In 2012 I went to Cooperstown for the Baseball Hall of Fame inductions of Barry Larkin and Ron Santo (posthumous). Ron Santo (or Ronnie as his friends and fans would call him) played third base for the Cubs in the ’60s and ’70s and went on to announce games on the radio for the team for years. I knew him from his radio career and from highlights of his time as a player.
Anyway, the day before the induction ceremony, the Cubs invited fans to come to a party where they would see members of the organization as well as see some of Ronnie’s teammates. There were great stories being told by Billy Williams, Randy Hundley, Fergie Jenkins, and Ronnie’s road roommate and second baseman Glenn Beckert. The best story was told by Beckert (or “Rooms” as Ronnie called him).
The Cubs are on the road in Philadelphia and Ronnie hits a 3-run home run. As he is trotting to first base, the crowd explodes to their feet and erupts in cheers. Stunned and confused at this outburst, Ronnie finishes rounding the bases and heads back to the dugout. He finds Beckert and says, “Rooms, I’ve never seen the other team’s fans cheer for me like that.” Beckert replies, “Ronnie, you still haven’t… Look up at the scoreboard… Man just walked on the moon!!”
I thought that story was hilarious and even more so when I thought about how Ronnie would have reacted to that. It also made me think for the first time that not everyone was home watching Walter Cronkite make the announcement. People were at work or at a ballgame. People heard the story of the landing from coworkers or from the paper the next morning. Does anyone have a story from where they were or how they heard about the landing?
2 replies on “Tranquility Base-ball”
Thank you for sharing that great story, Tom!
I was 5. I remember watching the landing on TV, getting the impression it was important somehow, but really didn’t understand why.
I vividly remember being frustrated that Russia was better at space than America was, and pride that America made it to the moon before they did.