ninety feet of perfection.

Gil Hodges shows off the hands which earned him three consecutive Gold Glove awards during his career in the big leagues (’57, ’58, & ’59).

If you catch yourself looking at Gil’s satin uniform and wondering what the back story behind it is, I believe I have the answer. If I remember correctly I once read that the Dodgers satin uniforms of the 1940’s were a response to the rise of night baseball and it was believed that the players would be more visible under the lights with satin uniforms. I have never heard if this actually helped or not.

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1922. Shoeless Joe Jackson takes batting practice prior to a game with a semi-pro Baseball team based out of Westwood, New Jersey. Jackson played his last game in the big leagues at the end of the 1920 season and from that point on, played with and managed various semi-pro teams through the years.

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A great photo of Leo Durocher during his time as Manager with the New York Giants (’48-’55). I could be wrong, but I’m assuming that this photo was taken at the Polo Grounds? Also, it looks as if there may be padded walls on the backstop too which is interesting to me. If anyone can clear this up, it would be much appreciated.

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Dom, Vince, and Joe DiMaggio talk hitting with fellow Bay Area Baseball legend, Lefty O’Doul. I assume that this was taken during an Old-Timers game in Oakland during Joe’s time as a coach (’68-’69). O’Doul passed away in late 1969, and the uniforms worn in this photo match one of the uniforms worn during Joe’s time in Oakland, so I’m pretty sure this photo was taken during that 2 year period of time. Regardless though, I would have loved to hear these four guys talk Baseball.

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1957. Willie Mays at-bat at the Polo Grounds. I love this photo so much. I can almost visualize what happened seconds later: Mays running the bases at full speed and sliding safely into third base for a triple. I have no idea what happened during this at-bat, but I’m going to assume that this happened for the sake of my imagination.

~ by duaneharris19 on December 18, 2012.

Posted in Baseball
Tags: 1919 Black Sox, baseball, brooklyn dodgers, chicago white sox, dom dimaggio, gil hodges, gold glove, Joe DiMaggio, lefty o'doul, Leo Durocher, Major League Baseball, MLB, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Negro League Baseball, new york giants, Oakland A's, oakland athletics, pacific coast league, PCL, Polo Grounds, san diego padres, san francisco giants, san francisco seals, seals stadium, shoeless joe jackson, Vince Coleman, willie mays