I must admit tearing up several times today watching the movie, “61*,”Billy Crystals fabulous retelling of the summer of 1961 when Mantle and Maris filled the bleachers with home runs. I saw each of them hit two home runs that summer at the Washington Senator’s Griffith Stadium with my Dad. During batting practice I recall Maris hitting about 8 home in a row over the right field wall (is my memory right about right field in Griffith Stadium?) But there’s a great moment in the locker room after Roger Maris hit the 61st home run to beat Babe Ruth’s record: A sportswriter asks him if the cheering Yankee crowd showed that he had “earned their respect.” Maris replies, “Ah, I don’t know, I really don’t think hat’s not something you earn on a ball field.” It’s too bad Crystal can’t go back and reedit the film removing the short sections at the beginning and end with Mark McQwire and Sammy Sosa who both cheated. Other than those clips, which Crystal could not have known would become so jarring, the film is flawless for its attention to detail and even more importantly, the spirit of baseball in those days. Here’s the trailer of a must see film for any baseball fan: https://youtube/watch?v=1po8PgfJU_Q
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 22:28:34 +0000
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