Negro Leaguer James "Red" Moore Honored with Hartland Statue

Former Negro League first baseman with the Baltimore Elite Giants, Newark Eagles and Atlanta Black Crackers, James "Red" Moore has been honored with a famed Hartland statue. The statue which is pictured above, comes autographed and is limited to 100 copies. Moore is 93 years old and one of the Negro Leagues living treasures, frequently making appearances in the Atlanta area to spread the history of Negro League Baseball. To get more information on the Hartland Statue, click here.

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Book Review: Playing Ball with Legends: The Story and Stories of Don Lund

Playing Ball with Legends: The Story and the Stories of Don Lund
James Robert Irwin
Saint James Books, 2009
456 pages


When one thinks of Don Lund, what image comes to mind? Is it the first-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears? Perhaps one envisions the strapping outfielder for the Dodgers, Browns and Tigers. How about the head coach of the NCAA World Series Champion Michigan Wolverines? Baseball insiders might suggest it is the farm director of the Detroit Tigers.

James Robert Irwin would argue that it may be none of these, but the outstanding character of Lund, which is a constant theme throughout the book. Lund receives glowing praise from former teammates, players, coaches and executives.

While Irwin's work gives fine detail about Lund's playing career, it is the stories in between the lines about the lives he touched along the way and the journey he took to get there that makes the book worth reading.

It is evident that while writing this book that Irwin became great friends with Lund, at times the book reads as if it were not written by a biographer but a true friend with the utmost respect and admiration for the person whose life they're chronicling.

At over 450 pages, "Playing Ball with Legends" will keep you occupied for quite awhile as you read about Lund's 60-year involvement with athletics from the sandlots of Detroit, through the legendary grounds of Ebbets Field, to his retirement from his position as Associate Athletic Director at the University of Michigan.

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Audio Interview with Hall of Famer Wahoo Sam Crawford

From the audio archives of Lawrence Ritter's The Glory of Their Times, I found an interview with Hall of Famer Wahoo Sam Crawford about how he made his way on to the Cincinnati Reds in 1899. The interview was done in 1964. There is also audio of Ritter's interviews with Hans Lobert and Jimmy Austin. Take a moment to listen to the actual stories told by the players that played during the turn of the 20th century. If you haven't read Ritter's book, I suggest that you do; it's a highly regarded classic.

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How Johnny Kropf gave up center field for Willie Mays

“When I first got to Minneapolis in 1951 after spring training with the Giants, everyone was telling me what a great player Willie Mays was. We had a centerfielder by the name of Johnny Kropf in 1950 when we won the pennant in Minneapolis, and I thought to myself, ‘He must be pretty good if he beat out a guy who did a fine job for us last year.’”

These were the late New York Giants all-star second baseman Davey Williams memories from a 2008 interview about the new outfield of Willie Mays and Ridgewood native Johnny Kropf on the New York 1951 Giants Minneapolis AAA team. Kropf was pretty good, as he blasted 21 home runs during the 1950 season after making the jump from Class C St. Cloud to Minneapolis.

Johnny Kropf - 1951 New York Giants Media Guide

A heavy-hitting New York Giants outfield and a young teammate who was destined for superstardom blocked Kropf’s path to the majors. He played in the days of the dreaded reserve clause and couldn’t play for another club unless the Giants released or traded him.

“You were trapped" Kropf said. "You didn’t challenge the salary. You were stuck in the middle, play or go home. You didn’t give up because you might get a shot somewhere. ... Where was I going with the Giants? When I started, you had Bobby Thomson, Don Mueller and Whitey Lockman out there. Those guys could hit!”

Johnny Kropf in 1951 and 2009 / Courtesy of Kropf family (l.) and N. Diunte (r.)

It didn’t help Kropf was displaced from centerfield by a budding superstar: Willie Mays.

In an August 2009 interview at his home in Miami Beach, Fla., Kropf described how he was moved from centerfield upon Mays’ arrival.

“He came up with us in 1951. I was the centerfielder at the time. As soon as he came up, Tommy Heath, the manager, said, ‘John, go to left, Willie’s in center and Pete Milne is in right.’ We knew he [Mays] was going to be great; somehow you could see the difference right away.”

Mays hit .477 in 35 games with Minneapolis and was up to the majors by the end of May.

Kropf was with Mays the fateful day he was called up to the big leagues.

“We went to the movies in Sioux City [in Iowa]. All of a sudden there was a message in the theater, ‘Willie Mays wanted in the lobby.’ I said, ‘Oh, boy!’ I found out they sent him out that night, right to the Polo Grounds. He got off to a bad start, 0-12 or something, then he finally got a few hits off of Warren Spahn and he was on his way.”

