Saturday, March 17, 2012

Chris Potter reels in Dr. Mike Marshall for his March 22nd signings

Chris Potter, who was profiled earlier this year for his tremendous work traveling the country, tracking down retired players to offer autograph signings for fans and collectors, is about to embark on his next round of signings on March 22nd.

Potter's catch this trip is the reclusive Cy Young Award winner, Dr. Mike Marshall. While Marshall has made himself readily available to spread his knowledge about preventing pitching injuries, he has remained one of the most reluctant autograph signers in baseball.

This dates back to his playing days, as Marshall's his anti-autograph stance was detailed in a 1974 Sports Illustrated Article. "Marshall explained that he would willingly sign if the boys could show him that their autograph books also contained the signatures of their teachers and others who 'were really meaningful in their lives.'" Marshall defended his position by stating, "As an athlete, I am no one to be idolized. ... I will not perpetuate that hoax.  They say I don't like kids.  I think that refusing to sign autographs, I am giving the strongest demonstration that I really do like them.  I am looking beyond mere expediency to what is truly valuable in their lives." 

Whatever magic the leprechaun on Potter's site contains must have rubbed off of Dr. Marshall, as Potter has been able to get Marshall to agree to a signing fee, while pricey ($185 for baseball cards), is less than when Marshall did a rare signing with promoter Bill Cocoran a few years ago. For the hardcore collector, this is an opportunity to nab one of the toughest living signers in professional sports.


Potter's next signing trip also includes another tough autograph in former Milwaukee Brave Joey Jay, brothers Gaylord and Jim Perry, Choo Choo Coleman, Cy Young Award Winners Dean Chance, LaMarr Hoyt, Mike McCormick, Rookie of the Year Award Winners Alvin Dark, Ron Hansen, Gary Peters and Stan Bahnsen. He is offering signings with over 50 former players in total. 


Click here to view all of Potter's signings for his March trip. Items are due by March 22nd, 2012.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Lloyd Hittle, 88, pitched for Washington Senators 1924-2012

Lloyd Hittle, former pitcher for the Washington Senators, died March 3, 2012 in Lodi, Calif. He was 88.

Born February 21st, 1924 in Acampo, Hittle entered professional baseball with the Stockton Ports in 1946 upon returning from his service in World War II. In 2008, Hittle’s wife Bernice, who was assisting her husband with a phone interview due to his hearing loss, told his story of signing a professional contract.


“He had just got out of the service at Thanksgiving in 1945," she said. "He was pitching in Stockton and the catcher was Jack Hachett who played pro ball. He told him to go pitch batting practice for the Ports. He threw batting practice one day after work and they signed him up. That's how he started in professional baseball.” 

After posting a 4-2 record during his 1946 rookie season, 1947 would be a memorable year for Hittle on many levels. Before the season started, Hittle took a great leap of faith that would pay dividends more than 60 years later.

“I had a date on a Saturday night and he came over to see me on a Saturday afternoon, and asked if I'd come for a ride,” said Mrs. Hittle. “All he asked me was, ‘Will you marry me?’ This went on until about six o'çlock. Finally I said, ‘Yes. Take me home.’ We got married about six weeks later. This was in January of 1947. We got married on February 28, 1947. We've been married almost 62 years.”

With his newly-minted wife by his side, Hittle pitched brilliantly for Stockton in 1947 winning 20 games, earning a late season call-up all the way to AAA Oakland from Class C. He was quickly on his way to the major leagues.

Following a 17-win season at Class B Bremerton in 1948, Hittle received the call from the Washington Senators to the big leagues halfway through the 1949 season.

After a rough debut against the Detroit Tigers on June 12th where he walked seven batters in 6 1/3rd innings, Hittle settled down in his next nine games, surrendering only five runs in 22 2/3rds innings, including his first victory against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

Hittle pitched in 36 games for the Senators in 1949 and another 11 for them in 1950, finishing his major league career with a combined 7-11 record. Hittle’s career however, didn’t end after 1950, as he pitched another five seasons in the Pacific Coast League with the Oakland Oaks and Hollywood Stars.

While pitching in the PCL, Hittle was witness to two of the most infamous brawls in league history. On July 27, 1952 in San Francisco, Oaks’ African-American catcher Piper Davis went after Seals’ pitcher Bill Boemler after he was drilled twice earlier in the game. A fight of epic proportions ensued, spilling over into the stands, nearly inciting a riot.

