ТОП просматриваемых книг сайта:
The Local Boys. Joe Heffron
Читать онлайн.Название The Local Boys
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781578605545
Автор произведения Joe Heffron
Жанр Спорт, фитнес
Издательство Ingram
The 1989 season was a difficult one for the Reds, with manager Pete Rose’s suspension and numerous injuries. Benzinger, however, played in 161 games, leading the league in official at-bats with 628. He also hit 17 home runs and 76 RBI, while leading the team with 79 runs scored. In 1990, the team bounced back big time, going wire to wire, a championship run that culminated with Benzinger’s catch. But in that season, the Reds traded for first baseman Hal Morris, and Benzinger’s playing time dwindled. On July 11, 1991, the Reds dealt him to Kansas City, where he hit .294 but was traded again after the season to the Dodgers. He played his final three seasons with the Giants, ending his career in 1995.
After baseball, he focused on getting a degree in education and on raising his two daughters and son. He has coached the girls’ basketball teams at Seven Hills and at Loveland High School, and for two years managed the Reds’ Class A affiliate Dayton Dragons. Though he gave Reds fans many fine moments during his time with the team, we’ll always remember him mostly for making The Catch.
JIM BLACKBURN
JUNE 19, 1924–OCTOBER 26, 1969
Major League Career
1948; 1951
Time as a Red
1948; 1951
Position
PITCHER
MANY PLAYERS IN THE 1940s LOST SIGNIFICANT YEARS from their baseball careers while serving in the military during World War II. Jim Blackburn nearly lost his life.
Born in Warsaw, Kentucky, Blackburn grew up in Northside, after the family moved to Cincinnati during the Depression. “Things were bad. You couldn’t make any money down on those little farms,” says Jim’s brother Millard. “My dad got a job at a box-springs factory.”
Blackburn attended Chase Elementary and Hughes High School, where his pitching prowess caught the eye of major league scouts. A big (6′4″ and 190 pounds), hard-throwing right-hander, he was signed by the Reds after graduating, going to the minors when he was 17. He spent two years in D ball in the Georgia-Florida League, not pitching particularly well, and then moved up to AA Syracuse in 1943, where he was 0–3 with a 5.31 ERA in 39 innings.
According to his profile on baseballinwartime.com, he was inducted into the Army in March 1944 and was stationed at Fort Wheeler in Georgia until he left for Europe. During the infamous Nazi counter-offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge, Sergeant Blackburn led a light machine-gun troop into combat, where his ankle was shattered before he was captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp. He was declared missing in action on December 23.
“That was a Christmas present my mom didn’t want,” recalls Millard. “We didn’t find out what happened until April. You just didn’t know. We didn’t want to think he was killed.”
While a prisoner, he nearly starved to death, dropping to 115 pounds, says Millard. After being released in April 1945, he was sent to an army hospital in Cleveland to recover. Still rail thin from the war, he returned to the Reds for spring training in 1946, where he earned the nickname “Bones.”
“He never got his full weight back,” Millard says. “And with his bad ankle, he never was the same pitcher.” Somehow he recovered enough that, after three years at Class A Columbia, he made his major league debut, on July 24, 1948. When starter Johnny Vander Meer was shelled in the first two innings, Blackburn came in and pitched 4.1 innings, giving up two runs on six hits. He remained with the Reds that season, appearing in 16 games, all in relief. With a 1.608 WHIP (he surrendered 38 hits and 14 walks in 32.1 innings), he wasn’t exactly putting out fires and was sent to the minors. Then in 1950 at AA Tulsa, he posted a 21–7 record with a 2.73 ERA in 234 innings, which put him back on management’s radar. He was called up in 1951, appearing in two games in relief. In 3.2 innings, he gave up seven runs, including three home runs.
He didn’t pitch in the majors again. The Reds traded him to the Yankees, and he put in a couple more minor league seasons before calling it quits at the age of 29.
He took a job at a Coca-Cola bottling plant, where he worked for a number of years. During that time, he taught himself archery, mastering the sport well enough to run a program for the Cincinnati Recreation Commission. Several of his students went on to national and world competitions, including Nancy Vonderheide Kleinman, who became a world champion.
He also became an accomplished fisherman and, according to his obituary in the Cincinnati Enquirer, “was a professional fly tier” and a recognized horseman.
“Anything he got his fingers into, he would go all the way with it,” says Millard. “That’s how he was with baseball and with other things later.”
Blackburn eventually became a manager at Brendamour’s Sporting Goods downtown. He and his wife, Coral, had no children, but he took a keen interest in teaching young people. Then at just 46, he suffered a fatal heart attack and died suddenly. Millard says heart problems were hereditary and not associated with his war experience. After packing so much into a short life and defying so many odds, Jim Blackburn’s time simply had come.
JIM BOLGER
FEBRUARY 23, 1932–
Major League Career
1950–1959
Time as a Red
1950–1951; 1954
Position
OUTFIELD
JIM BOLGER NEVER GOT A PLAQUE IN THE HALL OF FAME, but he once pinch-hit for a guy who did—Ernie Banks. It happened in 1957 with the Chicago Cubs. Banks was injured during a game, and Bolger took his place at the plate. He made the most of the opportunity, whacking a home run.
Asked how that felt, Bolger has no response. A matter-of-fact guy, you sense he doesn’t talk much about feelings. But his pragmatic nature might have been the key to his success as a pinch hitter. That year he led the National League with 17 pinch hits in 48 at-bats for a .355 average. He says his approach was simple: “I just felt—you either do it or you don’t. I’d swing at the first thing that looked good. I didn’t want to give them a chance to get ahead of me.”
For most of his nine-year pro career, Bolger hit well when he got regular playing time. Good with a glove, he played all outfield positions.
A native of Mariemont, he graduated in 1950 from Purcell (now Purcell Marian) High School, where he drew citywide acclaim, mostly in football as a star running back. That acclaim led to scholarship offers from many schools, including Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue, and Indiana. But the Reds offered a three-year major league contract. Bolger grabbed the latter, signing on June 20.
Four days later, he got into his first game as a Red—as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning against the Giants. Given that the Giants were winning 12–2, there wasn’t much defending to do. As for how he felt putting on a Reds uniform for the first time, Bolger maintains his matter-of-fact tone, noting, “I was very proud that they wanted me. I wanted to stay in my hometown if I could.” After his cup of coffee, Bolger was sent to Class A Charleston, where he hit .277 until breaking his leg sliding into first base on a pick-off attempt.
Though he missed the rest of the season, the injury didn’t have much impact on his career. But he believes another issue might have—he began wearing glasses. “A lot of people looked down on players who wore glasses,” he says. “They thought you couldn’t see.” A coach once told him he couldn’t play center field with glasses. “Couldn’t play center field?” Bolger says. “I led the Sally League in putouts wearing glasses.”
The