Presidential Order

You have to be of a certain age—and I am of that age—to remember when sometime in grammar school there was stress placed on knowing the order of the presidents. Who was first? Who was the sixteenth? Who followed Lincoln? Etc. As kids, were were the first 'Jeopardy' contestants, and the teacher was Alex Trebek.

Quite honestly, I think I can reel them all off, in the right order. State capitals are something else I never have to look up. North Dakota? You mean you don't know?

The NYT is caught up covering the World Series. And why shouldn't they be? Except for the strike year (yes, they didn't play it one year) it's been going on continuously for over 100 years. It is the Fall Classic, no matter who is broadcasting it.

I have a friend who is also of the same 'certain age' I am. He's a presidential buff and all round American history buff. If the 'Final Jeopardy' question in the morning paper is presidential, I always ask him if he knows the answer. Sometimes I know the answer as well.

So when the NYT did its look back section on prior World Series the other day I had to run the following by him. It made no sense to me, but maybe I was missing something?

"President Trump is the first president not to throw out a pitch at a major league baseball game since Theodore Roosevelt. William Howard Taft started the tradition in 1910 in Washington..."

Dave was all in. His buzzer beat all buzzers. "Taft followed Roosevelt. It's wrong."

The sentence implies that Roosevelt came after Taft, which of course he didn't. There was no tradition before Taft, so therefore Trump cannot be the "first president since Roosevelt" since Taft came after Roosevelt.

Sometimes I'll take advantage of the online letters to the editors email feature and inform the NYT of a boo-boo. I have seen things I've pointed out become corrections. In this instance, I did so twice, and never even received an email acknowledging the email. A correction does not appear in either yesterday's, or today's paper. No big deal really.

Knowing your presidents used to be considered important. "Who is the president?" is still one of the first questions asked when testing for cognitive impairment. Never mind the order. That's advanced.

One nice feature of the paper is a reprint "From the Archives" of a World Series game classic. The other day the news story filed by John Drebinger about Don Larsen's perfect game for the Yankees against the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium was reprinted, complete with box score and a picture of what then was the Yankee Stadium scoreboard, complete with the Ballantine Ale ad and the Longines clock that appears stopped at 3:06, the conclusion of the game. The nine inning line score is complete, with the little x in the Yankee half of the 9th inning.

Dave, the same presidential friend, remembers being in the Warwick drug store on 6th Avenue and 55th Street after school, across from his apartment house, and hearing the final radio play-by-play. Memories.

My father was at the game, and so were 61,518 other people by Mr. Drebinger's account. (The box score says the attendance was 64,519), There was a good deal of work absenteeism in that era, with day games the norm. My father's boss took him to the game. No ticket stub or program from the game was ever brought home.

And what a compact box score it is. Two pitchers, both starters going all the way, with Sal Maglie taking the loss for he Dodgers. Imagine a 1 p.m.  game finished before the last soap opera was over on television.

Neither my friend, or myself, watched much televised baseball. In that era, there was but one camera, behind home plate in the broadcast booth to deliver all the action. Most TVs of the era were still black and white. The game was hardly the visual delight that it can be today.

Imagine a game going that fast today. Based on Mr. Drebinger's account there was only one Dodger batter that ran the count to three balls, Pee Wee Reese. No stepping out of the batter's box then. If you did that you got beaned, or at least were listening to "chin music." Hardball was played harder.

President Trump is only still the first president since Taft not to throw out a first pitch. Since the Nationals have now won the Series, the president could still show up on Opening Day in 2020 and hurl a ball, either from the stands, or the mound.

I quipped that he doesn't want to get dirt on his Armani suit, but it's more than that. To no one's surprise, he's chronically vain.  A Kevlar vest under an Armani suit is felt to make him look fat. And he can't have that. And you know he's not wearing a windbreaker.

Even if he's re-elected and still doesn't want to throw out a first pitch anywhere, the game will go on. And on, and on, and on.

Will there ever be another perfect World Series Game? More importantly, will there ever be a 2 hour and six minute game again?

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