By Munch
Even though I will watch and enjoy the MLB All Star festivities and yes, HOME RUN DERBY, I know many of you will remember, as I call it, the REAL, ORIGINAL HOME RUN DERBY! The show ran from January 1960 until June 1960 and was cancelled when the host (Mark Scott) died of a heart attack at the age of 45.
It was held at WRIGLEY FIELD L.A. and yes, it looked like the Chicago Wrigley w/ ivy covered walls and in right field, there were some palm trees and lefty hitters had to clear a second wall as the regular wall was closer than in left!
YES Rocky Colavito appeared but was 0-2 in his two games! The games? 9 innings and each batter had three outs per inning AND in this version, if the ball was a strike and they did now swing it was an out! A swing and a miss were outs too! There WERE umpires behind the plate and in the outfield to make sure balls went out!
Fun stuff as two players competed for cash and when one player was batting, the other was in the booth with the host!
Some players also wore GOLF GLOVES! Think about that – batting gloves were still a ways off, so these big guns (Mantle, Mays, Rocky, Killebrew) were pioneers!
When you watch the HOME RUN DERBY TONIGHT, think about its roots! Professor Munch checking out with another lesson in sports history!
Enjoy every hot dog with stadium mustard!
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