Notable Sayings, Scenarios and Stories from the World of Sports

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

This is the play-by-play call from a Thanksgiving high school football game between Abington and Rockland in Massachusetts about 10 years ago. The color analyst yells "LEARN FOOTBALL!!!" at the refs from out of the booth a couple times among the other amusing things said in protest.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

(Referring to Indiana in the NBA.)

"We used to call it Nap City. Probably still is called Nap City because most players, when they get there, they do go to sleep."

Pete Vecsey NY Post

[ardilla secreta]

(Referring to Indiana in the NBA.)

"We used to call it Nap City. Probably still is called Nap City because most players, when they get there, they do go to sleep."

Pete Vecsey NY Post

Wonder how old that quote was. I’ve only been to Indy twice and was surprised to find the downtown area walkable and vibrant. First trip was for the lax quarterfinal and another time to visit Newfields, their expansive art museum which was excellent.

While not a steak person, I enjoyed sitting at the bar of the very established St Elmo steak house for a martini and a light dinner. While there are too many chains, there is still a nice amount of attractive restaurants.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

(Referring to Indiana in the NBA.)

"We used to call it Nap City. Probably still is called Nap City because most players, when they get there, they do go to sleep."

Pete Vecsey NY Post

Wonder how old that quote was. I’ve only been to Indy twice and was surprised to find the downtown area walkable and vibrant. First trip was for the lax quarterfinal and another time to visit Newfields, their expansive art museum which was excellent.

While not a steak person, I enjoyed sitting at the bar of the very established St Elmo steak house for a martini and a light dinner. While there are too many chains, there is still a nice amount of attractive restaurants.

It's from the 30 for 30 episode "Winning Time" released Jan 2010. He was referring to a sentiment held by some during the early to mid 90's.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

This has to be one of the funniest and most interesting postgame press conferences, not because of the exchange between Tortorella and the press guy who get into it, per se, but for Tortorella's repeated identical affirmation in answer to multiple questions from different reporters. Never a dull moment with JT.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

I get accused of excessive and gratuitous usage of the word “choke”. I’m merely comfortable with the word and its grounded and established place in sports. Case in point—the 1984 NBA finals pitting the Beantown Boys vs the LA Fakers (or so they were dubbed by M.L. Carr and “Cornbread” Maxwell (a.k.a. The Rubberband Man) where James Worthy choked in the clutch and Max had an amusing way of communicating said choke.

[Brooklyn]

US coach makes dramatic rescue of artistic swimmer at worlds


https://apnews.com/article/sports-hunga ... e1c880a27f



https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod ... /1000.jpeg


Only her quick reaction prevented a tragedy as Andrea Fuentes made a dramatic rescue.

The United States coach knew something was wrong when she saw artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez sink motionless to the bottom of the pool during a solo free routine at the world aquatics championships on Wednesday.

The fully clothed Fuentes dived in. She swam to the unresponsive Alvarez, put her arms around her, and lifted her to the water’s surface, where another person helped get her out of the pool.

Alvarez, a two-time Olympian, had fainted.



Wow. Great work by that coach.

[youthathletics]

Crazy. Will be interesting to learn the cause. Initial report seems to imply exhaustion, based on her schedule prior to the events.

[Brooklyn]

It has happened before: https://www.wivb.com/japan-2020/after-f ... pic-dream/


I remember a few years ago when it happened to a Japanese girl in an international event (perhaps it was the Olympics but don't recall for sure). Very strenuous sport, far more demanding than some people think. It requires far more practice time, preparation, and conditioning than any other sport done by girls and women. Hopefully, the proper steps will be taken to insure this doesn't happen again.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

I greatly enjoy these behind the scenes looks--especially what gets said on the field of battle

[Brooklyn]

In the old Wide World of Sports hydroplane racing was featured every year. The 1971 Madison Cup was a special feature that was so awesome that a movie was made out of it. Sadly, nowadays it is not shown on network tv but it was shown on YouTube. A spectacular show but one that ended in near tragedy:





Gotta confess that I almost screeched like a banshee when the blow over took place. We were having a great chat and nearly everyone went into shock when Corey Peabody took that race ending flip.


Earlier I watched Henley Royal Regatta and our fellow Yanks did fairly well. Among the highlights were:


Visitors Cup (M) quad: Washington > Molesey
Island Challenge Cup (W) 8+: Brown > Yale
Prince Phillip Challenge Cup - (W) 8+ St. Catharine (Melbourne) > Winter Park


So many events going on nowadays!

