Waner Brothers. Pete Rose. Bert Campaneris. Polo Grounds. Dom DiMaggio.
Brothers Lloyd Waner (L) and Paul Waner (R) pose together during their time as members of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Waner brothers hold the record for most combined career hits by a pair of brothers with 5611 are both in the Hall of Fame. I really, really like this photo.
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A great photo of a young Pete Rose during his early years with the Reds. That uniform is simply amazing.
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1971 ALCS, Game 2. Bert Campaneris of the A’s throws his bat at Tigers pitcher Lerrin LaGrow after being hit in the ankle by a pitch. A bench clearing brawl proceeded to erupt after the incident, in which Tigers Manager Billy Martin had to be restrained from specifically going after Campaneris. After the game, Martin had this to say to the media when asked about the brawl:
“I don’t know what that idiot was thinking. He may have to talk to his psychiatrist to find out. You can bet your ass I was going out there for him. I’m not going to get after him now, but if there’s ever another fight out there, I’m going out there and find him and beat the shit out of him.”
Campaneris felt that the Tigers purposely went after him as he had already scored 2 runs on 3 hits, and stole 2 bases in his first 3 at-bats of the game. After the game, he addresses the media as well:
“I did not try to hit him with the bat. If I wanted to hit him, I would throw it more sidearm than overhand. I just wanted to warn him not to do that again to me.”
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The Polo Grounds at night. While I initially thought this was an interesting photo due to my interest in the Polo Grounds, what really got my Baseball juices flowing is when I realized that I believe Roberto Clemente is in the on deck circle. That sure looks like his #21 jersey to me, although my vision may not be what it once was.
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When I found this photo it was described as “Dom DiMaggio and unidentified San Diego Padres player.” After some sleuthing, I discovered that the unidentified player is Dom Dallessandro. I figured this out after realizing thats 1939 was the only year the Padres wore that specific uniform while DiMaggio was still in the Pacific Coast League. After that I just had to match his face to photos of the 1939 team. I suppose this was not too hard…and yes I am aware of how nerdy that is.
With all that said, I really like this photo due to the fact that it’s from the old PCL and quite clear and candid. I assume that DiMaggio and Dallessandro both posed for the photo due to the fact they were Italian-American players with the same first name (and initials). I’m sure the fact that both players had amazing seasons in 1939 which in turn propelled them to the big leagues had something to do with the photo as well.
ninety feet of perfection. 
The Campy incident was 1972, not 1971.