Mays in SF. The ’51 Yankees. The Spaceman in Fenway. Reggie. Satchel in Cooperstown.
Opening Day, 1958. Willie Mays rides down Market Street in downtown San Francisco as he is welcomed to the city along with other members of the Giants.
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A great photo of the 1951 world champion New York Yankees. The ’51 Bronx Bombers are one of my favorite teams of all time as they had Casey Stengel, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto, and my personal favorites in Billy Martin and Jerry Coleman. What a great team with so many Hall of Fame and legendary players. Click on the photo for a nice close up of the photo as it’s a large scan.
3 fun facts about the ’51 Yankees: 1) It was both Mantle’s rookie season and Dimaggio’s last season. 2) I was announcer Bob Sheppard’s first year with the Yankees, a position he held until 2007. 3) Whitey Ford was not a member of the ’51 team due to the fact that he was serving in the Korean War.
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May, 1989. Bill Lee pitches at a Old Timer’s Day game at Fenway Park at the age of 42 years old. Something tells me that Bill would have much rather been pitching for the actual Red Sox that day and I bet he would have been able to hold his own.
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1972. Reggie Jackson slides in safely past Bill Freehan of the Detroit Tigers. There are so many things to like about this photo but I must admit for me that the Umpire throwing his arms in the air along with Reggie’s bouncing helmet on the base path is what I love the most about it.
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1971. Satchel Paige looks proudly at his Hall of Fame plaque during his induction. While he looks extremely happy you can’t help but wonder as if he may have been looking at those limited number of years pitched in the Major Leagues with a dash of bitterness. It was no secret that Satchel wanted to be the man to break the color barrier.
While Satchel will always be regarded as one of the all-time great pitchers; it’s very possible that he could have went down as the greatest if he did not have to wait until he was 42 years old to break into the big leagues.
ninety feet of perfection. 
Great post, Duane.
I think the Willie Mays shot is actually Montgomery Street. The WS parade last year followed the same route as the first one in 1958, and it looks like that’s Telegraph Hill in the background.
Joe,
Thank you very much for the info! I will update the post later today!
I’m 99% positive that the Reggie photo depicts the play in the ALCS where he tore his hamstring and had to miss the World Series.
My mom (who was rooting for the Reds, as she did for most of the ’70’s) really hated the way he milked the walkout on crutches before every game during the player intros.
Thanks for the potential back story, very interesting and kinda funny! Reggie to this day is a player that I can not quite gauge on whether I like him or not. I am sure if I was a Reds fan during that series I would have felt much like your Mom did also!
She still feels pretty much the same way.
For me, Baseball in the ’70’s was a big, wonderful, colorful circus. I look back on it all with fondness.