| The Groundsmen |
We played most of our games at Christian Park (just a block away). It was owned by the City, which meant they mowed the field. The infield was not very good. Instead of asking parents to do something, Gary Olson and I brought garden tools from my garage and we set about removing stones, leveling and smoothing it out. |
| The Bat |
I bought a bat. It was a 32" Hank Aaron model very skinny near the handle. It eventually cracked and was unusable. One time used Lyle's bat and I broke it. I paid everything I had, $1.08, but he wouldn't take it. |
| The Rotary |
I tried out and was chosen for Richfield Rotary. I didn't make the majors but that was okay because it meant playing with Gary Olson and his father, Ernie was the coach. Won 12 Tied 2 Lost 4. Played 3rd, Short Stop, Pitcher. 3 Home Runs - 4 Triples - 4 Doubles - 15 Singles - Avg:.500 |
| The Pitches |
In Little League a pitcher was not allowed to throw curves or sliders. But in Babe Ruth (ages 13-15) I could. And I was a great junk ball pitcher. I didn't have much of a fastball but I could put the ball exactly where I wanted it.
I remember striking out Bob Anderson with a wicked slider that broke about two feet and the catcher had to dive out to get it. He looked like a fool and as he walked back to the bench he indicated to his teammates how much the ball had moved. Of course, that only helped my cause. |
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| BR 1960 |
We beat VFW 10 - 3. I played short and Quinn pitched. I went 1 for 4, a triple to left. I had 2 rbi's. |
| BR 1960 |
July 21. We beat Pharmacy 18 - 1. I pitched striking out 6. I went 1 for 3, with 3 RBI's. |
| BR 1960 |
July 25. We lost to Y's Men 7 - 5. I played short and went 2 for 4 with a double and triple. Pat pitched with Chuck relieving. |
| BR 1960 |
July 28. We beat Korner Plaza 8 - 5. I played 3rd and went 3 for 3 with a homer and a triple getting 2 RBI's. |
| BR 1960 |
July 29. We lost to Legion 5 - 1. I pitched and struck out 6. I walked 3 times. |
| BR 1960 |
Aug 2. We beat McClay 19 - 0. Pat pitched a no hitter. I played third and went 3 for 3 with 2 walks, had a homer and 3 RBIs. |
| BR 1960 |
Aug 10. We tied Korner Plaza 6 - 6 and the game was called. I played 3rd and short for 2 innings each. Went 2 for 3 and had 3 RBIs. |
| BR 1960 |
Aug 12. I started at short but had to relieve Quinn before a single out was made and we lost big time 18 - 8 to Legion. I struck out 5 and walked 5. I went 1 for 1 with a couple walks. Drove in a couple runs. |
| The Championship |
Aug 23. We beat Legion 7 - 4. I played short and went 1 for 3. We autographed baseballs to keep as a souvenir. |
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| BR 1961 |
Richfield Rotary. Gary went up to the Majors so we got a new coach, Mr Sundum and manager Mr Engebretson. I was told that I could make the majors as a relief pitcher. But that meant playing fewer games and hardly any at bats. I declined so I could play full time in every game.
Won 10 Lost 5. Played 1st, 3rd, SS, pitch. 3 Home Runs (1 Grand Slam) - 3 Triple - 1 Double - 11 Singles - Avg: .394 Team Stats - Team Stats |
| The Stealing |
In Little League we weren't allowed to steal, but the brakes came off in Babe Ruth and I was fast. I either batted at lead off or 3rd. When I led off and got on, Lenny Mattson batted second and his job was to just stand there. I would steal second on the first pitch, then steal third on the second pitch.
Then it was up to someone to drive me in. Four times I just did it myself, by stealing home. Those were very exciting moments. Pitchers generally didn't go into a stretch and I could get a humungous lead and get to the plate about the same time as the ball.
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| The Hidden Ball |
Nobody's perfect. One time when I was on third the opposing team had a huddle on the mound. I took my customary lead only to have the third baseman tag me out with the old hidden ball trick. Talk about embarrassment. Mind you as a pitcher I had done the same thing to others.
In our case, we would give the ball to the second baseman who would flip it to the first baseman to get the tag out. Meanwhile, I was on the mound trying to look like I was ready to pitch but careful to have neither foot touching the rubber. It seemed like eternity for me to stall and stall. |
| BR - The Pick Offs |
Since stealing was allowed, it also meant pitchers could try pick offs. I almost killed someone. One time I wheeled threw a strike to the second base bag trying to pick off a runner (I remember the guy, Rogers, I think his first name was Steve).
