American Valor Quarterly Issue 11 - Fall 2014 | Page 17

Dykes were there from Philly. Mr.
Ehlers was the head of the farm system
with the A’s when I was there. They
had made an offer to buy my contract.
The Detroit Tigers had as well.
Another person thought the Yankees
were interested. Hank was determined I
would play in Indy baseball, but I knew
that if he was so upset at me to send me
to Indy, I knew I had no guarantee that
I’d go to another ball club. There wasn’t
any action I could take at that time
that would keep me an active player.
The veteran’s organization American
Legion came along and offered for me
to work in their baseball program. I
didn’t think they would change their
minds in a year. So I decided that
retiring was better.
I have a lot of memories from the
big leagues though. The people that
you get to know are always good
memories. I had a good relationship
with Ted Williams. And I looked up
to Bob Feller. When I was a young
fellow growing up, Bob hit the majors
when he was about 16 or 17. He was
striking out major league players before
graduation. Bob has always been kind
of my hero. All kids that start out
playing ball