Searching For Joe Garagiola
        at the Polo Grounds

Mays catching the ball a few feet in front of the wall.

For most people “seeing is believing” but not for Anthony Scillia.

Dr. Scillia, a psychiatrist from Denville, New Jersey is a life long San Francisco Giants fan. His allegiance to the team dates back to its days at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan, across the Harlem River from Yankee Stadium.

When Dr. Scillia read Joe Garagiola, had a direct view of “The Catch” Willie Mays’ dramatic game-saving over-the-head grab of Vic Wertz’s 450-foot blast in the eight inning of game one of the 1954 World Series against the Cleveland Indians, he wanted proof.

Who could blame him?

(First, for most of us, “Who is Joe Garagiola?”)

How did Garagiola, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs wind up at the game? And how did he have one of the best seats of the 52,751 fans there.  A journeyman player, his best-known baseball achievement is growing up in The Hill section of St. Louis, near his close friend, New York Yankee Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra.

“I was not the best catcher in baseball. I wasn’t even the best catcher on my block,” Gariagola once said.

His career took off after his playing days ended. Author of “Baseball is a Funny Game” he hosted NBC’s Today Show and its Saturday Game of the Week. He often guest-hosted Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show including the Beatles only appearance on that show and was a panelist on To Tell The Truth

 “THE CATCH”

The score tied 2-2 and no outs, base runners on first and second, power hitting Wertz, a four-time all-star slammed Don Liddle’s fourth pitch to centerfield. When Wertz connected with the ball, Mays known for playing a shallow centerfield, turned and ran over 130 feet with his back to home plate. If the ball remained in play everyone knew Willie would catch it. And he did! His throw to the infield prevented runners from scoring. The Giants won the game and swept the series; their last in New York. They moved to San Francisco in 1957.

While reading “Baseball’s 25 Greatest Moments” published by The Sporting News (the catch ranked ninth) the following quote spurred Dr. Scillia’s interest.

“It was an impossible catch, but what amazed me was how quickly Mays turned and fired the ball all the way to second base," said Garagiola. “He had to leave skid marks there-that’s how quickly he stopped and braced himself to throw.” Garagiola saw the play from a clubhouse window 483 feet from home plate, less than 30 feet from Mays.

After making his over-the-head catch of Wertz's blast Mays stops quickly
ready to throw the ball to the infield. Garagiola watches from the window.

He called his friend, Carl Kahn, a Brooklyn Dodger fan and a sports memorabilia collector. Kahn who knows Garagiola personally told Scillia “If Joe said it, then it is true.” Dr. Scillia thumbed through his baseball video library. He played his film and saw someone in the seventh window, on the far left side of the clubhouse. He noticed another face by the second window but that person had an obstructed view.

Scillia  had a quote and a photo but he needed more.  This had personal ties.

“My parents who are deceased were enthusiastic Giant fans. My best friend is a Yankee fan. He always urged me to become one,” he said. “If I had I would abandon my father.

 “Rooting for the Giants keeps me connected with my parents. As a fan I was curious but I had to do it for my father.”

Dr. Scillia visited baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. He found his evidence in their archives, a photo showing the entire clubhouse with Garagiola hunched by the window. He sent the picture to Garagiola who signed it.

So how did Garagiola wind up in the Giants clubhouse?  He played five games with the Giants - batted 11 times, with three hits, two doubles. The Giants did not add him to their World Series roster and he watched the game from the clubhouse. “I had nothing to do with the outcome of the game,” he said.

Borrowing a phrase made popular by the late Red Barber, a sportscaster for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees, Garagiola had the enviable position of sitting “in the catbird seat.”

Pier 57: Innovative WWII Concept 
Heralded New Age in Pier Design

On Sunday September 29, 1947 a fire swept through Pier 57. Flames soared six stories high. Huge clouds of smoke darkened the skies over the Chelsea and West Village waterfront.

 

Six fire boats plus eighty fire and emergency vehicles responded to this eight-alarm blaze at Pier 57 between 15 and 16th streets. Hundreds of firemen worked double shifts to contain the fire, which at one point threatened two adjacent piers.

In the end the blaze injured over 153 people. It took 15 hours to extinguish the last smoldering ashes. Over 300 feet of the 800-foot pier crumbled into the river and with it a bit of waterfront’s mystique. Pier 57 served the great trans Atlantic ships of the French Line, including the luxurious Art Deco masterpieces Lafayette and Ile de France.