Hittle’s wife remembered Oakland’s Cuban catcher Ray Noble being so incensed during the melee, that he was engaging hecklers in the crowd.

“I was in the stands and he was going to fight a guy in the stands and I remember them trying to get me and our kid out of the stands,” she recalled. “He was telling him to come down and the guy was! I was sitting in between him and this guy that he's hollering at to come down.”

On August 2nd, 1953, Hittle was pitching for the Hollywood Stars, when Stars outfielder Ted Beard spiked Los Angeles Angels third baseman Frank Kelleher setting off a donnybrook so wild that fifty police officers were called onto the field to restore order. Hittle’s wife was once again present to witness the chaos.

“I was there when they had the big fight in Hollywood," she recalled. "I knew they were all underneath the stands. You could hear them walking underneath, wondering what was going on.”

In 1954, Hittle walked away from professional baseball, but not the game completely.

“At 30 he decided it was time to quit. He played semi-pro for a number of years, until he was 40 years old when he quit playing all baseball,” said Mrs. Hittle.

Eventually, it became too cumbersome for Hittle to manage his work responsibilities for Pacific Telephone, while continuing to pitch.

“It was too much to play baseball and work for the telephone company every day of the week.”

Hittle worked for Pacific for thirty years before retiring.

In the early 2000s, Hittle survived both prostate and bladder cancer, and despite his physical problems, he was a fan favorite at the annual Stockton Ports Alumni games, throwing out the first pitch and gladly signing autographs for fans.

Mrs. Hittle, who was generous in helping not only to relay the memories of her husband, but those of a baseball wife during our interview, shared how partnering in his journey transformed her skepticism about the lives of baseball players.

“When I first met him, I thought people who played baseball for a living were crazy," she said. "I didn't know anyone who played baseball for a living. I wasn't raised that way; I didn't know anything about it. I'll tell you though, there isn't much I don't know about it now!”

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Long Island native Evans Killeen was a Casey Stengel favorite in New York Mets first spring training

Fifty years ago in February, the New York Mets opened spring training with a hodgepodge of players cast off by their respective organizations, some looking to prolong their careers, others searching for a new opportunity.

One of those upstarts was 26-year-old Evans Killeen; right-handed pitcher from Elmont, New York. Killeen played in four games with the Kansas City Athletics in 1959, and then in Mexico before the Mets gave him another lease on his baseball career after pitching in a local semi-pro league.

Evans Killeen
“I had been with Kansas City in the AL in 1959,” Killeen said from his home in Long Island. “I hurt my leg in my fourth game in the major leagues; I stepped on a catcher’s mask backing up a play in home plate in Cleveland. In 1960, I played in the Mexican League, just going through the motions. In 1961, I was home and people talked me into playing semi-pro baseball again. I guess I dazzled them out there. St. Johns coach Jack Kaiser saw me pitch against his team and recommended me to the Mets.”

Killeen was part of a group of pitchers that arrived early to spring training that included high-priced signings such as Jay Hook and Bob “Righty” Miller. Despite not being one of the Mets prized recruits, manager Casey Stengel liked what he saw in Killeen.

“It’s got at least five promising youngsters … who will make it big in the future. When we started I didn’t think we had a single prospect. But I liked what I saw in Evans Killeen,” Stengel said to the New York Times.

He quickly gained the favor of Stengel by combining with Roger Craig to throw the first shutout in Mets history, when they blanked the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 on March 13th. Killeen threw four no-hit shutout innings in relief. His performance not only earned him a headline in the New York Times, but more importantly, his 72-year-old manager's praise.

“Wasn’t he great? He was fast, all right, but I was particularly pleased with his slow curve. Yes, sir, that young fellow’s got a chance around here,” Stengel said.

Just as Killeen’s stock was rising, he encountered a cruel twist of fate the day after his sparkling performance. A wayward foray into his grooming supplies gave a sudden u-turn to his spring training hopes.

“I had a freak accident; God must have wanted me not to be a ballplayer,” Killeen laughed. “I reached in my shaving bag and cut my right thumb. I cut it pretty good and was bandaged most of spring training.”

Killeen was relegated to short relief after his injury, pitching well enough to stay with the club until they broke camp. Just as they were to travel north, he was notified he was going to Syracuse.

“The handwriting was on the wall.” he said. “You knew they weren’t pitching you. … It was a money thing. … I had a minor league contract and they had a lot of money invested in all of those players they got in other organizations. I got caught in a numbers game.”

