I hope you’ll forgive me for slipping into nostalgia over the next 750 or so words. I was feeling terribly nostalgic this weekend and found myself constantly referencing an article the great Pete Hamill wrote for New York Magazine some 44 years ago.
Hamill writes about Frank Sinatra that a few years ago, after watching a Jets game on TV together at Sinatra’s old hangout, Jilly’s, the two got into a car and drove through the streets of Manhattan. I remembered that. Sinatra and Hamill recalled their youth in New York.
“This town has certainly changed,” Sinatra said in his deep melancholy voice. “When I first met that river, it was the greatest city in the whole world. It was like a big, beautiful woman. Now it’s like a ruined prostitute.”
“Oh, yes,” Hamill replied. “Babe Ruth will no longer play for the Yankees.”
“Paramount is an office building,” Mr. Sinatra said. “Stop. I’m about to cry.”
But that’s always the case in this great city, isn’t it? It’s not a city in ruins. Things feel like they’ll be around forever and then disappear. There are four Madison Square Gardens. There were five polo grounds. We’re at Yankee Stadium No. 3. What would have been valuable artifacts, such as the old Yankee Stadium’s copper frieze and the stone eagles that guarded the original Penn Station, were used as landfills, some of which were buried in Jersey’s two football stadiums. It was used to build our first stadium.
The three cherished and iconic whistle stops on the tours my dad took me to when I was a kid: Automat, FAO Schwarz, and Shea Stadium are all a long time ago. This is New York. This is always New York.
So it’s possible — some would say likely — that Saturday night I attended the final gathering of the New York Baseball Writers Annual Awards Dinner at the Hilton. And that being said, the prospect of this theater going away makes me feel the same way Sinatra felt when he saw the old theater that once made Bobby Sox players cry.
Coincidentally, this dinner was exactly 100 years to the day since the first of 99 dinners (a few of which were claimed due to the coronavirus). On January 27, 1924, approximately 300 baseball luminaries gathered at the invitation of the New York Chapter of the BBWAA at the old Hotel Commodore next to Grand Central Terminal.
Athletic Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis was the guest of honor, but the star was, unsurprisingly, Ruth. He teamed up with Yankees owner Jacob Rupert to perform a skit that was variously described as “a big deal” and “moving” in seven newspapers the next morning. And “amazing”. There was also a cabaret organized by sportswriters, which was not as enthusiastically reviewed, but remained part of the program until it was mercifully abolished in 1981.
Still, no moment was more memorable than February 6, 1952. Perhaps the greatest proof of good sportsmanship ever was when Ralph Branca agreed to duet with Bobby Thomson on his popular song. Dudley Wilkinson and Arthur Hammerstein’s song “Because of You”.
Thomson (to Blanca): Because of you, there’s a song in my heart…
Blanca (to Thomson): Because of you, I shouldn’t have been born/Because of you, Dodgers fans are lonely.
For the past 43 years, the dinner has primarily been a pure and free celebration of sports, a slice of summer in the middle of winter. For the first few years, the Commodore, then the Waldorf in his Astoria, would greet attendees by importing his kiosk with actual tickets from one of his ballparks in the city. All the big awards like the MVP, Cy Young Award were officially presented here, as well as various local awards, especially the Good Guy Award.
The annual get-to-know-you party was held on the stage. Last year, Aaron Judge, Kate Upton, Spike Lee, Steve Cohen, Marv Albert and Hank Azaria all dressed up in formal attire and mingled with each other. The speeches are always great, some moving, some hilarious. I had always dreamed of being a baseball writer, so joining Baseball Writers always felt like a dream come true. As a long-time baseball fan, I’ve often wondered how to explain what baseball is all about to my 8-year-old self.
This may be a strong emotion. The 100 year is going well, especially in New York, and there’s talk that MLB is negotiating the right to award a major award in addition to the BBWAA dinner, so that’s likely to happen. Understood. Work is work. New York moves on. Babe Ruth no longer plays for the Yankees.
Oh hell. Stop. I am going to cry.
vax wax
Be sure to check out “Dream Whisperer,” a great documentary about the great Dick Barnett and his teammates at Tennessee A&I College. The documentary will be streamed on his PBS app starting February 1st and will be broadcast on Ch. February 28th 13th.
It was a great basketball event to see Tom Pecora return to action in a 15-4 win over Quinnipiac that leaves the Bobcats alone in first place in the MAAC heading into Sunday’s showdown with No. 2 Fairfield. It’s even more amazing to see.
Just tell them Paul Giamatti is in a movie and we’ll go see the movie. every time. And that was true even before his Golden Globes post-winner dinner at In-N-Out.
Free Mical Bridge!
hit back vac
Stewart Summers: Just as I thought this season’s 40-0 loss to the Cowboys was the worst in franchise history, the Knicks’ 38-point win over the champion Nuggets was the Knicks’ biggest regular season win. I think it was one of the. Franchise history.
vacuum: It certainly represents the yin and yang of the last few months.
Brian Gladwin: It’s hard not to love what’s happening in St. John’s. Don’t jinx it. It’s too early to talk about the NCAA Tournament.
vacuum: I wish I had the power to reverse or remove the jinx. Maybe if I continue this for a few more years…
@Natural Guy: I wasn’t a fan of the David Stearns hire. But I’m going to give him a chance. He made big moves in the offseason and can’t keep doing the same things he hasn’t won in years.
@Mike Vac: It’s a close vote, but I think multiple Mets fans feel that way.
Lenny Rodin: Now that the Buffalo Bills are eliminated, the best football team in New York appears to be NCAA Division III champion SUNY-Cortland.
vacuum: Go, Red Dragons!
