I Still Feel the Pain

Sixty years ago this week the Cleveland  Indians--my team-- finished off the greatest season in baseball history.  One hundred eleven wins and forty-three losses.  Finished nine games ahead of the hated Yankees.
Lost the World Series in four.
I still feel the pain.

Interesting sidelight: the entire World Series took place in a span of less than four days, barely three days, exactly seventy six hours?  Two games at the Polo Grounds; from first pitch of game one to last out of game two--28 hours.
No day-off for travel.
Maybe the two teams flew; more likely they took the 20th Century Limited overnight (the better to drink, smoke and play poker all night).
Game three, in Cleveland Lakefront Stadium, began exactly 48 hours after the ump had said "Play ball" at game one in NYC. Twenty-eight hours later the Series was history.
I still feel the pain.
One bright spot.  That Series featured Willie Mays making "the Catch" of Vic Wertz's long (really, really long) ball in deep (really, really deep) centerfield.
The darkest moment had come when Al Lopez named the starting pitcher for game four.  He had gone with Lemon, Wynn and Garcia for the first three, then went back to Lemon.
Left Rapid Robert--and every kid on my block-hanging out to dry.  And it' s been nothing but drought since.
I still feel the pain.

Posted 6:05pm, October 2, 2014--exactly sixty years to the day, the hour and the minute since....