50 Years Ago

This picture was taken on August 26, 1961 in the Kansas City ball park where we saw the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City "A" with Roger Maris hitting his 51st HR of the season. He went on to hit 61 before the season was over and broke the long standing record of 60 by Babe Ruth. The Yankees with "sluggers" Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Elston Howard, Bill Skoworn, Johnny Blanchard, etc. went on to win 109 regular season games. Elaine had fixed a picnic lunch and we left Lincoln at 7:00 am to get there to see batting practice. We were able to drive from St.Joseph to Kansas City on the Interstate Highway and ate supper in Falls City on the way home. My diary entry for this very day, October 5, 1961, 50 years ago is as follows: "I got a note from Jim Bickle telling me to read Personnel Memo #79. I thought it was about my listening (to the World Series) on my radio, but instead wanting me to lead a Red Cross drive. The Reds beat the Yankees 6-2. We got our farm check for $1,544. Bought Jon shoes". The Yankees went on to win the World Series in five games. Whitey Ford had won the day before 2-0 and I listened to my transistor radio while working with Anita Hahn auditing vouchers. I was in a year-long Administrative Trainee position with SCS and rotated around to work at every desk in the State Administrative Office under Jim Bickle. These were busy times at our house knowing that we were committed to move out of state at the end of the training program but it was also exciting knowing we were going to have additional opportunities.