Minor League Baseball Players

[PinsonHOF]

In 1951 , Grace played his final season with the San Francisco Seals at age 37. He hit .302 that year in AAA but the big league veteran did not get a call up with Yankees and afterwards hung up his cleats. Joe Grace was a left handed hitting catcher who could also play the outfield. His best season was 1941 when he hit .309 for the St. Louis Browns driving in 60 runs. He enlisted in the United States Navy after Pearl Harbor and did not return until the 1946 season. In the Navy he played on a service team with Mickey Cochrane and Johnny Mize and hit a grand slam in the 1944 Service World Series. Grace finished up his major league career in '47 with the Washington Senators. There is no record of Grace playing professional baseball from 1948 to 1950 thought another source has him hitting .335 in 1950 for the Seals. I picture Joe Grace being one of those guys they used to say could crawl out of bed at 2 in the morning and hit a line drive. He died young along with his wife Margie in a car accident in 1969. Here are images of Grace at bat in the Navy, in the uniform of the US Navy and the San Francisco Seals circa 1950.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...racejo01.shtml

http://www.baseballinwartime.com/pla.../grace_joe.htm

[bobw]

If he was a left handed hitting catcher.....the batter in the photo is righthanded.....

[PinsonHOF]

Threw right batted left. It appears quite obviously that the hitter identified as Joe Grace swing away in the All Service World Series of 1944 is someone else. Thank you for catching that. I was enjoying the baseball in wartime website and let that slip by. That's Joe playing for the San Francisco Seals.

[bobw]

From the old Lexibelle files:

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

Looking for these players in 1978 spring training in the Houston Astros rainbow uni's. Thanks to any response1.Don Pisker 2. Stretch Suda 3. David Aloi 4.Mike Tyler & 5. Randy Rouse.

[Cusick]

Originally Posted by rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com

Looking for these players in 1978 spring training in the Houston Astros rainbow uni's. Thanks to any response1.Don Pisker 2. Stretch Suda 3. David Aloi 4.Mike Tyler & 5. Randy Rouse.

This photo of Mike Tyler in a Houston Astro rainbow uniform appeared on the baseball-birthdays.net website in July, 2016.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=tyler-002mic

I have images of the other four players you requested, but not in the Houston Astros rainbow uniform. I do have a photo of Suba (yes, it's Suba rather than Suda) in a Houston Astros uni, but it was taken some 30 years or so after 1978 when he had become a bullpen assistant for the Astros. If you want any of these images posted, let me know.

[Home Free]

Only this past week did I come across the story of 60s Pirate phenom Harry Billie, who has several longtime observers convinced he was one of the greatest athletes they ever saw. This is no Sidd Finch; much of the following story was posted in a 2015 blog by Florida sportswriter Glenn Miller. All credit goes to him. Images were on Worth Point.


Longtime Pirates instrucor and minor league manager Dan Osburn was Billie's manager at Gastonia

