My Dad took me to my first Met game on June 17, 1962 at the Polo Grounds. I was in shock at how green the grass was, and how red the infield dirt. TV was black and white. . . I was thinking the grass there should be grey. :)

Mets vs. Cubs in a double header.

First Met batter was Richie. When he laid down a bunt that bounced on homeplate to lead off the game, and like lightning beat that ball to first base. . . well, I had my favorite player right there.

Richie was the greatest, but sorry gang: to me, even though it was his last year, and it was for a laughable team, to me Richie was, and will always be, my favorite Met. ;)

Go Richie.

Go Phils! Beat the Yanks!

Don Richard “Richie” Ashburn (March 19, 1927 – September 9, 1997), Richie aka “Whitey” Ashburn because of his white, blond hair, is/was a distant cousin of my Dad, who was 9 years older than Richie and played “Semi-Pro” baseball in the Atlanta, GA area prior to 1937, and a little bit in college until he graduated in 1941, just in time to be commissioned as an officer in the Navy for WWII.

That is why I became a little bit of a Phillies fan as a teenager in Coastal South GA. I was also with the baseball team, at the same college as my Dad, in the mid 1960′s where my knowledge and appreciation for the game grew. I follow somewhat 4 teams: The Phillies, The Atlanta Braves, The Detroit Tigers and the Colorado Rockies.

The Phillies because of Richie
The Braves because Dad’s Sister, my all-time favorite Aunt, who lived in Atlanta until her death 17 years after Dad, was The Braves biggest at-home fan. We even buried her with her family Bible and her Braves baseball cap in her casket.
The Tigers because of Ernie Harwell, their announcer, and a friend of Dad’s
The Rockies because our Daughter, her husband & 4 of out 8 Grandchildren live in Denver.

I coached our Son in Little League, but he did not continue with baseball after that.

I am not sure if I believe in reincarnation, but our 7 year old Grandson told our daughter when he was barely 4 years old “Mommy don’t you remember when we were together before, and I was a professional baseball player?”
When she told him she did not remember, he then told her “Don’t worry Mommy, after we both die, we’ll be together again and I’ll be in your tummy again then.”
The irony – I saw him in T-ball the last 2 years, and he exhibits an uncanny and advanced skills level, and an understanding of the game & the fundamentals. He was born 12 years after my Dad, and 5 years & 5 days to the day after Richie died on 9-9-1997.
Perhaps the family and family name tradition will be carried on in his generation.

If you’re not totally bored with my baseball stories, you may find this next one of interest:
As an adult, I lived for 2 years in Chicago, and then 6 years in Detroit, before then moving back to the South. I still notice but am not a “fan” of the Cubs or the White Sox. My favorite baseball name of all times is “Shoeless” Joe Jackson of the “Black Sox Scandal”.

I do have more interest in the Tigers, because the announcer for the Tigers, Ernie Harwell was a friend of and played semi-pro baseball with my Dad in Atlanta.
When Mother & Dad would come to visit in Detroit during the season, Mr. Harwell would give us his tickets behind home plate & the visitor’s dugout. Whenever I called he would always have 2, 4 or even 6 tickets waiting for me at the will-call window, sometimes I paid and other times they were “Comps”.
I always “Liked” Mr. Harwell. Due to one instance the Like turned to “Loved” Ernie Harwell.

Dad was almost always late for everything. The exception was his funeral. As the oldest child, I was in charge, and he showed up dressed and on time for both the visitation & the funeral. Several of the members from his church remarked afterward that it was one of the few times he had ever been on time.

Anyway, my much younger “baby” Sister came to visit in Detroit with Mother & Dad, but only wanted to go to one “Special” baseball game with us. The Tigers were playing Baltimore and she had a huge young teenage crush on Brooks Robinson. Ernie Harwell had arranged for her to meet Brooks Robinson, but as usual we were late. As we sat down in the seats, Ernie was “Interviewing” Brooks Robinson in front of their dugout. He pointed us out, and Brooks pointed at and waved to Priscilla. Figuratively you could almost see her heart jumping in her chest.

