Couple Married 63 Years Survive Cardinals-Giants Rivalry

One elderly couple from Mount Morris, Illinois, married for 63 years prove that the world may change radically, but loving and baseball and loving baseball still reigns supreme.

Carol and Warren Reckmeyer, who met as music teachers at the same school and were married June 1, 1952, root for different teams, but their marriage has survived that. Carol’s father rooted for the Giants when they resided in New York, and his daughter stuck with them as they moved to San Francisco; Warren has St. Louis Cardinals’ blood in his veins, even remembering the team’s first World Series title in 1931.

Spotted at Busch Stadium on August 17, Warren sported a Cardinals jersey with “Together” written as his name on the back, with the number 19 below it, while Carol wore a Giants jersey emblazoned with “Since” as her name and the number 52 below it.

From last night’s Cardinals-Giants game. pic.twitter.com/n27xGI6obW

— Benjamin Hochman (@hochman) August 18, 2015

Since the couple’s marriage, when Harry S. Truman served as president, the Cardinals have played in three incarnations of Busch Stadium. The Giants have moved from the Polo Grounds in New York to Seals Stadium in San Francisco in 1958, Candlestick Park in 1960,  finally landing at AT&T Park in 2000.

In 1952 the Cardinals finished third in the NL; their roster featured Hall of Famers Stan Musial and Red Schoendienst, as well as Enos Slaughter and ace Gerry Staley; the Giants, who finished second behind the Brooklyn Dodgers, were chock-full of great players, including Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Monte Irvin, Hoyt Wilhelm, along with All-Stars Al Dark, Jim Hearn, Whitey Lockman and Sal Maglie.

Since 1952, the Cardinals have won five World series Titles, (1964, 1967, 1982, 2006, and 2011), the Giants have won four (1954, 2010, 2012, 2014).

Carol noted, “My dad was a Giants fan. I have a ball from the Giants with Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell, Jurges, who else … Thompson.” Warren added, “My mother and I would listen to the Cardinals back in the thirties. I was three years old when they won their first world championship; Pepper Martin was my idol. I saw them play lots of times, Dizzy Dean, Paul Dean, and ‘Ducky Wucky’ Medwick.”

Carol laughed to WTVO that when the two teams play each other, as they did in last year’s NLCS, “We make a truce.” She revealed The secret of their successful marriage: Warren always gets the last word(s): “Yes, dear.”

Over the last 63 years, the world has seen the Edsel and the Berlin Wall appear and disappear. In 1952, the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, was created; Sir Edmund Hillary was still a year away from becoming the first man to climb Mount Everest. The Dallas Texans became the first team from Texas to join the NFL; Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the English throne; Emmett Ashford became the first black umpire certified in organized baseball, Stan Musial made his only appearance as a pitcher in MLB, and Ron Neccai, pitching for the Class-D Bristol Twins, struck out 27 batters in 9 innings while throwing a no-hitter.