Header - Baseball by the Letters

Now Pitching, Pirate Infielder Ed O’Brien?

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A position player pitching? You mean blowout game, mop-up duty?

Don’t tell that to Ed O’Brien.

I confess, I wanted to ask about that famous 1954 Topps card, picturing the O’Brien twins. Forget the Olsen twins. Skip those sisters. I’d rather see Ed and John turn a double play.

However, www.Retrosheet.org amazed me again. Going to “top performances” I found results from September 14, 1957, a day in which the Cubs ate humble pie. One infielder took the mound and confounded Chicago.

Ed O’Brien replied in magnificent calligraphy-like penmanship:

“With Dick Groat at shortstop and Bill Virdon in center field, the Pirates were using me as a utility player. In all, I played seven positions. Because I had a strong arm, they decided to see if I could pitch. At Columbus AAA I had 3 or 4 pitching appearances while still playing in the field. Dan Murtaugh started me against the Cubs in Wrigley Field. I won, 3-1, complete game, throwing fastballs and hard sliders.

Both of us on the Topps 1954 card was their (the company’s) idea. They sent copies to all those signed with them. Everyone received the same compensation. Nothing like today’s figures.”

I had asked if Topps paid both brothers an individual fee, even if they shared one card…

Lastly, I wanted to know about a fellow Washingtonian and famous Pirates fan.

“Bing Crosby came to Seattle on three occasions to talk to us (John and I) about signing with the Pirates. He was a minority owner. He would attend spring training every year and became a lifetime friend.”

Harness the Power of a Box Score

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Upper Deck knows it. Every autograph collector should, too.

There is power in a box score.

It’s sad to think that fans or collectors still send form letters to retirees. The letter writers don’t know what to say to a former player.

That’s where wwww.retrosheet.org comes in. You can read about ANYONE’s career, finding out their one best day — or only day — in the majors. Believe me, a player may be too busy competing, or simply trying to survive, in the bigs. They don’t have time to keep a scrapbook. I’ve heard from more than one ex-player amazed I can find that data.

The superb play-by-play website is a treasure trove for fans and collectors. Retrosheet helps us. Now, we can help Retrosheet.

I wrote to the website to offer my thanks to these baseball-loving volunteers. I received an inspiring reply from team member Mark Pankin.

“We have a list of the games for which we do not have (complete) play-by-play accounts:

http://www.retrosheet.org/wanted/index.html

If any of your readers has something, not just the box score–we have all of those, that describes plays, that would be helpful. Even accounts for part of a game may help us. Every so often, we get something from a fan who has attended one of these games and kept the scorecard or discovered a parent’s or grandparent’s old scorebook (in the attic. We have searched the newspapers in the major league cities, but once in a while someone finds an account in an older newspaper in a smaller city such as Peoria, IL or Portsmouth, OH. Libraries in the region may have them on microfilm and there are a few obscure online sources.

A word of warning: looking through microfilms of old newspapers can be both frustrating if nothing turns up and hard on the eyes. On the other hand, reading news from way back and seeing the ads in those days can be a lot of fun. By the mid-1950s with the advent of TV as a news source, most papers had stopped showing play-by-play accounts. Even online searches can be very frustrating. Thanks for your offer to help.”

The stats in a box score aren’t what matter. The batter-by-batter account reinforces that a long-forgotten player made it. For one game, they competed with, and against, major leaguers. They were in “The Show.” That player mattered.

Show you know that when you write to someone. Watch the quantity and quality of your responses increase when you do. Check your scorecard collection. Do you have game accounts you could share, missing links in Retrosheet’s mammoth research chain? Even if you don’t, send them your thanks.

They’re preserving baseball memories. OUR memories!

Did Keith Olbermann Ever Land That Elusive Bob Stinson Autograph?

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I like Keith Olbermann.

No, this isn’t about politics. I like the idea of a college student
saying “Oh, yeah!” when asked if he’d like to write the backs for a 630-card
set. Each back of the SSPC set came from Mister KO, long before his fame at ESPN
or MSNBC. These weren’t 1953 Bowmans, but they may be the closest “Pure
Card” I will ever see again in my hobby lifetime.

I wrote Olbermann back in 2001 about his achievement.

