More Buck, On Opening Day

It’s opening day, and despite the Giants performing about as well as we all expected (take the under 72.5 games, the UNDER), and despite Kerry Wood getting crushed today, it’s a wonderful day of baseball. Today I finally finished David Halberstam’s “October, 1964” a history of the 1964 baseball season which finished with the Cardinals defeating the Yankees in 7 games.

I remember that world series well, and I even kept a scrapbook, at least for 3 or 4 games. I remember cutting out the picture of Mickey’s walk off homer in to the upper deck in right field in Yankee Stadium off knuckle ball pitcher Barney Schultz. It was the end of an era for the Yankees, and just the beginning for the Bob Gibson led Cardinals.

Bob Uecker played for the Cardinals that season, by the way, though he never made it into the World Series. At least he’s in the Hall of Fame, which is more than Tim McCarver, the first string catcher can say.

There are some interesting stories about the racism faced by the black ballplayers of that era, and Buck O’Neil is mentioned quite a bit. He was the Cubs scout who signed, among others, Lou Brock, whose trade in 1964 to the Cards was the critical piece in their pennant drive.

Halberstam wrote the book in 1994, before Buck was well known. Yet despite not being a significant character in the story, the last lines in the Epilogue are about him. Here are more words from one of the most eloquent fans of Buck. We should all take a moment and think of Buck O'Neil on opening day, and if somehow you haven't read Joe Posnanski's "The Soul of Baseball", well what the hell are you waiting for.

Those last words of "October, 1964":

Buck O’Neil finally retired after scouting for many years for the Cubs. He remained in Kansas City, where he had made his home when he played and managed for the Monarchs and where he now runs the Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame. Interviewing him was one of the singular pleasures that came with writing this book.