Friday, June 28, 2024

The "Rain...What Rain?" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Reading an article in my Saturday Evening Post titled "A Sporting Chance" which was posted in "The Vault" which is part of The Rockwell Files by Jeff Nilsson.  Story went like this...Baseball fans who saw this 1949 cover would've figured out that the scene was Brooklyn's Ebbets field, where the Pittsburgh Pirates were playing the Dodgers.  It was the bottom of the sixth inning; the Pirates  had taken the field.  It would take a sharp-eyed viewer to recognize the three Pittsburg players in the background: second baseman Danny Murtaugh, center fielder Johnny Hopp, and right fielder Dixie Walker.  As they wait for the dodgers to come to bat, a few hesitant raindrops fall.  Three umpires study the heavens like Morales in gabardine, pondering whether the gods will let the game continue.  They are modeled on real umpires (from left to right) Larry Goetz, Beans Reardon, and Lou Jorda.  It they call the game on account of rain at tis point, the win will go to Pittsburgh.  Which is shy Pirate' manager Billy Meyer is hunched over, clutching his collar as if braving a downpour.  But Dodger coach Clyde Sukeforth has taken off his cap and is gesturing toward some bright spot in the sky, eager to continue the game.  The Dodgers played the Pirates 22 times in 1949 and won 16 of those games.  Neat painting that actually shows features of the players and umpires as they really looked.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.


No comments:

Post a Comment