The switch-hitting Kropf, now 82 and living in Miami Beach with his wife Audrey, recalled how he went from the sandlots in Queens to being one step away from the Major Leagues in the span of three seasons.

“I came up playing in the Queens-Nassau League; Jerry Monte was working for one of the auto dealers, he was a scout,” he said. “I was playing after returning from serving two years in the military in 1945-46. In the middle of June of 1947, he signed me. I ended up in Class D Peekskill when I first started. From there I went to Oshkosh, the year after that I was sent to Class B Trenton and St. Cloud, Minn. I hit 15 homers, batted over .300 and we ended up in second place.”

While with St. Cloud, Kropf received his big break playing against the Minneapolis team during an exhibition game.

“There was an exhibition game in Minneapolis at Nicolett Park. I had a couple of hits during that game,” he said. “Charlie Fox was the manager and after the season ended, he said, ‘You’re going to Minneapolis.’ I said, ‘Stop the baloney.’ He said, ‘I’m telling you right now, you’re going.’ And so I went, from Class C ball to AAA. I read in the paper if I would make it [to the majors in four years] it would be a record. It still would, because I didn’t do it.”

While in Minneapolis, Kropf had the good fortune of also playing alongside another future Hall of Famer, Negro League legend Ray Dandridge.

Kropf illustrated what the Major Leagues missed when the Giants decided not to bring up Dandridge to play.

“They missed a guy that stands out like a sore thumb," he said. "Bowlegged as could be, short and stocky, he hit like Yogi, over the head. He hit shots everywhere. He had three different throws. When he had the time, he would just flip it and you would look at the ball wondering if it would get there, which it always did! If he had to come in, he’d throw it from the side and when he had to really throw it, he had a rifle arm. He had to be in his 40s. He got screwed out of a chance. He was a real nice, colorful guy, very terrific.”

During his career in baseball, Kropf played with and against some of the best players in baseball’s history. He was a roommate of Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm (“fantastic!”), teammates with Luke Easter (“the bat looked like a corn of cob in his hand”), Roger Maris and Sam Hairston (grandfather of current Yankee Jerry Hairston Jr.). He squared off against such immortals as Satchel Paige, Mickey Mantle, Johnny Mize, Whitey Ford and Roberto Clemente in AAA and winter ball.

While Kropf never made it to the Major Leagues, he spent 11 seasons in Minor League Baseball — 1947-57 — five at the Triple-A level and two seasons in winter ball in Panama, where he made it to the highly regarded Caribbean Series.

Kropf thought he was closest to the Major Leagues while playing in AAA Charleston in 1953.

“I got knocked out of the box," he said. "I had a good year. I thought I was going to spring training next year. They used to call that a cup of coffee; I never got a shot at it.”

Kropf ultimately returned to Ridgewood and worked as a beer delivery truck driver. He moved to Florida in 2005. But even though his cup of coffee never came, Kropf said he would press the replay button if given a chance.

“When I think back down the line at it, I said, ‘I never made it to an all-star game, I’m not a base stealer, what am I? I could catch the ball and I could hit here and there,’” he said. “That’s what kept me around. I went a lot of places I never would have gone. When you were in your early 20s, it was a pleasure to travel. If I was married, I wouldn’t have lasted that long. I would do it over again — the guys you meet, you laugh yourself sick.”

This article originally ran in the Times-Ledger newspapers November 17, 2009.

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Bob Dillinger, 91, Former St. Louis Brown 1918-2009

Former St. Louis Browns infielder and World War II veteran Bob Dillinger passed away November 7, 2009 at the age of 91. Dillinger led the American League in hits in 1948 with 207, was an A.L. All-Star in 1949, and was the A.L. stolen base champion for three consecutive seasons (1947-1949). Dillinger played 6 seasons total in the Majors Leagues for the Browns, Athletics, Pirates and White Sox.

In a 2003 interview with Bob Kuenster in Baseball Digest Dillinger, reflected on his All-Star and wartime playing experiences. "We played hard and played to win. You wanted to do good," he said. "Even though it was my first and only All-Star game, I played in those types of games before. During the war, I played on the special service team with guys like Joe DiMaggio, Ferris Fain, Jerry Priddy and other big leaguers. I played center field for DiMaggio's club in Guam in front of 40,000 troops."

In 2006, Ronnie Joyner and Bill Bozman wrote Dillinger's autobiography, entitled "He Hits! He Steals! He's Bob Dillinger!" Autographed copies of the book are available from the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society.

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