Some Random Thoughts on Baseball

At age eighty I now have a lot of memories, which come and go at times. Having played baseball as a Little Leaguer and then in what I vaguely recall as Pony League, at least I had experiences on the field. I was a second baseman, which usually translates to good glove, medium arm strength, and weak bat. Later in Pony League and through the fog of years when I was fifteen years old or thereabouts, I had developed a curve ball and did some pitching. My fast ball was anything but fast, but the curve had a looping arc, and it could get batters out. You see, second basemen are usually those with quick hands and fleet of foot, while pitchers are long and lean and crafty and with mean streaks at times. Pitching with a curve ball extended my Little League "career" a bit, although I didn't know how to throw it properly which resulted in an irritation in my shoulder which continues to this day. When I was unable to make my high school baseball team, cut after the final downsizing, dreams of a more extensive baseball career ended then and there.

Yet the appeal of baseball is complex, has staying power. The game moves slowly with multiple elements of Kabuki-style tradition, then explodes into drama in many ways: home runs, double plays, pickoffs, showdowns between pitcher and batter, amazing defensive plays, heart-breaking errors, and so on. Having played it a bit gives me some sort of "having been there" feeling.

Several little baseball tidbits have shown up recently in newspapers and they bring back memories ...  pull me back in. So please stay with me a bit more while I bare my soul to some extent. The first little reminder was Parade Magazine's recent cover story on their previous baseball cover pages. One was from May 1950 when Ted Williams and a player named Vern Stephens were featured as "potential Ruth killers," in terms of the Babe's American League record of sixty home runs. (Note that Aaron Judge of the Yankees just broke that record with sixty-one!) Williams also was featured recently in a magazine issued by the Texas Co-Op electrical system with a flash-back to when he managed the Texas Rangers. The old Senators team had moved from Washington DC in 1972 and Williams headed the new Rangers for three years. His record as manager was 273 wins - 364 losses so his managing acumen was less stellar than his on-field abilities.

Over and above my hero worship of Mr. Williams, fate previously had brought us together in a most unusual way. Back "in the day" I had worked in the labyrinths of the ITT corporation for a few years as a young engineer in their semiconductor organization. The facility was in West Palm Beach, Florida, and I was tapped to head up a small business unit that developed and manufactured RF Power transistors. Those heady days saw RF Power transistors starting to displace the venerable vacuum tubes for transmitters up to several hundred watts of power. Little did I know that the brain-trust in Harold Geneen's financial number-crunchers had concluded that semiconductors in general and especially RF Power transistors were not to be part of their future; within a year after my big promotion, we were sold - kit and kaboodle - to an "investor group." The complex "clean room" equipment that facilitated diffusion and photoresist and other complex processing steps of the silicon as well as the wire bonders and assembly gear and the final testers and burn-in equipment ... all were moved from ITT's West Palm Beach factory to a new company named Kertron, named after the principal investor. The plant, a simple 20,000 square foot building on a plain-dirt lot in a brand-new business park was bare bones: no cafeteria, no nothing really but a front door and some simple offices and a large "clean room" that was not very clean since to save money, the "investors" had skimped (to put it mildly) on any real air filtration to screen out microscopic particulates that would ruin those transistors. In the rear of the plant, "wire bonders" to connect the semiconductor-chip portions to the outside world, and other assembly equipment were arrayed along with a test area for the high-power transistors. I learned later that the whole operation was bundled together on the cheap once ITT decided to exit the business. We gave it a go and maintained operations for a year, but it became clear that the "business plan" was to buy an on-going operation and run it dry selling off inventory and continuing to run production as needed. In addition to daily operations, my other job was to meet with our sales reps in the US and Europe, so lots of frequent-flier miles were racked up. One day, I was told to come in early on a Sunday morning to "meet a prospective buyer" for the business. By this time, it was clear to me that the way the operation was going, we were headed downhill and fast. The plant was not operational on most weekends, and certainly not Sundays, so I drove over early and was in my office when the owners came in followed by a tall, impressive man who not only looked like Ted Williams, but was the Splendid Splinter himself! He was physically impressive: tall and broad-shouldered, ruggedly handsome, then in his forties or so. I was introduced to Mr. Williams and told he was considering investing in the business. For the next two hours I led him around and explained our development labs (minimum) and production facilities (adequate but clearly basic). The discussion was all business; the famous man had few questions, probably because he could see this was not something in which he should "invest". In a month or so I left, and always will have a very fond part in my heart for Pat Lynch, the man who was my mentor at Motorola in Phoenix, who took me back as an errant young person who had strayed but now was back home. It is a personal debt I can never properly repay.

That's the main part of my baseball blog, but one additional news item stands out. A recent item in the weekend Wall Street Journal included a small jewel announcing the passing of Vin Scully, the Voice of the Dodgers. I have been a Dodgers fan ever since Little League days back in West Virginia. Later, when my wife and I lived in the Phoenix area, I listened to Mr. Scully do play-by-play on KTAR AM in Phoenix. At the time Phoenix was yet to secure a major league baseball team so we got every Dodger (and every San Francisco Giant) game. Scully had joined the Dodgers' broadcasting team in New York in 1950 working with the famed Red Barber. Until his retirement after the season ended in 2016, he was a voice, and then *the* voice of the now Los Angeles Dodgers... sixty-seven summers of baseball! Scully did his best to "slow the game down," according to the obituary, and if you understand baseball, you will know this is the highest compliment.

