In these November 1966 photos, two of the players from the New York Yankees paid a visit to Disneyland. Outside the entrance in shot #1 is Robert "Bobby" Richardson, a former second baseman for the Yanks from 1955-1966. Richardson won three World Series (1958, 1961, 1962) of the seven he played with the team. In the 1960 Series, Richardson was named Most Valuable Player after hitting .367 with 12 RBIs, becoming the first non-pitcher to earn the award, and is to this day the only MVP to play for the losing team. To Bobby's left is Joe Garagiola, Sr., a former Major League Baseball catcher who later became a color commentary announcer, TV host, and one of the regular panelists of The Today Show on NBC. A few classic quotes from Garagiola:
"Nolan Ryan is pitching much better now that he has his curve ball straightened out."
"I know a baseball star who wouldn't report the theft of his wife's credit cards because the thief spends less than she does."
Here on Main Street, U.S.A., Steve Hamilton poses with the Wooden Indian outside of the Tobacconist Shop. Garagiola probably would have been opposed to this shop as he was an outspoken advocate against chewing tobacco. Hamilton was a Major League Baseball (MLB) and NBA player. He was mostly a relief pitcher during his 12 MLB seasons, including a stint as the New York Yankees closer during the 1968 season. He pitched 1 inning during the Yankees 1963 World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers and 2 innings during the Yankees 1964 World Series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, including 1 save.
Any readers out there who were at Disneyland on this particular day?
See more vintage & current Disneyland photos from my collection on my main website.
2 comments:
Wonder if the Yanks were out here playing at Anaheim Stadium/Angels - Angels games used to have some 'double-headers' but not your traditional 2 baseball games back to back. Instead it was an afternoon Angles game that came with passes to get into Disneyland after the game. I think they might have included discounts on ride ticket coupon books too, or maybe they were a complete package where you got in and had one of those free passes for all the rides - I don't really remember the details other than I went more than a few times on deals like that. Was never a lot of time in the Kingdom - was more a fast run through to catch the rides/venues you really liked the most. Those were a good package deal back then. I think maybe it was all of around $12-$15.
My bad - after I wrote $12ish, thought that did not sound right - found some info from mid 60s - they usually were around $5 for entrance to both the game and Disneyland on those double-header ticket packs. As I recall, it was a program to help boost daytime game attendance which did flounder back in the mid 60s-early 70s when the stadium first was getting going.
Never saw any pro baseball players at Disneyland when I was there. LAX was where you used to run into all the pro sports teams.
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