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John Zant: Gionfriddo's Catch Receives the Stamp of Authority |
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By John Zant
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Friday, May 11 2007 |
David Halberstam and Al Gionfriddo were in the right place at the right time almost 60 years ago. They were watching Game 6 of the 1947 World Series at Yankee Stadium.
Halberstam was a 13-year-old boy sitting in the bleachers, and Gionfriddo was a journeyman outfielder planted in the Brooklyn Dodgers' dugout. In the bottom of the sixth inning, with the Dodgers leading the Yankees 8-5, Gionfriddo went into left field as a defensive replacement.
 John Zant
National Public Radio pulled an interview with Halberstam out of the archives after the award-winning journalist died in an automobile accident on April 23. Although he was best known for his Vietnam War coverage in the '60s, Halberstam later wrote books about baseball, basketball and rowing. In this interview, he was asked about his favorite sports memory.
He described the sounds as well as the sights of that afternoon in the Bronx - the crack of the bat when DiMaggio drove a ball deep to left field, the roar of the Yankee fans in the bleachers when they anticipated a game-tying home run, and the subsequent roar of the Brooklyn crowd when little Al Gionfriddo ran to the fence 415 feet from home plate and made a spectacular, lunging catch.
"DiMaggio had already arrived at second base," Halberstam said, "and he kicked the dirt in a rare show of emotion. For a 13-year-old boy, it was a heady bit of stuff."
Gionfriddo would have been proud to hear his catch was such an inspiration to Halberstam. Of course, the great DiMaggio gave the story a good helping of pizzazz. His name will live forever in baseball lore, and Gionfriddo's too by association.
Known as "the Dysart Deer" (from his Pennsylvania hometown), Gionfriddo thought he deserved a better shot than the Dodgers gave him. That World Series game was his last major league appearance. He spent nine more years in the minors, where he had a .300 batting average. He was only 5-foot-6, but he was fast on his feet.
The Dodgers sent Gionfriddo to Santa Barbara as general manager of their farm club here. It was moved away after the 1966 season, but Gionfriddo stayed. He ran a restaurant, Al's Dugout, in downtown Goleta, and later he became athletic equipment manager at San Marcos High. He was an avid golfer, winning several club tournaments at Sandpiper Golf Course, up to the day he died in March, 2003. He was 81.
Halberstam traveled in different circles. The best sports book he penned was "Breaks of the Game," an inside look at the Portland Trail Blazers throughout the 1979 NBA season.
There is some heady stuff going on now in the NBA playoffs. The two Western Conference series - Phoenix-San Antonio and Golden State-Utah - are fantastic. Derek Fisher's heroics for Utah on Wednesday night in the wake of his daughter's cancer operation were mind-boggling.
Baseball and basketball fit together nicely this weekend. While City College and UCSB are in a pair of momentous home series by day - the Vaqueros in the SoCal playoffs and the Gauchos facing nationally ranked Long Beach State - there are NBA games on the tube in the evening, and Saturday night the Santa Barbara Breakers will play the Chico Force in some hometown hoops action at the SBCC Sports Pavilion. |
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