Great article on Tony Lucadello

Not sure how the Buck O'Neil story got started, or by whom, but he's definitely off the list. He was hired as a Cubs scout in 1956. Banks already had been with the Cubs three years, hitting his first ML homer on Sept. 20, 1953.

FWIW, Banks was signed to the Kansas City Monarchs by Hall of Famer Cool Papa Bell.

 

Ms Jones,

Sherwood Anderson in Winesburg, Ohio, wrote: "This is a story about hands." Anderson influenced more people than Gary Smith--or at least a higher quality, being Hemingway and Faulkner among others. The issue isn't with Gary Smith. I suggest you take it up with Anderson's heirs. They might be able to tell you where he cribbed it ... likely Turgenev.

Mr Sloan,

Your dream actually comes with handles?

YHS, etc

 

Sirs, Madames,

This showed up in the mail.

Hi Gare-----

Wanted to tell you that the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame called about 2 months ago and wants to represent my father in the museum. Your article was instrumental in calling their attention back to him and his scouting accomplishments. You don't know how grateful I am to you that you wrote this piece. I have had quite a few calls from various people who have read the article and felt compelled to contact me, and it has been a wonderful trip back in time.

Again, thanks for caring enough to compile all the information needed, and I am sorry that it took so long for me to notify you!

Best Regards,
Toni Lucadello

Yup, just another day at the office.

YHS, etc

 

Outstanding. I know that story opened my eyes, Friend O'.

 

Way back in my youth when I was a high schooler in northwest Ohio, we had a couple of pro prospects in my class. Tony Lucadello spent several afternoons watching our games. Both turned pro, but neither with the Phillies.

Then during my years as student manager at Ohio U. with Mike Schmidt and several outstanding college players on the team, Lucadello made his way to Athens repeatedly. Saw me in the dugout one time, walked over and asked me if I was the guy from the high school in Henry County. I thought it was pretty neat to be recognized like that even if I was only a student manager.

Fertile ground at Ohio U. back then. I think of the roster my senior year, 17 players eventually signed pro contracts.

 

Beautifully written.

As objectively as I could be, though, I also thought it was exceptionally long. Usually, in a piece such as that opus, that sells a "tragic" end, a chunk of that space is devoted to some transition from the idyllic painting of the subject to the tragedy.

There was no there there for me.

That said, a deserving guy will have representation in the Hall of Fame.

Congratulations, YHS.

 

I'm sorry. But if I'm 400 words into a piece and I still don't know what it's about, it's not a good piece. If the subject is not familiar, you have got to tell me why I should care about it and stop showing off with your metaphors.

 

Mr Back,

I'd say it's about how an old-time scout ended up getting a small place into the Hall of Fame years after his death -- but that's not what it's about, that's just the effect. Maybe you won't read it but someone at the BHOF did.

YHS, etc

 

Met Tony on a couple of occasions when I was growing up in Fostoria. Some members of my high school's baseball team found him at the field the day he died. He was a terrific man. The field where he took his own life is named in his honor today. The other HS field in town is named for the city's other baseball great former Phillies, Expos and Pirates pitcher Grant Jackson.

One of the other staffers at our paper wrote a book about Lucadello before his death called "Diamonds in the Rough"