2010 05:42 PM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Documentary on Bing and the Pirates on right NOW!!! Ralph included. Game 7 to follow. Watch, whydon'tcha?

Lefty Specialist Dec 15 2010 06:56 PM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Wow, Casey manages his bullpen worse than Jerry Manuel.

HahnSolo Dec 16 2010 09:21 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

I watched a bunch of this last night (but not the whole thing ... don't spoil the ending!) with Little Solo. I have to admit I was giddy. I'd never seen a game at Forbes Field. Nor with Mantle, Maris, and Clemente (god he seemed so skinny)! No graphics on the screen, photographers on the roof! Even the Costas sidebars were fun. He brought along a program from the WS from his friend Tony Kubek, and it was revealed that Forbes didn't even sell beer in those days! I DVR'd it, and if it comes on again, I would recommend checking it out.

Frayed Knot Dec 16 2010 10:26 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Def worth checking out especially because - much to my surprise - they did NOT load it up with tons of commercials which would slow down the game to 21st century pace. They actually only took breaks about once every other inning as one half-inning just flowed into the next. - Forbes had the rep as a great pitchers park although it was pretty reachable in RF. Hal Smith's and Mazeroski's HRs were both to LCF though and both were hit a ton. Not common at that time from a platoon catcher and a glove-first middle infielder. - I was expecting a faster-paced game on account of the usual suspects: fewer pitches per hitter, more pitches per minute, fewer pitching conferences and changes (although Stengel did his best to wear wore out a path), etc. But the best thing may have been that the batter was at or at least near the batter's box by the time the ball from the previous AB got back to the pitcher. Amazingly, batters seemed to be able to start their walks toward the plate without their own personal intro music in those days. Scientists ought to look into how that was accomplished and maybe the idea could be brought back. The only real slow guy was Yogi who always walked up with two bats and only after swinging both bats for about a half-dozen practice swings did he hand his extra to the bat boy who was practically standing in the RH batter's box waiting for Yog to finish. - The crowd who likes to claim that every pitcher always finished every game back in them good ol' days sure took a beating on this one. Obviously being the 7th game of the WS was a factor but both managers had guys up in the first inning. - God what I wouldn't give to be able to attend a game without being assaulted by blaring music every 20 seconds. I wish someone had the guts to try it but, at this point, I think fans have become so used to it that teams are probably afraid the crowd would think "this place seems dead" if they ever cut it off.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 16 2010 10:59 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

God what I wouldn't give to be able to attend a game without being assaulted by blaring music every 20 seconds. I wish someone had the guts to try it but, at this point, I think fans have become so used to it that teams are probably afraid the crowd would think "this place seems dead" if they ever cut it off. The CF weekend day games are a slight improvement, with the increased "organ" use. But, yeah, I hear ya. The one thing I'd be lost with regarding a faster-paced, old-time game... I'm pretty sure there would be no way I could keep accurate score. The at-bat music pauses help in that regard, at least.

Number 6 Dec 16 2010 11:07 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

- Roberto Clemente looked terrible in this game. Kicked two balls in the outfield and looked bizarrely hacktastic at the plate, getting beat by balls low and away while standing a full 2 feet from the plate. - The field looked absolutely abysmal compared to today's standards, from the very beginning of the game. Likely resulted in the crucial bad hop that clobbered Kubek. Was that something particular to Forbes Field in its severity? - Was it a normal part of the game to not pay any attention defensively whatsoever to the runner at second when there was a runner also at third? Saw runners from both teams (including slow ones like Yogi) concluding their lead halfway to thirdbase in this situation, and slowly walking back as the ball was lobbed back to the pitcher. No exaggeration. This held true even when the runner represented the potential tie run, late in the game. - Bobby Shantz: unsung hero. The field conditions may have cost him the 3 runs he undeservedly gave up. - Comments among those I watched with that TV production has changed little. I was surprised to see that, on run-scoring hits, the camera would cut to the man scoring rather than stay with the ball. I had thought that was a later invention.

G-Fafif Dec 16 2010 11:09 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Mel Allen -- not impressive. Perhaps not wired for TV.

Edgy DC Dec 16 2010 11:41 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Number 6 wrote: - Roberto Clemente looked terrible in this game. Kicked two balls in the outfield and looked bizarrely hacktastic at the plate, getting beat by balls low and away while standing a full 2 feet from the plate. That's because he held on too long! Old washed-up 26-year-old geezer!

Frayed Knot Dec 16 2010 01:34 PM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Clemente was always a bit of a hack-tastic kind of swinger, very much befitting the Latin stereotype of his time. Just tends to look bad when your hacks don't also make contract. And, yeah, there were several balls he tried to short hop which wound up getting kicked around. Maris had at least one too and he was also considered a top-notch RF. The grass was in lousy shape (one of the players - Groat I think - even commented on it) but finely manicured lawns certainly weren't the rule back then the way they are now. What caught my eye was the dirt which seemed to get huge divots from every footprint like it was wet clay or something. It would have been easy for one of those footprints to have been the cause Kubek's bounce. Didn't notice the runners thing. The running game certainly became fashionable in the NL later on in the '60s but the '50s game and especially the AL game was much less aggressive in that way.

HahnSolo Dec 17 2010 07:42 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

I could be wrong but I think the Steelers were still playing their home games there in 1960. That may have contributed to the chewed-up playing field. Also, I caught the postgame with Bob Prince, who I swear in 2 minutes must have talked to about 20 guys. Gold.

Lefty Specialist Dec 18 2010 05:01 AM Re: 1960, Game Seven, Found

Prince was amazing. First to find a jacket that ugly- even in black and white it screams at you. And the interviews! "Hal, how did it feel to hit that crucial 3-run homer?" "It felt great, Bob." "Fantastic. Now here's Dick Groat...."