Perfect Pitch

Tag: doubleheader

  • It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over

    Garry Spector at Citi Field on one of two occasions that he got to throw out the ceremonial pitch prior to a Mets game.

    Yogi Berra’s famous adage is applicable to many pursuits in life. I would like to think that for me, learning ain’t over until my departure from this earth.

    My husband, Garry Spector, has a PhD in chemistry from Columbia University. He possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of all things baseball, particularly the sixty-year history of our beloved Mets franchise. He also knows far more about classical music, including opera, than many of us in the industry itself. His knowledge and remembrance of historical events of significance and their respective dates is positively intimidating.

    But what my husband doesn’t possess is vanity. He knows so much about all of these subjects because his fascination with them has fueled a lifetime of voracious reading and regular attendance at baseball games, concerts, and operas.

    Garry frequently shares anecdotes, facts, and trivia when either the day’s date or a current event triggers his memory of a related event in history. This he does, not to flaunt his vast knowledge, but because of his genuine enthusiasm for the subject at hand.

    I would never think nor try to compete with Garry’s comprehensive knowledge, but in our twenty-seven years of marriage, he has seemed delighted to hear my own stories and anecdotes about classical music from my thirty-five years working as a professional musician. He particularly delights in hearing many of the stories I have from my thirty years as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

    If Garry has any “blind spots,” he readily admits that there are gaps in his knowledge, particularly of popular culture. It was particularly delightful to be able to fill in one of those “gaps” for him involving baseball—a subject about which I am a novice compared to him.

    A life-long follower of the Mets, Garry grew up listening to the radio voice of the late Bob Murphy. Early on in our shared baseball life, I learned that it was Murphy’s voice decrying the famous “It gets by Buckner!” call that is near and dear to Mets fans of all ages. He has casually mentioned some of Murphy’s delightful terminology.

    When the subject of a doubleheader came up some years ago, Garry admitted that that was one of Murphy’s expressions that he had never understood.

    In single admission doubleheaders, the second game follows shortly after the first game has concluded. On other occasions, like today at Citi Field for example, two separate games with separate admissions are scheduled. This is called a day-night doubleheader—what Bob Murphy referred to as a “Cole Porter affair.”

    How thrilling it was for me to be able to fill this infinitesimal gap in his broad and thorough knowledge of all things baseball!

    I explained that one of Cole Porter’s most famous tunes was “Night and Day.”

    Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett are two of countless artists who have sung and recorded this jazz standard since Cole Porter wrote it in 1932.

    There have been only a few times like this where my knowledge of popular culture has served to add meaning or perspective on either baseball or opera. On road trips to see the Mets, we have been at several ballparks where an organist has played the players’ walkup music. There have been times where I smile, knowing the words to the melody the organist plays for specific players and how they serve as a musical commentary to either their name or appearance. These “inside jokes” are mostly lost on Garry.

    It doesn’t happen often, but on those occasions when I can “teach” Garry something that he doesn’t know related to baseball, we both enjoy it. As far as we both are concerned, we “ain’t over” learning new things until “it’s over.”

  • Great American Pastime Meets Great American Songbook

    http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/PEM_63_P0CY&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1

     

    I grew up in northeastern Oklahoma, far away from any Major League Baseball.  My mother was a fan however, and the Braves, via TBS, were often on the television in our home.  

    I also have memories of my mother standing at the kitchen sink, washing the dinner dishes, with a small AM  radio placed strategically near the kitchen window.  Barely audible over the hum of poor reception and static caused by far-off summer lightning storms, one could strain to piece together portions of innings of Royals games, courtesy of some station in rural Salina, Kansas, that faded in and out when it could even be picked up at all.

    Whenever our family took vacations to major cities, a baseball game was often squeezed in around the obligatory historical sights, art museums, and concert halls.

    I also enjoyed playing softball as a kid.

    So, although it did not play a major role in my early life, baseball was always around.

     

    Then in 1995, I married a Mets fan.

     

    Credit for anything I have learned about baseball’s history, its players and heroes, its strategies and rules–written and unwritten, not to mention the passion for the game now instilled in me, must be given to my husband.

    His knowledge of all things baseball is encyclopedic.  His astounding memory enables him to conjure up stats, dates, and historical information in a manner that is uncanny and maybe even a little scary.

    Therefore, it came as a total shock when I was able to illuminate him on something involving baseball.

    ***

    My early Mets fandom coincided with some of Bob Murphy‘s last years as an announcer, but as a a long-time listener to Murphy, my husband, Garry, often regaled me with stories about the famed announcer.

    A few years ago, a Mets game was postponed because of rain, just as it was tonight.  Looking forward then as he is tonight to an entire day of baseball the next day, Garry waxed nostalgic for the days when Bob Murphy would announce with similar enthusiasm that a postponed game would be made up the following day as part of a “Cole Porter affair”, Murphy’s term for a day-night doubleheader.

    Garry then confessed that he had no idea why Murphy used that expression.

    Although my dear husband has just as encyclopedic a knowledge of classical music and opera as he does of baseball, he does not have such familiarity with music of more popular genres.  Therefore, he did not recognize “day and night” as lyrics from “Night and Day” by Cole Porter, contributor to The Great American Songbook.

    He now knows and never fails to give me credit for the insight. 

    For your listening enjoyment, the YouTube video features Ella Fitzgerald’s rendition of the song.  Classic versions exist by Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra, among others.  It has also been covered by more contemporary artists, including The Temptations, Chicago, U2, and Rod Stewart.