Don Larsen, retired pro baseball player, is noted in the record books for being the only pitcher to throw a no-hitter in a World Series. As the starting pitcher on the NY Yankees roster, Don pitched his “Perfect Game” against the Brooklyn Dodgers on October 8, 1956. You can read a bit more about Don and his historical game on Wikipedia. Anyhoo, Don is an old family friend and I have some great childhood memories of parties that my father organized with Don.

Recently, Don and his wife were on one of his sports memorabilia tours, and stopped by to pay us a visit. They told me that they had a surprise for me but wouldn’t say anything specific. I thought it might be some photos they wanted digitized, but to my surprise, they brought a complete set of tapes from the radio broadcast of his world series game! Along with the tapes are a set of about thirty 12″ acetates, and an old 16mm reel of film. Besides the recording of the complete game, there’s a reel of interviews from the locker room after the game. Apparently no one else has a copy of this, and it hasn’t been heard since it originally aired in 1956.

I’ve been asked to take on the project of transferring these 50-year-old tapes to a digital format for archival purposes and possibly develop a product for release. The details of copyrights and such have yet to be discussed, but it’s a cool project for the historical aspect alone. I haven’t touched the tapes yet. I’m seeking out the advice of experts who can analyze their condition and possibly clean and restore the moldy reels. let’s hope they will playback - fingers crossed!

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