Anyway I hit him right in the head. I also came up with what I thought was a brilliant pick off device. I wouldn't peak across my shoulder to try to hold him on. I would stare at the third baseman who who give me a signal
when a runner got too far off the bag. Then I would fire a bullet to the firstbase man. It was too clever because one time the first baseman, Lyle Peterson, wasn't aware that I had thrown the ball. Luckily it missed him and the runner was given third base, as the ball went out of the park. |
| BR - 61 |
We beat McClay 19-4 in what could be my best game ever and what a coincidence that Signe and Terri were watching. I struck out 14 of the 21 outs. I had an immaculate inning - struck out the side on 9 pitches. Pitched a 2-hitter. And to cap it off I hit my only Grand Slam scoring Petersen, Olstad and Gunther. |
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| BR 1961 |
July 17 game at a west side field that was very wet. I played first and pitched last inning. Had a single and triple. We beat Optimists 7 - 5. |
| BR 1961 |
July 19 I pitched a 4 hitter while striking out 12. We won 4 - 2 which was amazing because we didn't get a hit and we struck out 16 times. |
| BR 1961 |
July 21. We beat Korner Plaza 5-4 on White's home run. I played short and went 0 for 3. |
| BR 1961 |
July 27. We beat Pharmacy 9 - 1. I pitched striking out 10 and went 1 for 3. |
| BR 1961 |
Aug 1. We lost to Legion 4-2. I pitched striking out 7 and giving up 4 hits. |
| The Champs |
Aug 17. I went to Award Dinner with Brudelis and sat with Gunther. We were East Side champions. |
| BR 1962 |
Teamsters. Won 19 Lost 4. Richfield Champions. Played 1st, 2nd, 3rd, SS, pitch. 1 Home Run - 4 Triple - 2 Doubles - 11 Singles - Avg: .408 - Team Stats
- Team Stats 2 - Team Stats for the 3 years - Offence by years played. |
| BR 1962 |
July 15. We beat McClay 7 - 0. I pitched, striking out 9 and only giving up 1 hit. I went 0 for 1 with two walks and 4 stolen bases. |
| BR 1962 |
July 21. We beat Legion 29 - 8. I played short for 4 innings and went 1 for 3.
Stole a base and drove in one. Peterson pitched striking out 4. We sent 20 men to the plate in the 4th and the game was called because of darkness. We had 24 walks including 6 in a row. |
| BR 1962 |
July 23. We beat Woodlake 11 - 1. I pitched striking out 6 and giving up 4 hits. I went 0 for 2, walked twice and stole home. |
| BR - No Hitter |
We had a new coach (Brudeli) and manager (Sundem) and for some reason they never let me pitch for most of the season. Until one day when we were playing in a rainstorm. Lyle started and gave up 10 runs with only one out in the first.
The coach put me in. Well, I threw a no hitter for the remainder and we actually won 14 - 10. After that I guess he felt that I could pitch and I was put back in the rotation. I only gave up one hit for the year. |
| The Champs Again |
We played the Championship series at the Babe Ruth Major league field (with a fence). I pitched the first game and at the end of 7 innings we were tied. I came across my toughest opponent. A short fellow, I threw strike after strike and he kept fouling them off.
I threw the best change up of my life and he swung early but managed to get his bat back and foul that off, too. We conintued the game the next night I continued pitching. We lost when Tom Olson didn't catch a fly to center.
Comes the second game and Chacha was warmed up to pitch only to be told that 15 year olds can only pitch in the same game. So we had to put in Taylor who had only pitched 2 games during the season, but he did the job (even though he walked 13!!) and we won 14 - 12. Scored 7 in the first where we had 5 straight walks, so I guess Woodlake Sanitary had the same pitching problem. I went 2 for 4 with a triple and drove in 2. For the third game we had everyone try pitching and we selected the one who seemed to be the best. We turned to our first baseman, McCullough, who had never pitched. I gave him a few lessons on pitching from a set and during the game would go to the mound from 1st to calm him down, tell what to pitch etc...
He was actually quite good and struck out 8 and only walked 2 and we won 10-1. I went 1 for 3 and stole one base. Newspaper article. |
| BR 1962 - Awards |
Sept 19. Went to Babe Ruth Awards Banquet. Lenny Green was the guest speaker. I went up to accept the Championship trophy. |
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| The No Hitter II |
Me. John Mortensen threw a wicked curved ball and I couldn't hit. Out of respect I never tried to bunt it. I just swung and missed or ducked away from it. One time I actually told the catcher, John Bostrom, to signal Morty to throw nothing but curves. |
| BR - Throw Out |
I was playing shortstop. I had to go deep into left to field a grounder. Turned and threw it to first. I was so far out that the ball bounced twice getting there.
Amazingly, it was a very fat batter with no speed to speak of and the throw beat him to the bag. |
| BR - Lesson for Life |
We lost to Babcock VFW 5 - 4 at Richfield West Jr High.
I played short for 5 and then pitched the last inning striking out 2. Chacha pitched the first 5 striking out 11 and only gave up 3 hits. I went 1 for 2 getting a triple to center driving in a run. Dave Mc was pitching for the opposition and he only gave up two hits.
I noted that he threw a fast ball as soon as the batter stepped into the box, not giving them time to settle and the umpire didn't stop him. Then he would throw a wicked fast slider that had the batter bailing out. So I got myself ready outside the box never taking my eye of of him and
I jumped into the box and hit the ball the furthest ever. If there had been a fence it would have been an automatic home run. But with the worst possible luck it hit the only obstacle in the whole damn field - brick pump house - sending it back toward the center fielder.
I was on my way to third when the shortstop had the ball. I was in full flight and ran through Mr. Brudeli's stop signal and I was out at home. The catcher had missed most of the bullets being pitched, so I had figured he would probably not catch the shortstop's relay.
I was chewed out for not stopping at third, especially since I probably would have scored the next time the catcher missed a pitched.
[ed - I recall that one play many times, because it represents a high and a low encapsuled in one moment. I had used my analytical skill to figure out how to beat the pitcher, and I was rewarded with the best hit of my life;
only to have the glory shot down by poor analysis of the catcher's ability and also by assuming I knew more than the coach]. Next time I was up I was ready but fouled the ball back and struck out. |
