Baseball's Dusty Rhodes RIP

The 1954 World Series is know for Willie Mays' catch, but Dusty Rhodes was the one who had some clutch hits in the Giants' sweep.

He died in Las Vegas on Wednesday:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2009/06/18/2009-06-18_dusty_rhodes_hero_of_1954_series_dies.html

 

Aww, that sucks. Knew it had to be soon, though.

I remember Smasher or somebody posting this great NYDN story from December: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2008/12/20/2008-12-20_dusty_rhodes_hero_of_giants_1954_world_s.html

Good timing for Madden to write that then. RIP to the original Dusty Rhodes.

 

Reading the story, wasn't the Polo Grounds' right field foul pole only something like 258 feet or something like that?

Yankee Stadium's was 296.

 

Correct. ~258 to right, ~279 to left.

483, of course, to dead center.

 

Looks like the Daily News needs a copy editor, then.

Those Polo Grounds games must have been fun to watch. Hit a 260 foot fly ball to right, home run. Hit a 475 foot shot to center, watch the CF try to avoid the Eddie Grant Memorial to catch the fly.

 

And one of the two (not sure which, I think it was LF) had the upper deck hanging something like 23 feet out onto the field, so if you hit a 255-foot shot to left and got it into the air enough, it would drop into the stands.

The Polo Grounds were the epitome of the strangely-designed classic ballpark. The power alleys were pretty deep, too.

 

Yeah, I remember reading about how some the Brooklyn Dodgers were saying that Bobby Thompson's homer in '51 would have been an out at Ebbets Field.

Too bad I haven't been able to find any old tapes of Polo Grounds games.

 

Other than some sustained clips (such as The Catch), I don't think any exist. Earliest known full broadcast that I know of is the 1967 Red Sox season opener (that NESN has shown in recent years). There's also the 1968 WS opener and a 1970 Expos-Pirates game from Jarry Park.

MLB Network was able to piece together an "original" broadcast of Don Larsen's perfect game, but it was missing the first inning (still pretty spectacular to watch it, of course.)

 

I once got to see the first five innings of Game 7 of the 1952 World Series at the Museum of TV and Radio. You were allowed two programs to watch. I ended up choosing an old pro wrestling show instead of the other four innings (this is Pre-Youtube era, when those shows were rarely available).

It was strange watching a game without instant replay, and the only graphic was each batter's last name.

 

Right field upper deck hung out over the field. Supposedly the Indians' right fielder (Davy Pope?) was camped and ready to catch Rhodes' ball before it landed in the upper deck.

Brooklyn fans are full of crap. Thompson hit a shot, it cleared at the 315-foot mark, the left-field wall at the Polo Grounds was pretty tall and the ball lands well back of the fence, as this photo shows.

There was a ton of film on the PG in the last couple chapters of the Burns' "Baseball" series on MLB Network.

 

And based on some of the pictures I've seen, Rhodes' pinch-hit homer in Game 1 went about 258 feet, 1.5 inches.

Made your typical Morgan Ensberg shot into the Crawford boxes look like Reggie Jackson in the 1971 All-Star Game.

Still, RIP to a key player on a memorable team ...

 

It's a mark of the desperation of Dodgers left-fielder Andy Pafko that he's right up against the wall in that picture instead of hoping for a carom that, while it would have meant extra bases and would have tied the game, wouldn't by itself have lost the game.