Sounding off, then signing off

Red Barber

The makeup date from a rainout two days earlier at Yankee Stadium attracts a crowd – and the word “crowd” is a stretch here – of 413 fans to the rescheduled game 58 years ago today.

Right there in the Bronx, New York falls to the Chicago White Sox 4-1 on a dreary, overcast Thursday afternoon as foul balls hit into the stands go uncontested.

The most competitive part of this game comes off the field as Yankees television announcer Red Barber argues throughout the game with Perry Smith, who is running the show from the broadcast control room.

Seems Barber repeatedly makes requests of Smith for cameras to show the crowd, of lack thereof.

Smith repeatedly tells Barber that, no, this is not going to happen.

Undeterred, and without the benefit of video to back up his words, Barber tells his viewers, “I don’t know what the paid attendance is today, but whatever it is, it is the smallest crowd in the history of Yankee Stadium – and this crowd from 1966 is the story, not the game.”

The loss drops the Yankees’ record to 66-87 on their way to an unYankee-like last place finish in the American League.

Four days later, the 58-year-old Barber – rather than the game or the miniscule crowd – becomes the story as he is told by team president Michael Burke that he no longer will be calling games for the Yankees, leaving one less person to attend games in the Bronx.