Back then, he wrote that he had every card in the set autographed, excluding
Bob Stinson.

Long before Olbermann’s politics were known, Stinson still shunned Keith’s requests. For years, Stinson was the first to protest being pictured on an unlicensed set. In other words, he wouldn’t endorse via an autograph any product that didn’t pay him.

If Olbermann could open a pack of 1967 Topps on his TV show, it seems
logical that “Scrap Iron” could come on and autograph his card. Collectors
report that the former catcher has charged $5 per sig. Originally, he said
the money went to the softball team he coached.

I wonder how much Olbermann would have paid for his card to be signed?

Sharing Airtime With Royals Hall of Fame Broadcaster Denny Matthews

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Iowa Cubs broadcaster Randy Wehofer found life announcing for a Royals affiliate had one major perk:

Guest shots in the Kansas City broadcast booth!

More than once, Wehofer shared airtime with the Royals broadcast team. He wrote to share his experiences broadcasting from major league venues:

“Denny Matthews, and everyone with the Kansas City Royals, was extremely nice to me. Denny offered me some nice compliments both on and off the air. But for being in broadcasting, he is a man of few words off the air. He was gracious and welcoming and that’s all I could have hoped for. Ryan Lefebvre and Fred White have served more in a mentoring role for me over the years and I appreciate their help. Most of all, I have a lot of confidence knowing I’ve sat in the booth for a real major league game next to a Hall of Fame broadcaster and he told me that I did a good job.”

Wehofer broadcast from Wrigley Field in 2009, when his I-Cubs played a PCL game there.

“The trip to Wrigley was a great experience, especially for a guy who grew up in Chicago going to games there as a kid. I always thought Wrigley Field was the biggest place in the world growing up. But going back after all these years and visiting so many other parks, my biggest impression was to realize how “small” and quaint Wrigley is and why it earns the nickname “The Friendly Confines.”

Lastly, I wanted to ask a radio broadcaster: do you get tired of being a voice without a face? Don’t you want your own baseball card?

“I was part of a staff group picture that was on a card in our team set my first year in 1999 in Burlington. It’s fairly obscure. The most recognition I’ve received comes from being invited to be the emcee for the annual awards banquet at the winter meeting twice in the last four years. Over 2,000 people from both major and minor league baseball and national media members attend that event. I’ve also made a few presentations at the minor league baseball promotional seminar. Those events have given me the chance to meet a lot of people and let many in this business get to know me. I’ve really enjoyed those opportunities.”

I wish Randy Wehofer many more seasons of opportunities. He enjoys them all.

Tuning in Broadcaster Randy Wehofer: Movie ‘Sugar’ Features an Iowa Cub

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I may have found the “Crash Davis” of baseball broadcasters in Iowa Cub voice Randy Wehofer.

Tune him in on Praise 940 AM, KPSZ, and you’ll see what I mean. Even after nine seasons calling class A Burlington Bees games, Wehofer still fills each broadcast with the fun insights of a real fan. Who couldn’t love his signature “Get Outta My Yard” home run call?

Wehofer plays the team broadcaster in the movie “Sugar.” On the radio or on the screen, Wehofer doesn’t disappoint.

Totally unexpected, totally enjoyable, Sugar
is my kind of baseball movie. I wanted to thank Wehofer for his broadcasts and his portrayal.

He sent an all-star response, writing:

“The movie was a great experience, but I’ve not heard about from many who didn’t already know me before the movie.

“‘Sugar,’ to me, was mostly a coming-of-age/immigrant story told against a baseball backdrop. I thought they did a good job depicting the challenges of young men – many without a lot of formal education – coming to a foreign land to play baseball and how much pressure they feel to make money to try to rescue their families from poverty. what he learned, that many don’t, is that baseball is a part of him, but it doesn’t define him.

Through woodworking, he could also make a life for himself and his family, like the business owner he met in New York. Too many young people, Dominican or American, think if they fail at sports, they have failed at life. In the end, Sugar realized he could succeed without baseball and the game became fun again for him.”

Wehofer is succeeding at sports, while keeping the fun. I hope a major league promotion isn’t far. I’d hate to hear him out of Iowa’s “yard,” but I know he’s earned his shot at the bigs.