Dyer: Meet the last fan to leave Crosley Field
From Mike Dyer at Cincinnati.com on May 29, 2015:
This is part of a series about the final days of Crosley Field and the way it lives on in bits and pieces strewn throughout Greater Cincinnati. Miss something? Check out all of our Crosley Field stories here.
Frank X. O’Toole sat alone in the shadows.
With a half-smile on his face, the last fan at Crosley Field kept looking around the near-empty ballpark after the Reds defeated the Giants 5-4 on June 24, 1970.
The lights dimmed.
All but one of the 28,027 fans had left. Funny, O’Toole had never planned to be the last to find the exit.
A few days short of his 42nd birthday, the father of four from Western Hills had driven alone hours earlier in his white 1965 Pontiac Tempest Convertible.
Johnny Bench and Lee May had hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning off Juan Marichal in that final game. Reds reliever Wayne Granger got Bobby Bonds to ground out on a slider for the final out. Granger told reporters it felt like the Reds had won the pennant.
The result had to please O’Toole despite an otherwise sorrowful evening. He just wanted to savor the experience. So he sat in the field-level seats behind third base and reflected on how much Crosley Field meant to his life.
Read the full article here: http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/2015/05/28/legacy-last-fan-leave-crosley-field/28042179/
Originally published: June 1, 2015. Last Updated: June 1, 2015.