That's courtesy of the New York Times crossword puzzle. . .
Show Description
First Hour:
Shep talks about how he stood in the batter's box at Yankee Stadium that afternoon in a Yankee uniform. He describes the "masculine mystique", kneeling where Roger Maris kneels, showering with Whitey Ford, famous body "adjustments" in the batter's box, and chewing tobacco.
This leads to the story about working at the steel mill on the open hearth gang. Arriving at work one night they are all handed a free sample of chewing tobacco when getting on the mill bus at the clock house. He chews it and loses everything he ever ate including pabulum!
Knocking down the World's Fair. He talks of the Chicago and New York World's Fairs, going to the Chicago one as a kid and seeing the knocking down of the famous "Amos and Andy" towers.
Second Hour:
An army story about the time in Florida, they built a baseball diamond in the middle of nowhere and were playing softball wearing only their shoes and dog tags. A staff car pulls up to watch the game and in the back seat is a beautiful blonde. Suddenly it makes a hasty departure. It turns out that the Commanding General decided to ride out to see the troops and decided to bring his daughter, who had just finished college, to see soldiers in action. She got an eyefull and the next day the ball field was turned into an infiltration course.
Going to New York on pass to get free tickets and meals. Shep and Gasser turn down tickets to "Oklahoma" to see another musical that closed "30 seconds after we get there". The go to the Waldorf Astoria for their free meal, but since they didn't start serving until 10pm, they end up being sent to Lu Chows, where they receive a meal of a lifetime.
Shep boards a train from New York to Chicago when he gets a pass in the Army. Standing from New York to well past Erie, Pa. due to lack of seats, he heads back through the cars and eventually ends up in the baggage car where some of the railroad crew are playing cards. He wants to lay down, but the place to lay is on top of a coffin carrying a PFC. When he is awakened, the train has stopped and he is part of the honor guard.
Comments
Shep was at Yankee Stadium this day as part of a Ballantine "Three Ring Baseball Game". The photo on right was taken that day.
The story about building the ball field was and early version of "The Unforgettable Exhibition Game of the Giants Versus the Dodgers, Tropical Bush League" a short story which appeared in the May 1971 issue of Playboy Magazine. He also tells this story on a 2-19-66 Limelight Show (Schmidco #36) and tells how he got a call after the show from the General's daughter who witnessed the scene. She said she remembered Shep at 3rd base (that made him proud).
Shep refers to the last story about sleeping on a casket on an August 9, 1965 show. He received a letter from a woman who got upset over it.