June 22, 2008
WHO knew?
For the past dozen years Rich Ruffine has played in our regular golf group. And, until last year, this is about all I knew about him:
He's a mediocre golfer (although he has his moments), he had an enormously successful Wall Street career, he has a bunch of grown kids, he's a lovely guy with a sick sense of humor, and he's built like an anvil, longshoreman hands and forearms.
I don't recall us ever talking sports until one day last year when Ruffine handed me a book. It was a 2006 "Elysian Fields Quarterly," which features the research and writings of baseball historians. Ruffine pointed to the cover story, written by Leo J. Callahan, "The Last Homer at Ebbets."
"If you get a chance," he said. So I gave it a quick peek, so as not to seem rude (uh-oh, another Brooklyn Dodger fan with memories of Campy and Pee Wee and that time when they were 11 and appeared on "Happy Felton's Knothole Gang" on Ch. 9).
And then I saw a picture of a muscular kid in a Van Buren High School uniform. The caption identified him as "Red Ruffino," which was what Ruffine used to go by. Sure enough, it's Rich Ruffine. I started reading . . .
The last home run hit out of Ebbets Field was hit by Red Ruffino/Rich Ruffine. It happened in the Van Buren-Curtis PSAL championship game, June 23, 1958. That's 50 years ago, tomorrow.
How come he never told me this before? "I've thrown it out as a trivia question," he said, "but the answer - 'I did' - seems so ridiculous that I wish I'd never brought it up."
But there it was, researched and documented. And there was the game story, in every New York City newspaper dated June 24, 1958.
Holy Cow.
Martin Van Buren High in Queens opened just three years before that final against Staten Island's Curtis. Van Buren, like its namesake in his attempt to be reelected President in 1840, had no chance.
Curtis was stacked; it almost always was. Baseball players spawned at Curtis included Terry Crowley, who hit line drives for the Reds and Orioles and is now Baltimore's hitting coach, Hank Majeski, 13 solid years in the bigs in the 1940s and 50s, and Frank Fernandez, who caught for the Yankees in the late 1960s. Oh, and a fellow named Bobby Thomson.
On this rainy day, Van Buren, which pitched and jabbed its way to a 16-5 record, faced Ray Ratkowski, a tall and nearly unhittable pitcher on a nearly undefeated (19-1) team. Fernandez caught for Curtis; Jack Tracy, who nearly made the bigs with the Mets, played second.
