The year was 1934 and the place was Mobile -- Alabama's port city that sits quietly off Interstate 10 along the Gulf Coast.
His dad, Herbert, was a hard-working boilermaker's helper, a job where the sweat was free but everything else came at a price for black families like his living in the Deep South. Herbert and his wife, Estella, however, knew how to make due on the $75 or so he would bring home a month.
He was the couple's third child -- out of seven -- and despite the fact he didn't really play any serious baseball until his late teenage years, he would someday become one of the game's greatest players. Not an easy thing to since it would be 13 years after he was born before Jackie Robinson would break the color barrier in what was called "The Great Experiment."
HE SAW HIS FIRST professional game as a young kid, and then soon found himself skipping school to watch a minor-league game in Mobile whenever he could. That didn't sit well with his parents, who felt his education was the most important thing in life he could ever achieve. He realized that and started rewarding their patience for his slips with good grades.
Even today, when he speaks of his role models, he doesn't talk about Robinson, or Babe Ruth or Joe Dimaggio. He talks about his parents.
"Well actually my mother and father were my role models," he said. "There were lots of people that I idolized, people that I wanted to be like, but it really just stopped there. ... My mother was a role model to me, because growing up in Mobile, Alabama, when I had an earache or toothache late at night, she was the one who let me lay down next to her stomach, and some of the pain was relieved. To me, and I'm only one person, that's a role model."
Too poor to afford baseballs, a glove or a bat, he first started swatting a ball of wrapped up rags with his mother's house broom.
HE ATTENDED AN all-black grade school -- segregation was still in full force -- and then went on to Mobile Central High. They didn't have a baseball team at the school, but the kid was so convinced that this sport was his life's calling he joined a fast-pitch softball league and a local sandlot team to hone his fundamentals.
At first, he didn't seem like anything special, but folks soon took notice when he connected and sent the ball out of sight. And he played each game like it was the decider in a World Series or something.
"I NEVER SMILE when I have a bat in my hands," he told a newspaper reporter years later. "That's when you've got to be serious. When I get out on the field, nothing is a joke to me. I don't feel like I should walk around with a smile on my face."
The Mobile Black Bears, a semi-pro team, spotted him and gave him a $10-per-game deal to play for the club. The 15-year-old kid gladly accepted the offer and when he turned 18, he the Indianapolis Clowns in the Negro American League came calling.
Funny name, sure. But baseball was serious business for him. And even though some weeks he would see 10 games, he still played as hard as he could. And that is what led the Boston Braves to take a serious look at this very quiet youngster.
"I've been misunderstood by a lot of people, simply because I don't talk a lot. And when I do talk, people think that I'm an angry person," he has said. "I'm not an angry person, because I feel that an angry person is not a successful person."
IN 1952, THE BRAVES purchased his contract for $10,000 and sent him to their minor-league club in Eau Claire, Wis. He was the Northern League's rookie of the year that season.
The following year, the Braves moved to Milwaukee and the club sent their young star to Jacksonville in the Sally league. By the end of that season, he had won team MVP honors. And he also married his first wife, Barbara Lucas, in October that year. Spring training the next year brought loads of hope for the young man and his growing family. The Braves invited him to their camp in Bradenton, Fla.
No one was totally sure if he was ready but then fate stepped in on March 13, 1954, when future Hall of Fame outfielder Bobby Thomson broke his ankle while sliding into second. The team immediately took this young infielder and put him in left to fill in for the injured Thomson.
From there, as they say the rest is history.
Who is he? If you don't know, then click here for the rest of this story.
Hey Irishman, can you tell me what was the last World Series to be played at just one location?
-- From Stacey the Stat hound at Husker place.
Yep. It was in 1944 when the St. Louis Cardinals beat the St. Louis Browns, 4-2, at Sportsman's Park in St. Louie, of course.
I got you on this one, Mr. Minutia. Who was the first ballplayer to hit 50 homers in 400 at-bats or less?
-- From Joey the Gunner at a netcom place.
No you don't, pal Joey. It was the redhead, Mark McGwire, last year. I had him on my fantasy team.
Hey Irishman, where the heck have you been?
From a Trivia Fanatic in the great state of Florida.
I have been on vacation, Fan. But then, some accuse me of doing just that year-round anyway.
1) In 1957, his 11th inning homer gave Milwaukee the National League pennant. Who did the Braves play in the Series that year and what happened? Give up?
2) Who was the manager of that Milwaukee club? Give up?
3) What was his career batting average? Give up?
4) What milestone did he reach in 1963? Give up?
5) Sure, you know he hit the record-breaker off Al Downing. But who did he hit the record-tying homer off of? Give up?
Mike Emmett has been kicking around sports departments in newspapers and online operations around the U.S. for years. Got something to say to the Irishman? Email him with a click here.
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