MEN’S CLUB
Members Keep Busy During Covid Times
New York City’s Golden Age of Baseball
BY HOWARD
ARKIN
On January 21,
the Nor th
Shore Towers
Men’s Club Hosted a
Zoom meeting with
guest speakers who
treated our members
to an interesting and
informative lecture by
St. John’s professors
Howard Ehrlich and
Harvey Sackowitz on
“New York City’s Golden Age of
Baseball.”
The period following World
War II was nothing short of
pure ecstasy if you were a young
baseball fan living in New York
City. The city was the only one in
the United States to have three
major league teams, two of them
being very good and the other one
being good every so often. From
the years 1947 to 1964, one of
the three teams, either the New
York Yankees or the New York
Giants, appeared in the World
Series. The back pages of the
city’s newspapers introduced us to
names such as Di Maggio, Berra,
Stengel, Robinson, Reese, Mays,
Thomson and Durocher--names
that would stay with us for
decades.
This was the period that Major
League Baseball finally broke the
race barrier when the Dodgers
signed Jackie Robinson in 1947.
Four years later, Jackie would
watch on as Bobbie Thomson circled
the bases having hit “the shot
heard round the world,” The next
big occurrence discussed was the
date “that will live in glory.” It was
October 4, 1955, and the Dodgers
defeated the mighty Yankees to
win their first World Series. The
Yankees were the dominant team
in all of baseball then, and their
exploits were not overlooked in
the lecture. They were so successful
that it was said “rooting for the
Yankees was like
rooting for US Steel.”
But they did have
two of baseball’s
most humorous characters,
Yogi Berra
and their manager,
Casey Stengel.
Unfortunately,
the era came to a
crashing end in
1957 when the
Dodgers and Giants
whistled “California
Here I Come” and
departed. Someone
in the Zoom audience raised a
good question on their departure.
How did it happen and who was to
blame? The consensus among the
group was that it would not happen
today and that Walter O’Malley, the
Dodger president, was to blame,
with the NYC parks commissioner
a close second.
After the lecture, Toby Horowitz
(president of the men’s club)
opened the mike for questions and
opinions that the members might
have. Jack Sevita recalled going
to Yankee Stadium almost every
weekend when the admission was
only 60 cents. It’s quite possible
that he might have bought a bag of
peanuts from member Bob Mark,
who was selling them at the time.
Jerry Siegel was a little disappointed
that the 1969 Mets were
not mentioned. But fear not, Jerry,
better times are a-coming. Gary
Zwetchenbaum told us of his extensive
memorabilia collection, which
includes every Mickey Mantle card
from his rookie year in 1952 to
1964. Last month a 1952 Mickey
Mantle sold for 5.2 million dollars.
Keep your door locked, Gary.
Howard Erlich and Harvey
Sackowitz were quite entertaining
and they also lecture on other subjects.
Hopefully we will be seeing
them again.
Find out more about the
Men’s Club.
Contact President Toby
Horowitz at tmhmgt@yahoo.
com or call him at 718-279-0082.
BY HOWARD ARKIN
Over the last months, we have had the
good fortune of being able to tune into
North Shore Towers Channel 995
and be treated to some great shows. One of
the programs that I look forward to seeing
is Board President Ed Phalen’s presentations
with the Board’s committee chairmen. I have
a better grasp of the workings of our community
than ever before.
In addition, Fred Chernow hosted shows
on Johnny Carson, Judy Garland and a New
York institution of bygone days, the Automat.
Channel 995 recently featured a program
in which five residents (three of which are
Men’s Club members: Paul Arden, Terry Feit
and Dennis Rappaport) took us down memory
lane telling us some interesting experiences
that they recalled.
Paul Arden told us of his awakening to a
new world when as a young teacher in Bedford
Stuyvesant he had to inform the mother of his
twelve-and-a-half year student that her daughter
was pregnant. The girl›s mother wasn›t surprised.
She was living her own past experience.
Terry Feit’s story centered around his teenage
years working as a bus boy and counselor at his
grandmother’s hotel in the Catskills. I related
to his telling of his blueberry picking. When I
picked blueberries, I made sure that I took my
mother’s largest pot. (Do you know that blueberries
cost about two dollars a pound today?)
Dennis Rappaport, who was a Men’s Club
Zoom guest speaker in January, delved into his
encyclopedic knowledge of boxing to keep us
well entertained.
Speaking to Fred Chernow, he said the
program was well received and he would be
interested in doing more them. If you are interested
in possibly appearing on one, you can
contact Fred at 347-836-8400 or 516-967-2971.
The Men’s Club event chairman, Jerry Siegel,
has been busy scheduling Zoom speakers for
our members. Coming up are:
Thursday, March 11, 7:30 pm
Sal St. George: Billy Crystal
Thursday, March 25, 7:30 pm
Zoom discussion with Ed Kranepool, former
NY Met
Thursday, April 15, 7:30 pm
Ann Margaret Carrozza: Protecting your
assets from new taxes, long term heath care
finances, and other financial decisions.
THE MEN’S CLUB
WANTS YOU!
March 2021 ¢ NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER 25
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