I might be the luckiest man to ever play for the Giants. I was born in Los Angeles, played baseball for South Gate HS (I'm in their Hall of Fame) and died in San Jose. In between, I survived...
- A troop train crash in WWII
- Normandy Beach landing
- Battle of the Bulge
The soldier next to me was killed on four separate occasions in WWII. When I returned from the war, I had to give up my plane seat to higher ranking military personnel scheduled to fly from New Jersey to my home in LA...and that plane crashed, killing everybody on board.
In 1946, I played for the Class B Spokane Indians of the Western International League. During a meal, I was contacted by the big club and promoted to the AAA San Diego Padres. The order was to leave immediately, so I did. In the ensuing departure, there was a horrific bus crash and most of my teammates died, the remainder were badly injured.
I reached the majors with the Giants in 1947, same year as Jackie Robinson. I hit 11 HRs my rookie season, and one of them broke the major league team home run record set by the Yankees. When Durocher took over as manager, he wanted his own players, so he sent me down to AAA but I played so well, he brought me back up. Durocher had hoped to trade me and Bobby Thomson for Andy Pafko earlier in the season. In the famous "Shot Heard Round the World" game, I was warming up to come play the infield if the game went to extra innings because Don Mueller broke his ankle, but Thomson hit the home run over Andy Pafko in left field, and the Giants won the pennant! as Russ Hodges would say. I played for the Phillies for the next two years, then the last five years of my career in the Pacific Coast League.
My son John is the General Manager of a 6x league champion minor league baseball team in Alaska, having graduated from Santa Clara in 1979.
Post baseball, I was the head of security for Lockheed. Despite all the risks in my early life, I lived to age 85.
Who am I?
- A troop train crash in WWII
- Normandy Beach landing
- Battle of the Bulge
The soldier next to me was killed on four separate occasions in WWII. When I returned from the war, I had to give up my plane seat to higher ranking military personnel scheduled to fly from New Jersey to my home in LA...and that plane crashed, killing everybody on board.
In 1946, I played for the Class B Spokane Indians of the Western International League. During a meal, I was contacted by the big club and promoted to the AAA San Diego Padres. The order was to leave immediately, so I did. In the ensuing departure, there was a horrific bus crash and most of my teammates died, the remainder were badly injured.
I reached the majors with the Giants in 1947, same year as Jackie Robinson. I hit 11 HRs my rookie season, and one of them broke the major league team home run record set by the Yankees. When Durocher took over as manager, he wanted his own players, so he sent me down to AAA but I played so well, he brought me back up. Durocher had hoped to trade me and Bobby Thomson for Andy Pafko earlier in the season. In the famous "Shot Heard Round the World" game, I was warming up to come play the infield if the game went to extra innings because Don Mueller broke his ankle, but Thomson hit the home run over Andy Pafko in left field, and the Giants won the pennant! as Russ Hodges would say. I played for the Phillies for the next two years, then the last five years of my career in the Pacific Coast League.
My son John is the General Manager of a 6x league champion minor league baseball team in Alaska, having graduated from Santa Clara in 1979.
Post baseball, I was the head of security for Lockheed. Despite all the risks in my early life, I lived to age 85.
Who am I?
Audaces fortuna iuvat