Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day memory

In May 1946 I was a 12-year-old growing up in Brooklyn and of course a diehard Brooklyn Dodgers Fan. On May 30th, Memorial Day, my Uncle took me to Ebbets field to see a double header against the Boston Braves. In the top of the 2nd inning in the second game a journeyman player by the name of Carvel "Bama" Rowell hit a long fly ball to right field that hit and broke the Bulova Clock that sat atop the huge right field score board. It was the first and only time this ever happened.

What makes this event so interesting is that also in the stands that day was Brooklyn-born Bernard Malamud, who wote the 1952 novel The Natural later made into the movie of the same name. Malamud also never forgot that hit. Rowell’s drive was the inspiration for the scene in which Roy Hobbs, played by Robert Redford, hit a home run off the light tower in right field.

Also a side story is that the Bulova clock company had a standing offer to give the player who hit the clock a wristwatch. Bama did receive the watch but not until 1987.