Header - Baseball by the Letters

Year: 2012

White Sox Kevin Hickey Dies

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A happy signer!

I missed out.

I knew the story of the working-class playground star Kevin Hickey, who went from slow-pitch legend to unlikely major league pitcher.

I assumed I’d have forever to write him.

I never knew how easy it would be. The www.sportscollectors.net message board had Hickey signing 123 out of 128 documented TTM requests.

Well, at age 56, he’s gone. One of baseball’s most shocking losses in this early season.

Forget ages. Again, I fell into the trap of seeking the oldest former players first. Don’t get caught in the numbers game. If you want their signature, if you want to tell them how you felt about their career, do it NOW.

Coming Friday: The inside story of the blog “Once A Cub…Always a Cub.”

Al Rosen Autographs For A Cause

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Rosen has retained that
crisp, tight autograph!

Here’s a bit of “breaking news” from filmmaker Marcia Jarmel at PatchWorks Films.

“I saw your blogpost and thought you might be interested in our current film project (Got Balz?), which tells a different kind of baseball story: http://kck.st/gotbalz. I thought some of your readers might be interested in the Hebrew Hammer “Al Rosen” signed baseballs we are giving to the project’s backers.”

There’s much more than Rosen baseballs available. Jarmel and partner Ken Schneider have great autographs and other baseball memorabilia available to those who’ll help make their film into a reality.

Check out their www.kickstarter.org page. Their funding deadline is Wednesday. When I wrote this, they were less than $800 away from reaching their goal (with just 23 hours remaining). A documentary film about a 13-year-old American wanting to help Cubans get needed baseball equipment? I’m in! I hope you might be, too. Every dollar matters.

Seeing Is Believing: OUR Virgil Trucks Party!

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With inflation, a picture is worth far more than a thousand words.

However, these pictures left me speechless.

All of you readers made me proud in April, sending surprise birthday cards to a former Tigers hurler.

Thanks to wonderful Carolyn Beckwith, who shared photos of her Dad’s 95th birthday party. Here’s three looks at a special day for a special man, the one and only Virgil Trucks:

Look closely. Maybe you’ll spot your card!

Jewish Ballplayers Give More Than Autographs

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Worth watching!

His name is Alan. He doesn’t want his whole name or address shared. However, I’m grateful he was willing to share a great glimpse into his hobby past.

“I am a collector of Jewish Sports memorabilia. Back in the late-1990’s, I received a gift-certificate from one of the book stores. I decided to use the gift certificate on the book, When Boxing was a Jewish Sport. It was a fascinating history of Jewish boxers in the 1920s thru 1940s. After I read it, I decided to research & acquire autographs from some of the guys depicted in the book, who were still alive. Then, from there, (and I’m not sure how/why it happened) but I ended up interested in Jewish athletes from all sports, the major sports like baseball and football to the lesser popular sports like golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, tennis, swimming, etc,…

When I wrote to them, I wouldn’t so much ask them about their athletic achievements, but rather more of their “Jewishness”. My questions asked things like “how observant were you”, “what was it like being a Jewish athlete at that time”, “had you experienced any anti-semitism”, etc,… “

I read through a sampling of the letters he shared from his hobby heyday of 1998-2006. Gabe Kapler explained how he felt about Jewish jokes from teammates. Pitcher Andrew Lorraine wrote about the challenges of trying to keep an active faith with the rigors of a major league schedule. Hy Cohen, who pitched for the 1955 Cubs, told how “fastballs close to the body” could silence anti-semetic opponents.

I am not Jewish. However, I was moved by the recent documentary Jews and Baseball, one that’s becoming a public TV staple every spring. Alan found a way to see current and former players as people, not just as stat machines.

These days, Alan has returned to his previous hobby of basketball collecting. However, he understands the power of autographs. Whether it’s one faith, one team, one school or state —  there are so many ways to make your collection reflect YOU. You’ll appreciate the hobby more, as will the signers who give you remarkable results.

R.A. Dickey Book: Surprising As Any Knuckleball

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“Butterflies aren’t bullets. You can’t aim ‘em. You just let ‘em go.”

— Charlie Hough

The knuckleballer-turned-tutor may have done more than tutor R.A. Dickey’s pitching. Hough may have given a nugget of wisdom employed in the writing of Dickey’s Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest For Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball.

In writing his life story, Dickey uses the same approach. This is anything but a conventional baseball tale. Dickey lets it all go, telling about the abuse he suffered as a boy, his sometimes-shaky marriage and other challenges to what many might assume has been a storybook career.

Definitely, this book is a LIFE story, not just a baseball retrospective. Dickey writes chronologically (and in present tense, giving his writing freshness and urgency). Page 91 begins his pro career with the Rangers. He relives the heartbreak of losing the $810,000 signing bonus, when a Baseball America cover photo reveals that Dickey may have elbow problems.

Dickey’s evolution as a knuckleballer gets center stage in the book. He tells of seeking out Hough, Phil Niekro and Tim Wakefield for advice. Funniest moment in the book comes when Dickey breaks a nail. In full Mets uniform, he’s sneaked out to a manicure salon for some emergency grooming.

The press release from publisher Blue Rider Press included a revealing comment from Dickey, seen nowhere in the book. Here it is:

“Q: How did your interest in literature shape Wherever I Wind Up?

A: Well, I can tell you this: I did not have much interest in writing a straightforward sports book. This is my first book. It might be my only book. I didn’t want to just stuff it with a bunch of statistics and writes about ERAs and holding runners on and bore people with page after page of baseball platitudes. I wanted to write a narrative that was meaningful to me, that was completely honest and that would hopefully stand up as a quality piece of writing.”

This thoughtful book might lead fans to guess that Dickey has the insight to become a coach or broadcaster. Read closely, and you’ll discover that Dickey harbors the hope that he could be a high school English teacher someday.

Ultimately, readers will find the life and career of New York’s elder statesman evolving like his knuckleball. While his butterfly pitch deceives, Dickey delivers his whole life story with right-down-the-middle candor and truth.

Coming Friday: Memories of Jewish baseball players.