This evening, I got to see the first 50 minutes of MLB Network’s rebroadcast of the kinescope version of Don Larsen’s World Series Perfect Game from 1956 – right up to the point where Duke Snider made a great grab on Yogi Berra’s liner to end the bottom of the fourth inning.

True story: I’m sitting in my kitchen, watching the game, and my 6 1/2 year old daughter walks into the room and looks at the TV. Here’s our exchange that followed:

Her: What are you watching?
Me: It’s a very old baseball game from 52 years ago.
Her: If it’s that old, why are they showing it? Couldn’t they find a new game?
Me: This is a special game. It’s the only time that there’s been a perfect game in the World Series. Do you know what a perfect game is?
Her: No.
Me: It’s when the pitcher doesn’t allow any runners to reach base during the entire game. It almost never happens.
Her: Oh.
Me: You know, Grandpa, my daddy, was only twenty years old when this game was played.
Her: Were you born yet?
Me: Nope. I wouldn’t be born until six years later.
Her: OK, I’m going to read one of my chapter books now.

Having this brief chat with my daughter got me thinking about how old this game really is…and putting it into perspective. I tried to imagine my dad, just a few months past his 20th birthday, still a year away from being married, watching this game – and wondering what he was thinking at that time. I was twenty in 1983 when Dave Righetti threw his no-hitter. And, I can remember how I felt on that day. I’ll have to call my father tomorrow and ask him about Larsen’s game.

In any event, from what I saw this evening, I thought the rebroadcast was fascinating. Yes, the camera angles used and not used were different from today. And, yes, there was no replay. And, yes, the announcing style – one man in the booth at a time, doing play-by-play, without a color-man – was different. And, yes, the commericals were a hoot back then…watching Birdie Tebbetts shave and also hearing about how you could get a free pocket-sized Baseball Encyclopedia with the purchase of a Gillette razor set.

But, there were other things that caught my eye as well – like the “Giambi” shift that the Dodgers used on Mickey Mantle when he was batting left-handed in the fourth inning and the way the catcher was included in the “toss the ball around” routine after an infield put-out with less than two outs. (I noticed both the Yankees and Dodgers do the latter. If I recall correctly, I first saw it in the top of the fourth when someone grounded to second. After Collins caught the throw from Martin for the out, he tossed it to Berra – who was backing up the play at first – and then Berra tossed it to one of the fielders on the left-side on the infield who continued the “toss around” before getting the ball back to Larsen.)

For a baseball addict like me, again, this was fascinating stuff. How about you? Did you watch it? What did you think?