Comments are welcome and will be published, pro and con. Make your observations below or send them to me via email at n3bb@mindspring.com. Email commenters will not be identified unless requested.

Enjoy life; it's the only one we will get.

J.K. (Jim) George

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J. K. (Jim) George writer and student of the world has been an avid amateur radio enthusiast, with special love for Morse code and radiosporting, since his teenage years, over fifty years ago. He started his hobby listening to short-wave broadcasts and long-distance AM radio stations. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech, where he was president of the VT Amateur Radio Club and was inducted into the Virginia Tech Academy of Engineering after serving as Chair of the Advisory Boards for both Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as the College of Engineering.

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5 Responses

  1. Jim
    Big beisbol fan here! I love all the statistics and strategy and superstitions. And love the other stuff you mentioned, too. Here's my story. I played organized baseball in our town's "minor league," which was the step before Little League. About age 10 or 11 I think. I was a pitcher for the Local 721 team (sponsored by a labor union). I pitched every game and we went 9-1. I figured I was a shoo-in for Little League but when the selections were posted at the ball park I was nowhere to be found. I told my dad, who checked and confirmed that I'd not been selected. My dad was a factory superintendent but he said he just wasn't "plugged in" enough to find out more. Well, I got over it, as kids do. I told myself that they had made me a pitcher because I was the smartest kid on the squad. I switched to tennis and played it into college.
    Reply
    October 11, 2022
  2. Bill Haddon
    My dad was a fan, particularly of Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio. So I was inclined to like baseball. At about age 7-9, growing up in SE Denver in the late 40's, my friend Glenn Rhine and I listened to the Mutual Broadcasting System's "Game of the Day". Our favorite players were Ralph Kiner and Ted Kluszewski. Some of these games were re-creations: a reporter at the stadium typed the game details into a teletype machine and the announcer at the MBS would take the teletype printouts and "announce" the game using recorded crowd noise and in some cases a couple sticks which he would use to simulate a hit ball. It is said that during some broadcasts you could hear that tty machine clattering the background. My mother moved us to San Francisco in 1953 so that I could grow up near my dad. The thrilling baseball event was the arrival of the NY Giants in San Francisco in 1958, with the announcing team of Lon Simmons and Russ Hodges; The Giants first played in Seals Stadium, where Joe DiMaggio got his baseball start in 1937. I attended many games while working a summer job at a movie studio in the summers before my Jr and Sr years of high school, I learned to multi-task at night -- ham radio, Giants games and homework simultaneously. Home work suffered. The players I idolized were Willie Mays, Juan Marichal, Jimmy Davenport, Orlando Cepeda, the three Alou's and of course Big Mac, Willy McCovey, my favorite Giant. Moving ahead a few years, after my sophomore year at Harvey Mudd college and with a ham radio connection I landed a job in the research labs of Standard Oil in Richmond CA. In the summer of '62 I was part of the official summer program at Chevron Research (then called Cal Research). But I was not doing well in school, and Harvey Mudd told me to take a year off and re-apply for my Sr. year. Julian Johnson found me a position at Cal Research, where I would work on his polymer research projects. The two papers I authored that year probably got me into grad school at Purdue. About two months into my work Julian came to me as said "we have some staffing problems and wnat you to work swing shift for a couple weeks." I found this kind of exciting of course agreed. At the end of the first week Julian gave me the real reason -- if the 1962 World Series (Giants and Yankees) went to seven games, he wanted me to use his ticket. I was excited beyond belief. it was a front-row box seat about 30 feet beyond first base, with a good view of Yogi Berra, everyone's favorite, as the first base coach. Bottom of the ninth inning, score Yankees 1 Giants 0. . Willie Mays on 3rd, Matty Alou on 2nd and Willie McCovey batting. Everyone on their feet cheering. With 2 strikes, McCovey hit a screaming line drive to right field. With the crowd on its feet and massive pandemonium Bobby Thompson, the Yankee's 2nd baseman, perfectly positioned, reach up and the ball landed
    Reply
    October 18, 2022
  3. Bill Haddon
