What a fantastic post! I hadn't yet started following baseball when this game took place, but the Cleveland fans have a special place in my heart. The great Terry Pluto in the Baltimore Sun had a terrific column about a Baltimore v Cleveland game in mid-June, 1979, and after that I was hooked, first on sportswriting, then on the Orioles.…
What a fantastic post! I hadn't yet started following baseball when this game took place, but the Cleveland fans have a special place in my heart. The great Terry Pluto in the Baltimore Sun had a terrific column about a Baltimore v Cleveland game in mid-June, 1979, and after that I was hooked, first on sportswriting, then on the Orioles. I published an essay long ago ("Oriole Magic") that opens with his account of that game. It's in an anthology that is probably not a great baseball book, but a good one: Anatomy of Baseball (foreword by Yogi Berra and contributions by Richard Ford and some other giants), ed. Lee Gutkin, SMU Press. I'm loving reading the comments here with other stories of those crazy Cleveland fans.
Thank you, Elizabeth! I love Terry Pluto and newspaper writing from the 1970s generally and I have made a note. For my part, I found a wonderful article the other day in the New York Times, December 28ish 1969, by Robert Lipsyte, who awards his "Sport of the Year" to a Mets fan who dared to wear his cap in the bleachers of Wrigley Field late in the 1969 season. It is a truly wonderful piece of sports writing.
What a fantastic post! I hadn't yet started following baseball when this game took place, but the Cleveland fans have a special place in my heart. The great Terry Pluto in the Baltimore Sun had a terrific column about a Baltimore v Cleveland game in mid-June, 1979, and after that I was hooked, first on sportswriting, then on the Orioles. I published an essay long ago ("Oriole Magic") that opens with his account of that game. It's in an anthology that is probably not a great baseball book, but a good one: Anatomy of Baseball (foreword by Yogi Berra and contributions by Richard Ford and some other giants), ed. Lee Gutkin, SMU Press. I'm loving reading the comments here with other stories of those crazy Cleveland fans.
Thank you, Elizabeth! I love Terry Pluto and newspaper writing from the 1970s generally and I have made a note. For my part, I found a wonderful article the other day in the New York Times, December 28ish 1969, by Robert Lipsyte, who awards his "Sport of the Year" to a Mets fan who dared to wear his cap in the bleachers of Wrigley Field late in the 1969 season. It is a truly wonderful piece of sports writing.
I’ll look for it! I’ve always felt bad about not writing a fan letter to Terry Pluto. If he’s still with us, I’m going to do it.
Oh good Lord, he’s my age! I always imagined him as someone who’d honed his writing craft for decades. I’m writing him today.