Fire Commissioner Frank J. Quayle ruled the blaze “suspicious but undoubtedly due to carelessness.” The fire started in creosote piles in oil-covered water underneath the pier about sixty feet from its western or river end, where two tugs worked.

Built by the city in 1907 at a cost of $1,200,000 the Grace Line leased it in 1939 for twenty years. The worst fire in the river’s history completely destroyed it, a loss of $5 million.

Within months the Department of Marine and Aviation planned to replace it with a fire and marine borer proof concrete and steel structure with a basement. No pier had ever had underwater storage before. This innovative concept, designed by noted architect and civil engineer Emil Praeger, consisted of three watertight concrete boxes which would support it instead of wood piles, the standard material used. The pier would rest on two boxes or pontoons, set end-to-end, measuring roughly 360 feet long, 82 feet wide and weighing 27,000 tons. The two boxes would connect to the third caisson, which at 19,000 tons and almost equal size supported the bulkhead and created a T-shape.

Praeger designed the rectangular floating breakwaters used by the Allies for the D-Day invasion in World War II. Years later Praeger also designed the Tappan Zee Bridge, the Nebraska State Capitol, Shea and LA Dodger Stadiums. He also renovated the Capitol in Washington.

Due to its size construction took place in an abandoned clay quarry turned lake near Haverstraw, New York about 38 miles north of the city along the Hudson.

Construction began August 1950. Two years later six tugboats, under the supervision of the Moran Towing Corporation, whose boats had worked the Hudson waters for generations, floated the first box down river. At 57 engineers filled it with water and sunk it, the first commercial effort employing the “float and sink” principle used by the Allies at Normandy. The two other boxes arrived a month later.

In December 1954 the new pier opened. At $12 million it far exceeded original estimates. It doubled the size of the old one and provided additional open space on the roof and basement storage for perishable goods. It also directed passenger traffic to unload in a third basement by the bulkhead where Passengers then proceeded to a huge receiving hall on the second level by elevators. Cargo trucks used a separate ramp to the second level.

Although its innovative design drew praise from the maritime and engineering world success proved short-lived. In less than ten years passenger travel and cargo shipping underwent massive change. Jet planes cut travel to Europe from days to hours and siphoned away business. Container shipping and the need for large tracts of land made the west side piers obsolete. In 1960 W.R. Grace Company sold its operations.

For the past four decades the MTA has used it for bus parking and a maintenance garage. During the Republican National convention in 2004 it became a detention center for protesters.

Pier 57, which is listed on the State and National Registers of Historical Places, sits in the middle of the Hudson River Park. It once symbolized elegance. It is now an eyesore and obstacle for thousands of walkers, bikers and joggers who use the park daily. On a negative note it became a detention center for protesters during the Republican National convention in 2004.

A makeover is in the works. Plans call for developing several acres and levels of public space for cultural and recreational uses, plus a public market and rooftop park. This summer the Hudson River Park Trust, the keeper of the Hudson River Park, accepted public comments for its redevelopment project. Old shipping containers are the special feature this time around.

For more information check the Hudson River Park Trust’s website .

     Runyonesque Character Left 
       Imprint on Times Square 

In a neighborhood full of colorful and zany characters William Kanafsky easily ranked at or near the top of any list. He possessed all the traits of a typical Damon Runyon character - a slick, racy, fast-talking, wisecracking wit. He packaged this with an attitude that said  "I'm going to verbally strip you down and embarrass you and have fun while you squirm."   
And he often did just that, in a tough-love way, to anyone who walked through the doors of his shop.

The final chapter of this Clinton story ended on March 11, 2001 when William Kanafsky died at St. Clare's Hospital. He was 58. He had lived and worked in Clinton and Times Square for over 25 years.

Few people knew his real name. He had more monikers than a character in a Runyon short story. Mention Wild Bill, Billy Kane, Colonel Finkelstein, White Willie, Billy Dancing Shoes, Billy Kanocker, The Bearded One, and then most everyone knew you were referring to Billy from the Manhattan Plaza Winery.

