Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Fan Club Member, Ron Paul, Writes About Jerry Coleman Who Passed Away Recently

Jerry Coleman was director of the minor league spring training complex in Bartow, FL for the Yankee farm team - Binghampton, NY Triplets in 1959.

I was discharged from the service in  March and immediately reported to Bartow. In my first meeting with Coleman he gave me a nice raise based upon the recommendation of my previous manager, Ken Silvestri.  
 
My locker was next to Al Downing's. We got along quite well. Joe Pepitone  and I were battling for the starting centerfield job.  We played the Yankees AAA Denver Bears team several times as they spring trained in Lake Wales. Pepitone hit tremendously that spring and beat me out of the job. He went to Binghampton and I went to Greensboro.

One day after practice, a gentleman in a sport coat came to Al Downing's and my locker and tried to sell us life insurance. The Yankees never let outsiders in the locker room. We found out why he was permitted in the locker room - it was Bob Feller, a WWII buddy of Coleman's, selling the insurance. Tom Tresh and Don Lock also joined me in Greensboro.

Those were fun times. . . . . Ron Paul, St. Louis, MO