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- Professional baseball player and coach. Played for the ClevelandIndians and coached for the Baltimore Orioles that I know of.Newsclipping in the possession of Jean Reid Edwards. Name and date ofthe paper are cut off. Must have been printed in 1990-1993. HUNTERTAKES A STROLL DOWN BASEBALL'S MEMORY LANE, Reflections, by BobFulton, Gazette Sports Reporter. A chat with Billy Hunter is likeopening a baseball history book. The past practically comes alive. Andin Hunter's case, the past is peopled by some of the game'sluminaries. He was, at various times in his career, teammateswith Roberto Clemente and Mickey Mantle and the ageless Satchel Paige.He experienced first-hand the dizzying daffiness of Yankee managerCasey Stengel and the antics of St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck,baseball's P. T. Barnum. And on an October afternoon in 1956 he had aclose-up view of perfection as Don Larsen set down the BrooklynDodgers in order. So while a football game has brought Hunterback to his old stomping grounds this weekend - the Towson Stateathletic director is in town for the Tigers' last scheduled meetingwith IUP - it's baseball that draws forth a string of stories thatmakes 45 minutes pass so quickly you'd swear it was only 45 seconds.The Indiana High grad spent more than three decades in professionalbaseball - as a player, manager, coach, and scout - so the tales flowfreely. What's amazing is that Hunter's pro career nearly began beforehis high school days ended. 'I was invited to spring trainingwith the Cardinals when I was 16,' he says. 'They offered me acontract with no bonus involved, so I didn't sign. I was anxious tostart my professional baseball career, but not that anxious.' Many bigleague teams signed teen-agers during World War 2 - the Reds' JoeNuxhall pitched in a game two months before his sixteenth birthday -because most of their veterans were serving in the military. ButHunter didn't take the bait. Ironically, the St. Louis shortstop backthen - Marty Marion - was later Hunter's first major league manager,the man in charge of the hapless Browns. After finishing up atIndiana High, Hunter headed across town to IUP - then known as IndianaState Teachers College - where he starred in baseball, basketball, andfootball. But after a year and a half at ISTC, baseball beckoned andHunter signed with Brooklyn. He reported to the team's springtraining camp in Vero Beach, Fla., along with hundreds of otherhopefuls, including a left-handed pitcher who remains in the Dodgers'employ to this day - Tommy Lasorda. Hunter's roommate was fellowshortstop Don Zimmer, another future big leaguer who went on tomanaging. But back then Hunter was just a youngster wondering if hewas in over his head. 'It was a shock coming out of WesternPennsylvania,' says Hunter. 'I had played three sports. I was a highlytouted athlete in those days. I get to Vero Beach and they had470-some baseball players. They all looked as good or better than Iwas. I thought, what in the hell did I get myself into?' But theDodgers saw promise in Hunter. They assigned him to their farm club inThree Rivers, Quebec (known north of the border as Trois-Rivieres),where he and two teammates stayed with a French-Canadian family for $5a week, the cost covering a daily breakfast. Hunter spent fiveseasons in the Brooklyn organization before the lowly Browns acquiredhim. Veeck was in his promoting prime back then, sending 3-foot-7Eddie Gaedel up to the plate one night, appointing 1,000 spectators as'grandstand managers' another, holding Joe Earley Night when anordinary fan - one Joe Earley - requested it. Anything to drum upbusiness for a last-place club. The Browns finished 54-100 in 1953, awhopping 46 1/2 games out of first. 'I had always played on a teamthat, if they didn't win it, they just missed winning it,' saysHunter. 'So it was my first experience at learning how to lose - whichwas not a good experience.' But while the team languished, therookie shortstop - always regrded as a slick gloveman - prospered atthe plate. 'I started out hitting like a house afire that year,'he says. 'I ended up at .219, but I think on June 10 I was in the topten or fifteen hitters in the American League with a .300-plusaverage.' Hunter was performing so solidly, in fact, that he wasselected to play in the All-Star Game at Cincinnati's Crosley Field.The Browns' only other representative was Paige, a relief pitcher whowas then in his final full season at the age of 47. 