What's On TV Tonight (1969)?

It's awfully late in the year to expect to see Tom Seaver on TV, but here he is--singing on the tonight 1969's episode of NBC's Kraft Music Hall.

Baseball Update (1969)

"Mr. New Year's Day" Lindsey Wilson of Campbellsville, Tenn., sounds mighty excited about the Mets' chances to clinch today, 1969 (Oct. 16).

Baseball Update (1969)

“They bought us these red jackets to cover up our red faces,” laughs Mickey Mantle at the outset of NBC’s World Series Report preceding Game 4 of the World Series, Oct. 15, 1969. … Both Sandy Koufax (left) and Mantle picked the Baltimore Orioles to win each of the last two games, and, of course, the New York Mets have won both to surge to a two-games-to-one lead in the series. … Jim Simpson (right) push the Hall-of-Famers-to-be for a Game 4 favorite, and Koufax switches to the Mets because “I think Tom Seaver is going to show today just how great a pitcher he is.” Mantle keeps rolling with the Os, though. … That was such a terrific 15 minutes of sports talk. Nobody yelled, and nobody seemed disturbed about anything. … Today's pitcher pairing in New York is a rematch of Game 1: Seaver for the Mets vs. Mike Cuellar for the Orioles. ... The Shea Stadium public-address announcer announces somebody named "John Powell" as a member of the Baltimore starting lineup, and I have to look up to discover its Boog. I don't think I'd ever heard John "Boog" Powell's real first name. ... Gordon MacRae is on to sing the national anthem. "We don't have an orchestra today, so I have to sing this, the national anthem, what they call, 'a capella,' which means alone. But the way you sang this yesterday, I won't be alone. I've lowered the key, so let's show the country how Met fans can sing our national anthem." ... Everybody sounded great.  ... Lindsey Nelson points out that Cuellar and Seaver were the majors' winningest left-hander and right-hander, respectively, this season. ... Cuellar is the first to be dinged today--a second-inning, solo home run for Donn Clendenon. ... Now here's Earl Weaver going nuts about something, maybe balls-and-strikes calls, in the third inning, and he's pretty much immediately ejected! ... Curt Gowdy: "Many of the old-timers covering the game today cannot ever remember a manager being ejected from a World Series game." ... Briefly interrupting the "Magic Glove" love that has been heaped on the Oriole third baseman throughout this series, Brooks Robinson boots a grounder to put Al Weis on base. However, the scorekeeper gives Brooks a pass and Weis a hit, and the Mets strand the runner. ... Still 1-0 through five innings. ... Nelson: "Tom and Nancy Seaver have a pet dog that they named 'Slider,' so that might give you an idea of Tom Seaver's pet pitch." ... Gowdy, later: "Handsome young couple." Nelson: "They are, indeed." ... This YouTube video is some sort of original network feed that does not include the commercials that the various NBC affiliates or the Canadians overlaid, so, in the inning breaks, we get to hear peppy music from the Shea Stadium organist. ... The organist plays "O Christmas Tree" after the sixth inning! ... Still 1-0, Mets. ... Winners' share for this World Series is $15,000 per player, up from $12,000 for the 1968 Detroit Tigers; losers' share is up to at least $10,000 per player (maybe plus some more, depending on gate sales), from $7,000 for last year's St. Louis Cardinals. ... In the top of the eighth, Gowdy corrects to say that one of the press-row graybeards remembered that the Chicago Cubs' manager in 1935, Charlie Grimm, was ejected in Game 3. ... Still 1-0, Mets, after seven-and-a-half innings. ... Here's Tony Kubek with Red Schoendist, and the Cardinals' manager adds his hip-hip-hoorays for Brooks Robinson, whose team is behind 1-0 in this game and trailing the Mets two games to one, who had an error that wasn't called earlier in this game and who is on his way to an .053 performance in this World Series. Also, Schoendist says there's no way that Tom Seaver, who threw 273 and a third innings in the regular season, could be getting tired because the Mets used a five-man rotation most of the season. ... In the top of the ninth, Frank Robinson singles with one out, and it's the first Baltimore hit since the third inning. The Orioles were shut out eight times during the regular season but never twice in a row. Boog Powell is coming up, trying to ensure it doesn't happen here. ... Boog bounces a hit just beyond Weis's reach at second, and Gil Hodges is coming out to visit Seaver with runners at first and third with one out in the 1-0 game. ... Seaver stays, and here comes Brooks Robinson. ... He flies out to Ron Swoboda in right, and Frank Robinson tags and scores the tying run. That's a sacrifice fly for Brooks Robinson, so I imagine Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, Red Schoendist and about a dozen others are chasing Tony Kubek through Shea Stadium for an opportunity to go all Mike Trout on Brooks. ... 1-1, headed to the bottom of the ninth. ... Eddie Watt is on to relieve Cuellar, and, after allowing a couple of base-runners, he gets pinch-hitter Art Shamsky to ground out and send the game to extra innings. ... Seaver, still Schoendist-fresh, works a scoreless top of the 10th, though he does allow two more Oriole runners and receives another Hodges visit to the mound. ... The new Baltimore pitcher is the oldest player in the World Series, 39-year-old Dick Hall, whose delivery, says Nelson, "has been described as being like a beach chair unfolding." ... The leadoff man, Jerry Grote, swats a full-count pop into left field. The ball drops between Don Buford and Mark Belanger, and the Mets have the winning run on second. ... Weis is intentionally walked, to bring up Seaver. ... Hodges puts in J.C. Martin, and the Orioles' Billy Hunter, filling in for ejected Weaver, subs out old Dick Hall in favor of Pete Richert. ... Kubek has Chief Justice Earl Warren on after the commercial break that allows Richert to warm up, and Warren predicts this at-bat will end the game. ... Indeed, Martin bunts Richert's first pitch; Richert fields and hits Martin in the back on the way to first base, and Rod Gaspar, pinch-running for Grote, comes home for the Game 4 victory!