He managed the wine shop since 1985. When he first started there Clinton still had a hard edge, neighborhood in transition. Vacant stores, shoddy storefronts, dilapidated tenements, drugs, street prostitution and high crime created an unsafe feeling, especially late at night. Ninth Avenue did not enjoy the bustling restaurant and cafe buzz it has today.

Yet he took a struggling business and made it into one midtown’s best wine and spirits shop.

He saw change coming to Hell’s Kitchen. He hung out with everyone from hookers and hustlers at the Full Moon bar on Eight Avenue to the struggling actor’s, celebrities, and bankers who frequented the Film Center Café or the West Bank Cafe among a score of  local restaurants, bars and dives. He lived it up mightily and became friends with many, who in turn became his customers.

He had a knack for building a business. Prior to joining the Winery he managed Bernard's, a popular theater and late-night bistro on West 48th, a site now occupied by the Morgan Stanley building. There the clientele ranged from Broadway celebrities to professional athletes to the biggest names in porn. Of course many of the latter became “close” friends.

He chatted up actors Tony Roberts, Frank Langella, Nell Carter among others and wrestling's Andre the Giant and Greg Valentine. He honed his blatant descriptive sexual humor with the likes of Ron Jeremy, Candida Royale, Ginger Lynn and Danielle stars whose names draped the marquees of Time Square biggest porn venues.

"He was the funniest man outside of showbiz and definitely the most irreverent man I have ever known," said Jimmy Kissane, an actor who worked with him for thirteen years. "You couldn't even print his best stuff. He was a born comic. He had to get a laugh at any expense even if it made you boiling mad. You got mad but ten other people were on the floor laughing."

Born in Brooklyn, raised in Miami Beach, Mr. Kanafsky not only sold spirits but entertained customers with stories and one-liners usually laced with a sexual, racial and ethnic zings.

He loved talking about his "big" missed opportunity after his family returned to Brooklyn. "My mother's friend begged her to get me to take her daughter out. We went

to Erasmus Hall High School together. I couldn't be bothered. She was dumpy, fat and had a big Jewish nose, " he used to say (minus the expletives and sexually derogatory descriptions). But admitted "What an idiot I was." The girl was Barbra Streisand.

Everyday he had a new story. Once he complained of severe back pain but still described in X-rated detail his all-night romp with two dancers from the Melody, a Times Square strip club.

His spicy talk and raunchy humor shielded his "heart of gold" added Kissane." He was the first to dig into his pocket to help someone whether it was some dreg on hard times, a whore from one of his old haunts or a highbrow who ran short of money drinking or snorting coke the night before.”

His generosity touched houses of worship, block associations and theater groups. Several years ago, he coproduced, with Denzel Washington, a series of vignettes written and directed by the late O.L. Duke, an actor friend who had trouble financing his work.

In the early sixties he served in the Navy and did two patrols in the Mediterranean. His mother, Freda and sister Sandy, of Georgia; two sons, Burton, of California, and Marlon, of Oregon; and two grandchildren, survive him.

"If you rub up against money long enough, some of it may rub off on you," is a quote from Damon Runyon's "A Very Honourable Guy."  Runyon definitely had Billy Kanafsky in mind.


Photo: Billy Kanafsky, Kacy Duke (celebrity personal trainer) and two legitimate friends. 
Photo by Rudi Papiri

(END)

JOE ZITO: Walking The Beat With The Clinton/Hell's Kitchen Historian

Walk Ninth Avenue with Joe Zito and let him transport you back in time. How far back he takes you depends on the blocks and the buildings you pass. He can whisk you seventy, ninety, one hundred fifty years back in time. Mr. Zito is not a time traveler nor is he a magician but he is a master at unraveling the history of old buildings. When you see a dilapidated tenement built in the mid-eighteen hundreds, he sees craftsmanship and beauty underneath years of neglect.

Zito, a "lover of cities has studied architectural history almost forty years. Known as  "Clinton's Historian" after the New York City neighborhood where he resides, Zito has written a column for the local community newspaper The Clinton Chronicle since 1999. Clinton or Hell's Kitchen is a one-time rough neighborhood stretching from 34th to 59th Streets. When Zito first started researching the area's buildings and history few visitors ventured west of Eight Avenue.

