Man Captures Don Larsen's Perfect Game On Tape

By WNBC Reporter Greg Cergol

Al Mengert got the tickets from a member of the New Jersey country club where he worked as a golf pro. He decided to take both his wife and father with him to Yankee Stadium. It would be his dad's first trip to a big league baseball game and Mengert brought along his new 16 mm camera, to capture the moment on film.

He ended up with a lot more than a family photo.

It was October 8, 1956 -- Game 5 of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers; the day the Yankees' Don Larsen pitched the first and only perfect game in World Series' history.

"After the sixth inning," Mengert recalls, "I turned to my father and said, dad, I better save some film here. This man is nine outs away from a no hitter."

From his seat between home plate and third base, Mengert had already captured some memorable moments, like a long home run off the bat of Mickey Mantle.

"If I could do it all over again, I don't think I would do anything different with the film. It just played out right for me."

Mengert also noticed that the Dodger fan sitting next to him had not moved.

"You'd think he was in church," Mengert recalls. "He had nothing to cheer about."

As Larsen inched toward immortality, Yankee star Whitey Ford was getting a work out in the bullpen.

"I warmed up in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings because Larson had a little problem finishing games, " says Ford.

When Larsen strode to the mound for the climactic ninth inning, Mengert's camera was fixed on his every move.

"I think the tension in the ballpark in that last inning was something you might never see again, because one bad pitch or if he hit a batter, the perfect game would have been ruined. Everyone rooting for him was really stressed out."

The stress was released as pure joy when Larsen achieved perfection by striking out Dodger Dale Mitchell for the final out.

"When it was over, everyone stood and I didn't see anyone heading to the exits," says Mengert.

"People didn't want to leave."

Not a bad first game for Mengert's dad.

"He was as excited as anybody could be to be at his first game and see what he got to see."

Mengert has held onto the film ever since and snippets of that historic celluloid will be part of the WNBC-TV special, The Legacy of Yankee Stadium, set to air Saturday, March 22nd at 7pm.

Mengert now hopes to market the film to either collectors' or historians.

"That's what we're thinking of doing - maybe a limited edition copy so that people can share a touch of the great moment we experienced over a half century ago."

Al Mengert's baseball memories are part of a new WNBC-TV special - The Legacy of Yankee Stadium- set to air Saturday, March 22nd at 7pm.

NBC 4HD'S Yankee Special:

The one-hour special explores the 85 year history of the ballpark we know as Yankee Stadium. A tour of the stadium will be accompanied by rarely seen footage of the events and moments that took place there including never before seen color footage of Don Larsen's perfect game. And it's not all baseball! Popes, rock stars, gridiron gladiators and movie stars all graced the field in the house that Ruth built.