Baseball Update (1969)

Game 3’s broadcast on midday, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 1969, is in glorious color! … It’s Lindsey Nelson working with Curt Gowdy. …  Steve Lawrence sang the national anthem. … Nelson: “They used to say if the Mets advanced to mediocrity that they’d lose their fans. But what happened was they never became mediocre—they went from very bad to very good.”… Frank Robinson has a bruised instep that is getting better “hour by hour, not day by day,” Gowdy quotes the Orioles doctors as saying … Gary Gentry, the Mets’ Game 3 starter, is from Phoenix, and he was a giant high-school and Arizona State college star. “Handsome Jim Palmer,” as Gowdy calls him, is starting for the Orioles, and he went to high school in Scottsdale but then went straight to the minors. … More Gowdy: “There’s Yogi Berra, who's got so many World Series checks that he can’t even count them, is (coaching) at first, and that’s Eddie Yost at third—he was the walking man when he was with the Washington Senators.” … ? … Tommie Agee goes deep center to open the bottom of the first, and the Mets are off and running … Cleon Jones, New York’s left-fielder, hit .340 during the regular season; he led the National League in batting most of the summer, but then he trailed off after a couple of injuries and finished behind Pittsburgh’s Roberto Clemente and Cincinnati’s Pete Rose … With two out in the second, Palmer walks Jerry Grote, yields a single to .248-hitting Bud Harrelson and then gives up a two-run double to Gentry, who hit .081 and drove in one run during the whole regular season; 3-0, Mets … “Incredible is right,” says Gowdy. … I think Tony Kubek might have Tuesday off … Gowdy scans the crowd to start the third inning: "Julian Goodman there with the button in his lapel, the president of the National Broadcasting Company, and on his right chatting away there is Dick Forbes, advertising manager of Chrysler Corporation—and Earl Warren, former Chief Justice Warren." … Gowdy failed to note this in his telecast, but Julian Goodman cut his chops for the NBC gig as a $3-a-week reporter for The Glasgow (Ky.) Daily Times. … No, here's Kubek--maybe he got held up in traffic. ... The Orioles get men on first and third with one out in the top of the fourth, and . Lindsey Nelson: "Jerry Grote is out there, just trying to settle Gentry down a little. Gentry's got sort of a short fuse. When things start to happen in a hurry--he's still young; he's only 23--sometimes he gets a little bit rattled." Up next: Brooks Robinson, strikeout. And next: Ellie Hendricks. ... Gowdy: “There’s a drive into deep left-center … Racing hard is Agee! … WHAT A GRAB! TOM AGEE! SAVES TWO RUNS!” . ... Still 3-0, Mets. ... Agee and Jones both graduated from the Mobile County (Alabama) Training School. Nelson: "At the Mobile Training School this week, they have a lesson plan--there are no lessons planned this week when the World Series games are on NBC." ... Nelson takes over for Gowdy on play-by-play in the bottom of the fifth. ... Mets add one in the sixth to go up, 4-0. ... With two out in the seventh, a walk loads the bases for Baltimore, and Gil Hodges pulls Gentry in favor of Nolan Ryan. ... Paul Blair up: Strike 1 watching, Strike 2 swinging ... Nelson: "It's a fly to center; this will be tough to get to! ... AGEE!" ... Gowdy: "This man has quite possibly saved five runs in this game." ... Still 4-0. ... Nelson: "The World Series makes heroes, and Agee is the hero of the day." ... Agee walks to open the bottom of the seventh, moves to second on a bunt ("if you're scoring, make it, 'Sac 1-4,'" says Nelson) but is stranded. ... Nelson says Ryan treats blisters on his fingers by soaking them in pickle brine. ... Jackie Onassis is at today's game. Nelson: "And there's John-John, making the exit and, I'll bet, headed to the concession stand." ... Kubek hooks up with Jerry Lewis to open the bottom of the eighth, and Lewis gets going on some kooky stuff with the people around in the stands. Kubek cuts it short. NBC let Nelson Rockefeller and Casey Stengal go on and on into the first batters of innings earlier in the game, but Lewis gets the quick hook. ... The Mets got another run somewhere. It's 5-0. ... In the bottom of the ninth, the Orioles, trailing 5-0, have two runners on. Earl Weaver has pinch-hit for his pitcher, and yet there is no one up and working in the Baltimore bullpen. ... I wonder who Earl Morrall and Don Shula are rooting for in this game. ... OK, now Eddie Watt's loosening up with Nolan Ryan behind 3-1 to Don Buford. ... Walk, bases loaded. ... Strikeout. ... Game over. ... Mets 5, Orioles 0. New York leads the series, two games to one.