He has conducted walking tours, lectures and slide shows at the Brooklyn Museum, The Municipal Arts Society, NYU, community centers, and The New York Public Library branches at the Science, Industry and Business on West 34th at Madison Avenue, and at Columbus near 51st street on Tenth Avenue. He often lectured at the old Donnell branch and once gave an excellent lecture comparing London and New York architecture.

He has led tours in downtown Brooklyn and in Manhattan from the Financial District to Harlem. "I have taken groups to Kleindeutschland. Few people know where that is," Zito, laughed referring to what was once the third largest German speaking community in the world, located from 14th to Houston, to the East River.

Three years ago I stood along traffic clogged Ninth Avenue with Zito, then 95 years old. Unfazed by the sweltering heat of this late August afternoon, layered with exhaust fumes from vans and buses blocking the intersection in front of us Zito, who packs more energy and enthusiasm than people half his age walked over two miles that day, and unveiled his secret world of sculptured faces, angels, winged-lions, nymphs, arched serpents, renaissance arches, Victorian turrets all of which decorate buildings in Clinton. He also offered answers to buildings I often stopped to admire but knew nothing about. He praised the beauty of two buildings he saw for the first time while taking a mental snapshot of their location and architectural details. Within a week Zito would know everything about these buildings.

He rhapsodizes poetically on these forgotten gems. The wail of emergency vehicle sirens and the deafening sounds generated by the construction sites we passed did not distract him from talking about Florentine palazzos, and Greek mythology, images he uses to describe his buildings.

Zito became interested in architecture near the end of his thirty-year NYPD career. Vacations to Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and Washington with Joan, his late wife of 55 years, spurred his interest. "We planned trips as vacation/learning experiences. We studied architecture and cultural history," he said. "I learned how style connects with history."

Walking and his keen attention to detail harken back to his days as a beat patrolman in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He also worked in the police commissioner's office and the detective's division. Rising to the rank of Captain, he served briefly at the 16th Precinct on West 47th, now Ramon Aponte Playground. A modest man he downplayed his last post as commander of 200 personnel at a Staten Island precinct. "We rescued a lot of cats from trees," he said. "I felt like a sheriff in a small town."

He grew up in Brooklyn and attended New Utrecht High, then graduated from Fordham University during the depression. "There were no jobs. Times were tough," he said. He got a job as a rewrite man and copyreader for a racing newspaper. "I read for mistakes,” he said. "And The Encyclopedia of New York has plenty."

When the paper he worked for in Boston folded Zito joined the NYPD. After retiring in 1972 he took art and literature classes at NYU and assisted his professors with class tours. He has lectured ever since. When he moved to Clinton 23 years ago Napoleon LeBrun's Sacred Heart of Jesus Roman Catholic Church on 51^st street just off Tenth Avenue street first captured his attention. "The deep red brick blends beautifully with the terra cotta and light-colored stone arches," he said.

His late daughter, Donna, a nurse at Roosevelt Hospital, told him about St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church on West 46^th east of Seventh Avenue. Designed by Pierre LeBrun, Napoleon’s son, Zito applauds the use of ornamental brick and terra cotta figures on the facade.

Zito specialty is pre-law tenements. Two of his favorites are the 1886 Werner building, #787 Ninth Avenue, home of the  "Green Men" - the four stone masks of Greek mythology that adorn the building’s second floor. Years of neglect have tarnished its grandeur. "It is as beautiful a building as you will find on Fifth or Park Avenues." Zito said. The second is Stanford White's elegant 1887 Wanaque (photo r), a French Flat, and forerunner to the apartment house,  a residence used 
by Fountain House.

When asked how he prepares, Zito replied, "I visit the sight, I read extensively and I research.  He added, "I remember what a brilliant policewoman once said  'review, review, review.'" 
I never skim the surface. I enjoy digging deep. It helps to have a

passion for what you do."

Please visit Joe Zito’s blog: http://joezitonyc.blogspot.com/

Photo top: Joe Zito standing in front of the site of  Stillman's  gym - 300 West 55th St. - where Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano and others trained.

Photo bottom: Wanaque - 359 West 47th St.  Photos by Rudi Papiri

(END

OUTCASTS THRIFT SHOP: A Miracle on Tenth Avenue

When Outcasts Thrift shop first opened on Tenth Avenue in the nineties few shoppers ventured west of Ninth Avenue. After all Hell’s Kitchen's main street always had character. It is a haven for good eating thanks to the annual Ninth Avenue International Food Festival, its many restaurants, ethnic gourmet stores and mom-and-pop shops. Tenth, always the poor-cousin, lacked an identity.

