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.
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.