'To be quitehonest I didn't even take a bat with me,' says Hunter. 'There werefive shortstops on that American League club - Phil Rizzuto (Yankees),Chico Carrasquel (White Sox), Harvey Kuenn (Tigers), myself and MiltBolling of the Red Sox. I did get in the game, though.' As pinchrunner for Mantle, who pulled a leg muscle beating out a grounder inthe seventh inning. The other highlight for Hunter that seasonwas Bobo Holloman's no-hitter against Philadelphia - in Holloman'sfirst major league start, no less. Ironically, he was back in theminors 2 1/2 months later, his big league win total stuck forever atthree. Hunter made the key play in the game, diving to his leftto rob Joe Astroth of a hit in the eighth inning. Afterwards, Hollomancalled it 'the greatest play I've ever seen.' 'I had played theyear before in Puerto Rico with Bobo,' says Hunter, whose Santurceclub won the Caribbean Winter League title. 'We had an 18-year old kidin left field by the name of Roberto Clemente.' The Browns movedto Baltimore and became the Orioles in 1954. That November Hunterearned a place in baseball history as part of the largest trade evermade, an 18 player swap with the Yankees. After suffering through 200losses in his first two major league seasons, Hunter suddenly foundhimself adjusting to a winning climate. New York captured AL pennantsin both of his years with the club. Unfortunately, Hunter did notappear in either World Series. A late-season broken ankle shelved himin '55; Gil McDougald handled shortstop duties in'56, when Hunter,still hobbled, played in only 39 games. 'My biggestdisappointment was the fact that we played seven games in the WorldSeries in 1956 and I didn't get in a game,' he says. 'Every timeStengel would move I'd move and sit down beside him. I'd ask him if herealized I was still on the club.' At least Larsen knew he was.As a memento of his perfect performance in Game 5, the right-handerpresented his teammates with a plaque that featured a photo taken ashe delivered the final pitch, second baseman Billy Martin and theright-field scoreboard with its ominous string of zeroes visible inthe background. Hunter has one on a shelf in his office at TSU.He takes it down and reads the inscription: 'Presented to Billy Hunterwith sincerest appreciation for your efforts and contribution inaccomplishing the first perfect game in World Series history.Gratefully, Don Larsen.' Now that's a keepsake. Of sourse, justplaying for the Yankees of that era was something to cherish. UnderStengel the Bronx Bombers won seven world championships in a 10-yearspan. Not only was the 'Ol' Professor' a winner, he was a charmingcharacter. This was a guy, who, as a Pirate outfielder in 1918,stepped to the plate and doffed his cap to a cheering crowd. When asparrow flew out, he deadpanned that he had no idea the bird was eventhere. In later years his convoluted Stengelisms inspired bothlaughter and confusion in listeners. 'He thoroughly enjoyed gettingthat group of media around him,' says Hunter. 'He just led them on amerry old chase.' Hunter was dealt to Kansas City floowing the '56season and finished his major league career with Cleveland in 1958. Hescouted some for the Indians and then began a 13 1/2 year stint as theOrioles' third-base coach in 1964. Hunter added two more World Serieschampionship rings with the Birds (1966 and 1970) and then followed inthe footsteps of old Casey himself, becoming a manager with Texas inJune of 1977. He led the Rangers to a sparkling 60-33 record the restof the way and was runner-up in the AL Manager of the Year balloting.Hunter proved that was no fluke in 1978, again leading Texas to asecond-place finish in the AL West. Hunter arrived at Towson in1979 as the school's baseball coach - a post he held for nine years -and was promoted to AD in 1984. He played an integral role in startingthe football series between Towson and his old school, IUP. Butwhile it's football that brings Hunter back home this weekend, it'sbaseball that spawns a thousand memories. Here's a guy who played withClemente and Mantle and under Stengel, who appeared in a major leagueall-star game as a rookie, who comprised one-18th of the largest tradeever made and who witnessed World Series perfection in 1956. Soif you enjoy baseball history, books are nice. But a chat with BillyHunter is an even better way to make the past come alive. According toJean Reid Edwards, Billy graduated from Indiana High School in 1947.
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