The black and white creates a couple of illusions here. Melton isn't wearing a watch - just a dark strap on his white batting glove. And the water tower floating in the background is actually on the white Bronx Courthouse building.
April 25, 1973. Melton went 1-for-4 as Wilbur Wood outdueled Mel Stottlemyre for a 3-0 White Sox win. Wood had a complete game 5-hitter, and Carlos May's first inning solo HR was all the wily knuckleballer needed. Wood, a known Yankee killer, didn't even walk anyone, a testament to his control of baseball's toughest pitch.
In other news, General Alexander Haig testified at the Pentagon Papers trial, 19 people were killed in Communist shelling of Phnom Penh, the California legislature considered a law that would create non-smoking sections in public buildings, and at 10 pm that night in Enfield, IL, a man named Henry McDaniel had an encounter with a strange creature later called the Enfield Monster, the first of several reported sightings that summer which culminated in amateur monster hunters descending on the town, leading to five arrests. The incident has since been determined to be either an exaggeration of an existing animal, or a hoax.
Melton's 1974 Topps Stamp looks to have a photo taken at the same time.
I wonder if Bill Melton knew the whereabouts of the Enfield Monster.
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