Catching Up
Summer 2016
August 30, 2016-Summer presented its usual challenges when it comes to working on the Hall Ball. While the rest of the world vacations, people in theatre dive into the all-consuming world of summer stock or, in my case, summer camp. The low-tech setting and demanding hours make even listening to that day’s game an after-thought. It’s not an easy gig for a baseball fan.
But, that does not mean the project has been completely idle. At the end of May and beginning of June, I took a trip to the middle of America, visiting Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and the Kansas City-area. I photographed twelve more graves along the way, including Warren Spahn, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Satchel Paige. Visiting Alexander’s grave with Loren Studley, one of founders of the Museum of Nebraska Major League Baseball was a special treat. So was exploring the home of Satchel Paige in Kansas City. The house itself was boarded up and dilapidated, a sad reminder of how quickly things can be forgotten. I chatted with Paige’s old neighbor while we toured the property, and he shared a few racy details about Satch (and Leroy’s daughter). I took home a brick from the crumbling front porch stairs.
Induction weekend netted two more living Hall of Famers, Craig Biggio and John Smoltz. Both of them were charming and cooperative. I even had enough time with Biggio that I was able to tell him a little bit about the 19th Century Grave Marker Project. I was denied by Randy Johnson. This marks only the second time I have been turned down by a Hall of Famer. I did eventually photograph the first one, Bob Gibson, who, like Johnson, was a menacing force on the mound. I haven’t given up hope. There’s still time.
There are potentially eight more photos being shot in just a few weeks. I will be traveling to St. Louis in mid-September where four more Hall of Famers are buried, plus an additional three in the surrounding suburbs. One photo, of cremated umpire Al Barlick, will hopefully be achieved on a detour through a former Springfield, IL coal mine.
As of this writing, the project stands at 279 completed photos, leaving just 33 more to take. Thirteen of those players are alive, including Johnson, Red Schoendienst, Doug Harvey, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, Bill Mazeroski, Willie McCovey, Carl Yastrzemski, Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Geroge Brett and Ken Griffey, Jr. Of the twenty others that remain, Barlick, Earl Weaver and Monte Irvin have no burial site and Lee MacPhail remains a mystery, though Stew Thornley has at least tracked him as far as Scarsdale, NY. All of that means that after the trip to St. Louis, there will be only nine more graves to visit.
It’s humbling to be so close. Six years. For the last six years I have been envisioning the completion of this project and what it would mean, the grandiose thoughts of a man who has been behind the wheel for thousands upon thousands of miles, chasing a foolish dream. I still don’t really know how I’ll react. But it is clear that the end is coming. I will finish my little piece of history. If the Hall takes it, I will consider it a job well done. If not…well, I guess I’ll have a baseball with a hell of story to leave my kids.