Spring Training Baseball

We enjoyed a bunch of spring training baseball, in Fl and Az. One time we were seated in the last row corner at Dodgertown in Vero Beach Fl. After the 2nd inning I always went to get a dodgerdog and beers. As I wheeled around, here was Roy Campanella face to face. They had wheeled him up right behind my right shoulder. Dodger great, hall of fame catcher, quadraplegic from an accident. 

In Az, we were at Scottsdale spr training game. The fellow sitting behind us was wearing a Hall of Fame ring. He was Jocko Conlin, an umpire. He was a bench player for the St Louis Cardinals back in the late 30's. In the 9th inning, the working umpire was injured. Back then there was no backup ump. The home team manager would send in a bench player to sub ump.

He sent in Conlin. 

On a bang-bang play with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, Conlin called his team mate OUT !!

The SL paper jumped all over the call.

It opened the door for Jocko as he was seen as a fair umpire. An opening happened for a new umpire. Jocko umpired for 40 years and reached the HOF.