[Brooklyn]

Watched an epic UFC fight last night between Valentina Shevchenko & Mexico's Alexa Grasso which ended in a "draw". After the controversial decision, Valentina said the events of the day (Mexican independence day) influenced the judges decision:


https://twitter.com/MMAFighting/status/ ... gr%5Etweet



https://cdn.bloodyelbow.com/wp-content/ ... atio=16:10


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_BFt3uqKfg

https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/9/17/2 ... scorecards



As with the TV announcers, I had Valentina ahead by one point in what was truly a great fight.

[Brooklyn]

MLB's # 1 Jew hater opens his foul mouth and spews more anti Semitic hate:


Curt Schilling Shares Post Claiming Jews Are ‘Dominating’ the Country When ‘They Didn’t Even Found’ It

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/cu ... d7bd&ei=29





Former Major League Baseball pitcher Curt Schilling shared an anti-Semitic post on Twitter/X that addressed the “Jewish Question.”

On Monday, Schilling, who has a history of incendiary remarks and social media posts, shared a tweet by a blue checkmark account that decried “Jews in leading roles” in society. Schilling is a host for OutKick, the conservatives sports site founded by Clay Travis and owned by Fox Corporation.

The account wrote:

Anytime you see two Jews in leading roles, debating each other in some political or moral conversation, you are witnessing the “Jewish Question” right before your eyes.

The “Jewish Question” is essentially a two part question:

Firstly, how does this extremely tiny minority find itself in such influential positions, leading, and in many cases, dominating important sectors of a nation, in such disproportionate numbers compared to their population, when they didn’t even found said nation?

Secondly, how dare this group, that considers themselves separate from all humanity because they’re supposedly chosen by God, believe they have the right to not only dictate to the majority of that nation, but also demand censorship of anyone who resists their dictates?

The post got the attention of Schilling, who reposted it without comment.


According to the version history provided, the post was edited multiple times, with all versions remarking on “Jews in leading roles,” the “Jewish Question,” and Jews “dominating important sectors of a nation… when they didn’t even found said nation.”

The “Jewish question” to which the account referred was a matter pondered by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, who offered a “Final Solution” to it in the form of the Holocaust in which six million Jews were murdered.

Schilling, who had a stellar big league career that included three World Series titles and a World Series MVP, may very well have been elected to the Hall of Fame by now were it not for his penchant for courting controversy. In 2016, for example, he approvingly tweeted a photo of a t-shirt that read, “Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some Assembly Required.”





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In Brooklyn, Ohio an unfortunate incident similar to that took place as well:


https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/oh ... a0c8&ei=56


An Ohio high school football coach resigned Monday after his team used racist and antisemitic language to call out plays during a game last week.

Brooklyn High School coach Tim McFarland and his players repeatedly used the word “Nazi” as a play call in a game against Beachwood High School. Beachwood, a Cleveland suburb, is roughly 90% Jewish, according to the latest survey published in 2011 by the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

The Brooklyn team stopped using the term in the second half of the game after Beachwood threatened to pull their players from the field, according to statement from Beachwood Schools Superintendent Robert Hardis. However, several Brooklyn players continued to direct racial slurs at Beachwood players during the game, the statement read.


more ...



All that hate. It's everywhere.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

Back when John McKay was coach of the NFL expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers (who ended up finishing the season 0-14), he was asked by a reporter what he thought of his teams execution. He replied, "I'm in favor of it."

[Brooklyn]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uL7jBrSl ... ture=share

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

There was a lot to like about Sports Illustrated — back when it truly was Sports Illustrated

By Bob Ryan Boston Globe Correspondent, February 3, 2024



The very first cover of Sports Illustrated was a simple shot of Milwaukee Braves third baseman Eddie Mathews taking a swing at home plate in a crowded County Stadium.

There’s been a lot of news lately about the venerable publication Sports Illustrated, none of it good.
The odious parent company that purchased the magazine from Time Inc. a while back has announced a massive staff layoff and there is a fear that it may disappear forever. I readily admit that a weekly magazine in which many stories concern events a week old is an idea whose time has come and gone. We now live in a world in which both instant news reporting and instant analysis are available to all. But I am one of many sports zealots who eagerly awaited the appearance of Sports Illustrated in our mailbox each Thursday so we could read the extraordinary prose of its writers. I kid you not when I say that if you had asked me at the age of 20 what I wanted out of life I would have said, “I want to write for Sports Illustrated and be the next Frank Deford.”