    Jim, repeating this post because I hit the wrong key . My dad was a fan of Babe Ruth and DiMaggio. I was thus inclined to like baseball. At age 7-9, in Denver in the late 40's, my friend Glenn Rhine and I listened to the Mutual Broadcasting System's "Game of the Day". Our favorite players were Ralph Kiner and Ted Kluszewski. Some of these games were re-creations: a reporter at the stadium typed game details into a teletype machine and the announcer at the MBS studio would take the teletype printouts and "announce" the game. He used recorded crowd noise and in some cases a couple sticks to simulate a hit ball. It is said that during some broadcasts listeners could hear the teletype machine clattering the background. My mother moved us to San Francisco in 1953 to be near my dad. The Giants arrived in 1958. The announcing team was Lon Simmons and Russ Hodges; The Giants first played in Seals Stadium, where Joe DiMaggio got his baseball start in 1937. I attended many games in the summers before my Jr and Sr years of high school and learned to multi-task at night -- ham radio, Giants games and homework. Home work suffered. The players I idolized were Willie Mays, Juan Marichal, Jimmy Davenport, Orlando Cepeda, the three Alou's and of course Big Mac, Willy McCovey, my favorite Giant. Moving ahead a few years, after my sophomore year at Harvey Mudd College, In 1961 I landed a job in the research labs of Standard Oil in Richmond CA. In the summer of '62 I was part of the official summer program at Chevron Research (then called Cal Research). But I was not doing well in school, and Harvey Mudd told me to take a year off and re-apply for my Sr. year. Julian Johnson found me a position at Cal Research, where I would work on his polymer research projects. The two papers I authored that year probably got me into grad school at Purdue. About two months into my work Julian came to me as said "we have some staffing problems and want you to work swing shift for a couple weeks." I found this kind of exciting of course agreed. At the end of the first week Julian gave me the real reason -- if the 1962 World Series (Giants and Yankees) went to seven games, he wanted me attend the game using his ticket. I was excited beyond belief -- front-row box seat about 30 feet beyond first base, with a good view of Yogi Berra, everyone's favorite, first base coach. Bottom of the ninth inning, Yankees 1 Giants 0. Willie Mays on 3rd, Matty Alou on 2nd and Willie McCovey batting. Everyone on their feet cheering. With 2 strikes against him, McCovey hit a screaming line drive toward right field. With the crowd on its feet and massive pandemonium Bobby Thompson, the Yankee's 2nd baseman, perfectly positioned, reached up. The ball landed squarely in Thompson's glove. The crowd noise went from pandemonium to total silence in about two seconds. Final baseball note .. . in 1996 I headed a 45-person food safety research team for the Agricultural Research Service (USDA ) in Albany CA. Part of my assignment was to attend agency food safety meeting, usually in Athens GA. One Monday morning I was in the SF airport awaiting my flight to Atlanta and chatting with a rather charming woman in the boarding area. All of a sudden she said "Bill, quickly look over your left shoulder" And there was Joe DiMaggio walking, with a small entourage of maybe two people, to his plane. Maybe a blog post "Random Encounters with Famous People" would be interesting. I have had another that far exceeds thrill of the Joe DiMaggio sighting. To me these sightings are a bit like seeing a fireball -- in 80 years I've seen two, maybe three.
    Reply
    October 18, 2022
    • JK James George
      Wow... what a trip down memory lane, Bill. I can relate on several levels, nearly all of them several notches below your first-hand experiences. For me, growing up in the southern Appalachian Mountains, we got the Brooklyn Dodgers games on the radio at times and then there was Mutual Broadcasting coverage, as I recall of the "Game of the Week." Some (a few) were on TV out of a Roanoke, VA station. I was a Dodger fan and in particular a Duke Snider follower. Of course, the Dodgers and Giants moved to the West Coast, it took some of the shine off in terms of media coverage due to the three time-zone difference. Like you it was baseball, ham radio, and school for me. Similar paths with a serious interruption during HS dating and school at Virginia Tech. My graduate school ended with a MSEE in Phoenix (ASU) while at Motorola Semiconductors, but I always loved baseball and still do. The rhythm is unique and draws me in like an attractive seducer. Thanks for your tremendous memories. Jim
      Reply
      October 18, 2022
  4. Rick Goeld
    Jim, I somehow missed the email announcing this blog post. Two subjects: The ITT facility in WPB. I interviewed there with Walt Pellish (if I remember correctly) who was an HR guy ... or maybe Jim Norrish? I grew up in North Miami, Florida and my first job out of college was with Radiation Microelectronics in Melbourne (there from 1969-1972). My parents were still in North Miami and my fiancee (first wife) was in South Miami, and I would have liked to stay in Florida. Alas, I did not end up at ITT. Don't remember the reason. Probably did not get an offer. Ended up interviewing in September 1972 with you, Leon, and Bert, as well as Frank DiGuesaldo, who I think was ex-ITT WPB ??? The rest if history ... As to baseball, I too was a Dodger fan. I was born in Brooklyn NY and spent my early years in Roosevelt, LI. My dad took me to Ebbets Field many times. I was also a big Duke Snider fan. He hit so many balls against or over the right field wall. Carl Furillo and Jackie Robinson were also favorites. I too listened to Dodger games on KTAR (after joining Motorola in 1973). Koufax was my favorite.. best pitcher of all time... along with Drysdale, Wills, Gilliam, The Davises, etc.... and later the 1980 Dodgers with Garvey, Cey, Hershiser, and LaSorda. I remember the switch-hitting infield: Parker, LeFebvre, Wills, and Gilliam (if I remember correctly). I lost faith in the Dodgers when they traded Piazza. Became a Diamondbacks fan. But baseball has gotten boring. Very slow. I think the new rules: pitch clocks and infielder placements in particular, will help. We shall see in 2023.
    Reply
    November 5, 2022

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