The "Baseball Memories Story"

It was an ordinary day.  Just picked up the "Parade Magazine" supplement that arrived with my Sunday News.  There on the cover was my all-time favorite baseball player...Willie Mays! I followed him from when he entered Major League baseball for the New York Giants to the San Francisco Giants  until he retired from the sport while playing for the New York Mets.   My childhood friend Bill, who lived a few doors away from me when we were in grade school, always loved the New York Yankees and Micky Mantle.  We spent many a day arguing about who was the better ball player.  Well, hardball and history go together like hot dogs and mustard, and my story today will lead you on a very condensed version of that history.  My story begins with a bit about Stan "The Man" Musial.  In the 1940s MVP Stan led the St Louis Cardinals to three World Series wins, even while taking a year off to serve in World War II.  Then in May of 1948, a pitcher named Hal Newhouser shuffled through five seasons in Detroit before breaking out with 29 wins in 1944.  He won 25 games the following year and two in that year's World Series while helping the Tigers beat the Cubs.  He entered the Hall of Fame in 1992.  On May 21, 1950 a photograph on the cover of "Parade" featured Ted Williams and Vern Stephens as potential Ruth killers, but it wasn't until 11 years later that Roger Maris eclipsed the Bambino's single-season record of 60 big flies.  At century's end Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire beat them both with help from "Flintstone vitamins," according to Sosa.  Barry Bonds set the all-time record with 73 (and a steroid shadow) in 2001.  Another "Parade" cover in the Spring of 1975 featured Henry Louis Aaron, otherwise known as Hammerin' Hank who flagged down a Milwaukee Brewers photographer for a ride back to the Brewers' hotel.  Guy' name was Ron Modra who later captured a classic photo for Sports Illustrated of his hometown hero Aaron with Yankee great Mickey Mantle.  An August 27, 1972 featured a story on baseball players' wives.  One story featured Nancy and Tom Seaver with their daughter Sarah.  The Miracle Mets had recently won the World Series with Tom on the mound and evidently Sarah was the MVP.  Said Nancy: "Pitching coach Rube Walker told me that Sarah is Tom's good-luck charm, and he won't let me in the stadium unless I bring her."  A July 11, 1999 issue featured a cover that read "on D-Day, I was firing rockets" Yankees catcher and coach Yogi Berra  reported.  He said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."  Which is why Parade scribe James Brady was shocked to learn of Berra's heroic mission just off Omaha Beach, pounding Germans from a rocket boat.  That might make catching a perfect game in the World Series, which Yogi did in 1956, with Don Larsen on the mound, seem like a normal day at the beach.  Well...I have given you a brief story of the articles that were part of a story titled "Baseball Memories."   I didn't give you all the stories that were featured, but you can read them for yourself if you can find the Sunday, October 9, 2022 copy of Parade.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.