A fantastic opportunity opened up when I became a Globe summer intern in 1968, and guess what? I’m kinda still here. But imagine my excitement when barely a month into my first big assignment, which was covering the Celtics, Deford showed up for a story.

We are six months shy of SI’s 70th anniversary, and I invite you to take a look with me inside the maiden issue of Aug. 16, 1954. Let’s just say that Sports Illustrated, the newest effort from Time Inc., demonstrated great ambition in its 144-page inaugural issue. Welcome to the mid-’50s.

First, the cover. SI became famous for its portrait covers, but the very first was a simple shot of Milwaukee Braves third baseman Eddie Mathews taking a swing at home plate in a crowded County Stadium.

There were three primary articles: “The Miracle Mile At Vancouver,” “The Battle of Bubble Gum,” and “The Golden Age is Now.”
The mile in question was the epic race at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in which Roger Bannister (3:58.8) and John Landy (3:59.6) became the first men to run sub-four-minute miles in the same race. “Bubble Gum,” as you might think, concerned the battle between Haelan Laboratories and the Topps Chewing Gum Company for supremacy in the baseball card business. “The Golden Age” had to do with the proposition that the ‘50s had eclipsed the ‘20s as the true “Golden Age of Sport.”

There was a photo essay entitled “The Dashing Duke of Edinburgh,” and yes, that happened to be Prince Philip, whose documented sporting exploits included high jumping in prep school. Hey, who knew? He was also pictured while participating in polo, cricket, sailing, rowing, and flying.

Photography also took front and center with wonderful photos from Rocky Marciano’s successful defense of his heavyweight crown against Ezzard Charles.

I loved Jimmy Jemail’s “Hotbox,” the first in a long-running weekly probe whose first question for the man or woman on the street was, “What sport provokes the most arguments in your house?” There were 10 respondents, and three said golf. The other answers were “the doubleheader,” swimming, fishing, football, wrestling, horse racing, and “any sport on television.”

SI featured eight columnists, starting with Red Smith, who wrote about Leo Durocher. A particular highlight was the contribution of Herbert Warren Wind, who chose to republish the final column by Grantland Rice, who had died five weeks earlier. The subject was a key putt made by Bobby Jones in the 1929 US Open.

I also like what was billed as “The column of the Week” by Gordon Cobbledick of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, it being a treatise on the phenomenon of the beanball in baseball, a topic still relevant today.

How interesting that the SI masthead boasted of “special contributors” in baseball, boating, bowling, football, golf, horse racing, hunting and fishing, nature, tennis, and travel. Notice any curious omissions? I guess they thought no one cared about basketball or hockey. I wonder if The Cooz or Rocket Richard were miffed?

There was an entire section entitled “The Great Outdoors,” and that subject was a prominent SI area of discussion for many years.

I mean, if you were interested in “The Best Vacation Trout Fishing” a Mr. John McDonald was happy to inform you (hint: book a trip to Yellowstone).

There was “Scorecard,” with a summary of the week’s sports happenings. You learned that Babe Zaharias had picked up the $1,000 first prize for her triumph in the “Women’s Professional Division of the Tam o’ Shanter Tournament.” And it was good to know an exhibition football score: Washington Redskins 52, Eleventh Naval District All-Stars 0 (Nope, didn’t make it up).

It’s always fun to peruse vintage advertising. Bob Hope was pushing Catalina sweaters. Ford was preparing us for the Thunderbird, “a sports car that can make the tachometer needle climb like a homesick angel.” Oh, have any of you car buffs ever heard of the Kaiser Darrin 161? Well, it was “for a carefully selected few who know and appreciate what a sport car should look like and how it should perform.”

And there was much, much more.
Publisher H.H.S. Phillips, Jr. spelled out the SI mission: “It is our hope and our promise that in some tomorrow you will no longer think of Sports Illustrated as Time Inc.’s newest baby, but as the accepted and essential weekly reporter of the Wonderful World of Sport.”

That is exactly what it became. Sports Illustrated spoke to the second half of the 20th century. All who had anything to do with it had every reason to be proud.

