SSTN Interviews George Altemose

By Paul Semendinger

***

Today I'll share my interview with baseball player and author George Altemose.

***

Hi George. Thanks for taking this time. Please tell our readers a little about yourself.

I was born on December 2, 1942, which was the day that Enrico Fermi produced the first atomic reaction under the football field at the University of Chicago.  My first memory of baseball was in October of 1951, when Bobby Thomson hit a home run in the playoffs to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers and win the National League pennant.  I felt very sorry forr the Dodgers, and I became a fan of their team.  In the summer of the following year, I found my first baseball card, which was a 1952 Bowman PeeWee Reese, and that immediately made him my favorite baseball player.  I still have that card, in a holder on my desk, and I am looking at it right now......it is hard to believe that the card is 73 years old.                                 

That card also introduced me to collecting baseball cards.  I completed the set, which had 252 cards, and I still have it, and look at it now and then, just for fun.  The earliest game that I can recall was in 1954, which I attended at Ebbets Field with my Little League team, which was in Levittown, Long Island, New York.  In that game, Joe Adcock of the Braves hit four home runs and a double.  Following the season of 1957, the Dodgers left town, and, by default, I became a fan of the New York Yankees.  In 1961, I joined the Army, and returned to "the world" (as we called it) in 1964.  Thoughtfully, my mother had not discarded my collection of baseball cards, which were still intact.  I discovered in 1980 that collecting baseball cards was actually a hobby, and I happily joined it, eventually completing a number of sets, including a few sets of tobacco cards from the 1909-1911 era.  To make a living, I became an electronic engineer, and did a lot of work on the space program, and am still involved as a consultant.                                                                                                                                                                                  

I returned to playing baseball in 1980, with a team in the Stan Musial League, which is for players of age 18 and over.  In 1986, the Men's Senior Baseball League (MSBL) was formed, for players over 30.  We moved to the MSBL as one of the original four teams, and I continued to play in the MSBL for the next 34 years.  We played in tournaments all over the country, particularly in Arizona and Florida.  We also enjoyed great times in Stan Musial League tournaments on Labor Day weekends in Cooperstown, at Doubleday Field, where I hit 10 home runs over the years.  One of these was over the fence in left center field, with Hank Aaron in the stands behind home plate.  He was there for the purpose of filming a commercial for American Express, which was scheduled to take place on the field following the completion of our game.  After the game, I was hoping to get him to sign the ball, but, alas, he was no longer there.  I still wish I could have had a home run ball that I hit, signed by Hank Aaron.  Oh, well.

You also wrote the book Bats, Balls, and Baseball Cards.

What do you most enjoy about writing?

I have always done a lot of writing.  Technical documents have included proposals, presentations and patent disclosures (I have 13 patents).  I write a lot of letters to my local newspaper, on various subjects.  For our baseball teams, I used to do the game stats, which appeared on the team website, along with a short writeup about the game.  Very often, if I could, I would describe an event in the game, and relate it to a similar incident that had happened in a famous major league game.  I have always been a big fan and student of baseball history, so this was easy to do and a lot of fun.  My teammates enjoyed reading these little writeups, and eventually one of them told me that I should use them as a basis for writing a book.  So I did.  I wrote Bats, Balls and Bubble Gum Cards.            

Are there any projects you are working on? 

I am working on a couple of electronic projects, mostly related to the space program.  With regard to baseball, I have a few friends who own various items of baseball memorabilia, including baseball cards, and are trying to sell them for a fair price, without giving them away, and I am trying to help them.

Why are people so drawn to baseball and its stories, legends, and people?   

Speaking for myself, I have always felt a strong connection to the baseball of the past, with a special fondness for the years prior to WWII.  My grandmother and her twin brother, Uncle Os (short for Oswald), were born in 1895, almost on the same day as Babe Ruth.  When I was younger, Uncle Os used to tell me about the days when he was a runner on Wall Street, around 1910 or thereabouts.  He was a big fan of the New York Giants, and went to as many games after work, at the Polo Grounds, as he could.  He particularly loved to go when the Pittsburgh Pirates were in town, so that he might get to see Christy Mathewson facing Honus Wagner, which he did see quite a few times.  How good must that have been? 

