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

Bob Feller Talks With Bob Costas

Bob Feller appeared on the Bob Costas MLB TV show the other evening. Feller is 90 years of age. He made his major league debut at 17 years of age against the St. Louis Browns and struck out 15 in his first game.

He is still the yougest pitcher in history to win a game and also the youngest to lose a game.  Feller said that Ruth may have been the best pitcher of all time and was definitely the best player of all time. Feller commentd that Satchell Paige would have been one of the top five or ten pitchers in baseball history had he been able to play in the majors.

It was interesting as he talked about how he pitched to Dimaggio. Mays, Williams, Greenburg and others.

He knew Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Matthewson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, and a host of others. Cobb had mellowed by the time he met him and told Feller that he would have "taken him to left field". His almost four years in the Navy kept him from winning 360+ games but he said he wouldn't trade the honor of defending his country for a hundred wins.

This date in baseball: August 19

AUG. 19

1951: Eddie Gaedel, a 65-pound midget who was 3 feet 7, made his only plate appearance as a pinch hitter for Frank Saucier of the St. Louis Browns. Gaedel, wearing No. 1/8, was walked on four pitches by Detroit Tigers pitcher Bob Cain and then was taken out for pinch runner Jim Delsing. The gimmick by Browns owner Bill Veeck was completely legal but later outlawed.

1931 - Babe Ruth hit his 600th home run as the Yankees beat the St. Louis Browns 11-7.

1931 - Lefty Grove of the Philadelphia Athletics was beaten 1-0 by Dick Coffman of the St. Louis Browns, snapping a personal 16-game winning streak. A misjudged fly ball by outfielder Jim Moore led to the winning run.

1936 - In his first major league start, 17-year-old Bob Feller struck out 15 Browns as the Cleveland Indians beat St. Louis 4-1. Feller gave up six hits and allowed four walks.