Bob Ryan can be reached at [email protected]

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/02/03/ ... -memories/

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

COLLEGE SPORTS

A BC swimmer feels caught in hazing-suspension crossfire and robbed of her final season
By Bob Hohler Boston Globe Staff, February 6, 2024

Katrina Sommer, a captain of UCLA’s 2022-23 swimming and diving team, transferred to BC as a fifth-year graduate student but did not get to compete.

Katrina Sommer doesn’t drink alcohol, hates hazing, and, as a student-athlete, prizes positive team chemistry.

Sommer, a captain of UCLA’s 2022-23 swimming and diving team, transferred to Boston College last summer as a fifth-year graduate student, believing after speaking with BC’s coaches that she would fit perfectly in the program. She envisioned setting a couple of BC swimming records and pushing herself to qualify, against steep odds, for the US Olympic trials that will determine who joins Team USA at the 2024 Paris Games.

But neither she nor her 66 teammates got a chance to compete: BC suspended the program over a hazing case that, Sommer contends, school leaders handled unfairly for the vast majority of the team.

Sommer, who was not a victim of any hazing, is the first team member to speak publicly about the saga.

“I definitely understand why the school had to address the hazing allegations,” Sommer said from her home in Southern California. “I just think that everything after that was kind of a mess.”

The process lacked transparency, she said, and ultimately supported neither the victims nor dozens of teammates who were not complicit in hazing, particularly the seniors who lost their final chance to compete after coping with the pandemic.

“It’s really heartbreaking,” Sommer said.

She questioned, too, why BC shut down the program for the entire 2023-24 season, while other universities have imposed less severe punishment for hazing.

BC said in a statement, “The individual and team sanctions that Boston College issued to the swimming and diving program were made after an extensive investigation that included interviews with student-athletes, coaches, and staff, and conduct hearings through the Office of the Dean of Students. The university took a strong and appropriate stand against hazing and a team culture of misconduct, and firmly stands by its decision.”

The controversy began when BC indefinitely suspended the program in September and launched a lengthy investigation into allegations that freshmen had been instructed to binge-drink and consume their own vomit at a Labor Day weekend party. Seven juniors who lived in an off-campus residence known as the “Swim House” were initially suspended, although the hazing occurred elsewhere and involved only sophomores and freshmen.

In October, with no end to the suspension in sight, 37 swimmers and divers — more than half the team — sought an emergency injunction in Middlesex Superior Court to lift the ban. Sommer, 22, who is pursuing a master’s from BC in cybersecurity policy and governance and is applying to law schools, did not join the lawsuit.

In late October, Judge Diane Freniere denied the request.

“While it is regrettable that certain members of the team who did not participate in or know of the hazing incident are suffering the consequences of the team suspension, that reality is an acceptable collateral consequence,” Freniere stated.

All the while, BC swimmers and divers continued practicing, hoping the university would clear them for competition. They convened daily at the pool at 7 a.m., Sommer said, and adhered to a practice plan provided by the coaches. They returned to the pool every afternoon.

“I was really impressed by how many people were there every day,” Sommer said. “That’s why I love the team, because they showed their commitment to each other through really tough times.”

Sommer participated in a couple of team-building activities before the hazing allegations surfaced. She joined the team at Alumni Stadium Labor Day weekend for a BC football game, but she did not attend any team parties that weekend and said she was unaware of any misconduct.

About two weeks later, she was visiting several seniors in a dormitory when athletic director Blake James announced in a statement online that hazing had occurred.

“We were all shocked,” Sommer said. “I was like, how can the school publicize this when it hasn’t been investigated and we didn’t even know about it?”

Sommer believes BC's response to the hazing allegations was much too sweeping and unfairly punished some team members.

She said she also was shocked when James voiced disgust with the swimmers and divers during a team meeting and told them he hoped for suspensions.

“In eight minutes, he canceled the rest of my swimming career without any proof,” Sommer said. “He was subjecting the whole team to the emotional impact of being charged before we could defend ourselves.”

BC spokesman Jack Dunn said James was conducting interviews for the school’s vacant football head coaching position and not available to comment.

At UCLA, Sommer chaired an advocacy group for female athletes and helped to represent the school’s athletes as the university transitioned from the Pac-12 conference to the Big Ten. In that role, she conferred with the UCLA chancellor and Big Ten commissioner, leading her to believe James would be similarly accessible.

