October 1964 (55 page)

Mickey Mantle poses with winning pitcher Jim Bouton after the Yankees’ 2-1 victory in the third game. Mantle holds up the hall he hit for his home run off Barney Schultz. It was his sixteenth World Series home run, which not only won the game but broke Babe Ruth’s record. The ball may not actually be the one Mantle hit, but a bogus one foisted on him by his pal Whitey Ford.

(UPI/Bettmann)

This is the play that helped seal the Yankees’ fate in the fourth game. Bobby Richardson has trouble digging the ball out of his glove and getting it to shortstop Phil Linz (34) in time, and the ball arrives after he crosses the bag. Curt Flood (21) comes in hard on Linz, knocks the ball loose, and the Yankees fail to get a double play or the slow Croat for even one out at first. This brings up Ken Boyer with the bases loaded.
(UPI/Bettmann)

With the bases loaded after the misplay at second, Downing shook Howard off and went to his change; Boyer, swinging on the change here, expected a fastball, but adjusted in midswing for his grand slam.
(AP/Wide World Photos)

Ken Boyer, the National League MVP that year, crosses home plate after his grand-slam home run off Al Downing in the fourth game. Waiting for him are (from left) Curt Flood, Dick Groat, and Carl Warwick, while a disconsolate Ellie Howard looks on. In what was probably the decisive moment of the Series, Boyer has just turned a 3-0 Yankee lead into a 4-3 Cardinal one.
(UPI/Bettmann)

Ken Boyer (left), Tim McCarver, and Mike Shannon all hit home runs in the World Series. Here they pose for photographers before the sixth game.

(AP/Wide World Photos)

The look of pain on his face is one that his teammates had become accustomed to and opposing pitchers had begun to recognize: Here in batting practice before the sixth game, Mantle grimaces after a swing.
(National Baseball Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.)

It was one of the last manifestations of the famous Yankee power in a World Series. Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, and Joe Pepitone all hit home runs in the sixth game, which evened up the Series, 3-3. (The Sporting News)

Ken Boyer, the Cardinal third baseman, rushes over to hug Bob Gibson after his gritty performance in the seventh game of the Series. Running out to the mound is catcher Tim McCarver, while fans are already hurdling the fence and coming down onto the field.
(National Baseball Library, Cooperstown, N. Y.)

Yankee manager Yogi Berra congratulates Johnny Keane of the Cardinals in the St. Louis locker room after the seventh game, without realizing that the people he works for have already decided to fire him and replace him with Keane. (
UPI/Bettmann)

Johnny Keane (right) with Gussie Busch, owner of the Cardinals (center), and Bob Howsam, the team’s general manager, as he announces that he will not accept a contract renewal and a large raise. Keane was furious over the way Busch had fired his close friend Bing Devine, and, besides, he was on his way to manage the Yankees. It was a rare moment when the imperial Busch did not get his way, and it shows on his face. (The Sporting News)

David Halberstam (1934–2007) was a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and bestselling author. He is best known for both his courageous coverage of the Vietnam War for the New York Times, as well as for his twenty-one nonfiction books—which cover a wide array of topics, from the plight of Detroit and the auto industry to the captivating origins of baseball’s fiercest rivalry. Halberstam wrote for numerous publications throughout his career and, according to journalist George Packer, single-handedly set the standard of “the reporter as fearless truth teller.”

Born in New York City, Halberstam was the second son of Dr. Charles Halberstam, an army surgeon, and Blanche Levy Halberstam, a schoolteacher. Along with his older brother, Michael, Halberstam was raised in Westchester County and went to school in Yonkers. He attended Harvard University, where he was the managing editor of the
Crimson
, the student-run newspaper. Dedicated to forging a career in journalism, Halberstam worked with the
West Point Daily Times Leader
in Mississippi after graduation and at the Nashville
Tennessean
, where he covered the civil rights movement, a year later. Halberstam joined the Washington bureau of the
New York Times
in 1960. He worked as a Times foreign correspondent, moving to Congo and then to South Vietnam to cover the war in 1962.