[PRCo] Re: 1960 recollections

[Dietrich, Robert J.]

Bob:

Tell Al Dudreck that his wife should go easy on Bob Friend.  If I recall
correctly a perfect double play ball was hit to Rocky Nelson in the top
of the ninth.  It was perfect until he blew it allowing dem damn Yankees
scored.

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of Bob
Rathke
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 6:37 PM
To: Pittsburgh Trolley List
Subject: [PRCo] 1960 recollections

The following very interesting recollections are from Al Dudreck with
whom I
worked in Pittsburgh.  And there are at least a couple of PRC tie-ins in
his
message.

Bob 2/28/05

----------------
> BOB et al:
>
> In 1960, I was pretty good friends with a lot of guys in the
Pittsburgh
> Broadcast Media, so I was invited to watch the last game of the World
Series
> on what was then a "giant TV screen" in the Webster Hall Hotel, just
across
> the way from Forbes Field.  The "giant screen" was probably 4-5 feet
wide
at
> that time and the station hosting the party was
> KDKA-TV.  We were on one of the upper floors of the hotel (I think it
only
> has 10 or 12 floors) and you could look out the window and see most of
the
> outfield from the hotel window.
>
> Just to correct a piece of information, the guy who hit the home run
before
> Mazeroski was Hal Smith, our catcher.
> If I am not mistaken (Paul Adomites would know this) Hal's home run
was in
> the 6th or 7th inning and made the score
> 9-7 Pirates.  The Yankees then tied the score when they scored two
runs
off
> of Bob Friend, who I talk with now at Oakmont Country Club where we
are
both
> members and who my wife berates because he almost gave the game to the
> Yankees.
>
> When Mazeroski hit the ball, about six of us were standing next to the
> window of the room and actually turned away from the TV and saw the
ball
go
> over Berra's head and over the left field wall. Needless to say,
pandemonium
> reigned.
>
> But, several of us were smart enough to realize that the real party
would
be
> Downtown, so we raced out of the hotel and caught one of the last
trolleys
> to go downtown from Oakland before they closed off the downtown area.
It
> might have even been the "Flying Fraction (77/54) trolley.  We got
into
> downtown just in the midst of the "telephone book rain" that was
happening
> from every high rise office building downtown.  Whole telephone books
were
> being tossed out windows and it was actually dangerous.
>
> I happened to see the photograph being taken by the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
> of a guy sitting on a curb on Fifth Avenue between Grant and
Smithfield
who
> had a martini on his briefcase and was toasting everyone who passed
by.
The
> picture appeared in the paper the next morning.
>
> My friends and I beat it to the Carlton House hotel (our favorite
watering
> hole at that time) and there, on top of the piano that was in the bar,
was
> my next door neighbor in Bethel Park, Miles Harper, singing "Beat 'Em
Bucs"
> at the top of his lungs.  I called my wife (in Bethel Park) and told
her
the
> town was "shut down tight" and I couldn't get home because NO trolleys
were
> leaving town.  ( A very good excuse and, in the main, the truth!)
>
> We stayed until 9:00 PM when I caught the Library trolley and went
home.
>
> Do I remember?  Deed I do!
>
> AL DUDRECK