the Autograph Corner
SIXTEEN
GAMES IN THE MAJORS
(Thanks to Dennis Taylor of the Monterey Herald for
forwarding the article about Mr Loane's passing)
Only sixteen games in the
majors. What happened? At one time Bob Leone was favorably
compared to Joe DiMaggio. When in AAA ball with the
Portland Beavers, Mr Loane caught the attention of an Oregon
sports columnist. "Joe DiMaggio, the youthful outfielder,
put himself into the (minor league) hall of fame with a
brilliant hitting streak which extended through 61 games,"
George Bertz wrote in 1933, "but Thomas L. Turner, president
of the Portland team, believes that the Beavers have the
greatest outfield prospect in the circuit. Bob Loane is the
player Turner has in mind."
Bob Loane walked away from
baseball though. After being traded to the Chicago Cubs
after the 1940 season, Loane, who was a husband and a father
at the time, walked away from the game to accept a job with
the Allis-Chalmers Corporation. "I was making $5500 a year
in the big leagues and there was just no way to raise a
family on that," Loane told the Monterey Herald in March,
2000. "I'd get done playing ball and have to go work for
somebody in the off-seasons, just to exist."
Maybe the time it took to get a
shot in the majors had discouraged him. It was 1939 by the
time he got to Boston. As short as his major league career
was though, he had the opportunity to rub shoulders with
some of the greats of the game, and he held his own while he
played. He actually got to play for the zany Casey Stengel,
and got the chance to test his skill against Lefty Grove,
Dizzy Dean and the legendary Carl Hubbell. He hit a home
run off Schoolboy Rowe, and in an aggressive slide into
second base, caused an injury to "The Lip" that ended Leo
Durocher's playing career. He harvested some great memories
of the game that he held fast to the rest of his life.
His sports career did not end
when he walked away from baseball though. He turned to
golf, and twice qualified for the U.S. Amateur Golf
Championships. He lost to McGregor Hunter in 1947 at Pebble
Beach, and in 1952, when he qualified again, he again chose
to put business ahead of play and forewent the opportunity
to travel to Seattle to participate. He continued to enjoy
golf throughout his life though, and even at age 85 he was
shooting nine-hole scores as low as 38. Mr. Loane worked
most of his career as a chemical engineer for Georgia
Pacific. He also enjoyed writing sports briefs for two
local newspapers. He also served in the Merchant Marine
during the off-season form baseball from 1933-40.
Mr. Loane may have not had the
career of Joe DiMaggio, but you have to respect his
priorities and unselfishness in putting his family ahead of
his dream. If you're fortunate enough to have his
autograph, as I do, hopefully you've enjoyed this chance to
get a clearer picture of the man.
NOT TOO
LUCKY FISHING FOR MUDCAT
Ever have a player whom you have
had no luck getting an autograph back from, even though
people that you know seem to have little trouble getting him
to sign for them? Jim "Mudcat" Grant is one of these for
me. I'd written to him at least twice with no response,
then blundered upon his website and asked him via e-mail if
he'd mind me sending him a couple of items to sign. He
answered in the affirmative, so maybe I'll snag
him yet. It's been a couple months though. Whatever my
results. I urge you to check out his website. Puch up "Mudcat"
Grant on the "search" mode and you'll find it. There's a
lot of good reading and baseball history on his site, from
his time in the Negro Leagues to his minor league stints in
backwaters like Keokuk, Iowa, to his glory years with the
Indians and his great seasons with the Minnesota Twins, one
of which took him to the World Series. Check it out.
BOWMAN DRAFT
PICK "Si", UD MINOR LEAGUE
"No."I can't say
enough about the new Bowman Draft pick cards. What a great
selection of up-and-coming prospects. For collectors like
me who enjoy getting minor league autographs, you'll be
pleased with the representation of even A ballplayers. I
bought two boxes and came very close to completing a set.
What's with Upper Deck? Their
new Minor League set is another example of their marketing
department attempting to please too many collectors and not
pleasing any. What's with the 100 plus team logo cards? I
want ballplayers. Upper Deck's cards are beautiful, of
course, but if you are in the Midwest League like me, or any
of the other class A leagues, you won't find much for you in
this set. You're better off buying singles. I know that
I'll be fishing e-bay for what I need from this set.
MIDWEST
LEAGUE OFF-SEASON MOVES
Well, I know 30 of the 42
Midwest League managers and coaches now and am busy hunting
up cards for the new arrivals. 16 of them are names that
will be returning from last year, but some of the new ones
are Billy White, Barbaro Garbey, Dan Carlson, Hector
delaCruz, Webster Garrison and Mike Harkey. I'm especially
impressed to see that Derek Lilliquist will be the new
pitching coach for the Peoria Chiefs, Eddie Williams will be
the new Kane County hitting coach, and George Hendrick will
be Fort Wayne's new manager. I've heard that George can be
a very tough, almost impossible autograph to get. I hope
that the stories I"ve heard are wrong. People change, and
hopefully in a Midwest League environment he'll be
fan-friendly.
Well, that's it for now. Take
care, and have fun with the hobby. I sure do.
~ Rich Hanson
