Memories, oh yeah

alnavman

Back in 1974 I was stationed at Fort Hood down in Texas....the Indians played the Rangers down there in a series that was highlighted by a brawl. I was traveling home the week after that series and was sitting in my seat out of Dallas when I saw someone who I thought I knew but couldn't identify..then two giants came on board and I knew exactly who the person was...Alex Johnson. The giants were Jim Bibby and Fergie Jenkins....needless to say I was extremely happy to see actual baseball players up close. I ventured up to first class during the flight (something one cannot do nowadays) and there was Billy Martin, former Indian and one of my favorite managers. I asked him if he thought there would be any repercussions from the texas fights and he thought not. Obviously he didn't know that the Indians had their infamous 10 cent beer night planned for the ranger series. I got his autograph on the back sleeve of a book I was reading at the time (Cinderalla Liberty), which also was a movie with James Caan in it and have had it since then. I took advantage of the special last month and had PSA/DNA authenticate it and scans are below. Oh the memories. And YES, I was at the game when the brawl in Cleveland took place. I remember my brother dancing on the mound until the rangers all started running towards the many on the field with their baseball bats in hand.....craziest thing that I thought happen was some goof who actually ran up to Jeff Burroughs and took his hat right off his head....Wrong thing to do.....also the Indians were staging a rally and would have probably won the game if it wasn't for the knuckleheads, my brother included who ran onto the field.....


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hhmag70

Very cool story Al, thanks for sharing.