Back then empty or dingy looking stores, auto part shops, gas stations, parking lots, a crime-plagued park, and run down tenements filled the avenue.

Outcasts gave people a reason to visit Tenth. Run by St. Clements Church at 423 West 46^th Street, Outcasts first operated from the church before moving to Tenth. It quickly became a popular stop for area residents looking for bargains even though it resembled a Bowery rummage sale.

In time due to the efforts of co-managers Peter Valentyne and Keith Benedict (both have since left) Outcasts evolved into “The Miracle of Tenth Avenue.”
“We are a place of resurrectible goods,” Valentyne said. “We give one a reason to feel good and gain from other people’s castoffs.”

These efforts have worked.  Customers agree.

“It is a magical place. I remember things I did not buy,”

Kathy Lynwood said. Lynwood, who shops here often, added “This is a place for all seasons. It lifts one’s mood on those somber days even if you leave without buying a thing.”

Both Valentyne, a poet from Michigan, and Benedict, an actor, painter and native of Wales shared a passion and vision for Outcasts. Together they created a warm and inviting place.  It is a boutique minus the pretentiousness and high prices a some of the nicer looking shops in the city. It’s a place for people with and without money.

People come here not only to browse but chat with the personable Messrs. Valentyne and Benedict. Both have worked at Outcasts for about eleven years. People bask in the store’s soothing visual displays, aromatic smells and eclectic music before leaving with a bag of goodies or that one terrific find.

The small storefront window is hard to miss. Its theme- oriented setups contain eye-catching displays. Stylishly dressed mannequins in full makeup offer a glimpse of what to expect inside.

Despite its cozy size Outcasts is not cluttered, “We position things and layer colors to give it a life of its own,” Valentyne said. 

Browsing the racks as I did I found silk jackets, men and women’s suits, sport jackets, Italian mohair and cashmere sweaters, evening and casual dresses by Willi Smith, Barney’s NY, Liz Claiborne, Jones Street, Anne Klein and Sag Harbor.

Outcasts sells decorative lamps, hand painted vases, framed paintings and photographs, ornaments, jewelry, tableware and much more. There is a huge CD, DVD and book collection.  The two-dollar “Mystery Brown Bag” is popular and filled with Valentyne’s handpicked “curiosities .”

St Clement’s uses the monies earned here for its ministries: a volunteer vet clinic,  food pantry, homeless outreach, and assisting needy neighbors. It also has a highly regarded theater ministry.

Founded in 1830, St. Clement’s Episcopal Church has long advocated social activism. Its ministry has included women, gays and people of diverse backgrounds for years.  In 1962 St. Clement’s reconfigured its church to include a theater, which is it calls the second oldest Off Broadway house.

Outcasts customers are from Hell’s Kitchen, actors and set designers from local theaters and Broadway, and tourists from the cruise ships docking at Westside piers.  Once actor Alec Baldwin, after admiring the front window, popped in and bought all their snow globes and alarm clocks.

Katherine Consuelo-Johnson, a Texas native and a St. Clement’s congregant, is the new manager. She has ten years of experience with antiques and online auctions. She first learned of Outcasts as a shopper. when she bought a television after moving to New York.

Major changes are underway. St. Clement's board sought change as controversy existed with the prior management.  But Outcasts under Consuelo-Johnson's leadership and with her energy and ideas the shop has blossomed and is thriving. “We want to make it more accessible for the elderly and women with strollers. We plan to sell more items from boxes and sell personal goods that will suit the tastes of our visitors,” Consuelo-Johnson said. “We need more volunteers. Eileen cannot do it alone.”

“This is a very neighborly place,” Eileen Hardy said. A Hell’s Kitchen resident and a volunteer of several years Hardy added “What makes it special and fun is we get new things everyday. When someone finds that one-of-a-kind piece that cannot be found anywhere else then we all smile.”


Even with change Outcasts is a treasure chest filled with wonderful things.
OUTCASTS is at 660 Tenth Avenue between 46 & 47th Streets. Hours: 
Mon - Sat 10:30-6pm; 212-974-0121 Donations accepted.

