It will be thirty years ago this
October that I met White Sox HOF shortstop Luke Appling at a memorabilia show
in downstate Lewistown. Why anyone would
bring Appling to a small town smack dab in the middle of rural Illinois beats
me, but I’m glad they did, because I had Appling all to myself for a good ten
minutes.
Old Aches and Pains, who spent
twenty seasons on the South Side 1930-50, told me three things that had the
ring of truth to them—he once found the lid from a tin can poking out from the
infield dirt at Comiskey Park; he hit a ball down the third-base line that
should have been called fair in what would be Bob Feller’s 1940 Opening Day 1-0
no-hitter; and it snowed all the time when he played short in Chicago.
Let it be
noted Chicago had a record 1.9 inches of snow yesterday, April 27. The Sox-Tigers’ game had to be rescheduled. Somewhere, Luke Appling is smiling.
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