That was not the case, however. Sommer recalled growing so frustrated when James did not reply to at least five of her emails that she showed up at his office one morning to request a meeting. After hours of being directed elsewhere, she said, she finally was cleared to meet with him near the end of the day.

She described the meeting as unproductive.

“He said he had ‘won the lawsuit’ and that the team was a problem, regardless if I or anyone else was not involved,” Sommer said.

In November, BC’s coaches recommended that Sommer and four teammates work out over the winter break at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado. Sommer took that as a hopeful sign that BC would lift the suspension.

It was not to be. The university ultimately parted ways with the coaches, suspended an unspecified number of team members for the spring semester, and, in January, extended the team’s suspension through August.

In an essay she shared with the Globe, Sommer wrote, “I cried as my final year of swim was taken from me for things I was proven not guilty of. I have cried after the ways the AD has treated me and the lack of care he has personally shown me. And I have cried carrying the emotional burden of trying to maintain athletic shape for a season that would end without a single meet.”

Sommer said she considers it unfair that BC took a more punitive approach than other universities in hazing cases.

In 2007, when James was the University of Maine’s athletic director, the school determined that the softball team had engaged in hazing at a “rookie party” involving alcohol, costumes, and lewd poses and gestures and that similar events had occurred in previous years. Yet the university suspended the team for only a week and placed it on probation for three years, while three players received suspensions ranging from two games to 10.

In 2017, Dartmouth punished swimmers and divers for hazing by suspending the team for three meets and placing the program on probation for a year.

In 2018, Colgate suspended its men’s swimmers and divers for a semester for “hazing and high-risk alcohol consumption.”

Also in 2018, Brown withdrew its men’s swimming and diving team from the Ivy League championships and suspended the program for the fall semester for hazing.

Other universities have imposed harsher penalties in hazing cases, while others have taken less stringent measures.

In BC’s case, Sommer said, the university’s response was too sweeping.

“The school lumped us all in when it shouldn’t have,” she said.

Sommer said she passed up prospective athletic scholarships from other schools to swim for BC, which does not offer athletic scholarships to swimmers and divers. Still, she said, she values her master’s program and her teammates. She worries about their futures.

In January, after imposing its final sanctions, the university stated, “It is the hope of BC Athletics that these measures will enable the program to move forward in the 2024-2025 academic year.”

Sommer said, “My fear is that the statement sounds open-ended. With the lack of transparency, it makes you wonder if BC would just pull the rug from under people.”

Dunn, BC’s spokesman, said Sommer’s fear is unfounded.

“The university intends to lift the suspension at the start of the fall semester,” he said.

Bob Hohler can be reached at [email protected]

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/02/06/ ... am-hazing/

[Brooklyn]

Happy 100th Birthday to NY Yankee Art Schallock


https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/ol ... 5d23&ei=22


Oldest living MLB player turns 100, vividly recalls facing Dodgers in 1953 World Series







Art Schallock has the easy laugh of someone as delighted with his current circumstances as he is with his memories.

"I'm still alive and I'm healthy," he said, prefacing the words with a chuckle.

Schallock, the oldest living former Major League Baseball player, certainly has had the last laugh. He celebrated his 100th birthday with a party Thursday at Cogir on Napa Road, the Sonoma assisted-living facility he calls home.

The Dodgers, who signed Schallock in 1946, sent him a gift jersey: No. 100, of course. A representative from the New York Yankees — who won three World Series with Schallock on the roster — made a surprise visit and gave him a jersey signed by the 2024 team.

The party, festooned with Schallock's substantial memorabilia collection, was open to the public and drew a large crowd. Sonoma being Sonoma, wineries set up booths and ballpark food — hot dogs, peanuts and popcorn — was gratis. The mayor said a few words. Folks lined up to shake Schallock's hand. He signed baseballs, books and photos, engaging in conversation and laughing amiably while sipping first a glass of wine, then a beer.

Former MLB manager and player Dusty Baker, a longtime Northern California resident, dropped by to congratulate Schallock, whose memories remain as clear as a summer evening playing under the lights at Yankee Stadium, which he did from 1951 to 1955. In fact, his favorite memory is of stepping into the Bronx cathedral of baseball, "The House That Ruth Built," for the first time.

"I was thrilled just to walk into Yankee Stadium," he said during an interview with The Times. "I got to play with Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle. It was a pleasure watching those guys play. They were top baseball players, just tops. I was in awe."

