Both gave inaccurate accounts of what happened during a ballgame.
Neil Simon, one of the great playwrights of our time, passed away yesterday at the age of 91. His baseball connection? This scene from the film version of The Odd Couple, which was released in 1968.
By the way, that play was pure fiction: the Mets never pulled off a triple play against the Pittsburgh Pirates, period, let alone at Shea Stadium. The closest TP turned by the Mets that would fit in the timeline and location came against the Chicago Cubs in 1966. The scene was shot prior to a Mets-Pirates game on June 27, 1967. Here’s the “reel” story.
As for the other half of the headline…
I was listening to a Paul McCartney version of Chuck Berry’s “Brown-Eyed Handsome Man” — recorded and released in 1956 — the other day while driving and was reminded that there was something about the lyric that always bugged me:
2-3 the count with nobody on
He hit a high fly into the stands
Roundin’ third, he was headed for home
It was a brown-eyed handsome man that won the game
It was a brown-eyed handsome man.
“2-3 the count?”
No self-respecting baseball fan would ever say it that way. But at least Berry appeared on a baseball field. He died last year at the age of 90.
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