American Valor Quarterly Issue 11 - Fall 2014 | Page 16

Haraz N. Ghanbari/The Associated Press second game, and Williams hit one back hard off of my leg and it rolled to the right field fence. It had hit me on the edge of the guard I had on my leg, knocking me down and sending the ball bouncing to the right field wall. He ran to first and stopped. Then he called time and came over. I was still on the ground, and my inclination was to check myself out before trying to stand up to feel if anything was broken. I looked up at him just to ask him, “Why don’t you pull the ball?” Well, he laughed at that comment, and I completed the ballgame and won it. Later that year, we were playing in Philadelphia, and he hit a home run off me. And as he rounded second base, I turned my back to the plate and yelled out at him, “I didn’t mean pull it that far!” He got a big laugh out of that. I think those two incidents really brought us together as individuals. He became a very good and thoughtful friend especially after we both finished competing. But that was the story, and it really did happen. In ’49, I made the All Star team. It 16 was probably my best year. I got to pitch a little more regularly. And with the ’49 season, we had a good run for the pennant. We kind of ran out of gas in September—Eddie Joost, our shortstop, was hurt, and we didn’t have a good replacement for him, but we were in the race from the first day of the season to the end. A number of us in that ball club had a good year; I won LOU BRISSIE MEETS ONE OF BASEBALL’S BIGGEST FANS, FORMER TEXAS RANGERS OWNER, PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH. UPON MEETING, BRISSIE RECALLED PRESIDENT BUSH SAYING TO HIM, “I KNOW WHO YOU ARE - YOU PLAYED IN THE 1949 ALL-STAR GAME. I WAS 3.” 16 and saved four or five. But we all did rather well, and we were in the middle of the race for the championship, so that was the best year for us during my tenure there. Connie Mack referred to that team as his greatest team for effort. A lot of people didn’t feel we had the talent or the ability as a team to beat, but we did. We had a couple of unfortunate incidents with players that year, but otherwise we would have won. Philadelphia is a tough but knowledgeable sports town. I enjoyed my time in Philly. The folks up there were good to me, and I enjoyed playing there and meeting the people I met and got to know. It was a pleasure really. They are tough sometimes, but it’s usually when you deserve it. It’s part of the game, and occasionally that will happen. It can happen to anyone at the professional level. You have good and bad days and they let you know right off. The time with the Cleveland Indians was much more difficult for me. They had a great pitching staff. Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Mike Garcia and Early Wynn were their four big starters. They traded for me to be primarily a relief pitcher. I had never done full-time relief before, and it really didn’t work out for me. I had a few good years, but it didn’t work because I had no schedule to stay in condition. Since I couldn’t run, I had a hard time staying in good shape and being ready to pitch. I enjoyed the players and the fans, but it was difficult as far as playing was concerned. I had uncertainty that I couldn’t rectify. I had a disagreement with Hank Greenberg, the general manager of the Indians, right before I retired. I felt that the situation was kind of a no-win thing. Cleveland did not want me, but they didn’t want anyone else to have me. They sold me to Indianapolis. There were clubs that were making offers for me, and I figured if they would do that once, they would do it twice. I had three ball clubs interested in my service. They could put a guy on waivers and get you out of the league if no one claims you. He put me on waivers during the World Series when no one was paying attention. I had a fellow from the Baltimore paper call me and tell me the Baltimore Orioles wanted me. Art Ehlers and Jimmy AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY