AN ARTICLE FROM THE BASEBALL
MAGAZINE:FEB.
ONEMOREINNING
Old aches and
pains
THERE
WERE FIVE BALLPLAYERS SITTING IN THE ROOM SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS. IT WAS EARLY
MORNING, THE LIGHT WAS DIM, RAIN COULD BE HEARD FALLING OUTSIDE, AND THERE
WERENT TOO MANY PEOPLE WAITING ON LINE. AT THE VERY END OF THE ROOM
SAT PAUL HORNUNG AND THEN BUNCHED TOGETHER WERE TOMMY HENRICH, CHARLEY SILVERA,
CLIFF MAPES AND OLD ACHES AND PAINS LUKE
APPLING.
Henrich and Silvera
were talking to each other. Cliff Mapes sat at his table staring straight
ahead, hands clasped together. A large man, he seemed to dwarf the other
players. Only at Luke Applings table was there any kind of line. Sitting
at his right-hand side was a young boy who helped give Luke the items he
had to sign. There were balls and books and cards and one fellow (who turned
out to be a dealer) was waiting on line with what looked like at least 15
to 20 bats and 2 or three cases of balls.
Every once in
a while Appling would turn to the boy and make a remark. Now looka
here, you see this picture. This was taken before you was a twinkle in your
mommas eye.
That was a good bat I had there. I yousta have to tape it up
to get me a better grip on it, but it sure stuck with me. My
gosh son, do you know what youre holding there? Thats a picture
with me and Lefty Grove there. You dont know nuthin about Lefty,
but take it from me, he was one tough hombre. You just couldnt do anything
against him. He was better than this here Ryan
guy.
LUKE APPLING CAME INTO BASEBALL ALL SPIT AND FIRE AND COON SHOOTING
AND WATERHOLE FISHING AND CRACKER BARREL SATURDAY NIGHT GET TOGETHERS WITH
THE GOOD OLE BOYS AND CORNPONE LIQUOR AND CHURCH GOING SUNDAY MORNING
MEETINGS.
He played in the golden age of baseball where the feats of Rogers
Hornsby and the Babe and Lou and terrible tempered Mr. Grove and Mel Ott,
and Joe D. and Dizzy and Daffy and the others will never be duplicated. He
played with them and also Ached and Pained his way into the era
of Mickey, and Jackie, and Ted, and Robin Roberts and Warren Spahn and Early
Wynn, and Roy and the Dook and Bobby Feller. The game was different then.
You wore baggy pants and loose fitting blouses. You gripped the bat with
flesh and didnt rely on namby pamby gloves. When you were beaned, there
was no helmet to protect you.
The ball skidded and bounced on real grass and pitchers got up to bat and
also pitched more than just a few innings before getting somebody in to relieve
them. It was Golden Age baseball.
It was Luke Appling baseball.
On this day Luke Appling was talking to his fans. He would sign, look
up and chat a bit, make a comment about an item before him, stop and call
out to one of the ballplayers on the other side of the room, lift up a bat
and inspect it, put his hand into a faded dirt-stained glove and pound it
once or twice, pose for pictures with little kids and adults and through
it all there would be a constant flow of dialogue. Yeah, you know I
was 75 when I hit that homerun. Ole Warren, he just threw that one down the
middle and I popped it outta there. It was a good poke. Hey
thanks for reminding me. I havent seen ole Elmo in
oh I dont
know
Id say its around 15, 20 years now. He was a good hitter,
but he made his living with his glove. Why sure honey, you come
on over here and well let daddy take some pictures of us. I dont
know why you want to pose with an ugly puss like mine. Alright now, smile
for your poppa. Whats your name
Harriet
.OK now Harriet,
lets do it right.
By this time the room had begun to fill up. Applings table was
busy and he seemed to thrive on it. I left for awhile to talk to Cliff Mapes
who over the years had become a
friend of mine. When I went back to Applings table he was gone.
Three months later I was at
work. I had come in early to
take care of a deadline. It was very quiet, I was absorbed with what I was
doing, and around 7:30 Bob Munhall came in, hung up his coat and walked over
to me. Herb, you knew Luke Appling didnt you? Bob had asked
me questions like that before. I froze, stopped what I was doing and waited
for Bob to continue. I heard on the radio that he just died this
morning.
In his obituary it talked about his HR at age 75, his propensity for
talking about his Aches & Pains, his ability to hit foul
balls almost at will, and his election to the Hall Of
Fame.
For me the picture of him country boying it up at that card show three
months ago, says it all.
This originally appeared in the February edition of One More
Inning: Issue number eleven:
November 1992