Fifty years later, it’s still perfect

The discovery of a rare piece of film enabled Don Larsen to recently relive his 1956 World Series perfect game, the only one in World Series history, and then try to out-Yogi Yogi Berra, his catcher that long-ago day.

Larsen, Berra and a crowd of about 100 people gathered to watch the original television broadcast of the Oct. 8, 1956 game, courtesy of Illinois collector Doak Ewing. The broadcast had been feared lost before Ewing revealed a little more than a year ago that he had purchased a copy from an Oregon collector in the early ‘90s.

After watching himself strike out the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Dale Mitchell to end the game, Larsen quipped, “It ended the way I hoped it would.”

Yoo-hoo. You started it all

Berra was impressed with the quick pace of Larsen’s gem.

“The game was two hours, with commercials,” he told the Associated Press. “I wish they did that now.”

Well, perfect games do tend to speed things up. So do fewer commercials. Of course, it should be noted that Berra was the Peyton Manning of his day, hawking every kind of product from Yoo-hoo chocolate beverage to Stovetop stuffing.

Baseball broadcasts would be shorter without so many ads, but then the world would have been deprived of Yogi grinning over a box of Entenmann’s cookies and telling viewers, “You can taste how good these cookies are just by eating them.”

Trivia time

NBC provided the live telecast of Larsen’s perfect game. Who were NBC’s announcers that day?

Goes without saying

Only spring training can bring together the Big Hurt and a munchkin from the “Wizard of Oz” so they can exchange autographs.

Last Sunday, ex-munchkin Mickey Carroll visited Frank Thomas in the Toronto Blue Jays’ clubhouse in Dunedin, Fla. The 87-year-old Carroll stands 4 feet 7 inches, nearly two feet shorter than the 6-foot-5 Thomas.

“It was definitely weird,” Thomas related to the Associated Press. “But I do remember his voice. I only saw the ‘Wizard of Oz’ a couple of times, but his voice is incredible and I still remember that voice.”

When asked to name his favorite baseball position, Carroll replied, “Shortstop.”

‘Go, Angels!’ should have been the tip-off

When touting a video or audio recording of a significant moment in sports history, it pays to first have all the details correct.

After the Hall of Fame notified Kansas City Royals broadcaster Denny Matthews that he had won the Ford C. Frick Award, its website posted a link that promised an audio replay of Matthews calling George Brett’s 3,000th hit.

One problem: Matthews’ broadcast partner, Frank White, made that call for the Royals’ radio network in 1992.

Another problem: The audio clip posted was not White making the call.

“I think it might have been the Angels’ television broadcast or maybe a national radio guy,” White told the Kansas City Star. “It wasn’t us.”

Trivia answer

Mel Allen and Vin Scully.

And finally

With Florida scuffling a bit in its defense of its NCAA men’s basketball title, Gators Coach Billy Donovan brought in another defending champion, St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa, to talk to his team.

Asked what he said to the Gators, La Russa told the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, “Same thing I say here: Get so far ahead the coach can’t screw it up.”

mike.penner@latimes.com