Art Schallock was a roommate of Yogi Berra and has stories about Mickey Mantle, Casey Stengel and other baseball greats. ((Josh Edelson / For The Times))

Nearly five years after signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the left-handed pitcher was traded to the Yankees in 1951, where he played under legendary manager Casey Stengel, roomed with Hall of Fame catcher Berra, and learned his craft under steady veteran hurler Allie Reynolds.

Related video: Baseball's oldest living major leaguer, former Yankee Art Schallock, is turning 100 (News 12 (Video))

"Yogi taught me how to pitch to major league hitters," Schallock said. "He knew all the hitters, their strengths and weaknesses."

Schallock couldn't recall whether Berra broke out any of his famous Yogi-isms such as, "It ain't over til it's over," or "When you get to a fork in the road, take it." But he vividly remembered fetching Berra's favorite reading material — comic books.

"He called them his funny books," Schallock said. "I'd go down and buy a few and bring them back to the hotel room for him."

Undersized at 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, Schallock relied on guile, a sharp-breaking curveball and deceptive changeup. He was called upon in Game 4 of the 1953 World Series against the Dodgers, entering in the seventh inning to face Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider and Carl Furillo.

He retired Robinson on a lineout and struck out Hodges before walking Campanella and giving up a run-scoring double to Snider. That was four consecutive Hall of Famers before facing Furillo, who grounded out. Schallock pitched a scoreless eighth, retiring Billy Loes, Jim Gilliam and Pee Wee Reese.

All in all, quite a dalliance with the Boys of Summer.

"That was quite a thrill," Schallock said. "The reason Casey Stengel called on me to pitch was that I was the only one in the bullpen who knew the Dodger hitters. I had played with the Brooklyn players and grown up with them."

Schallock was familiar with the Dodgers because he spent 4½ seasons in their farm system, advancing to triple-A Montreal — where teammates included future Cy Young Award winner Don Newcombe and first baseman Chuck Connors, who went on to star in "The Rifleman" — and the Hollywood Stars.

When Schallock was traded to the Yankees for catcher Eddie Malone, pitcher Bob Landeck and cash July 12, 1951, they made room on the roster by sending Mantle, then a slumping rookie, to the minors. Mantle was soon called back up and he and Schallock became friends.

"Back then he drank root beer floats," Schallock said.

Four years later Schallock was with the Baltimore Orioles and faced Mantle, who by then was a feared slugger. The switch-hitter pulled an 0-1 pitch far beyond the left-field wall and grinned at Schallock as he rounded the bases.

In all, Schallock played alongside seven Yankees Hall of Famers (DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, Enos Slaughter, Johnny Mize, Phil Rizzuto and Whitey Ford) and another with the Orioles (Brooks Robinson). With the Dodgers, he spent spring training with another handful of players enshrined in Cooperstown.

As for opponents, one particular Hall of Fame hitter didn't fare well against Schallock. Ted Williams was 0 for 2 in regular-season play and also hitless in spring training meetings. Schallock said he got Williams to chase changeups and curveballs out of the strike zone.

"I changed speeds and kept the ball down," he said.


After finishing 1955 with the Orioles, he set career highs with 24 starts and 163 innings in triple-A a year later before retiring at age 32. He and his wife eventually moved to Northern California, where he'd grown up.

Schallock's major league career might have begun sooner, but — like so many players — he served in the military in World War II. Two weeks after graduating from Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, he was drafted into the Navy and spent three years as a radio operator on the USS Coral Sea, an aircraft carrier deployed in the Pacific.

After returning home, Schallock had a blind date with Dona Bernard, and they married a year later. The couple had two daughters and were married 76 years until Dona passed away a year ago.


Schallock became the oldest living major league player when George Elder — who played in 41 games in 1949 — died at age 101 in 2022.

According to the Baseball Almanac, 78 former players are in their 90s and 17 are at least 95. No. 2 on the list at 99 is Bill Greason — a pitcher who made three appearances in 1954 — and No. 3 at 98 is Bobby Shantz — a pitcher whose lengthy career included winning the American League Most Valuable Player award in 1952.

Nobody else on the list of former players ages 90 and over has three World Series rings. Someone at the party mentioned that Schallock was wearing a championship ring.

He grinned and replied, "Only one! My daughter has another one, and I don't know where the third one is."




Happy Birthday!