Killeen spent the 1962 season between Syracuse and Quincy before calling it quits. His frustrations after his ambitious spring training were mounting from the pressures of his family for him to move on.

“I didn’t even want to play after I left spring training," he said. "I asked myself, “What am I doing here?’ I was 26 years old, making no money. You couldn’t ask a girl to marry you. It’s terrible. All my friends were becoming doctors and lawyers. With all of these things, how can you hang in there? What kind of confidence do you have to want to play ball?”

The final straw came at the end of the 1962 season courtesy of general manager George Weiss.

“What kicked me in the face, George Weiss offered me to come back the next year with a contract for $700 [a $100 reduction from the prior season]," he recalled. "[After that] I said to myself, ‘I’m done, that’s it.’”

Despite leaving the Mets organization soured by Weiss’ offer, his fond memories of that inaugural spring training season have persisted five decades later.

“It was phenomenal, just the people that were there, from Gil Hodges, to Richie Ashburn, Gus Bell, Casey Stengel, Rogers Hornsby, etc. The whole fanfare was so exciting, so tremendous.”

As the Mets dedicate the 2012 season to celebrating the 50-year history of the franchise, Killeen would welcome the opportunity to get together with his teammates.

“It would be nice, [even though] I didn’t play on the main team, to be invited to a Met reunion for their 50 years. They forgot about guys like me. We’re forgotten people. I would love to see the guys again.”

Friday, February 24, 2012

New York Mets legend John Franco to appear at Citibank locations February 27th

John Franco with the Mets Alumni Association Presented by Citi
Soon-to-be minted New York Mets Hall of Famer John Franco will be appearing at two Citibank locations in Manhattan, as well as the Mets clubhouse shop on Monday February 27th to promote an exclusive opportunity for Citi credit and debit card holders to purchase single game tickets before they go on sale to the public.

The online presale will be available at www.Mets.com/CitiPresale.

The two-day promotion begins on Monday, February 27 at 10:00 AM and ends on Tuesday, February 28 at 11:59 PM. A Citi credit or debit card must be used for the online sale. Tickets will be available for both opening day (April 5th) and the Subway Series (June 22nd-24th).

Franco will be appearing along with Mr. Met at the following locations as part of the Mets Alumni Association Presented by Citi on February 27th.
·         10:00 AM to 11:00 AM – Citibank flagship branch in Union Square (52 E. 14th Street)
·         12:30 PM to 1:30 PM – Citibank branch on 42nd Street and Madison (330 Madison Avenue)
·         2:00 PM to 3:00 PM – New York Mets Clubhouse Shop (11 W. 42nd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues)

For further assistance, call the Mets Ticket Services team at (718) 507-TIXX.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

George Spencer's magical ride with the New York Giants in 1951

As one of the four living members from the 1951 National League champion New York Giants, former relief pitcher George Spencer can speak with candor about his playing career and the current state of baseball.

“My playing days are long gone, but the memories are still there. It’s a great game, it seems like it’s a shame it has gotten to where it has,” he said in during a January 2012 phone interview from his home in Ohio.

“Where baseball is today, I’m very disenchanted. … I see the little leaguers when they hit a game-winning home run, they all gather at home plate and hit each other and smack each other and throw helmets in the air, and that’s little league,” the 85-year-old Spencer lamented. “Instead of it being big league down, the little league has gone to the big leagues. I see them in their uniforms and it looks like half of them are getting ready to go to bed, with their pants down over their shoes. It’s a sight to behold.”

George Spencer
Well before the advent of players celebrating on the field for every diving catch, stolen base, or home run, Spencer was a two-sport star at Ohio State University, where he also played quarterback for their football team. More than sixty years later, Spencer has no regrets selecting baseball over football.

“I played football and baseball. I had two quarters, one for football and one for baseball and neither one of them took!” Spencer laughed. “I picked the right sport anyway. I can still walk and get around fairly decent."

Spencer signed with the Giants in 1948, and after three seasons in the minors, the Giants summoned him to the majors in August 1950, albeit much to his surprise.

“You won’t believe this, I won my first eight games in Jersey City,” he said. [After that] I lost either three or four in a row. I can’t remember where we were on the road, but Joe Becker the manager called me over.”

The following exchange ensued between Spencer and his manager.

“He said to me, ‘George, you’re going to the big leagues.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I sure as hell am Joe, I just lost four in a row and I’m going to the big leagues!’ He said, ‘I’m serious, you’re supposed to join them in Philadelphia.’ I said, ‘That’s hard to believe.’”

