Miller: America’s pastime evokes tales of times past

By Steve Miller, Journal Staff Writer | Sunday, October 22, 2006

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It was a bright, sunny day at Tiger Stadium in Detroit when 26-year-old photographer Don Polovich noticed a blind man with a leader dog taking his seat in the stands along the first-base side as the fifth game of the World Series was getting started. It was Oct. 7, 1968.

Don thought it was odd that a blind man would be at a baseball game, so he took the man’s photo.

The man turned out to be Jose Feliciano, who had just finished singing a controversial (at that time) version of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

“I didn’t know who it was,” Don said. Don had been under the stands when Feliciano was singing the national anthem and didn’t realize until later the controversy that erupted over the Puerto Rican singer’s jazzy, stylized version of the song.

That’s just one of the memories of that game for Don, the longtime Rapid City Journal photographer.

The ’68 series was the last time the Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals met in the fall classic. They are matched up again this year.

In 1968, recently out of the Army, Don was a photographer for the Utica, Mich., Sentinel, a suburban newspaper that covered a couple of townships north of Detroit.

Shelby Township happened to be the home of Mickey Lolich, a husky left-hander who pitched that fifth game for the Tigers. The Tigers were facing defeat at the hands of the Cardinals, who were leading the Series 3-1. Cardinals ace Bob Gibson had already beaten the Tiger ace Denny McLain twice.

The Utica paper had run a photo page on the Tigers with several pictures taken at the Lolich home, where hundreds of congratulatory signs decorated the yard.

Now, Don shot photos of Lolich’s family in the stands, along with action photos and pictures of fans eating hot dogs and waving banners.

Don thinks maybe his best photo that day was one he took of Cardinal speedster Lou Brock being thrown out by Tigers catcher Bill Freeman as he tried to steal second base. Brock was caught stealing twice that day and was thrown out at the plate when he came in standing up.

Although McLain, who won 31 games that season, was the Tigers ace, Lolich had won Game 2 of the Series, and he beat the Cardinals again in Game 5 to keep the Tigers alive. He eventually went on to win Game 7, becoming the Series MVP for the World Champion Tigers.

At the end of Game 5, Don took photos of Lolich’s wife and son going down to the railing behind the Tigers dugout and of Lolich holding up his young son in his moment of triumph.

Of course, covering that game is one of Don’s career highlights. “I was just in awe of the thing, just to be there,” Don recalled. “Anybody within 500 miles wanted to be in that stadium.”

Don had periodically covered other games that summer in Tiger Stadium as the team drove toward the pennant. “I was kind of in awe of all the players, especially when the Yankees came to town,” he said.

Another Detroit area resident who got caught up in the mania over the Tigers’ World Series win was Kathy Johnson, now the owner of Tally’s Restaurant in Rapid City. Johnson was then a high school senior in Milan, about 40 miles south of Detroit.

She remembers driving with her brother and sister and thousands of other Tigers fans to Detroit’s Metropolitan Airport to welcome the world champions back from St. Louis. But the fans were a little too passionate. They climbed the fences and swarmed over the runway, preventing any planes from landing. “I ripped my pants climbing the fence,” Kathy recalled this week.

The Tigers plane had to land at another airport, and the fans didn’t get to welcome them home.

But Johnson plans to dig her Tigers jersey out to watch Detroit battle St. Louis in the Series once again.

Don wasn’t sure if he would be able to watch Saturday night’s game. He had to work, shooting photos for the Journal.

On Friday, I found an Internet site with the audio of Jose Feliciano’s 1968 rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” It doesn’t seem at all unusual now, after hundreds of other entertainers — ranging from opera singer Robert Merrill to comedienne Roseanne Arnold (nee Barr) — since then have offered their stylized versions of the national anthem. But his was the first.

And it was heartfelt and patriotic.

It was sung at a baseball game.

The ’68 series has been called a healing event for Detroit, which had suffered race riots in 1967.

That’s one of the great things about sports, particularly baseball. They offer a diversion, and sometimes, even an example to emulate. Baseball was integrated before most of the South.

The World Series comes at a good time, too, providing a needed break from a testy political season. Republicans and Democrats can argue instead about whether to bunt, hit-and-run, or send the runner on a steal attempt.

Hey, it’s the Cardinals and Tigers — again.

Tommy Lasorda’s got it right: “To the TV.”

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com