Dig a Little

How a baseball autographed by members of the 1971 White Sox ended up in Arlee, Montana (Pop: 602) I couldn’t say.  But it’s back in the county of Cook, safe and sound.

Other people may not be interested in a ball autographed by the likes of Ed “The Creeper” Stroud (said to be so fast he used ankle weights to slow himself down a little) and Rich McKinney, to say nothing of Luke Appling and Chuck Tanner, but that’s their problem.  Me, I’ve got a crystal ball wrapped in cowhide, and I can see back forty-eight years.

When I look at an autographed ball, I wonder, when exactly was it signed?  You can take the historian out of the classroom; just don’t try to take the curiosity out of the historian.  The trick to getting a more accurate date is to find names that might contain a few clues.  Here, that would mean pitchers Jim Magnuson and Stan Perzanowski.

Magnuson appeared in fifteen games that season and Perzanowski in five.  Perzanowski pitched in two games in late June and three in September, so my guess is the ball dates to between June 20^th and the end of the month; the odds of getting a bunch of ballplayers to sign a ball the last week of the season can’t be that good.  Of course, it’s possible Perzanowski sat on a bench in the bullpen for months without pitching, but doubtful.  He went 18-4 in the minors that year, so it’s likely he was called up because of injury or for a look-see.

One name not on the ball belongs to pitcher Terry Forster’s.  He and I were both 19-year old rookies in 1971, the one a pitcher the other a college student.  I remember a game from early in the season, when Forster faced the up-and-coming Oakland A’s; he gave up two runs in 6.1 innings against a lineup that included Sal Bando, Bert Campanaris, Reggie Jackson and Joe Rudi.  It was one of those rare Sundays where I got the family car for my own devices.  All I ended up wanting to do was drive around and listen to the Sox game on the radio.

I thought Forster went up against Vida Blue that day, but I checked and it was Diego Segui.  If you’re going to have memories, best to keep them in order, I always say.