My Turn: Having a ball with Uncle Herman
Walter Schoendorf, of Merrick, recounts a trip to Yankee Stadium with his Uncle Herman in the summer of 1947. The game against the Chicago White Sox was one they would never forget. Credit: AP file
It was the summer of 1947 when my Uncle Herman took me to a baseball game at Yankee Stadium that I will never forget.
Uncle Herman was the younger brother of my father. They had both emigrated from Germany in the late 1920s. Talk about the ant and the grasshopper. My father was serious, hardworking and ambitious. Herman enjoyed partying and having a good time. He was a flashy dresser, and I remember he would wear brown suede shoes.
He would arrive for a visit to our home wearing an expensive sport jacket and usually had an ascot around his neck. My mother called him "a real gentleman," much to the annoyance of my father, who called him "a playboy" and disapproved of his lifestyle.
Herman was employed as a waiter at the famous Waldorf Astoria and would entertain us with stories of the prominent people he had met and the conversations he had overheard. On occasion, he would take me to a ballgame.
I must have been 16 or 17 years old when we went to see the game I'll never forget. That day, he arrived in his new tan Ford convertible. My mother admired the car, while my father said it was not very practical to drive.
The Yankees were playing the Chicago White Sox, and the stadium was packed with Yankee fans who came to see how badly the Sox would lose the game. (Chicago, despite the opinion of Yankee fans, would, on occasion, give the league-leading Yankees a severe beating.)
I think it was the third inning, and the Sox were behind, when the Sox pitcher delivered the perfect home run ball to the Yankee batter. I don't recall who the batter was, but the Yankee lineup included Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Bobby Brown, Tommy Henrich, Phil Rizzuto and Allie Reynolds. We were surrounded by Yankee fans who were fueled by large cardboard containers of beer.
There was a sharp crack as the bat hit the ball. You could tell by the sound that it was going to travel a great distance. Unbelievably, the ball was headed for our section. Around us, there was a sudden silence and then a roar as everyone scrambled to their feet and stared at the approaching ball. It fell in front of us and a tall man in the row in front of us had brought his baseball glove to the game for just this occasion. He lunged up for the ball and missed. The ball struck something and bounced back in the air. I don't know what happened to it, but the tall man lost his balance and pitched forward with outstretched hands to break his fall and fell on the row of fans in front of him. A platoon of ushers arrived and started to untangle the fallen fans.
I remember a shower of popcorn flying in the air from one of the downed fans. Several of them were injured and had to be removed on stretchers. The police were called when two well-lubricated fans started trading punches over some grievance.
After delivering me back home, my uncle left with a wave from his convertible. My father was waiting and asked, "How did the car ride?" I thought I knew what he wanted to hear.
"It was a windy ride and the car bounced a lot," I replied. He uttered, "I knew it, and it is not practical!"
I must have given him the right answer because I overheard him telling my mother about my ride.
The Yankees won that game by a score of 12-4.
--Walter Schoendorf, Merrick
