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A Home Run Record


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So I was watching Antiques Roadshow last night and a fella comes on with a picture of his grandfather, Andy Oyler, and a very dirty baseball.

 

And a cool story!

 

It seems that his grand-dad, Andy Oyler, was a small-of-stature fella; 5' 6" and 138 lbs when he played for the Minnesota Millers back in 1903.  With his size and pretzel-like stature at the plate, he was walked a lot. 

 

But one day he hit the shortest home run in the history of professional baseball.  :rolleyes:

 

Two feet.  Twenty-four inches.

 

The game was being played on a rainy day, and the infield was muddy.  The pitcher let one get away, the ball struck Oyler's bat, which was still cocked over his shoulder - and bounced forward two feet and went "ker-PLOP" into the mud while the catcher and other defending players searched the sky for a flying ball.  

 

Evidently, ol' Andy trotted around the bases, touched home plate, then picked up the mud-covered ball.  He later scraped off a patch of dried mud, penned his home address on the ball, stuck a stamp on it and mailed it home to his wife.  It's been in the family ever since.  ^_^

 

 

 

Link to Video

 

 

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1903 Andy Oyler Shortest Home Run "Mudball" | Antiques Roadshow | PBS

 

 

 

 

 

 

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12 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Unlikely with the way the fields are maintained now.

 

 

 

Well, that's a boringly accurate observation....  :lol:  

 

Reminds me of when my kid was playing ball back in grade school.  Started to rain one day when two other teams were playing... we were scheduled to play later.  Anyway, the coaches and parents very un-wisely thought it would be a hoot to keep on playing.  What a mess!!  Mud-soaked leather shoes, gloves, hopelessly stained uniforms.  A few kids didn't get their gloves dried properly, and they were fairly ruined ~ the only things that cleaned up properly were the kids themselves.  The field itself was pretty much useless until the following weekend and a pile of work.    

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3 hours ago, Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485 said:

Just did some reading about it, doesn't sound like it realy happened.

I'm a real skeptic and I tend to believe that this maybe was kinda made up! Now I have to search! :o He says he has a letter and it was mailed with a postage stamp right on it? Hmmmm...........

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4 hours ago, Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485 said:

Just did some reading about it, doesn't sound like it realy happened.

https://www.mlb.com/news/the-shortest-home-run-ever

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From Wiki:

 

 

Quote

 

Controversy[edit]

Baseball historian Stew Thornley is skeptical of the story of Oyler's home run, pointing out that no contemporary news reports described the incident.[5] Other modern reference sources recount the story without caveat.[6]

     

6. Stewart, Mark; Mike Kennedy (2006). Long ball: the Legend and Lore of the Home Run. Milbrook Press. p. 49. ISBN 9780761327790.

 

 

 

Obviously, I wasn't there.  But why dash cold water on a fun story?  "No, little girl!  There IS no Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, or faeries or gnomes or pixies!  And George Washington never chopped down no cherry tree!"  :rolleyes:

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12 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

From Wiki:

 

 

 

 

Obviously, I wasn't there.  But why dash cold water on a fun story?  "No, little girl!  There IS no Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, or faeries or gnomes or pixies!  And George Washington never chopped down no cherry tree!"  :rolleyes:

 

This guy was dooped by the appraiser and if he sells it someone else will get dooped! Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny never cost anyone money except for the parents of the children. :P 

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