It’s the best ball park in America
Lake Placid Olympics is nothing more than pie in the sky
The Front Page
Morning Update
Monday, June 6, 2022
By Ken Tingley
My trips to the ballpark are not as often as they used to be, but I still get giddy when they do occur.
With my son’s days number for his history gig in Boston, I wanted to make sure he got to see the best place in the world to watch a ballgame - Fenway Park.
It has probably been 25 years since I have been to Fenway, but like most of the history in Boston, it is still in the same place.
I hardly recognized the neighborhood outside the ballpark where roads have been closed in favor of fan walkways to patronize bars and restaurants. As usual, I was in a hurry to get inside. And rather than head to the hot dog stand where there was no line, my first impulse was to get out and catch a glimpse of the old ballpark.
Over the years, I’ve dragged my son to a few of the newer ballparks - Yankee Stadium, PNC Park in Pittsburgh, the Tropicana Dome in Tampa and Minute Maid Park In Houston - so it was time for him to see the best place to watch a baseball game.
Once out of the portal along the third base line, I told my group to follow me where we marched out toward the Green Monster to snap some photos.
“Now, I know what you mean,” my son said to me. “Everything is so close.”
We had a great seats behind the Orioles’ dugout where we could see the players’ faces and expressions. We paid a lot more for the seats in Houston last year, but we were lucky to be able to read the Yankees’ uniform numbers from out in right field.
At one point while my son and I were making a beer and hot dog run, I told him he had to appreciate Fenway’s historical significance. It was opened in 1912 - the year the Titanic sank - and Babe Ruth had “pitched” for the Red Sox here.
For the historian in my son, that added the needed perspective.
The game was loaded with action with infielders bobbling grounders and a sky-high fly balls leading being dropped. The two home runs hit were both from light-hitting players that showed anyone could go yard at Fenway. One drive carried over the Green Monster in left and the other over the visiting bullpen in right. Twice we saw the balls ricochet off the Green Monster.
Then there was a full-throated, swaying-to-the-music “Sweet Caroline” from Neil Diamond to close out the seventh inning. It was the perfect combination of action and relaxation. But what I might remember most was a conversation with an old Boston fan before the game.
As we found out seats, a lifer of a Red Sox fan who was a little older than me talked about how these seats were prime foul ball territory. Sadly, none came our way.
He was from Bristol, R.I., a fairly short drive from Boston. He regaled us with going to college in Missouri in 1967 and heading to St. Louis to see Game 3 of the World Series between the Cardinals and Red Sox. It was tied 1-1 after the first two games in Boston.
“Tell me you got to see Bob Gibson pitch,” I said to the man.
“No, not that day,” the man replied.
He reminded me that there were no budget hotels along the highways in those days. If you wanted to stay overnight, you had to go into the city and stay at one of the big hotels downtown. The man and his friends stayed at the same hotel as the Red Sox.
The man and his college friends staked out the hotel lobby before the game in hopes of catching a glimpse of some of the players. They saw ace pitcher Jim Lonborg and the aging catcher and former Yankee Elston Howard.
Howard had played just 42 games for the Red Sox that year and would play just one more year. Howard asked the group if they had tickets to the game. When he heard they did, he instead offered to get them on a list to see the early morning workout the next day. The group was deliriously delighted.
The next day, as they headed out to old Busch Stadium in St. Louis, the friends doubted there names would be on the list. But sure enough, Ellie had remembered.
“You know,” the man with the gray hair said while lounging in the sun along the third base line. “I don’t remember a thing about the game, but I remember everything about that workout and meeting Jim Lonborg and Elston Howard.”
Of course, it may have something to do with the fact the Red Sox lost that game, 5-2.
That’s baseball.
That’s baseball in Boston.
Retiring
On Friday, Rep. Chris Jacobe’s decided to retire from Congress after backlash about his support for gun control. His “Profiles in Courage” moment turned into another politician being run off the road because they would not toe the line of their political party.
Individual thought is being outlawed by the Republican Pary.
Olympics?
The recent suggestion by the state Legislature to support bringing another Olympics to Lake Placid is nothing more than pie in the sky.
A previous attempt to partner with Montreal on a Winter Olympics fell short and now the idea is being floated to partner with New York City. The reality is that Lake Placid’s infrastructure is still not much better - such as a highway there - than it was in 1980 when its transportation system was a major failure.
The state Legislature could be spending its time on much more important things.
Summer read
If you are looking for a great summer read, I urge you to pick up “The Last American Editor,” a collection of my columns from my time at The Post-Star.
You can still find it at local outlets such as the Chapman Museum, Ace Hardware, McKernon Gallery in Hudson Falls, Rock Hill Bakehouse Bookstore in Glens Falls, The Silo, Northshire Books and Battenkill Books in Cambridge.
Next event
I will be speaking at the Rockwell Falls Public Library in Hadley on Thursday, June 23 at 6:30 p.m. I look forward to talking about life, newspapers, the future of journalism and “The Last American Editor.”
Hope to see you there.
