Showing posts with label Ted Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ted Williams. Show all posts

Monday, June 21, 2010

Get ready for a trip "Around The League" with George Case of the Washington Senators

On the field, George Case was known for his speed. The fleet-footed outfielder led the American League in stolen bases six times, including a five-year stretch from 1939-1943. During his career that spanned 11 seasons, Case had the foresight to capture action from all of the American League ballparks onto color 8mm film. Previously silent footage, Case wisely recorded the narration before his death in 1989 that guides you through the 37 minute expedition entitled "Around the League".

While Case identifies his old teammates and opponents, he makes you feel like you are sitting next to your father calmly recounting proud memories of an era long gone. There are over 15 Hall of Fame baseball players featured in this collection, and for many fans it is their only chance to see action of baseball's immortals in living color. Vivid footage of such greats as Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Charlie Gehringer and Hank Greenberg bring the descriptions that one may have read about these legends come to life on your screen. Add in Case's first hand accounts of the foregone players and ballparks, you will feel like you were there live in the flesh while Case was capturing it on his personal camera.

The DVD sells for $35.95 (shipping included) and can be purchased directly from his son George Case III by emailing him at case67@verizon.net.







Around The League DVD Trailer

Monday, December 28, 2009

Joan Joyce, The Missing Legend Ted Williams Could Not Touch

Rarely did a pitcher get the best of Ted Williams. During his Major League career, Williams fanned only 709 times in 9,791 plate appearances. In 1961, a year after retiring from the Red Sox, Williams was asked to participate in an exhibition against Joan Joyce to raise money for the Jimmy Fund. Click here to read about when "the best hitter that ever lived" faced the best softball pitcher in the land.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

The Brooklyn Dodger who didn't make it - Hampton Coleman's journey with the Dodgers of the 1950s

The future Brooklyn Dodgers of 1952? Look hard in the bottom left-hand corner and you'll see Solomon "Hampton" Coleman. The righty "curveball artist" is the only player pictured that didn't make the major leagues.



His close cut with the Brooklyn Dodgers involved a meteoric rise from the low minors to Triple-A early in his career that crossed paths with some of the finest players in baseball's history.

The 81-year-old Coleman, explained via telephone from his Florida residence in July 2008, how he came so close to becoming a Brooklyn Dodger.

He was first signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1947 and was sent to Roanoke of the Class B Piedmont League. After posting a record of 13-5 with a 3.17 ERA, he was given an invite to major league spring training. What a jump for the young rookie from Red Springs, N.C., to go from the bushes to the big leagues in two years!

The 1948 spring training season allowed Coleman rub elbows with baseball's elite.

"I was in spring training with the Red Sox when I was 20 with Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr, and Dom DiMaggio. I threw batting practice to Williams," Coleman said.

One of his highlights was facing Joe DiMaggio. The Hall of Famer proved to be a tall task for the rookie.

"I pitched against Joe DiMaggio," he said. "There were a few men on base and he hit a home run off of me to win it. The Red Sox had a pitcher Boo Ferriss, and he said, 'Don't worry about it, he's hit home runs off of better pitchers than you!' That picked me up a little bit."

DiMaggio's home run off of Coleman was chronicled in the March 15, 1948 edition of the Prescott Evening Courier.

In only his second professional season, Coleman wasn't flustered by his encounter with DiMaggio. He was sent to Triple-A to play with Louisville of the American Association. After playing the 1948-1950 seasons with Louisville (with a short loan to Seattle of the PCL in 1949), Coleman's next break came courtesy of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

"I was playing in Louisville, and St. Paul was the Dodger team in the American Association," he said. "When Boston was on the verge of winning the pennant that year (1950), they were looking for a pitcher by the name of Harry Taylor to buy. They purchased him from the Dodgers, and the Red Sox gave them any choice of a Triple-A pitcher in their system, so they selected me. That's how I got to the Dodgers. I played with Montreal for a couple of years. Walter Alston was the manager, and when he went to Brooklyn, he took four of us to the Dodgers."

Hampton Coleman 1953 Canadian Exhibit / Author's Collection

Alston was hired as the Dodgers manager in 1954 and it was the break that Coleman needed. During the winter, Coleman chose to go to Cuba to sharpen his skills in preparation for his big break.

He pitched the 1951-52 winter season with Almendares and 1952-53 winter season with Marianao in Cuba. Many veterans reached out to help, including pitching tips from a future Hall of Famer.

"Do you remember Hoyt Wilhelm?" he asked. "He was down there. I was trying to get another pitch, and he was helping me with a knuckleball to use as an out pitch. He helped me a lot."

Discussing Cuba evoked the memories of some of his legendary teammates. Another Hall of Fame teammate he prominently recalled was Ray Dandridge,

"I played with him in the Cuban winter leagues," Coleman recalled. "The first time I saw him was with Louisville against Minneapolis in the American Association. He was a great third baseman; he was like a vacuum cleaner, anything that came his way, he scooped up. He was a terrific fielder and good hitter. I absolutely thought he should have been a major league player. He was a tough man to get out."

The Dodgers sent many of their prospects including a left-hander who later became the club's greatest ambassador. Coleman explained how Tommy Lasorda displayed the makings of a future manager while he was an active player.

"The years I was in Cuba, I played with him, as well as two-and-a-half years in Montreal," he said. "Lasorda was managing the whole time he was playing. He was a motivator from day one. He didn't like to see anybody loafing. He'd get on your case if you were losing. Nobody loses more than a player that is loafing. I spent a lot of time with Tommy."

Despite the legendary connections he made, a car accident towards the end of the 1953-54 winter season in Cuba derailed his chances of making the Dodgers club.

"I had my wreck at the end of the season on my way to Cuba for the third year down there," he said. "I had a car accident and almost got killed. I fell out of the car on my shoulder. I was a right-handed pitcher and I could never gain any momentum again. The doctors said I would never pitch again. Later on, when technology improved, they said they could have fixed my shoulder in two hours!"

The doctors were wrong about Coleman pitching again. He returned in time for spring training, and Alston held to his word, giving Coleman a shot in February 1954. Unfortunately, Coleman knew he was at the end of the line.

"It was pretty much the end of my career. I had nothing left on the ball."

He was there long enough to be included in the Dodgers 1954 spring training team photo but lasted only 10 games at Montreal. His final season came in 1955 with Double-A Fort Worth and Mobile, where he posted a combined record of 4-11 in 20 appearances.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

George Kell, 86, Hall of Fame 3rd Baseman 1922-2009

Hall of Fame 3rd Baseman and legendary Detroit Tigers announcer George Kell has passed away at the age of 86. Kell was a humble presence as the voice of the Tigers alongside Ernie Harwell. A class act, Kell was generous with his fans, answering large quantities of his fan mail with personal notes in response to their queries. He donated a lot of the money he would receive from fans seeking his signature to local churches in his home of Swifton, Arkansas.
The ten time All-Star made his debut with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1943. He was traded to Detroit in 1946, where he had the opportunity to blossom, making his first All-Star team in 1947. In 1949, he won the American League batting title by less than two-ten-thousandths of a point over Ted Williams. He also played for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles before retiring after the 1957 season. He finished with a career average of .306. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1983.