The "Oh, How I Wish I Had Been A One-Hit Wonder!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading an article written by Anthony Castrovoince who is a well-known writer for Major League Baseball.  I recently published a story about a gift I matted and framed for my grandson, Caden.  The entire time I spent working on the project brought back fond memories of my baseball playing days as a youngster in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  I began my career at the age of 12 when I played for a pretty good team known as the Schick Midget-Midget team.  Played first base since the only glove I owned was a first baseman's mitt.  Played well enough that I was invited at the end of the season to play for a team known as the Young Republicans the following year.  We too were very good and were the Jr. Midget Champions of the state of Pennsylvania.  The entire season I played first base for the team.  The following year I decided to play for a team that had most of my friends on it where I went to school.  

The Grandview Heights Midgets.  I am middle row,
second from the left.  

We were the Grandview Heights Midgets with an age limit of 16 years old.  I happened to be only 14, but managed to be the second best batter on the team with an average of .374.  Since they had an older guy who was about a foot taller than me, he played first base and I was moved to third base.  I managed to play in the All-Star game 2 of those 3 years I played for Grandview.  American Legion Ball came next and I played for the Elks.  Once again, I was the third baseman.  Baseball was the love of my live...until I learned to drive!  Then I just had to have a car so baseball took a second seat on my list of things that were important.  Needed a job to have a car so that's what I did instead of baseball.  Made the high school team as a Freshman, but quit when I was offered a job at the local supermarket.  Worse mistake I ever made in my life, but no one ever tried to change my mind for me.  I think back on those day and the only thing I would have changed was giving up baseball.  Perhaps I may have had the chance to live my dream and be a professional baseball player.  Never happened for me.  Both my sons played baseball with my oldest receiving a full scholarship to Villanova to play baseball.  In his senior year at college he was told by the San Francisco Giants that they were going to draft him, but a couple of weeks before the draft he tore his rotator cuff in his pitching arm and that was the end of his professional career.  Well, today after reading an article by Mr. Castrovince about one-hit wonders, it brought back so many memories once again.  In modern Major League Baseball history, 154 position players (those that do not consider pitching their best position) had only one chance to bat in their major league career.  And, only 16 of those can claim to have had a hit.  Their batting average in their lifetime was 1.000.  Of those 16, only five are still living.  Mr. Castrovince wrote about each of them and told about their hit in the major leagues.  I found them all fun to read, but when I read about a fellow named Roe Skidmore, it made me feel as if it were me in his position.  Roe was a first baseman in the Cubs organization.  Well, his dad, a shoe salesman, happened to be working the day his son was called up to the Cubs from the minor leagues.  As he was in the back room looking for a pair of shoes for a customer, he heard his son's name on the radio that was in the back room.  He was announced as the next batter.  Roe was picked by his manager, Leo Durocher, to pinch hit, since the Cubs were getting hammered and he didn't want any of the regulars to get injured.  

Card for Roe Skidmore.  Click to enlarge.

The year was 1970 and the 24-year-old Roe stood in the batter's box, more than likely with knees shaking, looking for a pitch to hit.  He knew the pitcher, Jerry Reuss, since he had played against him in the minors.  The now 73-year-old Skidmore followed a breaking ball to the plate and hit a line drive to left field.  It went over Joe Torre's head and centerfielder Lou Brock fielded the ball, threw it to second to keep Roe at first.  Roe was immediately replaced in the lineup the next inning by a fellow by the name of Jim Dungeon and never got into another Major League Game.  Funny how one tends to remember EVERY detail when it only happened once in his lifetime.  So, what does it mean to go 1 for 1?  Means his name will be in the annals of  Professional baseball for ever!  Oh, if only I had been able to have been Roe for one at-bat.  Just to see my name in a Major League Baseball book would have been fabulous.  That's something that can never be taken away from him.  As for me, my name is in the little pamphlet I have been saving with the statistics from my playing years with the Grandview Heights Midgets.  Hey, I was their No. 2 batter during my stay with them.  But, I would have traded being #2 in a heartbeat to be able to say I batted just one measly time in the Majors!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.