I’m convinced that every pro team’s fan base nurtures memories of the Can’t Miss Phenom – who missed. You know, that player whose reputation preceded him and then followed them out of town, tail between legs after having been proved at worst, a fraud, or at least a victim of reading his own clippings.
Somewhere in between are the Larry Billies of the world.
True fans know the names of many of these players. There are the folk heroes – Bo Belinsky, Steve Dalkowski, Brien Taylor, Steve Chilcott – guys whose flameouts far surpassed the fan bases of the Angels, Orioles, Yankees and Mets. There are those that are known but to a few, like the Reds’ John Oliver, a No. 1 pick prep outfielder who, it turned out, had night blindness –but no one knew it because his high school team never played under the lights.
The man who holds this distinction for the Pittsburgh Pirates – and a man with whom I only became familiar this past week, was shortstop-third baseman Larry Billie. He was on the map for a few years in the early-to-mid 60s and was signed as a free agent by legendary scout George Zuraw. To begin to understanding this story, you need to know this quote from Zuraw himself:
“He was as good as any I’ve scouted,” George told Tampa writer Glenn Miller. At his tryout, Harry batted against former major-league pitcher Virgil Trucks. “Out of 15 throws, no exaggeration, he hit eight out,” George told me. “The others hit off the wall.”
Billie emerged from the stark poverty of the Seminole Nation of the late 50s, growing up living in the chickees around Everglade s City. He never lived in an actual house until his senior year in high school,and became familiar with cheap whisky at the age of 8. But he could play anything.
He played football, baseball and basketball for Naples High. Among his peers was Jim Spooner, a Fort Myers athlete who would later become head basketball coach at West Florida University and a keeper of Billie’s legend.
“I think he was the greatest athlete I ever played against, and probably until Deion Sanders came along, he might have been the greatest athlete I’ve ever seen,” Jim Spooner told Miller. As for baseball, he added, “He had it all. Hit with power. Could run. Great speed. He could throw with Clemente. He could run better than Clemente.”
Len Harsh, the sports editor of the Fort Myers Times-Press, covered him as anyone.
“I wish you could have seen him,” Len told Miller. “I’d say he was the best natural athlete I’ve ever seen. He could do anything. Deion was one of the finest all-around athletes I’ve ever seen. I think Billie could outdo him a little bit.”
“Let me tell you something, he was a phenom,” a prep teammate, Bob Wells, told Miller. ”Just liquid on a basketball court. You never seen anything like it. You remember how Jordan moved? He was a 5-11 Jordan.”
He played football in only three games his senior season, but was still awarded a scholarship to Florida State.
So why are you just now hearing about this legendary athlete? Because he didn‘t care. He flunked out of FSU without playing a down. But far from being a partier, he seldom left his room, usually eating there as well. Perhaps he’d gotten a glimpse at what potential lay before him and the view overwhelmed him.
But he still had a chance, with the Pirates. At age 21, his pro debut consisted of 140 games, mostly at Gastonia, where manager Don Osborn was made his personal babysittere, and he responded with 60 RBIs, a .232 average and already a spot with Class AA Asheville. He’d also play winter ball, hitting a modest .243 and spent some time in the big league camp in 1965. He hit .262 in Gastonia that year in part-time duty, saw action in only five games in 1966 due to a broken hand and hit only .202 in the distant Midwest League in 1967. At that point, drugs and booze officially became more important to Billie than baseball.
“My drug of choice was more,” he’d tell a reporter years later. “When I was playing ball I was a natural, but I never tried to take it to the next level. I didn’t want it. I didn’t want to work for it.”
While it seemed as if Billie would wind up a ragic figure, very much like a Seminole Jim Thorpe, he didn’t. He was able to beat back his drug demons after a near-miss auto accident in 2001. He’s lived a quiet life today on the Miccosukee Indian Reservation reservation at age 77, man at peace who loves to share his stories.
“I don’t wish to shut the door to my past,” he told Miller in a 2001 interview. “Ii didn’t waste it. It was a learning experience.”


Harry Billie's signing with the Pirates, with scout George Zuraw.

[Cusick]

The Miccosukee tribe became a Federally recognized independent nation in 1962. Prior to that, it was part of the Seminole nation. So technically, Harry Billie is not a Seminole, other than being an alum of Florida State.

Harry Billie did fairly well with the Pirates' organization, rising to the Bucs' spring roster in 1965. His minor league record is at:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=billie001har

The photo below is from the Pittsburgh Press of March 6, 1964. I can't find any evidence that he was in the major league spring camp that year. They were trying to groom him to be a catcher in the minor league camp.

[Home Free]

Here is a wonderful colorization of Billie from the 1965 Pirates' yearbook.
Color by Kula. Have to figure he was in camp in '65 if team splashed him across the yearbook pages with stats and a bio. We know he suffered a broken hand at some point, and he only played in five games in 1965, so it's safe to speculate the injury could have happened in camp!

[Home Free]

[QUOTE=Cusick;4678695]The Miccosukee tribe became a Federally recognized independent nation in 1962. Prior to that, it was part of the Seminole nation. So technically, Harry Billie is not a Seminole, other than being an alum of Florida State.

I can only point out that Billie was born in 1942.

[Cusick]

[QUOTE=Home Free;4678897]

Originally Posted by Cusick

The Miccosukee tribe became a Federally recognized independent nation in 1962. Prior to that, it was part of the Seminole nation. So technically, Harry Billie is not a Seminole, other than being an alum of Florida State.

I can only point out that Billie was born in 1942.

It wasn't necessary for you to point that out. I posted the baseball-reference link that had that date in it. I don't believe that what tribe he was classified as to belonging to at birth is relevant as to his current tribal membership. I do know that tribes work hard to become federally-recognized, but I'm not conversant enough in that field to discuss the benefits obtained when they do. But I assume that in 1942, the Miccosukee people found it advantageous to be categorized as Seminole to gain the benefits of federal recognition because they had not yet gained independent recognition as their own tribe. Since that independence was finally gained almost sixty years ago, it seems appropriate that we should be recognizing it.

[Cusick]

Pitcher Archie White was a non-roster invitee to the Milwaukee Braves' spring camp in 1963. He died recently on July 26, 2020.

This photo of him appeared in a University of West Georgia newsletter in 2010 when he was elected to that school's Hall of Fame. He was a highly successful head baseball coach at West Georgia for 22 seasons (1969-90).

