Local man’s memory featured in magazine
(Editor’s note: Highland Falls’ Ron Weiss was proud to let me know this week that he recently had a story featured in a magazine, Reminisce. His wife, Patricia had picked up a copy of the magazine in a doctor’s office — it shares stories written by readers pertaining to the 1950s-70s. (It’s also available at www.reminisce.com) Weiss, an accomplished author (he wrote Pinstripes and Penance’, a copy is available at the Highland Falls Library), knew he had a story in him to share. The story ran in a section of the magazine called ‘Close Encounter’. For more information about Weiss, a resident of Highland Falls since 2000, a former Penn League baseball player, and a retired NYC school teacher and coach, you can Google him, he says. Read on … MJP)
On TV with Joe DiMaggio
On Oct. 5, 1952, I was invited to appear as a guest on a TV show hosted by Joe DiMaggio, one of my baseball heroes. The program, called The Buitoni Show, was sponsored by that big pasta company.
I was one of three baseball players selected to go on the show. We were all 14 and students at the American Baseball Academy, which was free to boys 13-19 who were interested in baseball and lived in New York City. The academy was founded by Phil Rizzuto, the Yankees shortstop, and professional baseball players taught there.
That week’s show had a guest appearance by Rizzuto, who was the maestro of bunting in the American League. On the show he was going to teach us the art of bunting.
I remember that DiMaggio was dressed impeccably in a blue pin-striped suit, with his gray hair shining in the bright set lights.
We were supposed to answer baseball trivia questions, and the winner would be awarded a Bulova watch. The runner-up would win a year’s supply of Buitoni spaghetti.
I made it to the final question, which was, “Who pitched the most scoreless innings in the World Series?”. I knew the correct answer was Babe Ruth. But I thought about the prizes and asked myself what I would rather win. The answer was easy. So I said, “Whitey Ford”.
To a 14-year-old, when time seemed endless, spaghetti for a year was better than a watch. I’m sure I looked more happy than sad when Joe said, “Sorry, Ron. You win a year’s supply of spaghetti.”
For the next year, a delivery of Buitoni pasta arrived at our apartment each month, right on schedule. To this day, my twin daughters Serena and Vinica and I eat a serving of Buitoni at least once a week, prepared by Patricia, my wife of 44 years.