New York Yankees memorabilia from the career of Art Schallock, the oldest living former Major League Baseball player, filled a table at Cogir on Napa Road Assisted Living and Memory Care in Sonoma on Thursday afternoon.
The items brought back fond memories for Schallock, who played for the Yankees from 1951 to 1954 and was a member of three of its World Series championship teams.
Sandwiched among the Yankees memorabilia are two items from the Los Angeles Dodgers — a jersey and a note congratulating Schallock on reaching his 100th birthday in April. Schallock played for the Brooklyn Dodgers organization from 1947 to 1951, before they moved to California.
So, who is Schallock rooting for in this year’s World Series between the two teams?
“Oh, the Yankees; I have to root for the Yankees,” Schallock said. “I still like the Dodgers, but my favorite team is the Yankees and they have such a history. I think it’s great that both teams made it to the World Series.
Steve Henson is a breaking news and enterprise reporter at the Los Angeles Times. He previously served as an editor and reporter in the Sports department. Henson was a leader in digital-only newsrooms from 2007-19 as a senior editor and columnist at Yahoo Sports and as senior editor at the USA Today Sports Media Group. This is his second stint at The Times, having covered the Dodgers and UCLA as well as doing enterprise, investigative and features writing from 1985-2007. Henson was awarded first place in sports features in 2023 and in 2021 by the L.A. Press Club. He has been honored several times by APSE — most recently in 2023 and 2021 — and also by the California News Publishers Assn., the Football Writers Assn. of America and U.S. Basketball Writers Assn.
Nobody else on the list of former players ages 90 and over has three World Series rings. Someone at the party mentioned that Schallock was wearing a championship ring.
He grinned and replied, “Only one! My daughter has another one, and I don’t know where the third one is.
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