I loved "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant!" I first read the Readers Digest condensed version, then the full novel, many years ago. I've reread it a few times since. I remember seeing, and liking, "Damn Yankees" when I was young. To me, though, that movie, which I watched again just a few years ago, did not stand up to the test of time. Gwen Verdon, ugh. I had always thought that there had been another movie version of TYtYLtP, but it must have been my imagination, as I've never been able to find it.

I remember Ron Fairly as an announcer for the Giants. He worked, I believe, for several years, with the very good Hank Greenwald. Everybody in the city thought he was a complete doofus. His malaprops were many and often hilarious. He looked like my boss, and in the men's room at our company, in one of the stalls, the graffiti read: "Bill Skiff. Ron Fairly. Is it any coincidence that no one has ever seen them at the same place and time?"