MONTE IRVIN COMES HOME: NY GIANT FANS CELEBRATE 1954 WORLD SERIES WIN

It has been 49 years since Montford Merrill “Monte” Irvin last played for the New York Giants but “Jints” fans have not forgotten him.

Neither the passage of time or the team’s heart-breaking move to San Francisco blurred the sweet memories of his fans.

Monte, a member of baseball’s Hall of Fame, was the New York Giants Baseball Historical Society’s guest of honor at the 50th anniversary celebration of the New York Giants 1954 World Series victory, a four-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians. The event, held in early September (2004) at Forlini’s restaurant in downtown Manhattan, saw a number of fans wearing NY Giants uniform tops and caps.

Monte’s popularity had not waned at all. When he reached for the microphone 60 fans greeted him with a hearty standing ovation and chanted “Monty, Monty.”

Irvin leaned on his cane and placed a thigh against the table and shifted his weight slightly from side to side as if settling into an imaginary batters box ready to stare down Big Don Newcombe, the mighty Brooklyn Dodger ace, Warren Spahn, baseball's all-time winning left-hander or “The Big Chief” Allie Reynolds, the Yankee ace.

Instead Monte smiled and said, “Thank you. I am elated. I am amazed at how you have kept up this feeling for so many years. This is very special. I will never forget this.” Fans mingled with Monte and discovered he exudes star power off the field as well as on. He is dignified, gracious, pensive, a wonderful storyteller, and enjoys talking baseball. For thirty minutes he captivated his audience with his tales.

“Leo was the best manager ever. He was dynamic. He knew precisely what he wanted to do. He argued a lot but with a purpose. He did not argue for the play at hand instead he argued for the next one.”

Monte divulged an old Leo trick. “Leo ate a lot of garlic and loved getting into the umpires faces,” he said. “Leo was exceptional. Many managers came out of his fold - Bill Rigney, Whitey Lockman, Al Dark, Eddie Stanky, Wes Westrum - and they copied him. Leo was a case study complete with a baseball PH.D.”

Regarding the miracle 1951 season capped by Bobby Thomson's "shot heard around the world, which propelled the Giants to the World Series over their arch rivals the Dodgers, Monte said, “During our run Leo did not pressure us. He just said, ‘Let’s see how good we can do. Let’s try our best.’”

Every time the Giants won a game he said “Let’s do it again tomorrow.” Leo was supportive throughout the comeback but he was also tough. Once in St. Louis he let everyone, except Hank Thompson, stay out until 5 am. Thompson went out anyway and when he returned, Leo was waiting for him in his room.

The fun began after Mays came up to the majors in 1951. Monte was his mentor and taught Mays about life off the field. “Willie was a natural. He was the real thing. He had great speed. He hit the ball hard but I never thought he would become a great hitter with power.”

According to Monte’s calculations Willie lost about 50 home runs at the Polo Grounds due to the deep centerfield (roughly 485 feet from home plate) and probably 100 in Candlestick with its infamous winds swirling around the field.

In the 1951 drive the Giants got help from an unexpected source - the Dodgers. After Brooklyn swept them in a double-header the team was down. Monte and his mates heard the Dodgers whooping it up after the game from their clubhouse. One of the Dodgers yelled out “Eat your heart out Leo you S.O.B.”

“That fired us up,” he said. “We knew we were good. We had talent. We had experience and we felt we could win,” Monte said.

He also talked about October 3, 1951. “Newk blinded us for eight innings. We went down to the wire, and in the ninth inning when Bobby swung we leaned out of the dugout to see if it would clear the wall. He hit it good,” Monte said. “No cheapy shot. He hit it hard. “Before Bobby reached home we lifted him up. He didn’t touch the plate but no umpire in the world would call him out.

“The fans followed us from home plate to the clubhouse. They hugged us and patted us on the back,” he added. “They were delirious. They would have carried us on their shoulders if we let them.”

And what about stolen signs? Monte responded quickly. “Sal Yvars was full of baloney. HBO and others made too big of the issue. Everyone stole signs. If we stole signs why were we losing,” he said. “Besides you have to hit the ball.”

