255     October 2, 1957
Bill, Jayne, Henry, Faye

Fletcher Reynolds, director of the Cleveland Zoo in Ohio: “I slept in a Pullman berth with a hippopotamus” 
The baby pygmy hippo had been donated to the Cleveland Zoo by the Republic Steel Company.  She was named “Bomi” for the Bomi Hills, a region of Liberia where Republic Steel mined iron ore until the late 70s.  The 20 pound baby grew to 800 pounds as an adult.  This was not a timely secret; it took place in May, 1955.  Reynolds visited the show back then as well ( E150 ]. Tragically, the 55-year-old Reynolds would suffer a stroke and die from complications in December.   

Mr. X (masked): “I scored the first run in the 1957 World Series today” 
Jerry Coleman played nine seasons as a second baseman for the New York Yankees.  The Yankees played in the World Series six of those seasons, winning four.  Those four would not include this 1957 Series, however, which the Yankees lost to the Milwaukee Braves.  Coleman retired after the 1957 season and later became a play-by-play broadcaster, most notably for the San Diego Padres.   

After Coleman’s game, Garry introduces Charlie Root, a coach for the Milwaukee Braves.  In the 1932 World Series, Root was the pitcher who gave up what became known as Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot.” Despite being an iconic piece of popular culture, referenced and parodied countless times, the exact accounting of events is disputed among baseball fans.  Root tells his version of the story (as he would throughout his life), insisting that Ruth didn’t really “call” his home run blast.   

Special Guest Mickey Rooney imitates show favorite Zippy the Chimp 
Rooney is making his second appearance on the show in six months.  On this visit, with the panel blindfolded, Rooney copies the actions of whatever Zip does.  The game is quickly discarded as the panel watches Rooney and Zip clown around for several minutes. Rooney will appear in a television production of Pinocchio on October 13.

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