Remembering Joe Garagiola

I was a huge baseball fan in my 1960's childhood, a time when girls were not encouraged to follow the game of baseball.  Neither of my parents were baseball fans and I have no memory of how I grew to love watching the game.  My love of baseball, in fact, helped attract my spouse of over 41 years.

I stopped following major league baseball years ago.

Now, like many baby boomers, I mark (it seems, almost weekly) the deaths of the musicians and the baseball players I once loved.

We baseball fans and former baseball fans mourn the passing of Joe Garagiola, dead yesterday at the age of 90.  At least now, he is reunited with the great Yogi Berra, who grew up in the same St. Louis, Missouri neighborhood that Garagiola did.  They were childhood friends. Yogi went on to become a Hall of Fame catcher.  Garagiola, also a catcher, played in major league baseball, but earned his fame in other ways.  Of his baseball career, he once said I went through baseball as "a player to be named later.".

Where Berra was noted for his twisted sayings that somehow made perfect sense, Garagiola was the ultimate in baseball broadcasting.  For so many, he was the voice of baseball.  He loved to make fun of himself.  It seemed that everyone, in turn, loved him.

Garagiola also hosted a number of game shows and appeared on NBC's The Today Show. 

Yes, I enjoyed Joe Garagiola - his manner, his sense of humor.

For the baseball fans among my readers, I have another memory for you.  This is a longer clip featuring David Letterman and the great late Ted Williams.

 Goodbye, Joe.  Another great gone.