EXIT 9

Let's face it. Men are just older little boys.

 I can still rattle off the jersey numbers of 9 year old Ed Myers' football heroes: Central High's #41 Richard Foard and #51 Dick Tiddy (250 lbs, 6' 6"), UNC's #22 Charlie Justice, and #50 Art Weiner, and ARMY's #41 Glen Davis and #35 Doc Blanchard

Dick Tiddy

Doc Blanchard

I've labeled this file in my mental attic "Bubble Gum Cards my Mom couldn't throw away."

And that's where most of us keep our childhood heroes; stored away in our brains.

Most of us.. But not my friend Al.

Al  was a top executive with a major transportation organization here in Washington and a client mine. He was without a doubt one of the smartest (and nicest) people in any room.

Thompson home run

But after you got to know him, you realized that he had a small quirk;  he was almost obsessed with an event that he had heard on the radio as a kid in 1951; “The Shot Heard “Round the World.”  Yes, the most storied home run in baseball history that won the pennant for the NY GIANTS in 1951;  Bobby Thompson's home run off the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher, Ralph Branca.

As a young kid growing up in New York, Al's picture could have been in Webster's dictionary under “Baseball fanatic.” And his team was “the Giants.”

And his hero, of course, was Bobby Thompson.

Big time!

Betty, Al's understanding wife (and she is the hero of this story) went along with his obsession, not complaining about his constant reminders of listening that day in '51 to Russ Hodges describing Thompson's home run ...”The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!"

Not to mention all the Bobby Thompson pictures and  memorabilia displayed prominently in virtually every room in their house.

He even named their dog “Homer,” in honor of his hero.

As Al approached his 50^th birthday, the childhood memory of that famous home run was as vivid in his mind as ever.

Betty was in a quandary wondering what to get Al for his birthday. She wanted something special for that important milestone, but knowing her husband, just about anything less than the actual baseball Thompson hit out of the park that day in 1951 would seem much like a necktie on father's day. 

 Besides,  the home run ball - landed in the grandstand and vanished without a trace and for more than half a century it has remained a mystery.

In addition, Al already had  every bit of Bobby Thompson memorabilia that they could afford, so she had no choice but to go to plan B.

As she explained to her husband, Plan B was to drive to New York City for the weekend and go to a couple of Broadway Shows.

As they approached exit 9 on the New Jersey Turnpike Betty suggested that they take a break and  stop for a cup of coffee at the Howard Johnson's.




 As they entered the restaurant,  Betty directed Al to a booth... where another man was already sitting.

“Al,” she said, “Happy Birthday.

 This is Bobby Thompson.”

Al told me that when he regained his ability to speak, he and Thompson conversed for more than an hour and it was the most memorable conversation of his life. Thompson could not have been nicer, nor more gracious.

In my opinion, Al had just experienced his second most memorable “home run.”

This one was hit out of the park....by Betty.

-Ed

(I produced this true story as a radio feature in the mid 80's.  A version of this also appeared in the Wall Street Journal.)