First day of spring - Circling City Island

We're a week short of the liturgical first day of spring -  Fat Tuesday - but that is just convenience and convention.  The real first day is the first one on the water.  That was today - when I rowed around City Island in my 8 foot plastic Walker Bay skiff.

Duke Snider, a Prince of New York’s Golden Age of Baseball, Dies at 84 - NYTimes.com

When I was a boy New York was blessed with three great center fielders - Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider, and Willie Mays - the greatest of three greats. We lost The Duke of Flatbush yesterday. I was a Dodger fan - and so a Snider partisan. I saw him play at Ebbetts Field. I remember falling asleep at a twilight-night double-header against the St. Louis Cardinals.  I saw The Duke and the Cards' Stan Musial hit home runs that night over the towering - but near right field fence on the Bedford Avenue side of the stadium.

Duke Snider, a Prince of New York’s Golden Age of Baseball, Dies at 84 - NYTimes.com