The man held the notepad in front of him as he
walked through the bleachers toward the first base dugout at Carl Lewton
Stadium.
Do you think Mr. Virdon would sign this?” he
asked.
Assured that he would, the man went into the
dugout and returned with the autograph of the man who played center field for
the 1960 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates.
All eyes were on the former all-star when he
stepped to the plate during the bottom half of that same inning.
Though he is
67, Virdon still looked amazingly like he did more than four decades earlier
when he played in the KOM League.
The first pitch hit the dirt well in front of
the plate. “Ball,” umpire Carl Lewton called out in his clear, distinctive
voice.
The next pitch was right down the middle and
Virdon ripped a line drive over the second baseman’s head into right field. He
stopped at first with a single.
“What did Virdon do?” one of his teammates, who
had been talking during the at-bat, asked.
Cal Hrabos turned to his friend and said, “Hell, he got a base hit.”
Bill Virdon had a lot of base hits during his
major league career, which included some time with the St. Louis Cardinals. He
was one of the lucky ones.
He was talented enough to be a success at the
major league level, but so were many of the other men who played baseball in
the KOM League. They stayed in places like Carthage, Iola, Pittsburg, Miami,
Independence, and Ponca City, waiting for opportunities that usually never
came. There were too many minor leagues and too many players who were too old
to play in the major leagues because they served their country during World War
II.
Bill Virdon was not at the KOM Reunion
Oldtimers Game Tuesday morning as the man who hit the big time. He was there to
see old friends, to be just one hero among many.
He was there to see old friends, like starting
pitcher Joe Beatka. Beatka was disappointed when the oldtimers game at the
first KOM Reunion, held in 1996 in Pittsburg, was rained out. At that time, he
promised he would play when the next game was held. Despite open heart surgery
and cataract surgery, he kept that promise.
The man who may have been the fastest man to
ever play in the KOM League, Jumpin’ Joe Pollock, was another one whose career
was derailed by the war, but that never erased the smile from his face.
He was in the lineup Tuesday despite have knee
replacement surgery on both knees. It would have been easy for him and some of
the other men, most of whom are in their 70s, to sit on the sidelines.
Joe, 77, shook his head. “I guess we still love
baseball.”
For Joe and the other love of his life, his
wife of more than half a century Mary, the KOM League holds many fond memories.
“I came here to the KOM League as a bride,”
Mary said. “The manager’s wife and the players’ wives took me under their wing.
We were like family.”
The special bond wasn’t just limited to the
players and their immediate families. “The people in the towns we played were
absolutely wonderful,” Joe said.
Joe, who played for the Miami, Pittsburg, and
Iola teams, drove opposing teams crazy during the 1946 and 1947 seasons, when
he attempted 123 stolen bases and was successful on 120 of them.
He and his teammates were much appreciated by
the community, he said. “The storeowners would give merchandise to the players,
maybe a free dinner or three pounds of ground beef.”
One night, when Joe stole six bases, including
home twice, he fans passed the hat and collected $150 for them. “And the
players were paid $150 a month at that time.”
After his days in the KOM League, Joe remained
active in baseball, coaching Babe Ruth ball for 26 years in Miami, where two of
his players, Steve and Tinker Owens, later became better known for their
football exploits.
More than half a century has passed, but Joe
and his bride have nothing but fond memories of the league that refuses to die.
“Those were wonderful times. We’re all just like a family,” Mary said.
“We still have that same kind of togetherness
and closeness,” Joe added. His wife agreed and she has no doubt why the passing
decades have not erased that bond.
“It’s because they love the game.”
(Originally published June 17, 1998)
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