Spencer joined the Giants in Philadelphia and quickly found out that things were a bit more intense on major league soil.

“I joined them in Philadelphia and we went to fist city three times in the game,” Spencer recalled. “That’s when Eddie Stanky was standing on second base waving his arms. He and [Andy] Seminick, the Philly catcher at the time, went ape over the doggone thing because they didn’t have a rule on that [relaying signs]. We cleared out; I was out of that bullpen three times. I was out there fighting and I can remember looking on my right and Tookie Gilbert is down on the ground and some cop has the billy club right over him, ready to swipe him. Somebody grabbed his arm so Tookie didn’t get hit. I thought if this is the big leagues, I’m a lover, not a fighter. What an experience!”

A few days later at the Polo Grounds, Spencer toed the rubber for his debut against their cross-town rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers. After getting through a scoreless first inning, Spencer received another major league lesson.

“I’m facing the Dodgers and [Gene] Hermanski is the hitter. I got him a nice fastball right over the plate and hit a ball to the right field side of dead center. Bobby Thomson was playing center field and he hit it and it was a one-hopper to the fence out there,” said Spencer. “I finally got the side out and I come back in the dugout and Bobby comes back in and says, ‘Darn, I didn’t get a jump on that ball, that ball should have been caught.’ I said, ‘Bobby, if that ball should have been caught, this is where I should be pitching.’ I didn’t pitch there very long, but that’s where I should have been pitching.”

After posting a 2.49 ERA in ten games his rookie season, Spencer returned for a full year with the club in 1951. During that year, Spencer had a front row seat to some of baseball’s most legendary spectacles, which included pitching in the World Series, watching Bobby Thomson flatten the hopes of Brooklyn faithful, and last but not least, the debut of a young kid from Alabama named Willie Mays.

“In my opinion, he was the best all-around ballplayer I ever saw,” he said. “… He’s the only outfielder that I can remember seeing that could hit any place on the infield and it was a one-hopper to the catcher.”

During the infamous playoff game where Thomson hit “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” Spencer recalled Don Newcombe's performance nearly dashing his World Series hopes.

“In the eighth inning when Newcombe was still pitching and they had the lead, it looked like he was throwing nothing but bee-bees,” he said. “I visually saw dollar bills flying out the window because we were going to get knocked off by him because he looked like he had way too much.”

The bullpen let out a sigh of relief when Charlie Dressen went to the mound.

“Everyone on our team was pleased that they decided to make the switch, any switch to get Newcombe out of there,” he said. “The way it ended up, it was all to our liking. I don’t think they were too happy with it, but that’s the way it goes. That’s baseball.”

Thomson’s home run propelled the Giants to the World Series against the New York Yankees who featured the soon-to-be-retired Joe DiMaggio. In the seventh inning of Game Two of the World Series, Spencer pitched in relief of Larry Jansen. Standing across from him as he walked to the mound in his World Series debut was the famed Yankee Clipper.

“The first guy I had to face was number five. I think I got about two-thirds of the way to the mound from the bullpen and I looked at the scoreboard and it said number five up there and I immediately thought, ‘What in the hell am I doing here pitching to this guy?’” Spencer wondered.

Even though Spencer gave up seven runs in his two World Series appearances, he had a clean slate against DiMaggio the two times they squared off.

“I always thought I was a big contributor to his retirement in 1951 because I faced him twice and I got him out both times. He must be saying, ‘If I can’t hit that guy, I must be through.’ That’s the story I always told. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him have any comment of how tough of a pitcher I ever was. I look at it a little differently.”

Spencer remained with the Giants through the 1955 season, shuttling between the major league club and AAA. He pitched in six games for the 1954 World Series champs, contributing a 1-0 record during the regular season, but was not on the roster for the postseason. He resurfaced in the majors with the Detroit Tigers for cups of coffee in 1958 and 1960, playing full-time in the minors through 1963 before retiring. He became a pitching coach in the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds organizations for four years, taking the mound one last time as a player-coach in 1966 while coaching in Statesville, N.C.

Moving on from professional baseball, Spencer worked in a sheet metal factory for twenty years.

Throughout all of his travels during his 17 years in baseball, nothing matched the rivalry between the two New York National League teams during that 1951 season.

“When the Dodgers and Giants played each other, it was war,” he said. “Every time we went to Brooklyn, you knew what you were going to get there and when they came to the Polo Grounds, they knew what they were going to get too. It was a thrill to be a part of that.”