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=white-001arc

[PinsonHOF]

Here is a photo of the first Dominican born player in the major leagues. Ozzie Virgil Senior's big league career which began in the Polo Grounds in 1956 for the New York Giants, was a testament to versatility and perseverance. Pictured here in the uniform of the Rochester Red Wings , a team he played for in 1962 and 1963. At that time the Red Wings were an Orioles affiliate. Ozzie Sr. was primarily a third baseman but also saw time in the outfield , at short and second and behind the plate. After breaking in with the Giants, Ozzie Virgil Sr. moved on to the Kansas City A's , also playing for the Pirates, the Tigers , one game for the Orioles and finished his career in San Francisco in 1969. His son Ozzie Jr. was of a longtime Braves and Phillies catcher and briefly a Blue Jay.

[PinsonHOF]

Celerino played two season for the early 70's Yankees accentuating a pedestrian .242 average with a single home run. Chief as they called in the Yankee clubhouse was primarily a third baseman but could hold his own at short. He began his career in the Mexican league before spending brief stints with the Cardinals, Senators , and Astros farm teams. Here is a nice image from a Spanish language newspaper clipping featuring Celerino as a 1967 Asheville Tourist alongside longtime Astros executive Tal Smith. Smith would move up to GM of the Astros and later team president. He still lives. Celerino Sanchez died young at 48.

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

1994 Colorado Silver Bullets. I am looking for these players from newspaper clippings, Spring training team photo, Programs & Photos. 1. Elaine Amundson 2. Leta Baysinger 3. Lisa M. Benton 4. Paul Blair (Spring training coach) 5. K.C. Carr 6. A. Lauren Clement 7. Colleen Coyne 8. Angie Fielder 9. Gerri Fritz 10. Janice Halls 11. Kendra Hanes 12. Deanne Hatch 13. Vivian Holm 14. Kelly Inouye 15. Melissa D. Johnson 16. Dallas Jorgenson 17. Rochelle Malt 18. Melissa Mikolojczak 19. Carolyn Jo Reed (D.J.) 20. Cara M. Sadovsky 21. Lori Stroller 22. Lisa Ann Wallace 23. Ginny Walsh 24. Jerry Thurston (Spring training coach). Staff- 1. Kevin Lewis 2. Steve Saunders 3. Kathleen Christie 4. Polly Temple 5. Mike Huddleston 6. Tammie Cole 7. Marie Narrod 8. Penny Maples. And anyone in newspaper clippings not listed here. Thanks in advance & Thanks for all the great work.

[tnfoto]

The player listed as J. McKenzie on B-R is shown in the 14-Mar-1895 St. Joseph (MO) Herald, where he is listed as 23-year-old John J. McKenzie.

[Pinetarpress]

One of my player's step dad just sent me these great photos of his father playing minor league ball in the Detroit organization

His name is Carl Weatherton

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=weathe001car

[Cusick]

Originally Posted by rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com

1994 Colorado Silver Bullets. I am looking for these players from newspaper clippings, Spring training team photo, Programs & Photos. 1. Elaine Amundson 2. Leta Baysinger 3. Lisa M. Benton 4. Paul Blair (Spring training coach) 5. K.C. Carr 6. A. Lauren Clement 7. Colleen Coyne 8. Angie Fielder 9. Gerri Fritz 10. Janice Halls 11. Kendra Hanes 12. Deanne Hatch 13. Vivian Holm 14. Kelly Inouye 15. Melissa D. Johnson 16. Dallas Jorgenson 17. Rochelle Malt 18. Melissa Mikolojczak 19. Carolyn Jo Reed (D.J.) 20. Cara M. Sadovsky 21. Lori Stroller 22. Lisa Ann Wallace 23. Ginny Walsh 24. Jerry Thurston (Spring training coach). Staff- 1. Kevin Lewis 2. Steve Saunders 3. Kathleen Christie 4. Polly Temple 5. Mike Huddleston 6. Tammie Cole 7. Marie Narrod 8. Penny Maples. And anyone in newspaper clippings not listed here. Thanks in advance & Thanks for all the great work.

Silver Bullets' second baseman Michele McAnany is shown in a play against the Northern League All-Star team and the sliding Enrique Duncan in the first game of an all-female team against and all-male professional team. The Northern League All-Stars won 19-0 on May 8, 1994 (Mother's Day). The photo is from the Jackson, TN, Sun of May 9, 1994.

Enrique Duncan's record is at:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=duncan002enr

[Cusick]

Lisa Martinez (left) pitched the only no-hitter for the 1994 Colorado Silver Bullets. Gina is the daughter of former big leaguer Tom Satriano. The photo is from the Atlanta Constitution of Sept. 2, 1994.

[Cusick]

1994 Silver Bullets Manager Phil Niekro gives pitching tip to Pam Schaffrath. Photo is from the Madison (WI) Capital Times of July 20, 1994.