That evening we met Mr. & Mrs. Harwell at their favorite Italian Restaurant, Mario’s on 2nd Avenue. I had often entertained customers there and it was a favortie of mine as well. We had a private dining room, and Mario himself supervised our service. Not many people are aware that Mr. Harwell also wrote songs and had several famous ones sung by several stars.

Well, after dinner while we enjoyed our coffee, Ernie picked up from the floor a brown paper bag he had with him, and said he wanted us to listen to a recording of a new song and tell him what we thought. He pulled a tape recorder out of the bag, placed it on the table and pushed the start button.

Rather than a song we heard – ” Hi Priscilla, this is Brooks Robinson and I am so sorry I did not get a chance to meet you in person at the game today. Mr. Harwell tells me you are a big fan. I asked Ernie to give you something I was going to give you if we had met. I had all of the members of our team autograph a baseball for you. I also autographed one myself as a special thanks to a special fan.”

When Ernie handed her the 2 baseballs the corners of her mouth touched her 2 ears, the smile was so wide. You’ll never see either of those baseballs for sale on the internet. She has since gotten rid of 2 husbands, but she has not thrown out those 2 treasures.

Batter Up,

I have had Celebre’s Pizza on numerous occasions and it does indeed rock!

Too bad the Phillies management caved into a foreign-owned bank and named their ballpark “Citizens Bank Park”.

It should have been named “Richie Ashburn Stadium”, or at least, in the spirit of the dual name of Orioles Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, it should have been named “Rich Ashburn Stadium at Citizens Bank Park”.

Only Connie Mack had a longer-term influence on Philadelphia baseball than Whitey, and Shibe Park was renamed in his honor.

I’d like to offer special birthday wishes to the Celebre’s twins, Plain and Pepperoni! ;-)

Has anyone here tried Celebre’s at 15th & Packer? Their pizza ROCKS!

Bill in Bucks County

I thought I add a little known info about Richie that has not been mentioned by anyone here (or Tim). In his teen years (including American Legion ball) his position was as a catcher.

He played so outstandingly that he was signed by a Phillies scout. He was assigned to the Utica Blue Sox in the Class A Eastern League for the 1945 season as a CATCHER! The Phillies organization took note of his great speed and didn’t want him to put strain on his legs, so they switched him to the outfield during this season. From that time on, he was able to take advantage of his speed and tremendous talent that brought him eventually to the Majors in 1948 at age 21.

I also noticed no one here has provided the story behind Ashburn’s early nickname “Putt-Putt”. Ted Williams gave Ashburn that nickname “Putt-Putt.” The Red Sox slugger joked that Ashburn ran as though he had twin motors in his pants. (chuckles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOkOyrN7QpQ

Richies oft invoked dislike of pitchers was not contrived…he really didn’t like them. He got on them mercilessly from the dugout and it is a little known secret that the HOF Veterans Committee had a pitcher or two that weren’t helpful in Richies selection process. It is rumored that one big name pitcher finally came around and that opened the door for Rich.

How ironic that he is remembered more as an announcer than as a player. He was a terrific talent; great speed, a contact hitter who drove pitchers up the wall and an excellent baserunner who was always a threat to score from first base on anything down the lines or in the gaps.

He forced a lot of opposition errors when he was on base. Defensively he was better (yes I said better, except for his arm, which wasn’t near as bad as they said) than Mays, Snider or any other National League center fielder. He made catches look routine that were highlight stuff by Mays . His secret besides his natural speed was that he knew his pitchers stuff and opposing hitter tendencies long before these things were charted. He got a great jump on the ball and caught near everything that stayed in the park.

Richie was a gamer; a politician, a hustler, a parttime con man (only in the humerous sense) and great company!