HERE

[esmd]

Ah, the old lady on 33rd.  Love that the flag is still there.  I'm way too young to have seen Frank play, but this is just cool.  I have a pic of Memorial Stadium from the 80's in my office.  OPACY is fantastic and better in so many ways, but a big part of me misses Memorial Stadium.

RIP to Frank.

[bobmc]

16 minutes ago, esmd said:

Ah, the old lady on 33rd.  Love that the flag is still there.  I'm way too young to have seen Frank play, but this is just cool.  I have a pic of Memorial Stadium from the 80's in my office.  OPACY is fantastic and better in so many ways, but a big part of me misses Memorial Stadium.

RIP to Frank.

Another angle on the flag from Pete Kerzel, who was there for his first MLB game!  Nice!

 

[bobmc]

3 hours ago, Enjoy Terror said:

I’m surprised more O’s fans don’t embrace having personal HERE flags or other merch.

 

[tntoriole]

I too remember being at both games that Sunday long ago....I was in the right field bleachers though.  But Frank threw a ball up in the stands in the second game that my brother caught. 

He hit a HR in that second game too...though not near as far.  And a triple too in the first game.  Palmer pitched the second game sweep. 

 

[NashLumber]

Speaking  of ‘66, someone brought this article to my attention on Facebook. As I was just five at the time and living in NC, I never really heard this iconic photo discussed much other than Brooks commenting on how high it appeared he was leaping. The photographer who took it, Paul Hutchins, passed away this week. 

 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bs-md-ob-paul-hutchins-20190506-story.html?fbclid=IwAR1JSUwfuGz0HU4jKWaK0Zbie6C0HASvyK2U8F2MYbLqaiegT8s-2LbwCSQ

“The photograph still gives people goose bumps,” said a 2012 Sun story. “There's Dave McNally, Baltimore's ‘other’ No. 19, the triumphant pitcher whose grin is as wide as his native Montana. And Andy Etchebarren, the catcher who's poised to embrace him, mask still on and mitt in hand.

“And there, on the left, is a jubilant Brooks Robinson, or at least a chunk of him: the Orioles' third baseman is airborne and looks as if he parachuted into Memorial Stadium. Why? The Birds had just swept the 1966 World Series in four straight games,” the story said.”

[BRobinsonfan]

14 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

 

[bobmc]

10 hours ago, tntoriole said:

I too remember being at both games that Sunday long ago....I was in the right field bleachers though.  But Frank threw a ball up in the stands in the second game that my brother caught. 

He hit a HR in that second game too...though not near as far.  And a triple too in the first game.  Palmer pitched the second game sweep. 

 

Boog hit one right after Frank!  @Frobby

 

[DrungoHazewood]

The HERE flag they put up in Memorial Stadium after Frank's homer was based on a similar sign from Union Park in Baltimore in the 1890s.  Presumably in 1894 (his only full season in Baltimore) Hall of Famer Dan Brouthers hit a homer over the most distant fence at the old National League Orioles' park.  The legend says the ball rolled down the street, into a wagon, that got dumped into a ship, which ended up in Europe or China or something.  Afterwards the team then painted the word "HERE" on the wooden fence.

There are only a handful of surviving photographs of Union Park, and as far as I know none of them show the HERE sign.  I assume many were lost in the 1944 Oriole Park fire. But if I recall correctly the sign is referenced in James Bready's Baseball In Baltimore the First 100 Years, and his related book The Home Team.

The image here is a Sanborn fire insurance diagram, which I think is the best surviving documentation of what Union Park looked like and where it was located.  I've tried to use calipers and rulers to ascertain the dimensions and layout of the park, and it's pretty hard to figure out anything that makes sense.  To me it looks like none of the dimensions were particularly long.

.

[NashLumber]

1 hour ago, bobmc said:

Boog hit one right after Frank!  @Frobby

 

I’m not exaggerating when I say Boog has aged very well. Such a delight to see him still at Oriole Park.