After foolishly abandoning the game in 1960, I definitely have serious regrets. Most of my time for the next two years was spent on the race track. You see, my love of racehorses has always been with me, ever since I was a little boy. My dad started taking me to the track and I had an uncanny ability to pick winners. Don’t laugh, most of my success as an adult revolved around my knowledge of horses.
Objective, let’s get back to baseball. It took me two years to get my release from the Dodgers. In 1962, one day a blue piece of paper arrived in the mail with the news that he was no longer blacklisted. I was 25 now. Was it too late to try again? I put the question to my best friend Isaac Berger. Isaac was a famous Olympic weightlifting champion from Israel. Could he get back in shape to compete? Isaac said, “Let me train you for 6 months and I’ll have you in the best shape of your life.” Every day I followed a grueling schedule of weight training, running, and batting practice. After a few months I moved to California and continued to work hard. My luck was looking up when I hooked up with the Milwaukee Braves in Instructional League. This is a place where young players can keep fit during the winter.
Our first game was against the Angels in Anaheim. I batted third and played first base. He was a little worried, since he hadn’t faced live pitching in almost three years. The result was encouraging. I got three hits in the game and played the ball without errors at first base. The next game was scheduled against the NY Mets in Inglewood. My trainers were happy with me and my prospects of coming back were excellent. Little did I know what awaited me.
When I walked out on the field that fateful day, it never occurred to me, this would be the last day I would ever wear a Major League uniform. Before the game we used to practice infield and I went to my usual position at first base. Everything went smoothly until the last throw I had to make to third base. Coach hits me a ground ball. I picked it up and as I completed the throw, I felt a sharp pain in my elbow. I ignored it at first, but by the time I got to batting in the first inning, the pain was so bad I couldn’t hit properly. The coaches took me out of the game and sent me home. The next day they made an appointment for me with the Los Angeles Rams orthopedic specialist, Dr. Daniel Leventhal.
The rest of the story is very cut and dry. Dr. Leventhal took several x-rays and when he was done, he found bone chips in my elbow. With no arthroscopic surgery available in the 1960s, he gave me two options. Operate now and lose another year or play through the pain and have surgery after the season. Neither choice made sense. I pondered for a couple of minutes and then realizing my situation I said to the Dr. “If I really hurry up I can do the post time at Santa Anita.” he started his racing career…
Sy Bonem
