This is a sad one. Bill Freehan's photo was taken in spring training, 1966. His glove says "Swift". Bob Swift was a former Tigers catcher, most famous for being behind the plate during Eddie Gaedel's plate appearance. A Tigers coach in 1966, Swift stepped in as interim manager in May after Chuck Dressen's heart attack. Swift himself had to leave the team in July after it was discovered he had lung cancer. Dressen died in August; Swift passed away in October.
The Twin Terrors were #3 Harmon Killebrew and #4 Bob Allison. Allison has a #4 Bat, but Killebrew is holding one marked #5. Killebrew had grabbed the bat belonging to Don Mincher, himself an excellent hitter who would be an All-Star in 1967.
#14 Moose Skowron is also wielding a #5 bat, but that had previously been his number on the White Sox. #5 in 1966 was Johnny Romano, I don't know how they could tell their bats apart.
Another player with a new number and an old bat was Ron Hunt, who wore #33 with the Mets. Traded to the Dodgers after the 1966 season, Hunt wore #33 for the Dodgers during the season, but it appears he wore #29 in spring training. During the season Hunt was back to his regular #33, while #29 was worn by pitcher John Duffie.
Bob Humphreys's glove just says "HUMP".
Got a bunch in today.
ReplyDeleteYou've got some sharp eyes and great researching skills.
ReplyDeleteI've seen that Freehan on the blogs quite a few times over the years, but no one's ever bothered to mention the significance behind that particular glove before.
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