Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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This time, I don't know the answer and the photo below is on display at the Los Angeles Public Library's Central Library.
It's from Game 4 of the 1963 World Series. So your choices are:
Those were the only five right-handed, fair-skinned batters for the Yankees in the game. I'm leaning to Richardson as the photographer would have tried to take a shot early in the game. Richardson was batting second. And the batter is choking up a bit on the bat, which is not something Mantle or Tresh would have done.
Don't be fooled by the fact that all the crowd was in their seats. This other photo taken of Koufax warming up and getting ready to face leadoff man Tony Kubek, shows an equally full house.
Photo by Gordon Dean of the Hollywood Citizen News
UPDATE - I posted the query to the SABR mailing list. So far I have received word from people who insist that the batter is Bobby Richardson. Or Tom Tresh. Or Mickey Mantle. Or possibly either Richardson or Tresh. And it would only be a few more months before the Warren Commission was assembled to study such matters from the time this photo was taken.
Wayne McElreavy has sent me a link to a picture of a 1961 baseball card showing Bobby Richardson at bat. Richardson is holding the bat almost exactly like the batter in the photo.
vr, Xei
Nice photo from the year of my birth. For all I know, I was in momma's arms watching the game on television. She was a Yankee fan back then, living in Tuscon, holding an oversized baby and waiting for her baseball hero, the Mick, to step up to the plate. I wonder if she could sense the large baby squirming in pain with every reverential thought given to a Yankee. I'm sure she must have noticed.
Is it certain that Hector Lopez, who batted in the 2nd, is too dark? And check out his grip. (Yeah, just a posed photo.) http://tinyurl.com/5h8pz9
http://tinyurl.com/6ysf5r
Here's a photo of the first pitch of the game. The shadows are in exactly the same position as in our photo. Note where the shadow line is on the fans in the top rows of the pavilion.
http://tinyurl.com/6ozw4u
It has to be a first inning batter because of the crowd shot. The crowd in the LF pavilion right before Kubek hits is identical to the crowd where our mystery man is hitting.
Somebody would have to have gone to the bathroom!
Also, the batter's box lines are still visible.
Stan from Tacoma
But whoever that is up there, it ain't Mantle.
But I can't believe the field would still be in that condition after one full inning.
The mound is nearly pristine and you can still make out the outline of the batter's box.
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