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December 7, 2006

Schrodinger's Bat

Echoes of the Past

by Dan Fox

"The importance of protecting the integrity of competition from the threat of advantages obtained illicitly is underscored by the sense of melancholy, of loss, that baseball fans now feel about the no longer quite so luminous season of 1951."
--George Will, "A Season Spoiled" published February 8, 2001

With the Rocky Mountains and the Midwest blanketed in snow earlier this week and the wheeling and dealing of the Winter Meetings in full swing (more than adequately covered by our fine crew in Orlando, I might add), all signs point to the fact that the Christmas season is upon us once again. While many teams--most notably the Cubs, Red Sox, Dodgers, and Angels--have spoiled their fans by putting loads of very expensive presents under the tree, the clock is ticking as we fans must also find that special something for that special someone.

Provided that your special someone is a baseball fan, here's a suggestion: a book that perhaps has the broadest appeal across fans of any level of commitment is The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World, by Joshua Prager, a senior special projects writer at the Wall Street Journal.

It was Prager, whose article in the Journal published in January of 2001 at the dawn of the 50^th anniversary year of the home run validated what had long been whispered and, much to my surprise, actually published in a somewhat vague March 23, 1962 AP story by Joe Reichler, a New York Post article in 1990, and on cable television in 1991. The revelation of the Giants sign-stealing scheme which began on July 20th and continued all the way through the three-game playoff with the Dodgers is expounded upon by Prager in this painstakingly researched narrative that literally covers all the bases emanating from the event.

That narrative, like a good detective story, pieces together the actions of the principals on the Giants who implemented the plan, including:

• Hank Schenz, a utility infielder and at the time considered "baseball's greatest bench jockey", purchased by the Giants on June 30th. Shenz initiated the plan with manager Leo Durocher, and offered the services of his Wollensak telescope;

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