Johnny Antonelli Interview & Book Review

[metrotheme]

http://www.examiner.com/review/johnny-antonelli-serves-up-a-winner-with-his-autobiography-a-baseball-memoir

Johnny Antonelli has been out of baseball for 50 years, yet with the release of his new autobiography, "Johnny Antonelli: A Baseball Memoir," Antonelli finds himself back on the mound once again. “It feels pretty good. I’m not one that ever flaunted myself to be recognized. This has given me something that I probably missed since 1962 when I left. It’s something that kind of brings back memories,” said Antonelli during an August telephone interview.

The link has the entire interview and review with the 82-year-old Antonelli, who is one of two living players who played for both the Boston Braves and New York Giants (the other is Alvin Dark).

[Joe Barrie]

For what it's worth, today is the 55th anniversary of the Giants' last home game at the Polo Grounds, which they lost to the Pirates 9-1.

Time really flies!

[GIANT]

Antonelli was a fine pitcher. He had a live fastball and good breaking stuff. He had trouble in San Francisco with the winds at Candlestick Park. One night Charlie Neal, of the Dodgers, hit a home run, which the wind carried over the fence and cost him the game. After the game, Antonelli complained to a reporter about the wind ruining a good pitch. The reporter made a big deal out of it. Even Bill Gallo in the New York Daily News ran a cartoon about the incident. Later Antonelli was proven right. Candlestick Park was a terrible ball park with the winds constantly swirling. Many pitchers, infielders and outfielders hated playing there.

[chinese home run]

Actually, that home run off Charlie Neal happened at Seals Stadium in 1959, not at Candlestick. He nearly got run out of town from all the bad press after he criticized Seals Stadium; he was on his way to a 20-win season that year but never got it, finishing with 19 wins. He was never the same pitcher after that. IIRC, he started out 3-0 in 1960 but eventually wound up in the bullpen and finished at 6-7. He was only a spare part at Candlestick for the most part; he was traded to Cleveland at the end of the year and was out of baseball altogether by the end of 1961. It's a real shame- he left a lot of good years on the table.

I do agree that Candlestick was a horrible ball park, whether it was open or enclosed after 1971- it made no difference. I remember going to a Giants-Pirates Sunday doubleheader in 1997; it was the first time I'd been there in years. There was a white sign by the right field foul pole that had the number 798 on it. I had no idea what it meant, so I asked someone who looked like a regular. He said, "Oh, that's the number of days until the new ballpark opens!" Anytime I'd see the Giants on TV after that, I'd always look for that sign.