The best I could do came in 1983, when I played left field in a game at Wrigley Field in Chicago.  I just stood there and envisioned the ball that Babe Ruth hit over the center field scoreboard, which was still there, in the World Series of 1932, following his disagreements with the Chicago Cubs and Charlie Root.  

What is your favorite baseball book? (You can list as many as you wish.) 

It has to be The Glory of Their Times.  I spoke to Larry Ritter a few times, and he sent me some handwritten letters and canceled checks from the great old-timers that he had interviewed. The checks are from Chief Meyers, Fred Snodgrass, Harry Hooper, Hans Lobert, Goose Goslin and Lefty O'Doul, and the letters are from Al Bridwell, Rube Marquard, Davy Jones, Chief Meyers, Willie Kamm and Tommy Leach.  He also told me about George "Specs" Toporcer, who had played alongside Rogers Hornsby in the early 1920's, and who was at that time (1983) living in Huntington, Long Island, close to where I was working at that time.

Larry suggested that I give Specs a call.  I did so, and Specs, who was in his 80's at the time, invited me to his house.  I gladly accepted, and had a great time with Specs and his wife, who was a wonderful person.  Specs had been totally blind for the past 30 years, but was far from being totally helpless.  He showed me all of his trophies, including pictures hanging on the walls.  He knew where they were, from memory, and told me a lot of great stories about them.  I asked him about Rogers Hornsby, with whom he had played in the Cardinals infield for six years, from 1921 through 1926.  He said they had gotten along very nicely, although he acknowledged that some teammates did find Rajah somewhat hard to get along with at times. Specs Toporcer was a really fine person, and it was an honor to have met him.                                                                                                           

A more recent great book is Ty Cobb, A Terrible Beauty, by Charles Leerhsen.  In this book, a well-written biography of the Peach, Leerhsen debunks the lies told about Cobb by Al Stump, who took advantage of the dying legend to make money.  Leerhsen's book was a revelation, and long overdue, because Cobb had been maliciously maligned by Stump, including false allegations about racism and unhinged behavior, and none of it was true.  I strongly recommend that all serious baseball fans, particularly those who enjoy learning about the history of our great national pastime, read this book, which truly sets the record straight.

Outside of baseball, what is your favorite book and/or who is your favorite author?  (You can list as many as you wish.) 

I really like the Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories, by Arthur Conan Doyle.  I also very much enjoyed Tom Clancy's great stories, particularly The Hunt for Red October.  I am also a big fan of the Old West, and my favorite book in that venue is Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal, by Stuart Lake.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

There's a lot of talk about baseball needing to be "fixed."  Is baseball broken?  If you were the Commissioner of Baseball what change(s) (if any) would you make to the current game?  Baseball does not need to be "fixed."  If you doubt that, check with the members of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox.                         

Of the recent changes to our great national pastime, there is one that I like, and a few that I do not like.  The one that I like is the speed-up rule, which has put the kibosh on the likes of Mike Hargrove, aka "The Human Rain Delay."  This applies to both hitters and pitchers, thankfully.  Now, if we can get it to also apply to commercial breaks between half-innings, the game of baseball  will have achieved perfection.                                                                                                             

My least favorite recent rule is the one that places a runner on second base following an inning in which the score is tied.  The purpose of this is presumably to save the arms of the pitchers, of whom each team probably has only 11 or 12, not counting their minor league teams.  Give me a break.  On July 2, 1963, Juan Marichal (age 25) of the Giants pitched against Warren Spahn (age 42) of the Braves.  After 15 innings, both starting pitchers were still in the game, and the score was 0-0.  In the top of the 16th inning, Marichal got the side out.  In the bottom half, Willie Mays hit a home run and the game was over. In those days, as the saying went, ships were made of wood, and men were made of iron.  Today, who knows what they are made of.

I love to talk about the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Which former Yankee most deserves to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame? 

