The Pecan Park Eagle

Galveston Daily News
Saturday, April 28, 1956
Courtesy of Darrell Pittman

The featured advertisement above appeared in The Galveston Daily News on Saturday morning, April 28, 1956. Its promotion of the CBS “Game of the Day” telecast over KGUL-TV, the original call letters for Channel 11’s KHOU-TV when the station originated its broadcasts from studios and cable connections in Galveston, were a must for those of us in the minor league hinterlands who longed for the sight of big league action, even if they weren’t showing our favorite club, the St. Louis Cardinals, back in those pre-Colt .45s days.

Dizzy Dean, of course, was the big attraction of this show for older Huston baseball fans. In 1956, it only had been 25 years since Dean had pitched the Houston Buffs to a Texas League championship before, three years later, guiding the 1934 Gashouse Gang Cardinals to a World Series victory over Detroit. Diz was still big with Houston fans in 1956.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,” old Diz would say at the start of every telecast, “and welcome to (wherever)! It’s a great day for baseball!”

In 1956, Dean was still working with former journeyman MLB infielder Buddy Blattner as his broadcast sidekick and joke/song/and storytelling ears. Blattner worked with Dean on ABC (1953-54) and CBS (1955-59) for seven years before personal conflicts between the two men led to a parting of the ways for the sidekick guy. Blattner went on to other broadcasting work as Dizzy Dean joined partnership with Pee Wee Reese in 1960.

CBS Game of the Day
Buddy Blattner and Dizzy Dean
1956

With the always helpful Baseball Almanac as our resource, here’s a look at the KGUL-TV advertised game between Pittsburgh and Brooklyn at Ebbets Field on April 28, 1956. We haven’t checked the weather records for Brooklyn in New York City on that date in history, but we feel certain that if old Diz was there, it must have been “a great day for baseball!”

Baseball Almanac Box Scores Brooklyn Dodgers 5 Pittsburgh Pirates 2
Game played on Saturday, April 28, 1956 at Ebbets Field
Pittsburgh Pirates ab   r   h rbi Roberts 2b 2 0 0 0   Skinner ph 1 0 0 0   O’Brien 2b 1 0 0 0 Groat ss 4 0 1 0 Long 1b 4 1 2 1 Thomas lf 4 0 1 0 Clemente cf 4 0 1 0 Walls rf 4 1 2 0 Freese 3b 2 0 1 0 Atwell c 3 0 1 1 Hall p 3 0 0 0 Totals 32 2 9 2	Brooklyn Dodgers ab   r   h rbi Gilliam lf 4 1 2 1   Cimoli lf 0 0 0 0 Robinson 3b 4 1 0 0 Snider cf 4 0 1 0 Campanella c 3 0 0 0 Hodges 1b 2 2 2 1 Furillo rf 4 1 2 2 Neal 2b 3 0 1 1 Zimmer ss 4 0 1 0 Newcombe p 4 0 0 0 Totals 32 5 9 5
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 – 2 9 0 Brooklyn 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 x – 5 9 0   Pittsburgh Pirates IP H R ER BB SO Hall  L(0-2) 8.0 9 5 5 6 4 Totals 8.0 9 5 5 6 4   Brooklyn Dodgers IP H R ER BB SO Newcombe  W(2-1) 9.0 9 2 2 2 9 Totals 9.0 9 2 2 2 9 E–None.  DP–Pittsburgh 1. Newcombe-Zimmer-Hodges, Brooklyn 1. Newcombe-Zimmer-Hodges.  2B–Pittsburgh Walls (1,off Newcombe); Long (4,off Newcombe), Brooklyn Furillo 2 (4,off D. Hall 2).  HR–Pittsburgh Long (5,6th inning off Newcombe 0 on 1 out), Brooklyn Hodges (3,2nd inning off D. Hall 0 on 0 out); Gilliam (3,7th inning off D. Hall 0 on 0 out).  SH–Freese (1,off Newcombe); Snider (1,off D. Hall).  Team LOB–6.  IBB–Hodges (2,by D. Hall).  Team–10.  SB–Clemente (1,2nd base off Newcombe/Campanella).  CS–Clemente (1,3rd base by Newcombe/Campanella).  U-HP–Frank Dascoli, 1B–Frank Secory, 2B–Stan Landes, 3B–Larry Goetz.  T–2:35.  A–7,806.
Game played on Saturday, April 28, 1956 at Ebbets Field
Baseball Almanac Box Score |