OPINION: Baseball on the Radio Was Just Better
"Time begins on Opening Day," said longtime Washington Post baseball writer Tom Boswell. Today, Donnie Johnston reminds us why.
By Donnie Johnston
COLUMNIST
I had an old buddy over in Orange named Lindsay Woolfolk who coached baseball for many years at Louisa County High School.
Lindsay and I both loved baseball and were students of the game, discussing teams and strategies every time we got together.
Both of us grew up listening to games on the radio and had a special fascination for those old broadcasts.
“Many nights I go out and sit in my car and listen to games on the radio,” Lindsay once told me. “Just seems better that way.”
Many nights I sat with my Uncle Bill in his front yard listening to games in the dark. Pittsburgh Pirate games on KDKA or WWVA in Wheeling, Baltimore Oriole games in WBAL, St. Louis Cardinal games on KMOX and Detroit Tiger games on WJR.
My uncle had an electric outlet installed on the side of a big maple tree and we plugged the radio into that. We had one of those old round metal outdoor tables that we sat around listing to Bob Prince (Pirates), Chuck Thompson (Baltimore), Harry Caray (St. Louis) and Ernie Harwell (Detroit).
This was AM radio and you couldn’t get a clear signal until it got dark and all the small local stations either went off the air or reduced power. Then those big 50,000-watters came in loud and clear – unless there was a thunderstorm somewhere between Uncle Bill’s front yard and the broadcast antenna. Then you fought the static, which always came after the announcer cried, “There’s a long fly ball…”
These days on satellite TV I get almost every game that is played that day. Sometimes I could watch baseball non-stop from 1 PM until 1 AM. I see all the great catches and all the homeruns, but it is not the same as sitting out there in the yard and hearing the call on radio and imaging just how far Willie Mays’ homerun went or how fast Bob Feller’s fastball actually was.
Baseball on AM radio was special.
We have a kid at Eastern View High School in Culpeper who is pretty good. Good arm, good speed, power, quick bat, good glove man. His name is Tyler Caperton. Just a sophomore. If he continues to improve, he figures to be no worse than a second-round draft pick when he graduates.
In my opinion, he is the beast prospect to come out of the area since Alonso Bumby, who had a good career with the Orioles and a couple of other teams
I was thinking the other day about some of the best players I have seen and played against in the area, and there have been some good ones.
Bumbry is the bast player from the Fredericksburg area I ever played against. He was a good contact hitter and a great fielder. I remember playing a game against the old Stafford Braves at Maury Stadium and seeing one of our players hit a fly ball into the centerfield trees.
Bumbry went into the dark (those old football lights were pretty low) and came out of the trees with the ball. Did he actually catch it? I still don’t know, but he said he did and no one - not even members of my team – disputed his word. He was fun to play against.
Richard Slaughter was the best hitter Culpeper produced during my lifetime. He hit left-handed and had the most beautiful level swing you can imagine. He had power and he could beat you with a clean single. And he could flash leather at first base.
Only injuries from a car wreck prevented him from playing professional ball.
Jeff Cempre was also a great hitter from Culpeper and established a number of records at James Madison University.
The best hitter I ever played with and against was a guy named Lynn Meadows from Harrisonburg. I never saw a more pure hitter in my life. He was leading the County League in hitting at 45.
The best pitcher I ever faced – and I batted against several Major Leaguers - was G. L. Haney from Orange. He had a riding fastball, good breaking stuff, could change speeds and had excellent control.
Haney got to Triple-A Richmond in the Yankee organization but came along at a time when the Yankees had Whitey Ford, Johnny Kucks and half a dozen other quality pitchers. G. L. could never quite break into the New York rotation.
His younger brother, Larry, did make it to the Majors with Baltimore and one or two other clubs. And Larry’s son, Chris, also made it to the big leagues.
There are other good players I remember. Aubrey Clore from Madison had a great fastball, Hugh Waln from Warrenton lead a class-A league in hitting and Mike Cubbage from Charlottesville played with the Mets and faced us many times in American Legion ball.
Talking area baseball, let’s not forget Dick Bowie, who coached the Stafford Braves in the 1960s and 70s and scouted for Baltimore for several decades. Good guy and knowledgeable baseball man.
Remembering good baseball players as a new season begins.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.
