March 22, 1951 – the day New York’s defending World Series champion Yankees descended upon Sacramento for an exhibition game during spring training against the local, beloved Solons at Edmonds Field..

The Capitol City was abuzz as the Yankees came in with a vaunted lineup. Not quite Murderer’s Row of 1927 fame – but in the ballpark. Yogi Berra. Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio. Johnny Mize was there, as was Phil Rizzuto -known affectionately as “The Scooter.”

And… a young 19-year-old phenom wunderkind named… Mickey Mantle.

Veteran all-star southpaw, Eddie Lopat -who won 18 the year before and 21 in 1951- toiled the initial four innings. He gave up only a single to the pesky Solon left-fielder, Herm Reich. But it’s safe to say that most of the 10,354 who came out that day were treated to their first live appearance by a Major League baseball team. They saw Rizzuto scorch a double to left to get things going in the first and come around to score on a single by Yogi. The powerful Mize then launched a double to plate Berra, and on it went from there. The game was never in any doubt, but who cared about the score? What a thrill it was just to have been there…

Mantle, who had not yet officially made the ballclub, launched the game’s most prolific wallop – an 8th-inning home run that vapored high over the left field wall. If exit velocity were measured back then, it would have been a three-figure blast, they tell me. A few days later, The Mick crushed a pair of mammoth HRs and a bases-loaded triple, driving in seven runs against USC.

Fun facts: The Yanks came into Edmonds with a three-game spring losing streak, against the Chicago White Sox and twice to the Pacific Coast League’s Hollywood Stars. According to the Sacramento Union, published earlier in the day, DiMaggio was lauded by the CA State Legislature as California’s Greatest Gift to Baseball – a fitting honor for the Yankee Clipper. He grew up in the Italian immigrant community of San Francisco’s North Beach and played for the local SF Seals. The day after, the Solons played the Stockton Ports here in a game broadcast by “Bee Radio Station KFBK.” The Solons were managed that year by local favorite Joe Gordon, himself a former Yankee. in the lineup for Sacramento was Joe Marty, the pride of Christian Brothers High School. He led the PCL in hitting in 1936 with a .359 average. He and DiMaggio were teammates when they played together for the Seals earlier in their careers. Oh, to have been alive back then to see it!