Baseball fans, I invite you to pick the Hero and Goat of this year's World Series. All you need do is cut out the above cartoon and each day jot down your Hero and Goat. At the end of the Series, check my picks and see if we agree. No cheating, put down your picks at the end of each game. No prizes, just let's see how good you are at making a chump out of me. And, maybe you will get your name in the paper.
For the sake of history, in 1958, the Hero-Goat World Series feature was installed for the first time in this sports section, despite some disgruntled voices from baseball's ivory tower.
That first year, one of the brass in the National League condemned it and sent me and then-managing editor Bob Shand this message: "It's not dignified to be putting horns on baseball stars."
The editors and myself saw it as a fun thing, and since they and our readers seemed to enjoy it, the feature took flight and has flourished for 52 years. It became so popular that, after every series, The Sporting News in St. Louis ran an entire page reprinting each drawing with explanations on why I chose each Hero and Goat.
That first year, the Yankees vied with the Milwaukee Braves in the Fall Classic. The Braves won the first game, 4-3, and Warren Spahn was the Hero and there was no Goat recorded for this beautifully played, 10-inning game.
In Game 3, Hank Bauer, who delivered three timely hits in the 4-0 Yankee win, was the Hero while Red Schoendienst, always a steady Eddie, came out the Goat because of his overly cautious base-running, which killed what might have been a big inning for the Braves.
The Series went seven games, the Yankees taking the title with Bob Turley on the mound, wearing the Hero's laurels. Frank Torre, Joe's brother, got the horns when he was charged with two errors. He balked at being the Goat, because on both occasions he threw the balls for what should have been outs to Lew Burdette, who dropped them. There was never an explanation as to why the scorer gave Torre the errors.
The business of picking a Hero-Goat is not always that definite. This is why your eyes have to be peeled on every pitch.
Some years ago, I discovered that during a World Series the players went to the Hero-Goat before the box score.
Mickey Mantle once expressed concern about Hero-Goat. He had written in his book that he feared, "Gallo putting horns on my head." He never wore them, but one time, after his playing days were over, I was sitting with him in his restaurant, "Mantle's," when he confessed to me that he was indeed worried about those horns.
"You came close a couple of times," I told him. Mickey gave a big chuckle at the thought and put up fingers on the sides of his head.
In all the years I've done this feature, at least a half-dozen players told me directly that they were furious to see the horns put on them. One guy said that he felt like I slapped him on the back of the head and called him "dopey."
He's no longer with us so there's no sense telling who he is because his wife, a lovely lady, might be offended.
So, all you "Geezers" (65 and over) and you "Wheezers" (13 to 55), have yourselves a little fun and write down (or if you like to draw, go ahead) your picks in the squares.
Have fun at being a reporter of each game. That's the idea.
One last thing: Who was the Hero for the first game in last year's World Series?
Why it was none other than the guy who's starting for the Texas Rangers in Wednesday night's opener. He was with the Phillies then.
At right is last year's Game 1 Hero-Goat:
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