Where were you tonight, 40 years ago today?

[Guest d'Kong76]

First Monday of the month meant troop meeting. Troop 79
in Buchanan, NY. Founding member of the Yellowbelly Sap
Suckers Patrol.

Getting home to see if Hammerin' Hank was gonna do it that
night was big deal for a lot of us and there was no lollygagging
after the meeting and we all rushed home.

[Zvon]

I can't actually remember any details about the evening but I know I was watching on TV.

Monday games of the week were like the Ed Sullivan show to me(or Laugh-In when that took over the variety shows). Id watch no matter who was on/playing.

[Guest d'Kong76]

My subject reads kinda funny, but I was never the
Grammerist guy on the forum.

[Lefty Specialist]

Camped in front of the big old Zenith in the family room with my dad.

[G-Fafif]

My parents' bedroom, where the TV was. The rest of the family was in the kitchen, not giving a damn about baseball.

[Fman99]

I was in Poughkeepsie, NY, the town in which I resided the first 18 months of my life. Odds are good that I was wearing a diaper and that my father was watching the game (and my mother less likely so).

[Frayed Knot]

Fman99 wrote: I was in Poughkeepsie, NY, ... Odds are good that I was wearing a diaper.

So, in other words, pretty much like tonight, right?
Probably the only thing that changed what the content of the bottle you're sucking on.

Edited April 8, 2014 by Guest

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

I was 10 and watching the game. I don't remember if it was Monday Night Baseball or a special broadcast.

[Frayed Knot]

I know I was home watching.

[Guest themetfairy]

It was probably during Passover because I remember watching on the tv in my hotel room in the Nevele Hotel (one of those classic Catskill resorts that served Kosher for Passover food during the holiday).

[Edgy MD]

I was only seven.

What's weird is the reverence we had gleaned regarding him and Mays. Like we only spoke their names in respectful hushed tones.

I remember when I was at Eric Gladstone's in 1975 cracking open a pack or two of baseball cards and getting a "Brewers: Hank Aaron, Des. Hitter" card. It was like striking gold, and our jaws just dropped. We had a general understanding that he was still active, and we sensed that DHing for the Brewers was somehow a small fall from grace. But still, it was just shocking to us that an image of such a god could be on the same cardboard and come from the same package as a Fred Beene or a Carmen Fanzone. We ran into his father's office and showed him, insisting he realize the gravity of our discovery. "HANK AARON, DAD!"

[bmfc1]

Nassau Coliseum, at a New York Sets match (World Team Tennis). Really.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Who were the Sets playing?

[batmagadanleadoff]

The Long Island Tomahawks. Rich Rinaldi was the match referee.

[Guest d'Kong76]

This year is also the 40th anniversary of the DH. You trivia
head probably know this, but who was the first player to bat
as the designated hitter 40 years ago?

[batmagadanleadoff]

d'Kong76 wrote: This year is also the 40th anniversary of the DH. You trivia head probably know this, but who was the first player to bat as the designated hitter 40 years ago?

41 years ago, Ron Blomberg became MLB's first DH.

41.

[Guest d'Kong76]

You're right, was reading an old blurb that said it was the
40th anniversary and stopped reading before getting to the
1973 part.

41 ... good number if you can get it.

[batmagadanleadoff]

d'Kong76 wrote: You're right, was reading an old blurb that said it was the 40th anniversary and stopped reading before getting to the 1973 part. 41 ... good number if you can get it.

I stood in front of my class and presented a Social Studies report on the Designated Hitter in elementary school -- heavily cribbed from some sports magazine article, no doubt, that featured a black and white action photo of Tony Oliva.

[Centerfield]

I was still sperm.

[seawolf17]

I wasn't even sperm yet.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

I was an infant. Probably put to bed, but not necessarily asleep as infants are wont to do.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

I often wondered if Hank Aaron was freaked out by two white guys running on the field with him after he got all those death threats. I found this articleand it turns out that Aaron is very magnanimous, happy that the intruders just spent a few hours in jail. I imagine if that happened today those guys would be investigated by the FBI, DHS, et al.

[Guest sharpie]

I don't remember. I was a teenager and so was probably doing teenaged things.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I was about a month short of my 11th birthday, and was watching the national telecast and saw number 715 live as it happened.