Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
January 01, 2009
Larsen's Perfect Game

I'm enjoying the broadcast so far. The kinescope distorts the image of Yankee Stadium, making it look smaller that the current field. Yet, a catch was made in left, and you could see a 402 FT sign in straight-away left. That park was deep, and they just showed the 461 FT sign in left center.

The other thing I'm noticing is the umpires calling the high strike.

Update: Mantle is first shown batting in the fourth, since the first inning of the game in missing. The first pitch to Mickey appears to be low and outside, but it's called a strike. How much of that is distortion, I don't know. The Dodgers, however, put on a shift very similar to what we see today against the big left-handed pull hitters, except the second baseman wasn't in the outfield.

Update: Mantle homers to end the at bat. That's the first hit and base runner of the game. I tried to back it up and watch the homer frame by frame, and discovered the frame rate was different back then. We're only seeing 1/3 the frames.

Update: Gillette sponsored the game, and so you see a shaving ad between each inning. At the time, Gillette was giving away a pocket baseball encyclopedia with a purchase of a razor. Does anyone have one of those?

Update: Mantle comes up with men on first and third and one out in the bottom of the sixth. Maglie has given up three straight hits. Mickey homered earlier, his third of the series, but Vin Scully suggests the Dodgers should be wary of a squeeze play. Instead, Mantle grounds into a double play to the first baseman.

Update: A great reaction at the end of the playback by Larsen and Berra, who were in the studio with Bob Costas. Both were smiling ear to ear. Both were also very complimentary of the other. Larsen thought Yogi called a great game, Berra said Larsen hit the right spots with all of his pitches. A very nice broadcast by MLB network.

I didn't realize until I saw Yogi and Don standing together how much bigger Larsen was than Berra. No wonder Yogi was able to jump into Don's arms so easily.


Posted by David Pinto at 07:26 PM | Broadcasts | TrackBack (0)
Comments

great HR by Mantle. I think that kid's got a future.

Posted by: rbj at January 1, 2009 07:50 PM

It's amazing to see Monument Park in play!

Posted by: Denton at January 1, 2009 08:27 PM

I am watching the broadcast too and enjoying it...two things I am curious about....the shadows between home and the mound....what time did the game actually start...time of day that is...and the bleacher's Mel Allen said...that the tarp was down so that the white shirted crowd was an issue for hitters....regardless...it was and still is a great feat for Larsen...and Yogi...also Yankee lineup seems weak....whenh compared to today's standard, no?

Great defense by both teams...

Glen ..I was 7 when this happened

Posted by: Glen at January 1, 2009 08:34 PM

I am watching the broadcast too and enjoying it...two things I am curious about....the shadows between home and the mound....what time did the game actually start...time of day that is...and the bleacher's Mel Allen said...that the tarp was down so that the white shirted crowd was an issue for hitters....regardless...it was and still is a great feat for Larsen...and Yogi...also Yankee lineup seems weak....whenh compared to today's standard, no?

Great defense by both teams...

Glen ..I was 7 when this happened

Posted by: Glen at January 1, 2009 08:36 PM

I've read that after '69, the strike zone was made smaller. Altho, that doesn't get as much attention as the lowering of the mound. Perhaps it's not so much distortion in the video, but a testament to how much the pitchers had on their side in the old days? I think that had a bigger impact that mound height, but people seem to never talk about this.

Ref: http://baseball-almanac.com/articles/strike_zone_rules_history.shtml

Posted by: Devon Young at January 1, 2009 08:39 PM

This game started at 1 PM Larsen threw 97 pitches, just researched ....

Posted by: Glen at January 1, 2009 09:23 PM

It was great watching the perfect game. It was the 1st time I seen it and I look forward to watching more classics. I was wondering why the field looked so small. Thanks for mentioning the kinescope.

Posted by: Kerel Cooper at January 1, 2009 11:08 PM

The last strike of the game by Larsen to PH Dale Mitchell called by ump Babe Pinelli matched 1997 NL playoff rediculous calls by ump Eric Gregg.
Gil Hodges' liner caught by Mantle probably would have gone out in later Stadium dimensions.
With the Death Valley proportions described by D. Pinto think of how far LF Al Gionfriddo raced back to grab Joe DiMag's liner a stride before bumping the bullpen fence in 1947. Joe D said later that it was the hardest liner that he ever hit. I was sitting in the bleacher corner next to the bullpen. The TV version of the catch that you see today is bogus, it was filmed the next day prior to final game.

Posted by: Bob S at January 1, 2009 11:40 PM

Larsen thought Yogi called a great game, Berra said Larsen hit the right spots with all of his pitches.

That kind of goes without saying in a WS perfecto.

Posted by: bandit at January 2, 2009 01:45 PM
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