NYT, Keith Olbermann: Echoes in the Bronx; Where Have You Gone, Steve Souchock?

[DeepModem Mom]

Echoes in the Bronx
Where Have You Gone, Steve Souchock?
By KEITH OLBERMANN
Published: September 20, 2008

“We’re sitting behind first base,” my father said, “so you can see Mickey Mantle.“

I still didn’t understand.

“He plays first base” my father said. “That’s him, right there.” I was 8 years old and only intermittently quick on the uptake.

“Some day they will ask you what the greatest thing you ever saw in baseball was,” he said through the inevitable sigh. “And you will say, ‘I saw Mickey Mantle play.’//” It all finally sank in. “Is he that good?” I asked. My father nodded solemnly.

Unlike other fathers taking their sons to Yankee Stadium for the first time in 1967, he had not seen them all. The style of Ford, the mysteries of Berra, the brooding solitude of Maris — these he had passed by. He had, in fact, been emotionally boycotting the Yankees since Dec. 14, 1948. That was the day they had traded his favorite player, Steve Souchock, to the White Sox. Souchock hit a robust .203 that last season in pinstripes.

“Doesn’t matter,” my father said. “He was my favorite player. I was never the same after that.”...

***

But besides giving me Mantle (and he was right, just seeing him play is still my greatest sports thrill), my father also gave me Souchock, and thus the means to let them all go in their course. He imparted the knowledge that we can take them with us in our hearts, and pass them on to other hearts, and not feel at all silly in doing so.

The same will apply to the Stadium.

So next spring, we get off the subway and turn the opposite way.

And bring Mantle and Stott and Stick and Bobby with us.

And the gaudy hardware.

I’ll bring Beene and Souchock.

Yes, Dad’s still boycotting them over Souchock.

(Keith Olbermann is host of “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” on MSNBC.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/sports/baseball/21olbermann.html