”We had classmates in Philadelphia, but sometimes someone would beat us to their house, so we’d go to the theater. There used to be an all-night theater. So we’d look at the movie and go to sleep.

”And of course Penn Relays. We used to come in for that. I saw some of the great runners. Then we’d all gather up in an old car and go back to school on a Sunday night or Monday morning. That was always a chore, trying to get back in time for class on Monday.

”And Roy Campanella is one of my good friends. I used to visit with Roy here after he retired as a player. Philadelphia’s been very kind to me.
”Philadelphia was more family-oriented than New York, I thought then. I remember some of the areas were kind of difficult, all the houses were the same, and if you weren’t careful you might go to the wrong house. Does that still exist today?

”And then playing the Philadelphia Stars. My first game away from Newark—Ruppert Stadium was where we played in Newark—was Philadelphia. I remember I played third base. This is where I met Webster McDonald. He was an underhand pitcher, good pitcher, should be in the Hall of Fame. Then some of the other guys—I liked Mahlon Ducket right away, and Bill Cash, right on down the line, so I had quite a few battles here.

”Philadelphians are great fans for the Phillies, but I played left field for the Giants. Sometimes you hear things you haven’t heard before. But it didn’t bother us that much because in order to get them off our case, what we’d try to do is play good baseball. I remember when I was with the Giants, we’d come in here, and it was during the Whiz Kid era—Robin Roberts, Puddin’ Head Jones, Granny Hamner, those guys. So we’d always try to play pretty good baseball so they wouldn’t get on us too badly. We were successful in 1951, of course, but the other years they were kind of rough on us.

”The Stars had a good team, and people wanted to come out to see the guys we had on our club. Willie Wells, Ray Dandridge, Mule Suttles, Dick Lundy, Biz Mackey—all these guys are in the Hall of Fame, except Lundy of course. One time I remember we played the Homestead Grays here and they had Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Red Parnell, Raymond Brown. And they were a drawing card, particularly Josh and Buck. So we’ve had some good games here.

”And even before that, I must mention this. Growing up my brother was a Philadelphia Athletic fan, Connie Mack fan, and what we’d do, we’d go to see them play in Yankee Stadium and then usually they’d come here for the next series. So he and I would get on the train and come down and see a game and then go back that night. At that time the admission was nominal and it wasn’t too much money on the train. So I got to know about Lefty Grove and Jimmy Fox and Mickey Cochrane, Mule Haas and those guys. They had a pitcher by the name of Wahlberg, I remember. And my brother, that was one of his favorites. Lefty Grove was my favorite. He was like the Sandy Koufax of that era.

”The only other thing I regret is I never got a chance to play Baker Bowl. I passed by it, but I never did get to go inside, never got a chance to see inside the stadium. I don’t know whether it’s still there or not. I guess probably some real estate company built an apartment there or something like that.

”The other thing, I must say this: Willie Mays reported to us here, in Philadelphia, in early May 1951, and came to the clubhouse. We had already gotten dressed, and he walked in and the clubhouse lit up because of this rookie. You could tell he was a terrific ballplayer, great build, and he walked like a player. He walked like a superstar. And then once he got on the field, the way he threw the ball, the way he ran, the way he warmed up, we knew then we had something special. He was like a diamond in the rough—all he needed was a little polishing. Frank and the rest of the coaches, they took care of that. But Philadelphia is where he started. I remember that very vividly.”

Monte Irvin was in Philadelphia to speak at the Free Library.