( 8 October 2 0 0 5 , Saturday / Day 2 8 1 Of The Calendar Year )



Greetings !



This will be the INAUGURAL Post for " VANITY AND VEXATIONS OF SPIRIT(S) " ,

one week tardy . As the Author is not a professional journalist , it is left up to You , the

Reader , to tout this " blog " if You wish . The content of " V . & V . O . S . " will vary ;

particular favorite topics of the Author are American History , Geography and Travel ,

Numismatics , Physical Fitness , Nutrition , Sports ( especially Baseball , Basketball ,

Hockey , Football , Horse Racing and Boxing ) , Music , Cinema , et . al .



You are humbly invited to read and enjoy . You are welcome to make Your dissent known

if You DON ' T like the Blog ' s content . ( Feel free to respond even if You DO like what

You read . ) I must thank one Friend in particular for suggesting I fashion a Blog , as a

better way to reach potential readers and regular readers alike ; ' J . P . T . ' , if perchance

You are reading this now , YOU merit the thanks ( or the blame ! )



The creation of a personal Blog is also a modestly rebellious gesture - - rebellious , in

that the Author treasures Freedom Of Speech / Freedom Of Expression / Freedom Of

Dissent and the like , and it is OUR Solemn Responsibility to protect same . The passage

of the McCAIN - FEINGOLD CAMPAIGN REFORM ACT , as I see it , is a looming

threat to Our First Amendment Freedoms , is in fact an abomination that need be

eradicated . As this Blog will at times quite unavoidably be Political , MY FREEDOM

OF POLITICAL DISCOURSE is a Must To Preserve And Defend . I do hope You

feel the same way . ( Do YOU want the Federal Government to scrutinize Your

Blogs and impose restrictions upon the content ? )



This new Blog will , I hope , make of me a more disciplined and more productive

writer . ( My preferred term is " typist " ) . It is very possible that much of the work

created by writers is just substandard , that the Reader never sees the dismal schlock

that precedes the publication - worthy culls . Good writing requires ABUNDANT

writing , and an intrepid Editor . Since I haven ' t the latter . . . .

well , You the Reader will have to take Your chances !



Actually , therein is part of the fun . Blogs are generally informal and thus more

accessable ; the Blog one reads might be the product of a Typist very much like oneself .

Thanks to the Web site " Blogger.Com " for providing this Typist with a place to

create and disseminate . NOTE : Had You wondered about the title ? Let ' s just say

I " plagerized " it , although the source material has been in the " Public Record "

for a few millenia . " Vanity And Vexation Of Spirit " is a phrase common to the

OLD TESTAMENT , specifically the BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES .



I , in turn , was first " exposed " to the Book Of Ecclesiastes in 1 9 6 4 , at the age of

eight , listening to the radio while riding in my Family ' s Mercury Monterey . THE

BYRDS ( Roger McGuinn , David Crosby , Chris Hillman , Mike Clark , Gene Clark )

recorded PETE SEEGER ' s tune " TURN ! TURN ! TURN ! " at that time , and

had a fair amount of airplay with Seeger ' s adaptation of Ecclesiates from King

James Bible to Twentieth Century Folk Tune to Contemporary Rock Tune .



While I myself am not particularly religious , I did have a look at Ecclesiates in

1 9 7 7 , drawn by curiosity . At least one subsequent entry in this Blog will address

the Bible . To - Day , though , I am keen to type about an event that transpired

forty - nine years ago to the very day . Read On . . . .



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



( 8 October 2 0 0 5 , Saturday )



I appreciate meticulous presentations of Fact that convincingly masquarade

as intriguing story - telling . I will try for both and be content with even just one !



Forty - Nine Years Ago To - Day , the defending WORLD SERIES Champions , the

BROOKLYN DODGERS , faced the NEW YORK YANKEES in the Fifth Game

of the 1 9 5 6 Series . The Dodgers , winners of Games One and Two playing

at their home park , EBBETS FIELD , dropped the Third and Fourth games at

YANKEE STADIUM . As was customary in a best - of - seven series , one team

would host the middle three games ( three , four , five ) , hence the Yankees had

the home field in Game Five , with an opportunity to take the lead in the Series .



The 1 9 5 6 World Series was the seventh to match the Dodgers and Yankees ;

the two teams also played one another in 1 9 4 1 , 1 9 4 7 , 1 9 4 9 , 1 9 5 2 ,

1 9 5 3 and 1 9 5 5 . Brooklyn ' s lone World Series Championship came to pass

the previous year ( 1 9 5 5 ) , under first - year manager WALTER ALSTON ,

as the Dodgers and Yankees took every home game save Game Seven .

Brooklyn ' s 2 to 0 victory in the Seventh Game , at Yankee Stadium no less ,

has to rate as the most euphoric day in the history of the Brooklyn Franchise .



