trivia. when sonny approaches the toll booth, and his death, faintly in the background one can hear bobby thomson at bat just before he homers on october 3 1951. this , of course, doesn't mesh, since that scene is probably in 1947.

You're right. This is clearly a mistake on FFC's part (he's usually a lot more attentive to details like this).

Real trivia: who was "on deck" when Thompson hit his homer?

A rookie. The Say Hey Kid. Willie Mays.

Whatever became of him?

Didn't he become a representative for Bally's Park Place Casino in Atlantic City?

Yeah... I think that was him. He shoulda been a star, dunno what happened.

From what I heard, he hooked up with this redneck guy named Mickey Mantle and the two of them took jobs at that Casino.

I guess neither of them could handle playing in the same position and same town as Duke Snider. (You KNOW I hadda get that dig in!)

The Duke OF Flatbush? The Silver Fox?

It must have been really something having Mickey, Willie and The Duke playing in the same city, all on competative teams!

In a book that I read years ago ( I think it was titled "Say Hey" ) about Willie Mays, he said that when he was on deck and Thompson hit that homerun, he don't know if he was more relieved that the Giants won the game, or that he, a rookie did not have to get up in that situation! Said he was nervous as hell while in the on deck circle.

I'll bet we'll NEVER see that setup again.

Snider had the best stats for those years that they all faced each other in New York (1951-1957).

Here's New York royalty:

Here's New York royalty:

That second guy from the left....didn't he sell coffee makers?