At the end of each summer, this newspaper holds what we fondly refer to as the Champs ‘n’ Charity Classic. Our annual softball tournament raises money in the fight against cancer.
I usually make the jaunt down to “the Hook” for the final night of the tourney. This year, with about a million things going on in the office, I almost didn’t make it.
I’m glad I did.
As I walked past the statue of the town’s famous native son and into the park named for him, the first person I met in the pavilion was one James “Mickey” Vernon.
He was sitting at a bench, talking with a few acquaintances. I walked over and shook his hand. At 90 years old, Mickey Vernon immediately recognized me and offered a hello, this despite the fact we had only met on two other occasions. Mickey Vernon was in his element. He was among friends. He was home.
I walked away from that encounter with exactly the same impression I got from our other two meetings. It was hard to believe that this unassuming, quiet gentleman was once a professional athlete.
Times change, I guess. Vernon, it seems to me, has little in common with today’s athletes, aside from their abilities on the field.
Maybe that’s what makes Vernon unique. Mickey never forgot where he came from. Maybe that’s why they erected a statue for him in the town where he grew up. And why the park that sits in the center of town is now named Mickey Vernon Park.
Mickey Vernon died Wednesday at age 90. But there is still one more story in his exemplary life that needs to be written.
Vernon starred for 20 seasons in the major leagues, mostly with the Washington Senators. He hit .286 and collected 2,495 hits. Along the way he collected two American League batting titles and appeared in seven All-Star games. He hit .353 in 1946 and .337 in 1953 to lead the AL.
It’s hard to put a number on what those kinds of stats would be worth today. But then that would not be Vernon’s way. He did not play the game for money, as so many of today’s stars do.
Vernon played because he loved the game. At age 90, he still did. That’s why he would show up in his home town in the dead of summer to watch a softball game. Vernon knew how important those games – and the charity effort behind it – were to Marcus Hook, and the rest of Delaware County.
Now it’s time for the game that Vernon loved so deeply to return the sentiment. Vernon is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. At least not yet.
That could change in December, when Vernon’s name will be among 10 named by the Baseball Veterans Committee for consideration to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Vernon needs the votes of nine of the 12 people on the ballot to get in. If he does, he will be inducted posthumously in July 2009.
Longtime Delco sports historian and Springfield resident Rich Westcott, a former Daily Times sports writer, wrote a book about Vernon. It was titled, “The Gentleman First Baseman.”
You would be hard-pressed to find a better description. So would the folks at the Hall of Fame.
Delaware County has lost more than one of its true athletic heroes. In the words of another friend, Jim Vankoski, the former head of the Delco Baseball League, we’ve “lost a great man.”
A gentle-man, in every meaning of the word.
Let’s hope those people voting for the Hall of Fame are listening.
I usually make the jaunt down to “the Hook” for the final night of the tourney. This year, with about a million things going on in the office, I almost didn’t make it.
I’m glad I did.
As I walked past the statue of the town’s famous native son and into the park named for him, the first person I met in the pavilion was one James “Mickey” Vernon.
He was sitting at a bench, talking with a few acquaintances. I walked over and shook his hand. At 90 years old, Mickey Vernon immediately recognized me and offered a hello, this despite the fact we had only met on two other occasions. Mickey Vernon was in his element. He was among friends. He was home.
I walked away from that encounter with exactly the same impression I got from our other two meetings. It was hard to believe that this unassuming, quiet gentleman was once a professional athlete.
Times change, I guess. Vernon, it seems to me, has little in common with today’s athletes, aside from their abilities on the field.
Maybe that’s what makes Vernon unique. Mickey never forgot where he came from. Maybe that’s why they erected a statue for him in the town where he grew up. And why the park that sits in the center of town is now named Mickey Vernon Park.
Mickey Vernon died Wednesday at age 90. But there is still one more story in his exemplary life that needs to be written.
Vernon starred for 20 seasons in the major leagues, mostly with the Washington Senators. He hit .286 and collected 2,495 hits. Along the way he collected two American League batting titles and appeared in seven All-Star games. He hit .353 in 1946 and .337 in 1953 to lead the AL.
It’s hard to put a number on what those kinds of stats would be worth today. But then that would not be Vernon’s way. He did not play the game for money, as so many of today’s stars do.
Vernon played because he loved the game. At age 90, he still did. That’s why he would show up in his home town in the dead of summer to watch a softball game. Vernon knew how important those games – and the charity effort behind it – were to Marcus Hook, and the rest of Delaware County.
Now it’s time for the game that Vernon loved so deeply to return the sentiment. Vernon is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. At least not yet.
That could change in December, when Vernon’s name will be among 10 named by the Baseball Veterans Committee for consideration to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Vernon needs the votes of nine of the 12 people on the ballot to get in. If he does, he will be inducted posthumously in July 2009.
Longtime Delco sports historian and Springfield resident Rich Westcott, a former Daily Times sports writer, wrote a book about Vernon. It was titled, “The Gentleman First Baseman.”
You would be hard-pressed to find a better description. So would the folks at the Hall of Fame.
Delaware County has lost more than one of its true athletic heroes. In the words of another friend, Jim Vankoski, the former head of the Delco Baseball League, we’ve “lost a great man.”
A gentle-man, in every meaning of the word.
Let’s hope those people voting for the Hall of Fame are listening.
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