The Sourdough Rises Again

Across nearly thirteen years, we’ve written enough here at Faith and Fear in Flushing that a few postings are bound to slip through the cracks of memory. Thus, when we received a note a few days prior to Christmas regarding a story ours allegedly titled, “‘I’m Tellin’ Ya, It Was Sourdough,’” I initially mistook it for spam. What the hell was this — clickbait from an offshore baking consortium? We write about baseball. we don’t write about bread.

Ah, but we did, sort of, once, as I relearned from Kelly Cruse, who provided the 2009 link that freshened my memory:

‘I’m Tellin’ Ya, It Was Sourdough’

If you click on the link, you’ll find a picture of Casey Stengel mid-argument with an umpire, the Ol’ Perfesser’s hands far enough apart to suggest he was heatedly discussing a loaf about yay wide. The photo came to us courtesy of FAFIF reader Jason Gerrish, who told us the original hung as in banner form near the Gate A Field Level entrance at Shea, which at the time was in the process of being deconstructed. Jason had been looking for more info on the picture, both its details and the availability of a print.

I’d forgotten about it, but Jason Gerrish’s friend Kelly Cruse hadn’t. This is the note Kelly sent us in December, nearly nine years after the fact:

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“[T]his summer I went to a Mets game with ‘longtime Faith and Fear reader Jason Gerrish.’ The gate we entered chose to line its walls with photos of the late great Casey Stengel. I was enamored with the various expressions on Mr. Stengel’s face (what a face!), and when I mentioned that to Jason, he spent, oh I don’t know, the better part of that evening schooling me with factoids about the legend, during which, he mentioned his attempt to track down this photograph, going so far as to write to you about it, back in ’09.

“In the spirit of wanting surprise him this Christmas with the longstanding ‘anything you can do, I can do better’ competitive spirit that comes with being best friends with someone, I tracked down the photo, which aside from the watermark, is a hell of a lot cleaner than the ol’ flip phone shot.

“This is where you come in. I hope I’m not overstepping here, but I noticed that you asked if anyone knew anything, to pass it on. I was wondering, in what would simultaneously accomplish solving the mystery, and temporarily grant me victory in our friendly competition to surpass the other in Mets trivia, if it wouldn’t be too much to perhaps update your blog post with this newfound information? I’ve already printed out a copy of the picture for him, but you know, I thought it would be the icing on the cake to also print out a copy of your post…to frame side by side.

“This is what friends do, right? ;)”

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Right on, Kelly. Nice job fishing out the post, the picture and this information:

“Baseball: New York Mets manager Casey Stengel (37) upset, arguing with NL home plate umpire Ed Sudol during game vs Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field. Game 1 of doubleheader. Pittsburgh, PA 4/26/1964 CREDIT: Neil Leifer (Photo by Neil Leifer /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images) (Set Number: X9977 )”

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/new-york-mets-manager-casey-stengel-upset-arguing-with-nl-news-photo/177150520

Still don’t know what Casey and Ed were at odds over. Since it was in Pittsburgh, maybe it was pierogies.