After that dramatic game the Giants sailed into the series and beat the Yankees and Allie Reynolds in the first game 5 - 1. Monte stole home and had four hits. “The Yankees were both good and lucky,” Monte said. “If it didn’t rain after game 3 and if Don Mueller did not get hurt things could have turned out differently.”

Mantle and Berra scored the headlines during their team’s string of championships in that period but Monte attributed the Yankees’ success to Bauer and Woodling. “They were the secret weapon and the reason why the Yankees were so good,” he said.

In game one Monte stole home in the first inning. Monte told Leo, who coached third, he thought he could steal home. Leo gave him the okay. “It was a high pitch. I beat the tag. Yogi jumped up and yelled ‘No, No, No.’ I said ‘Yes, Yes, Yes’ and told him to stop crying and check the newspapers the next day,” Monte said. “When I saw Yogi for the first time many years later he comes over to me and said ‘You safe, Jackie out,’” Monte laughed.

An all-state player in four sports at East Orange High School in New Jersey, Monte, who declined a football scholarship to Michigan, quickly developed into a major league star. He played for the Newark Eagles of the Negro Leagues, under an assumed name, Jimmy Nelson, while attending Lincoln University in Pennsylvania where he majored in political science. Blessed with speed, power and a great throwing arm Monte left school after two years and became a Negro league star. His success led him to the majors. Monte and Hank Thompson became the first African-Americans to play for the Giants.

Monte had a career average of .293 including a high of .329. In 2500 at bats Monte hit 99 home runs and 97 doubles. In 1951, his second full season in the majors he hit 24 home runs and led the league with 121 runs batted. (The first African American player to lead the league). He batted .312 and finished third in the MVP ballot. Many think to this day he should have won it. He hit an astounding.458 in the 1951 World Series. In the spring of 1952 Monte broke his ankle in an exhibition game against the Indians. That year he played in just 46 games. The following year Monte suffered another injury further affecting his play.

Baseball’s color barrier deprived Monte from joining the Giants until 1949 at the age of 30. When asked about baseball’s injustice he said, “My ambition was always to play good baseball. I did. I feel fortunate. I played in the Negro Leagues for 10 years. I played with Willie Wells, Leon Day and the greatest hitter no one knows anything about, Josh Gibson. He was as strong as two men. He always led the league in homers and rarely struck out. I was happy when Jackie succeeded. I knew it was just a matter of time before others were selected.”

Initially Branch Rickey wanted Monte to break the color barrier. “I wanted to be the first,” Monte said. “I had been in the army for three years and I was not ready with my game at that point.” Rickey did not want to buy Monte’s contract from the Newark Eagles. Two years later the Giants paid $5000 for his contract. In 1949 Monte and P. Ford Smith became the first black players signed by Giants.

Today the Giants play in beautiful AT&T Park. All that remains of the Polo Grounds is a commemorative plaque on the site (now a NYC housing project) where the storied stadium once stood and the John Brush stairwell on Coogan’s Bluff. But for one day 60 diehard Giant relished in the legacy of a great franchise and the summers of Mays, Thomson, Hubell, Ott, Terry, Mathewson, McGraw and Irvin.

On this day NY Giant baseball returned to the city. One of our own came home. On this day Monte Irvin transported his fans back to 1954, to a time when the Giants, not the Yankees, nor the Cardinals, nor the Red Sox, nor their arch rivals the Dodgers, ruled baseball.

Photo: John Barr, Monte Irvin and Stuart Leeds; photo by Rudi Papiri

Polo Grounds Walking Tour: STEPPING BACK INTO TIME

Forget Ebbets Field. Forget PeeWee, Newk and The Duke. Forget Campy and Jackie too. The Boys of Summer returned home and no one wore Dodger Blue. Instead orange and black, the colors du jour, dotted Yankee Stadium during one three game series in early June when the San Francisco Giants faced the American League Champion New York Yankees.

While thousands cheered the new "Sultan of Swat," Barry Bonds, many diehard fans came to pay homage to baseball's past and New York City's forgotten team, the New York Giants and swap cherished memories of Willie, Bobby, The Barber, Dusty, Monte, and King Carl.

The San Francisco Giants, formerly of New York, once owned the city and played in the Polo Grounds a subway stop south of Yankee Stadium and a five minute walk across the McCombs Dam Bridge or the 155th Street bridge which spands the Harlem River. In fact the Yankees played at the Polo Grounds until their landlord, the Giants, gave them the boot after the 1922 season, when both teams met in the World Series.

