Maybe you already know this story. If you don’t, it’s a great reminder of how things could be in sports, because that’s how things used to be in sports.

Let’s go back to June 23, 1946. The Dodgers and Cardinals were already engaged in a tight pennant race and were the two best teams in the National League. There were 27,538 people in attendance at Ebbets Field, a pleasant Sunday afternoon crowd in that first summer after World War II. Those in the stands who were not part of the more than 64,000 people who had filled the old yard the previous two days had undoubtedly followed Red Barber on the radio or read Jimmy Cannon and Dick Young in the newspapers.

So they knew the Dodgers were being killed – absolutely murdered – by the Cardinals’ best player, a 25-year-old first baseman named Stanley Frank Musial. In the first two games of the series, Musial was 7-for-10 with two doubles, a triple and three RBIs. The Dodgers couldn’t get him out.

And sure enough, that Sunday, Musial hit a no-hitter in the first inning against Brooklyn pitcher Joe Hatten. In the third, he ripped a single up the middle off Hatten. And in the fifth, Hatten walked it again. In the eighth, Hatten held a 3-1 lead but had to deal with the teeth of the St. Louis order: Musial, Enos Slaughter and Whitey Kurowski – Hall of Famer, Hall of Famer, four-time All-Star. The crowd got agitated. And then some voices were heard singing. And joined by a few others. And a few hundred others. And then a few thousand more.

Here! Come !

That! Man! Again!

In the press box, Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch — who, 33 years later, would himself be honored in the writers’ wing of the Hall of Fame — heard the chants. And in his story of the next day’s game – recounting an eventual 4-2 Dodgers victory; Musial appeared toward the catcher during this last at-bat – Broeg identified the Cardinals first baseman thus:

Stan the man.

It stuck, of course, and remains one of the most famous nicknames in baseball history. And it is to the eternal credit of the great baseball fans of Brooklyn, New York that it was given in tribute and concern to an opponent who would continue to destroy him for the next 11 years and then again on the West Coast .

This is not an isolated incident. Yankees fans gave Bob Feller a standing ovation earlier that year, on April 30, when he threw a no-hitter at Yankee Stadium. Mets fans cheered Pete Rose – of all people – when he broke Tommy Helms’ NL record at Shea in the summer of 1978. They cheered Chipper Jones during his final at-bat at Shea, a place in which he tortured them so often. he gave his name to a child. Yankees fans did the same for Cal Ripken Jr.

So it’s not just the product of the Greatest Generation doing Greatest Generation things. Civility was practiced in baseball stadiums, and often. And even recently.

It’s just hard to remember these days. The Bronx isn’t the only place where anger and bad behavior reign, that just came to light this week. The people at Billy’s applauded when Shohei Ohtani injured his shoulder in game 2. And then there were the two yahoos who interfered with Mookie Betts in game 3.

I should point out that the overwhelming amount of correspondence I subsequently received from Yankees fans was condemning these two guys, and instead wondering why it took them so long on Wednesday to officially get started for Game 5. But there was also a significant amount of support for them in the moment and shortly after.

And the most embarrassing thing is this: they explained that it was not a coincidence. They enter each game seeks to “keep the wall”. As with Firefighter Ed at MetLifethey live under the absurd pretense that they are somehow part of the team. Did Jeffrey Maier Once upon a time, he gained lasting fame for jumping the fence and interfering with a fly ball? He did it.

He was also 12 years old at the time.

Maybe we’ve just gone too far. But all this week, as I watched their 15 minutes of fame swell, I couldn’t help but think about June 23, 1946, and how things were here. Call me a crazy old romantic. I prefer those days.

Vac’s shots

It’s been five games, so we’ll go easy on the hyperbole for now. But it’s certainly a lot of fun to watch Karl-Anthony Towns play basketball three times a week in Knicks colors.

I’m not sure Jordi Fernandez ever got the “Lag for Flagg” memo about needing to tank the season, because so far the Nets team I’m watching is well-coached and pretty darn fearless against everyone . Very impressive.

Good for the Jets: On Thursday night, they teamed up with the Texans to climb the MetLife Stairs as part of the Knapp Stair Climb to raise money for distracted driving awareness. The program is named after the late longtime NFL assistant coach Greg Knapp, who was killed by a distracted driver in 2021. The program has raised more than $300,000 to date.

Hit Vac

Dan Salogub: Forget investing in Juan Soto; the Yankees need to invest in instructional videos from Tom Emanski this offseason.

Vac: This is the rare WhackBack that is both hilarious and 100% true.

Henri Conte: After watching these two knuckleheads snatch the ball from Mookie Betts’ gloveI found myself embarrassed to be a New York sports fan.

Vac: We like to pat ourselves on the back for being “sophisticated” sports fans around here, and most of the time that applies. But not all.

@drschnip: I guess Jeff Ulbrich’s halftime speech went something like this: “Sometimes when the team is faced with this and the breaks are beating you boys, go at it with everything you’ve got and win just one for Ambassador Johnson.”

@MikeVacc: I can confirm.

Joe Nicoletti: No problem with the ghosts and goblins wandering around my front door, but I couldn’t believe all the kids dressed up as little Yankees were digging through the Snickers bars I threw at them.

Vac: The one at my front door didn’t move at all when I tossed him a bag of Reese’s Pieces.