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the only universe of
importance-Tigerland." Retrieving radio, Ty wowed Henpeck and Puptown over WJBK.
    Life deserves a postscript. Tyson's dotted 1965, three years before his death.
Harwell invited him to Father's Day at Tiger Stadium. Ty addressed the crowd,
did an inning, and warmed his "boys and girls" grown old. "The reaction was
overwhelming," said Ernie. "One of the most popular broadcasts we ever had."
    Listening, Maynard Good Stoddard thought Ty never sounded better.
    TY TYSON

TOM MANNING
    Some fact more or less forms us. John Kerry's was Viet Nam; Mario Cuomo,
the immigrant experience; Adlai Stevenson, language-made-literate. Tom
Manning's was a mania to risk, talk, do. "It's like he had an extra gland,"
someone said of Lyndon Johnson. Tom's brass evoked John Connally: "I like
to win big or lose big, but what's the sense of losing small?"
    He was born in Cleveland September 11, 1899, for its Spiders a sad-sack
year: 20-134, still-record 24-game losing streak, and N.L.'s worst-ever percentage (.134). It promptly dropped them like a wrong note in South Pacific.
"Guess that first year," Tom laughed later, "showed my life would be extreme."
    Excess showed in high school. Bowling, Manning had a 198 average. He
played golf, baseball, hoops, football, and handball. Thrice Tom won the
National Amateur Baseball Federation title as player, coach, or skipper. "I was
making up for lost time-or '99."
    Manning was also a teenage corner newsboy. In 1918, the Cleveland Press held
a convention. "A big event was a yelling contest. I had a high falsetto with
unlimited carrying power and I won."That fall he attended a boxing match
whose public address Voice was missing. "There's the kid who won the yelling
contest," cried a bystander, spotting Tom. "He can do announcing," and did.
    By 1922, he stood behind home plate at League Park, pointed a fourfoot-long megaphone, and howled batteries to the crowd. In 1928, Manning
began reading radio scores for $ 3 daily. Said 1948-67 Indians Voice Jimmy
Dudley: "What had been newsprint, Tom brought alive." His debut almost
died: Deeming the mike a megaphone, Manning blew the transmitter.
Through 1931 he called the Tribe onWTAM. A new flagship then tapped Jack
Graney: "Cleveland's loss," said Dudley, "becoming NBC's gain."
    In 1929, joining McNamee, Tom called his first of 10 straight Series.
1931: Martin hit .500 vs. Philly. 1936: Lou Gehrig dinged twice in Game
Two. "There it goes, a long smash deep into center field! Way up! Going,
going, going! A home run!" In 1930, another Bomber, Mark Koenig, was
dealt to Detroit. Buying him, the 1932 Cubs withheld a full Classic share. In
Game Three, Ruth eyed their dugout. Mates cried "cheapskates." The Cubs
tossed liniment, and one fan a lemon. Charlie Root forged a 2-1 count.
Raising two fingers, did Babe point to center? We wonder, even now.
    "Never," Root barbed. "If he had, next time up I'd have stuck it in his
rear." Manning disagreed. "Now [he] is pointing out at center field and he's yelling at the Cubs that the next pitch is going into center field! Here's the
pitch. It's going! Babe Ruth connects and here it goes! The ball is going,
going, going-high into the center-field stands, into the scoreboard! And it's
a home run! It's gone! Whoopee! Listen to that crowd!"

    In 1933, Manning aired the first All-Star Game. Franklin Roosevelt flung
1937's opening pitch with an unorthodox, overhanded lob. Stephen Spender's
"I Think Continually of Those" ends: "Born of the son they travelled a short
while towards the sun." By nowTom had travelled a long while toward the top.
    He called each 1933-37 Presidential opener, adding boxing, football, golf,
hockey, track and field, air crashes, floods, and national conventions,
announcing from a plane, tugboat, and submarine. One runaway All-American
Soap Box Derby racer hit his booth, cracked two ribs, and put Tom in a hospital. Manning drove a trotting horse in a grand circuit