Header - Baseball by the Letters

Month: December 2010

When an Oriole Tamed the 1956 Yankees

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The sloping sig remains the same!

He didn’t do it in front of a home crowd. Maybe, it wouldn’t have been as much fun.

Don Ferrarese pitched the game of his life May 12, 1956. The Baltimore lefty sparkled in front of a Yankee Stadium crowd, handcuffing the Yanks on two hits.

Imagine hurling a no-hitter for eight innings against the Bronx Bombers. Ferrarese started the ninth by surrendering an infield single to Andy Carey (a college teammate), a sky-high chopper off the plate fielded by the pitcher. A broken-bat single over third base by Hank Bauer followed.

Ferrarese picked up the play-by-play, writing:

“The most intense moment was the ninth inning. After the first hit and the second broken-bat hit, Mickey Mantle came up with two outs. I said, ‘Oh, my God.’

He flied out for the final out.”

A 1-0 win, his first in the major leagues. Ferrarese was being followed on national TV, as was another nearby hurler. Across town, Carl Erskine was no-hitting the Giants.

(Thanks for the memory, www.retrosheet.org!)

Pitcher Don Ferrarese’s Nickname Revealed

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Matching autographs!

Don Ferrarese didn’t seem microscopic by 1950s baseball standards. He stood 5-foot-9, weighing 170.

Ferrarese revealed how “Midget” became his short-lived nickname, writing:

“My teammate Woodie Held nicknamed me.


He saw me standing on the mound from the dugout and said that ‘Ferrarese looks like a midget out there.’ It stuck only for that one year (1959).”

The infielder died in 2009. Held held a unique perspective of his roomie.
Held measured 5-foot-10 and 167 pounds. Maybe, the nickname was issued in self-defense?
Tomorrow: Ferrarese recalls foiling the 1956 Yankees!

Anti-Semitism Sidelines a Chicago Cub

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Mayer: “I’m happy with the card.
The picture was taken at Wrigley
Field. I didn’t think about the card then.”

 Pitcher Ed Mayer is a true all-star in my book. After his arm ended his decade in professional ball, his heart led him to teaching. Although a quarter-century in the schools didn’t get him on any more trading cards, he remains in the hearts of students he inspired.

Mayer wrote me:

“Thank you for the nice letter. You are a true fan. I played pro baseball for 10 years. I had to work my way up each year.”

Writing by hand,  he listed his climb up the minor league ladder, starting in 1952, including each team, class of league and won-loss record. At the end of the 1956 season, the Cardinals prospect pitched winter ball in Cuba. The non-stop action (winding up with more winter ball in 1957) wore his arm out, Meyer said.

Nevertheless, the Cubs promoted Meyer from Fort Worth in 1957. He remained on the Chicago roster in 1958.

I wrote him one question:

“The List of Jewish players from the 1950s isn’t huge. How many people (fans, teammates, media) knew of your faith? Any bad reactions?

He replied:

“I only had two experiences in 10 years. But we didn’t care about religion in those days.


Incident #1 was in Indianapolis. A fan was yelling anti-Semitic statements at me while I was pitching for Omaha in AAA. I didn’t pay any attention.

2. I was not allowed to go to the Olympic Club in Phoenix with the rest of the team in 1958 spring training.”

The team. As in THE CHICAGO CUBS. This wasn’t a rag-tag minor leaguer. Mayer had ended the year on the Chicago roster. He belonged. Who cares if it was a private club? He was a teammate, someone to stand up for.

I’ve read the articles. I watched Undercover Boss. The Ricketts family have big ideas about owning the Chicago Cubs. I’d be proud to see the new owners fix an old chapter of team history before starting a new season.

Look up 79-year-old Ed Mayer. Bring him to Arizona for one more spring training, a guest of the team. He deserved better. Once a Cub, always a Cub?

Was Jake Wood The First Lou Whitaker?

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Did Jake Wood have to run?

The question took on new meaning as I perused the succinct reply to my letter. He answered my three questions in fast fashion, showing the same speed when he swiped 30 bases in his exciting 1961 rookie season.

In fact, I never pointed out why I wrote to him in the first place. I think, nearly 50 years ago, Detroit fans got a preview of someone with Lou Whitaker-level potential.

I asked Wood about his base-stealing style. Did he have the green light to run?

“It all depended upon the situation and the score of the game.”

He remembered the look and feel of Tiger Stadium in one sentence:

“It was fan-friendly and all green background.”

I thought his best response came in just two words. When I wanted highlights of his first-ever home run off Jim Perry, on April 11, 1961, in his MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT Wood summed it up quickly:

“Total elation!!!”

Tomorrow: A Chicago Cub is banned from attending a club with his teammates. Not because of his race, but his religion.

HOFer Bob Feller Gets Last Laugh?

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Worth finding and reading!

Fellow Iowan Bob Feller made headlines last week when he was moved from hospital to hospice care. Soon, the story snowballed into Feller’s reported obituary. Not so fast, news vultures!

Back in the 1980s, I wrote to Feller, asking him if he’d provide me with an in-person interview at an upcoming hobby show.

I included a phone number.

He called me. Collect.

“This is Feller!” he boomed. He quizzed me about my letter, sounding wary.

I told him that if I’d be bothering him, he didn’t need to schedule any time for me at the hobby show.

“If it was a bother, I wouldn’t have called you!” In his conversation, it was all fastballs.

When his obit made print prematurely, I wondered what the straightforward Feller would have said about reporters trying to do him in.

I e-mailed John Sickels, author of a fantastic 2004 biography of Feller. What does he think the HOFer would have said over the misguided media?

“LOL…oh, that’s a good question. He’d probably say something like “I’m not going down without a fight, the Japanese didn’t get me and this won’t either.

Bob Feller endures!