Posted on 05/18/2020 3:37:23 PM PDT by Rebelbase
A brief break for the insanity of current life.
75 Year Old Luke Appling's Home Run in Old Timers Game in Washington D.C. 1982 2
I saw Luke hit one in an Old-Timer’s game in Philly back in the ‘70s. Old guy had some pop in that bat!
That was great.
Jean Shepherd used to tell stories about Luke Appling.
Back in the 70,s I saw an old timers game at Beautiful McCormic Field in Asheville.
One of the pitchers was wearing an old uniform with Newark across the front. He was pretty old and threw nothing but knuckle balls.
The back-slaps by Pee Wee Reese and Al Kaline as Luke rounded the bases were a treat, too!
Even more remarkable considering he had only 45 homers over 20 seasons as a much younger man.
The only thing I know about Luke is that he retired to Oak Island, NC and opened a small convenience store.
I could do the same. Nice place.
Ah, Mel Allen. I used to love to watch This Week In Baseball back in the ‘80s, Allen was always so good at adding a tone of whimsy with his very distinctive voice. Nice to hear it again, and to see a fun story.
Me too. Then he gets a high-five from Al Kaline, who I saw playing as a regular player in 1973. Turns out Kaline passed away at age 85 on April 6 of this year.
I saw a great old timers game in the Astrodome in the 60s. Mickey Mantle slammed a homer over the left-field wall and Dizzy Dean got the three players he faced out. He wasn’t there to lob softballs to the opposition. :-)
I watched the video with Spahn delivering, PeeWee slapping Appling on the shoulder, and Kaline giving the high five. That night at RFK saw living legends, and they are all reunited in heaven and Cooperstown. RIP.
Old “Aches and Pains”
Well, the reason he got that home run, is because RFK Stadium seating was configured for football at the time, so that those Left Field seats were only 250 feet from home plate.
I love that ballpark.
We need more knuckleball pitchers in the modern game. It’s always interesting to see if they are on or not. There is less variety in pitching styles than ever before, it’s a shame.
Freegards
In my many years of playing baseball and softball, playing Center field and Left field, I had exactly one ball hit to me with no spin. It was also a line drive.
It was darting all over the place, and I missed catching it by at least 3 feet. I typically would go through a season with no errors and should not have gotten one then.
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