The wonderful time known as spring training has begun, which means baseball teams are looking ahead. So I thought it would be time to look back and explain why baseball is in my blood.
Seems my maternal grandfather, Loyd R. Christenbury (in a 1922 photo above), had a decent career with the then-Boston Braves from 1919-22. The dude had a good lifetime BA, not bad for a kid who had to sneak away from farm chores in North Carolina to practice baseball. And get this, he actually appeared in what is still the longest game by innings in MLB history.
On May 1, 1920, Boston and Brooklyn went at it for 26 innings and settled nothing. The game ended in a 1-1 tie. And Mr. Christenbury, who died in Birmingham, Ala., when my mother (the former Shirley E. Christenbury) was 10, got an at-bat in the ninth inning of the record game, per Boston Globe archives.
Sports Illustrated, in a 1992 article on famous short baseball players, mentioned my grandfather along with such luminaries as Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett. However, his nickname really was “Lou,” not “Low.”
And it was a big thrill to meet one of my heroes, Yankees legend Mickey Mantle, in a 1969 appearance in Atlanta (photo above). He was cordial and autographed a picture before it was a big-bucks ritual to do so. My cousin Eddy Burns is on the right in the Mantle pic.
Play ball!
1 Comment
March 3, 2008 at 2:50 pm
[...] Matters East and West wrote an interesting post today on The Mick, the Braves and meHere’s a quick excerptSo I thought it would be time to look back and explain why baseball is in my blood….Sports Illustrated, in a 1992 article on famous short baseball players, mentioned my grandfather along with such luminaries as Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett….The dude had a good lifetime BA, not bad for a kid who had to sneak away from farm chores in North Carolina to practice baseball….The wonderful time known as spring training has begun, which means baseball teams are looking ahead…. [...]