whitey ford, rip

 Yankee pitching great, Whitey Ford, died last Thursday, a couple weeks short of his 92nd birthday.

Ford was the third (as far as I know) Hall of Fame pitcher to die in the last month and a half. Tom Seaver died on August 31 -- I wrote about that here because I was a huge fan of his as a child. Bob Gibson passed away on October 2. And if we're looking at Hall of Famers who weren't pitchers, there's also Lou Brock who passed away on September 6. I didn't blog about Gibson's or Brock's deaths because I didn't really have anything to say about either. They both played for the Cardinals*, and I was never much of a fan of either. Which is not to say I had anything against them.

I had never followed Whitey Ford's career -- it ended in 1967, which was before I had developed any interest in baseball. So during my childhood he was simply one more historical baseball figure -- and one more in a long line of Yankee greats. But I did develop an interest in him a bit later because of an incident during my high school years. Ford lived in Lake Success, a village in Great Neck on Long Island. By coincidence, my grandparents also lived in Lake Success, a short walk away from him.

At some point my grandparents were passing Whitey's house and saw him outside. They asked him if he would autograph a baseball for their grandson. He graciously agreed. And then, also gave them one of his baseball cards. I'll always remember that extra gesture as the kind act of a true gentleman. I don't still have the baseball -- one of the dogs we had chewed it up. But I still have the card -- see the accompanying picture. That's his 1967 card. I also have his cards from 1953, 1954, 1959, 1960 and 1965. But I got those through more-conventional methods -- I bought them at baseball card conventions. None mean as much to me as the '67 card.

This leaves me with two questions that will never really be answered. First, why did my grandparents happen to have a baseball in their car? I almost wonder if they kept it there "just in case" they ran into Whitey? I'll stick with that explanation since it makes me feel the best. The second question is why nobody thought to ask him to autograph the card he gave them for me? But I suppose I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Whitey wasn't under any obligation to even sign the ball for them. But going inside and getting out a baseball card to give them? That goes way above and beyond.

RIP Mr. Ford.

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*Lou Brock began his career with the Cubs. But he was traded to the Cards before I was born, and is primarily known as a Cardinal.