It was an ordinary day. Reading about one of my all-time favorite baseball players who played for my Philadelphia Phillies. Richie Ashburn, known to just about every Phillies fan, as "Whitey", was a fantastic ballplayer who joined the team in 1948 after serving in the U.S. Military. In his very first season he played in 117 games, had a batting average over .333 as well as stealing 32 bases. He was one of the "Whiz Kids" who made our Phillies one of the best teams in baseball.
 |
| Richie "Whitey" Ashburn |
After ten years of playing for the Phillies he managed the best batting average in the National League, posting a .338 average in 1955 and a .350 average in his final year. In his rookie year he was runner-up in batting average and two years later he batted .341 and finished second to Stan Musial who batted .355. He led the National League in singles four times as well as leading the league in triples twice.  |
| Ashburn baseball card |
In 1950 he won the triples crown with 14 and in 1958 with 13. He had a knack of getting on base which was proven four times during his career when he led the league in on-base percentage; posting a .441 in 1954, .449 in 1955, .440 in 1958 and .415 in 1960 when he was playing for the Chicago Cubs. He also led the league in walks in 1954, 1957, 1958 and 1960. During his 2,189 games he had 234 stolen bases. He led the league in plate appearances four times, games played twice and fewest errors six times. He led my Phillies to the World Series in 1950, but couldn't take them to the championship which was won by the hated New York Yankees. He provided me, as well as all Phillie fans, with many on-field memories. But, one of the biggest memories took place in the stands when on August 17, 1957, when the Phillies were playing the New York Giants at Connie Mack Stadium. Nearly 8,000 fans were in attendance when Richie fouled off a pitch. It headed towards third base where it struck a lady by the name of Alice Roth, who was the wife of The Philadelphia Bulletin sports editor, The foul ball struck her in the face and broke her nose. Play was paused as medics tended to Alice who by now had blood all over the fans and seats near her. The medics loaded Alice onto a stretcher and began to carry her from the area when Richie stepped back into the batter's box.  |
| Medics helping Alice Roth after being hit by Richie's foul ball. |
The next pitch was fouled off and headed...yep... in the same direction where it hit Alice while she lay on the stretcher and broke a bone in her leg. Now, what are the chances of that happening? Can you imagine how bad Richie must have felt. Alice never sat close to the field again. Richie and Alice did become friends shortly after the occurrence and Richie later wrote for the Philadelphia Bulletin where Alice's husband worked. The newspaper wrote that the odds of that happening to someone are 300,000 to 1. My guess would have been a little higher than that! At least the Phillies won the game 3-1 with Ashburn in his typical lead-off spot going 2-4 with a double. The electric "Whiz Kid" was one of my all-time favorite players in baseball. Came in a close second to my all-time favorite, Willie Mays. |
| My two favorites...Richie and Willie |
But, whenever the Phils played the Giants, Richie was my "man." And, I tried to mimic Richie when I played baseball as a young child and teenager. Only problem was I was slow, had to wear glasses to see the ball, and couldn't run a "lick." Hey, I knew there could only be one Richie, so I didn't feel bad when I came in second to him all the time! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
Very interesting, I needed to know that.
ReplyDelete