The scripted orange letters on the visiting team's caps read SF but for New York Giant fans this did not matter. The Giants returned to the stadium for the first time since they played the Yankees in the 1962 World Series. To celebrate this event The New York Giants Baseball Historical Society organized an outing to Yankee Stadium combined with a walking tour of the old Polo Grounds site.

On Sunday, June 9, a beautiful sunny day, members began meeting at 10 a.m. outside the subway entrance at 155th and Eighth Avenue. As you exit the subway you see a large sign which reads "Polo Ground Houses." A city housing project replaced the hallowed field, the site of numerous championships in baseball, football and boxing.

Several members stood quietly flipping back 50, 60 years in time when this street was home turf for one of baseball's storied franchises, when an eighty-plus-year old man named Edward ambled over and broke the silence. Looking at Steve Rothschild, who wore a cap with the NY insignia, Giants wristbands and uniform top with 24, the number of his hero Willie Mays, he said "They are not playing here today. You might want to head there," he said pointing to Yankee Stadium on the other side of the river."

Edward, who has lived at the Colonial Houses, located across the street, north of the Polo Grounds housing since the early 1950s, added "I used to hear the crowd from my apartment. I knew when the Giants scored by how loud the people yelled. They were special times."

At 10:40, after thirty minutes of pre-tour chitchat Donald O'Sullivan, Steve Rothschild, Allan Abrams, Ann and Jim Nurum, Stuart Leeds and this reporter began their tour. Ed Fernandez, a maintenance man at the project said "You gotta see the plaque" and without asking lead the way.

Following him we took the first right and passed a public elementary school's fenced-in utility lot. As we continued along the walkway a spacious concrete yard with basketball hoops appeared on the right. On our left we saw a large stone oval and fountain in the middle of a plaza-like setting bounded by the two other buildings. Later we figured we may have walked within twenty to thirty feet of the site of one of baseball's greatest plays - Willie Mays mythical over-the-head catch of Vic Wertz's 455-foot drive in the 1954 World Series. Instead of seeing number 24 racing with his back to home plate we spotted a young girl pushing a child in a stroller as two boys followed behind on scooters.

Halfway around the oval we found the plaque on one of the concrete columns supporting the western most building of the project, less than100 feet in front of the steep rocky tree-covered hill known as Coogan's Bluff. This large bronze plaque, now tarnished and smudged, designates the approximate location of home plate.

"It was not a pretentious place. It was an easy place for a fan to navigate and watch a game," Dan O'Sullivan said.

As a kid Allan Abrams walked to the Polo Grounds from his Bronx neighborhood. He called it a stadium of contrasts. "It was shaped like a rectangle. Seats down the lines were close to the field but the bleachers were far away," he said.

"But the beauty of the place was that the clubhouse was in centerfield. The players walked the length of the field coming in and out of games," he added. "I once gave Wes Westrum a pin with his face on it. He wore it under his chest protector."

From home plate we walked north, towards left field, and traced the path of Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World." We ended up on a pebble strewn side-street which probably looks no different from when the Giants last played here in 1957. Jim Norum said "I remember this street. We used to line up here with the P.A.L. waiting to get into the games."

Stone steps cut into the lower portion of the bluff and lead us up to the Harlem River Drive. From there we walked to Edgecombe Avenue which stretches along Highbridge Park roughly thirty stories above the old playing field. Hidden from view by the park's thick brush and tall trees we find the only relic remaining from the franchise's New York Days - a stairway descending from Edgecombe Avenue to the Harlem River Drive.

Inscribed on one landing are the words "John T. Brush Stairs Presented by The New York Giants." Brush owned the Giants in the early part of the last century.

Norum said "They may play in San Francisco but the last time they won the World Series was 1954 when they played here."

We stood silent for a about a minute studying the grounds below. We did not see four high rise buildings instead we saw of field of storied memories. We remained this way until Abrams slapped his hands together and said "Let's go Giants."

From there we walked across the McComb's Dam Bridge to see the San Francisco Giants play at Yankee Stadium.

Photo Caption: l to r: Donald O'Sullivan, Steve Rothschild, Allan Abrams, Jim and Ann Nurum, Stuart Leeds.

Game June 2004