The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Yale press box big part of pioneer’s life story
A Saturday afternoon in New Haven in the Yale press box cemented Anne Morrissy Merick’s legacy as a sports writing pioneer.
Most entertaining detail from the latest harrowing tale about the circus act that is the New York Mets: Matt Harvey lounges around his Greenwich Village bachelor pad in his pajamas.
Is this a new trend amongst 28-year old millennials? Were they Batman jammies? Or those fancy silk ones? And does he wear a matching stocking cap like Ebenezer Scrooge? So many unanswered questions. • Anne Morrissy Merick, who passed away earlier this month at age 83, was a trailblazing journalist who during the Vietnam War successfully lobbied the Pentagon to reverse an order preventing women from covering combat.
But it was a Saturday afternoon in New Haven that cemented her legacy as a sports writing pioneer.
“First it was breaking the sound barrier. Then the four-minute mile. And finally, a woman has been admitted in the press box at the Yale Bowl to report a football game.”
That was the caption beneath a page A1 photograph of Ms. Morrissy Merick in the Sunday New Haven Register the morning of Oct. 17, 1954. At the time Yale was still one of the most prominent football programs in the country and her presence marked an historic day that drew national headlines.
Women were being admitted to the press box at the Bowl since the late 1940s, though they all worked on Western Union teletype printers sending game copy to news outlets all over the U.S.
Ms. Morrissy Merick, the first female sports editor of the Cornell Daily Sun, was the first granted access as a working reporter.
Her photograph appeared in the next day’s New York Times alongside the paper’s coverage of Yale’s 47-21 victory over Cornell. The New York World-Telegram sent two female reporters to cover her day, though the women never made it inside the press box because they lacked proper credentials, “an oversight” either on the part of Yale or the World-Telegram. The report never clarified.
In addition to the front page photo, the Register also documented the event with a full photo spread and feature story.
Recent tributes to Ms. Morrissy Merick in the New York Times and Cornell Sun stated she was greeted by a condescending male press corps, citing a published line by New York Herald Tribune columnist Red Smith calling her a, “slick little chick whose name probably will be linked in history with those of other crusading cupcakes.”
The Register account paints a different scenario, saying she was “warmly received” and “accepted most graciously” that afternoon.
Among the shots in the pictorial was of Register reporter John J. Leary presenting her with a corsage on behalf of the Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance, a gift Ms. Morrissy Merick said was “greatly appreciated.” Another shot showed her pleasantly chatting with the Register’s sports editor.
Ms. Morrissy Merick went on to a distinguished career in journalism. According to the New York Times, she served as sports editor of the New York Herald Tribune’s Paris edition (surely delighting Red Smith), covered the civil rights movement and space flight as a producer for ABC in the early 1960s before her Vietnam assignment in the late 1960s and early 70s.
“I think the whole Yale press box thing was a big deal,” her daughter, Katherine Anne Engelke, told the New York Times this week. “That really set her up to not be afraid to do the job of a man.”
• A recent study shows that smiling for the camera makes you look much older. Somewhere in Massachusetts, Bill Belichick is solemnly nodding his head in approval.
• The new LaVar Ball sneakers — bulky, plain black and priced at $495 a pair — look like Frankenstein’s shoes. Or something you might find on the clearance rack at Marshalls. At a savings of about $475, of course.
• So nice of James Harden to show up for the Houston Rockets’ Game 6 loss to the San Antonio. Too bad he seemed to forget he was playing in the game and not a spectator.
• Surprising the Celtics pulled the old “show up to the arena wearing all black to symbolize the end of the other team’s season” stunt in Washington on Friday night. Perhaps they forgot the Knicks tried the same thing against them a couple of years ago only to have it backfire. That sort of thing never works, anyway. Might we suggest bright spring pastels for Game 7?
• ESPNs Buster Olney wrote this week he believes extra innings will soon go the way of the dinosaur because those in charge of MLB are willing to allow games end in a tie.
Management types believe excessively long extra-inning games, like last Sunday’s 18-inning YankeesCubs marathon, are so taxing on bullpens that it takes two weeks to recover. Executives think most fans lose interest after 12 innings, anyway. This is preposterous.
The bottom line is rather than implement a simple fix like adding an extra roster spot following a marathon game, those in charge are willing to change the fundamental object of a baseball game — that there’s a winner and a loser. Stupid is as stupid does. • You’ve got to hand it to these Yankees. They even lose games in the most thrilling and fun ways imaginable.
• Is it possible this is the 20th season since the Milwaukee Brewers switched to the National League?
• Or that it’s been three years since Derek Jeter retired?
• Jeter gets his number retired today; officially eliminating 1-10 from any future Yankees for eternity (the possibility that prospect Clint Frazier asks for No. 2 remains even money.)
So let’s rank those who wore 1-10, in order of their Yankee greatness (uniform number in parentheses): 1. Babe Ruth (3); 2. Lou Gehrig (4); 3. Joe DiMaggio (5); 4. Mickey Mantle (7); 5. Yogi Berra (8); 6. Derek Jeter (2); 7. Bill Dickey (8); 8. Joe Torre (6); 9. Billy Martin (1); 10. Phil Rizzuto (10); 11. Roger Maris (9).
• It’s Mother’s Day. So everyone please remember to finish their milk before leaving the dinner table, bundle up because it’s chilly outside and give thanks for that special someone, past or present, who has always loved and believed in you. Hoping all the moms out there have a wonderful day.