Two moon shots on the same day
Believe it or not, my clearest recollection of the first moon landing 40 years ago today happens to be a baseball memory? I spent the afternoon of July 20, 1969 at Anaheim Stadium enjoying a doubleheader between the California Angels and the Oakland Athletics before heading home to watch Neil Armstrong take that first step on the lunar surface.
Obviously, I don't remember a lot about the two games, except that a young outfielder named Reggie Jackson launched his 37th home run of the season in the nightcap on the way to the best home run (47) and RBI (118) totals of his career.
The moment that really stands out came between games, when the Big-A scoreboard (which now stands in the parking lot of the refurbished ballpark) displayed a crude blinking-bulb representation of the lunar landing module touching down and informed the crowd that "We Have Landed On The Moon." The crowd of more than 17,000 (I had to look the attendance up) erupted in a large ovation and, for the first time in my 13-year life, I couldn't wait for the second game to end so I could get home.
That night, I watched Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (left) exit the module in glorious black-and-white and then stood out on the sidewalk looking up at the moon, hardly believing it was true. I was pretty sure at that moment that we'd be traveling to other galaxies in my lifetime, but the Cubs haven't even gotten to the World Series since then.
Thanks for indulging me on this walk down memory lane. I actually got a little misty thinking about it.
NASA photo
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Comments
Hi Pete, Hope your recovery is going well. Just to let you and the readers know, youtube has a bunch of videos featured today to mark the anniversary of the landing. I being the same age as you, remember it well also but I was at the beach and the TV was an old black and white, with a snowy picture and probably not much better than the blinking scoreboard.
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Pete's reply: Thanks, I'll take a look.
Posted by: cb coach | July 20, 2009 1:53 PM
I was nine at the time of Apollo 11's landing on the moon. My brother, his girl friend, now his wife and myself were at Malibu beach all day. We rushed home just in time to catch the event live.
I also remember all of the toys or trinkets that Gulf gas stations were giving out during our lead up to and after the landing. Really cool items but I seemed more interested in collecting Slurpee cups with major leaguers faces on them from 7-11 instead!
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Pete's reply: I don't remember the gas station souvenirs. I do remember the Slurpee collectible cups, however.
Posted by: Jim Doss | July 20, 2009 2:35 PM
Pete, Here's the moon landing footage you didn't see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mouUUWpEec0
I don't know how they staged Reggie' moon shots.
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Pete's reply: Priceless.
Posted by: Ken Francis | July 20, 2009 4:37 PM
No Way! That's Great...
Hey everybody! WE'VE LANDED ON THE MOON!
Posted by: Lloyd Christmas | July 20, 2009 4:38 PM
presumably you were rooting for the Angels? slim pickings. Fregosi? Andy Messersmith? Was that the year Hoyt Wilhelm was on the Angels? Any other name I should recognize before I go look up that roster?
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Pete's reply: Roger Repoz, Ed Kirkpatrick, Aurelio Rodriguez, Brunet, Rudy May....need I go on?
Posted by: Lucky Horseshoe | July 20, 2009 4:41 PM
Slurpee collectable cups at 7-11!! I remember!!
Pulling for the Orioles to make a return to the WS...I remember!
Watching every second of the moon landing and walk on the ole B&W...I remember!
Waiting for Shula to become coach of the Dolphins.....hehehehe....
Not bad for being, like JimDoss, 9 at the time....
Posted by: jongermany | July 20, 2009 4:58 PM
Hey Peter,
Are we supposed to believe everything you are writing for the next few day with all the vicodin/hydrocodone you must be enjoying????
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Pete's reply: You know I'm way too tough to need painkillers....right?
Posted by: larry | July 20, 2009 5:29 PM
Cmon Pete, You know all that was done in a Hollywood movie studio!
Boy, even sportswriters are in on the hoax.
Posted by: bill frederick | July 20, 2009 7:09 PM
I was in Italy in the Army. Listening on the transistor radio when we heard "the Eagle has landed" cars and even ships in the harbor sounded their horns. Was a very proud moment. After that, I saw a lot of Fiats with Apollo 11 bumper stickers around town.
Posted by: Paul B Towson | July 20, 2009 7:40 PM
~~Pete's reply: You know I'm way too tough to need painkillers....right?~~
I needed painkillers just to deal with the brainfreeze from those slurpees.
Posted by: Lucky Horseshoe | July 20, 2009 7:59 PM
Let's face it, all rhetoric aside, the trip to the moon was a stunt designed to show up the Russians. It carried a cost our nation could easily afford. A trip to Mars needs to be multinational since no nation can bear the cost alone. It's a different ball game, and when the cost/benefit analyses are done, most nations will find something better to do.
runescape money
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Pete's reply: I suspect you're right, and I think there are other priorities. Landing men on Mars would be a nice feat of technological progress, but I don't know if you get the same life-changing technological benefits that came from the intense research to put a man on the moon in the 1960s.
Posted by: runescape gold | July 21, 2009 4:51 AM
Pete,I was at a "Blind Faith" concert at the Civic Center(now Balto. Arena).
Either Steve Winwood or Eric Clapton came out to the audience before the show and asked the audience if the group might delay the show a bit and watch the moon landing on a TV that they had in the dressing room.He promised a long and great show . The audience cheered and the group kept their promise,even taking requests when they ran out of material.
Posted by: Paul | July 21, 2009 7:58 AM
Pete,
Everyone seems to remember where they were that day in 1969. I was nine years old and was on a family trip coming home with my family leaving Cape Henlopen, DE when we heard the words "the eagle has landed" on the radio. The ride home was short because there was no traffic whatsoever. When we approached our house in Rodgers Forge, you did not see one car on York Road. We got home in time to watch them walk on the moon on TV. My father was hauling butt on the way home to get us all there. The cops were probably watching it. That is why he didn't get a ticket. It was incredible to watch when you are nine years old.
Posted by: Phil B. | July 21, 2009 12:16 PM
Hey Pete - I had two shots in one day , just not moon shots .
Posted by: the artist formerly known as jack in hebron | July 21, 2009 8:30 PM