2ND NYGPS MEETING OF 2017-MAY 25
The second NYGPS meeting of 2017 will take place on Thursday, May 25, 2017, at 6:30PM at our home base the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse. We will have 2 guest speakers for the evening. Leading off will be NYGPS Member Jerry Liebowitz who is a NYG and SF Giant memorabilia collector with over 2,000 pieces of Giants history/memories many of which he will share with us on this day. Jerry’s collection is second to none and he has talked about and displayed the pieces at many events. Jerry is pictured with a John J. McGraw Bronze plaque. It was awarded to John McGraw on March 12, 1927, at a Silver Jubilee Dinner at the Hotel Venice in Venice, Florida, in honor of his 25th consecutive year as Manager of The New York Giants. He also owns the original dinner program and a number of photos of the event and two different photos of Mrs. McGraw posing in front of the plaque in the McGraw apartment.
Provenance: John McGraw, Mrs. McGraw, Barry Halper and Liebowitz.
Concluding the evening’s festivities will be author Hal Bock. Hal Bock was an award-winning sports writer at The Associated Press for 40 years covering 30 World Series, 30 Super Bowls and 11 Olympic Games. He grew up a Giants fan and spent many happy days with his father at the Polo Grounds. Oct. 3, 1951 remains a highlight of his childhood.
He has written 16 books including the narratives for The Associated Press Pictorial History of Baseball and Willard Mullin’s Golden Age of Baseball Drawings. His latest book is “Banned Baseball’s Blacklist of All-Stars and Also-Rans,” and it includes some tales about our favorite team. Here are a few:
Willie Kauff was a star in the Federal League and then for McGraw’s Giants. Unfortunately, he went from stolen bases to stolen cars, leading Judge Landis to suspend him for life.
Shufflin’ Phil Douglas had an affinity for liquid refreshment causing frequent clashes with McGraw. Angered by his manager’s repeated fines and lectures, he wrote a letter to an opposing player, offering to disappear in order to cost the Giants the pennant. When Landis found this out, he shuffled Douglas out of baseball.
Dr. Joseph Creamer tried to bribe umpire Bill Klem before the 1908 playoff game between the Cubs and Giants. He is the only team physician ever banned from baseball.
Bock will discuss these and other episodes in his book at our May 25 meeting at Bergino’s Baseball Clubhouse. His book will be available for sale/autographed that evening.
Please RSVP ASAP as this event will surely be well attended. Once again, we thank Jay Goldberg for allowing his Bergino Baseball Clubhouse www.bergino.com to be our home base for the evening.