Columnist Ron Kantowski: Fan’s DiMaggio memory lasts a lifetime

Thursday, March 11, 1999 | 10:33 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday and Thursday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or 259-4088.

Each of us -- unless you happen to be an L.A. Clippers fan -- probably has witnessed a significant game or sporting event that we ultimately feel compelled, as the adage goes, to tell our grandkids about.

I don't have grandkids. Never will. Likewise, I don't have a ticket stub or program that proves I was at Wrigley Field the day Stan Musial played his last game in Chicago. Frostbite, that I've got. It's still lingering from 1962 or '63. About the only thing I remember about that day is my Mom putting my pajamas on under my clothes, to ward off the cold.

I think Stan the Man doubled into the left-field corner in his final Wrigley Field at-bat. I wonder if his teeth were chattering like mine.

Likewise, Clifford McFadden, a longtime Las Vegas resident and retired chef at the Sahara and MGM, among other Strip properties, doesn't have a ticket stub or program to verify he was in Cleveland Municipal Stadium on July 16, 1941 -- the day Indians third baseman Ken Keltner snagged a line drive off the bat of the late Joe DiMaggio and turned it into a double play, halting the Yankee Clipper's remarkable 56-game hitting streak.

But he does have grandkids. And he has told them -- and "anybody else who will listen" -- about it more than 56 times.

"When DiMaggio hit that ball, I don't think anybody in the park saw it -- except the Indians' third baseman," said McFadden, 73, who recalled riding a Greyhound bus from his hometown of Willoughby, Ohio to the Mistake By The Lake and paying 85 cents to sit in the right-field grandstand.

McFadden, who was a 15-year-old student in 1941, said he also saw the game the previous day with a group of kids from his hometown. "DiMaggio had three hits and it was a ridiculous score, nine or 10 to something," he said.

But McFadden said he was happy to see DiMaggio's streak end against his beloved Indians.

"We hated DiMaggio," he said. "He was the best ballplayer in the league and we respected him. But we hated him."

* PRO LOG: Billy Vassiliadis, President of R&R Advertising, which Tuesday was retained by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority as its ad agency of record, made a presentation to LVCVA board members that next year would turn Big League Weekend into Big League Week in Las Vegas.

In addition to the annual series of Major League baseball exhibition games at Cashman Field, groundwork is being laid to bring the NBA and NHL to town during the same week. Only those games would count in the standings.

In addition, Vassiliadis indicated there's interest to stage a soccer extravaganza around the next World Cup that could include powerhouse national sides such as Brazil, France, England, Germany and the United States (not yet a powerhouse side but getting better).

Vassiliadis also got off the day's best line, when discussing a pre- and post-Olympic Las Vegas hospitality promotional campaign for the Salt Lake Games that he didn't think would fly:

"We'll treat you like an IOC member."

* AROUND THE HORN: Turns out Oklahoma's Michael Johnson (Rancho High) isn't the only local product lacing up his dancing shoes at the NCAA Tournament. An avid Sun reader points out that Las Vegas High's Wallace Johnson is the starting point guard for Alcorn State, which met Stanford in a first-round game today. Johnson, a junior, scored 22 points in Alcorn's SWAC title-game victory over Southern. ... What do Las Vegas mayor Jan Jones and the pro wrestler Goldberg have in common? Last week, the mayor dropped the green flag at the NASCAR Winston Cup race in Las Vegas. This week, Goldberg will do the honors in Atlanta, at the Cracker Barrel 500. ... Maybe NASCAR should give Las Vegas a second Winston Cup date. A report said there are 50,000 unsold tickets for Sunday's race at Atlanta. But it also should be noted that 85,000 tickets have been sold. ... The Las Vegas 400 winner's trophy that was broken during the victory lane celebration will be repaired and returned to Jeff Burton, said a spokesman at Las Vegas

Motor Speedway. But Burton seemed more concerned about stuffing that big cardboard check for $336,590 into his wallet. ... Too bad that judge didn't rule against the NCAA's Proposition 16 rule last fall instead of waiting until this week. An entrance exam dispute is what cost the Rebels the services of Lamar Odom, who had a spectacular season at Rhode Island this year.