I think the best available choice must be Bernie Williams.  However, the debate continues about whether membership to the Hall of Fame should be reserved for the greatest players, or should it be expanded to include the very good players.  I think Bernie is a very close call.

What is the greatest baseball movie of all time?  (Yes, you can list a few!) 

Actually, I am not especially fond of most baseball movies, primarily because the producers of the movies seem to be unable to find actors who are actually able to play baseball, at least at a level even remotely approaching the ability of the player whom they are supposed to be portraying.  Probably the most egregious examples are William Bendix and John Goodman playing the part of Babe Ruth.  To me, both of those films are basically unwatchable.  I have always thought that it must be much easier to find a baseball player and teach him how to act, than it is to find an actor and teach him how to play baseball. 

Although I am by no means an expert in the sport of boxing, I always enjoyed the series of "Rocky" movies, with Sylvester Stallone.  As far as I can tell, each of the actors in those movies provides an excellent representation of a real boxer.  Why is it that the producers of baseball movies cannot do that with baseball players?

Thanks for bringing up Rocky. The Rocky films are my favorites. I have watched them each...too many times. They have inspired me for decades.

What is your favorite baseball memory? 

In 1952, when I was 9 years old, I played in the Little League in Levittown, on Long Island.  One weekend afternoon we had a clinic put on by Billy Martin, Hank Bauer and Mickey Mantle, all members of the New York Yankees.  Each player wore civvies, and they brought their own bats and gloves with them.  Most of the clinic consisted of Mantle hitting fungos to Billy Martin at shortstop and Hank Bauer in center field, on our small (60 foot bases) LIttle League field, and talking and laughing with us all the way.  The ground balls were hit so hard, and the fly balls so high, that we could not believe it.  Finally, after an hour or so, Mickey asked us, in his great Oklahoma drawl, "Would y'all kids like to see me make Hank Bauer run?"  And of course we all yelled, "Yeah, yeah!"  With Bauer in center field and Mantle at home plate, I think he hit the highest pop fly I have ever seen, almost straight up the proverbial elevator shaft. I think this was probably not the first time they had done this, but Bauer came tearing it at full speed, which was considerable, ran directly over second base, ran directly over the pitcher's mound, almost to home plate, and caught the ball.  The three Yankees all had big grins on their faces, and we kids all had our mouths wide open, in utter amazement.  We were then all given our Little League Yearbooks, with all of our names in them, and the great Yankee players then stayed and signed every yearbook for every kid.  We could not have had a better baseball day.  I still have my signed yearbook, and I still remember that clinic like it was yesterday, 73 years later.

I wish baseball players today did wonderful events like that with kids.

Please share anything else you'd like with our audience. 

1973 was the last year for the original Yankee Stadium, in its original form.  In that year I took my son, Jim, to the Stadium on Old Timer's Day.  The highlight of the day came when Whitey Ford, probably the greatest Yankee pitcher, took the mound to pitch to Mickey Mantle, who had retired five years earlier.  Naturally, everyone wanted to see The Mick hit a home run.  And he did, after something like 20 foul balls.  As he ran around the bases, with his old familiar gait, the crowd went wild.  It was a fitting tribute to a great ballplayer, and helped to mark the end of a great era.       

In October of 1976, Jim and I were at the game in the refurbished Yankee Stadium when Chris Chambliss hit his famous home run to win the ALCS championship.  As Chambliss rounded the bases, the hyperexuberant crowd charged onto the field and proceeded to tear it apart, including the padded mats on the outfield walls.  Jim and I joined the crowd, but did not participate in the vandalism, which included tearing up the sod from the grass in the field.  However, Jim picked up a piece about the size of a hardcover book, and asked me if he could keep it.  "Absolutely not," I said.  "Vandalism is wrong, and that would be stealing."  Jim, however, was not to be deterred, and pointed out that we did not  do anything wrong, but, if we did not take the loosened grass, it would most likely die........so why not take it and give it some honor?  That logic seemed unassailable, so I gave in, and we took it home.  The next day we planted it on our front lawn, where it is still growing.

George, this was great. Thank you! Please keep in touch!