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^



The ' 5 6 Series would be a mirror - image of the ' 5 5 match , as the home team

won every game butt the seventh . The similarities don ' t stop there : the Dodgers

got a complete - game shutout in the Seventh Game of the ' 5 5 Series from a

left - hander named " Johnny " , JOHNNY PODRES ; likewise , the Yankees

started JOHNNY KUCKS a year later , and he , too , hurled a complete game

in the Series finale without yielding a run .



The most memorable - - improbable ! - - occurance in that 1 9 5 6 World Series

was DON LARSEN ' s performance in the fifth game . Larsen , not an elite pitcher - -

he only won eighty - one games in fourteen major league seasons , while losing

ninety - one - - staked the Yankees to a critical three - games - to - two lead in the

Series with a 2 to 0 win . None - NONE ! - - of the Dodger batters reached base ,

the ONLY Perfect game ever pitched in Major League PostSeason history .



Larsen did not so much as deploy a wind - up , a sweet irony ; pitchers generally

pitch from " The Stretch " only with runners on base , and here was a pitcher who

hadn ' t any baserunners to hold at all ! Larsen , facing a Brooklyn lineup with a

formidable array of hitters ( ROY CAMPANELLA , CARL FURILLO , GIL HODGES ,

PEE WEE REESE , JACKIE ROBINSON ) threw just ninety - seven pitches , the last

of which was a called third strike that retired pinch - hitter DALE MITCHELL .



````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````



DON LARSEN and DAVID WELLS attended the same High School in San Diego .

In an uncanny parallel , BOTH would go on to pitch Perfect Games for the New York

Yankees , Larsen ( as heretofore indicated ) in 1 9 5 6 , Wells in 1 9 9 8 . Perfect Games ,

so named because no opposing baserunners get so far as first base , are exceedingly rare .

In MY lifetime ( 1 9 5 6 - ) , the very short list includes :



DON LARSEN ( 1 9 5 6 , 8 October )

JIM BUNNING ( 1 9 6 4 , 2 1 June )

SANFORD KOUFAX ( 1 9 6 5 , 9 August )

JIM " CATFISH " HUNTER ( 1 9 6 8 , 8 May )

LEN BARKER ( 1 9 8 1 , 1 5 May )

MIKE WITT ( 1 9 8 4 , 3 0 September )

TOM BROWNING ( 1 9 8 8 , 1 6 September )

DENNIS MARTINEZ ( 1 9 9 1 , 2 8 July )

KENNY ROGERS ( 1 9 9 4 , 2 8 July )

DAVID WELLS ( 1 9 9 8 , 1 7 May )

DAVID CONE ( 1 9 9 9 , 1 8 July )

RANDY JOHNSON ( 2 0 0 4 , 1 8 May )



Some notable data : JIM BUNNING , who had also pitched a no - hit game in

the American League in 1 9 5 8 while playing for the DETROIT TIGERS ,

is the fomer Governorof - , and current United States Senator from , Kentucky .

SANFORD KOUFAX , whose nine innings of perfect pitching enabled the

LOS ANGELES DODGERS to overcome BOB HENDLEY ' s one - hit

performance for the CHICAGO CUBS , had already hurled three previous

no - hitters ( 1 9 6 2 , 1 9 6 3 and 1 9 6 4 ) ; his four career no - hit games

comprised the individual Major League record until NOLAN RYAN achieved

seven ( 7 ! ) . MIKE WITT achieved his Perfect Game on the final day of the

American League season . DENNIS MARTINEZ remains the only Nicaraguan -

born player to achieve ' Perfection . ' KENNY ROGERS , You may have noticed ,

pitched his Perfect Game exactly three years to the day after Dennis Martinez did it .



SANFORD KOUFAX pitched his Perfect Game at a curious historical mid - point :

exactly twenty years after the nuclear bombing of HIROSHIMA , exactly twenty years

prior to the death of JERRY GARCIA . LEN BARKER ' s Perfect Game is meaningful

for me personally , in that he achieved it one day prior to my graduation from the

University of Vermont . Barker ' s playing career was not exceptional - - indeed , of

the twelve names on the list of ' Perfection ' , only Jim Bunning , Sanford Koufax

and ' Catfish ' Hunter have thus far been inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame .



&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&



A peculiar historical twist found Don Larsen , veteran of four World Series playoffs

with the New York Yankees ( 1 9 5 5 , 1 9 5 6 , 1 9 5 7 and 1 9 5 8 ) , pitching for the

opposing team AGAINST the Yankees in the 1 9 6 2 Series . The SAN FRANCISCO

GIANTS , like the Brooklyn Dodgers a previous tenant in a New York ballpark ,

faced the Yankees in 1 9 6 2 in one of the most competitive playoffs ever . Neither

team could string together two wins in succession , hence the Series lasted seven

games . Larsen himself was the winning pitcher in Game Four , exactly six years

to the day after his Perfect Game in the ' 5 6 Series . Damn . . . .



*****************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************