Thoughts on the 1964 N.L. Pennant Race

I do remember being very involved in relatively early season NFL action in 1964. There was a great show called “NFL Countdown to Kickoff” that aired on Saturdays.

Thus it came about that my father said to me on Saturday October 3rd (in his wonderful book October 1964, the great writer David Halberstam and his editor(s) incorrectly state September 29, 1964 was a Sunday) “I know your mind is on football and Jim Brown and the Browns, but there is quite a National League pennant race going on.”

Indeed there was and although as is the case with Bob Costas, I accepted divisional races (1969-1993) as legitimate because as Mr. Costas stated “they had all the components of a pennant race,” the true one half pennant race that sent teams directly to the World Series from (1903-1968), with no W.S. in 1904, was by definition or higher fraction, even more dramatic.

In my next post, I will recall some of the circumstances that led to my Dad’s suggestion to follow baseball and not football closer as the 1964 National League race concluded.