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Welcome to Hey Bill, where Bill answers questions from his subscribers almost every day. Visitors can read the most recent Hey Bill's on this page. Subscribers can ask Bill a question directly and also view our archive of questions and answers.

The fifteen most recent questions are listed here and will change almost every day.

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One person who comes close to oldest debut as a professional was Ollie Carnegie. He played 7 games with the Flint Vehicles of the class B Michigan-Ontario league in 1922 when he was 23. After that he preferred to stay in western Pennsylvania, working for the Pennsylvania Railroad and playing semi-pro baseball. In 1931 he lost his job with the railroad and played professional ballat age 32, primarily with the Buffalo Bisons of the AA International league until 1941. He was a power hitting outfielder, hitting 30-40 home runs every year. Buffalo's Offerman stadium was considered a good hitter's park. Carnegie never played in the majors
Speaking of retired players you don't hear much about (albeit from a different sport) what about Gale Sayers? I haven't heard his name mentioned in 25 years. Is he still alive?
Hey Bill, I remember a scouting report on "that basketball guy" saying "It's called bat speed; and he ain't got it". Do you suppose the scout was referring to bat speed or bat quickness as you differentiated them recently? Or both? Also, wasn't the lefty reliever for the Rays about whom "The Rookie" was based older than 34 when he debuted? Thanks
According to baseball-ref.com, Easter debuted in MLB a week after his 34th birthday and according to his SABR bio, "Easter first took part in organized baseball in 1937, when he played outfield and first base and batted cleanup for the St. Louis Titanium Giants. The Giants were sponsored by the American Titanium Company. Easter and the other players worked for the company year-round, but were given time off to play ball. The St. Louis Stars had previously been the top black team in the city, having succeeded the St. Louis Giants in 1922, and they won three Negro National League championships between 1928 and 1931." Easter was born in 1915, so he was playing Negro League ball in his early 20s. Yesterday, you wondered about the plural of OPS, by the way--by a strange coincidence, I posted an article practically simultaneously with yours that used multiple OPSes and that was the plural form I decided was correct, meaning that you probably want to go in a different direction.
Speaking of "that basketball guy," was Jordan (31) the oldest person to ever *begin* a professional baseball career? At least in 100+ years?
Hey Bill...I just read that Navin Field in Detroit just got funded with $3.8M for restore the field with the Detroit Police Athletic League the prime tenant. Evidently there is a proposal to install artificial turf, but wouldn't that be counter-productive as a tourist site..I'd want to go in there with my buddies and play on "REAL Tiger Stadium Grass"
I always thought Convy and Khadhafi were twins separated at birth...at LEAST the hair !!
About this tread about baseball, back in the day, baseball as we remember it, be careful. The things we do as adults, can affect, children forever. We all remember, what we remember. Just do the best you can.....First, do no harm.
How often will it happen that (a) a hitter comes up to the majors and hits well initially, (b) pitchers detect a weakness and exploit it, and (c) the hitter never adjusts to that first adjustment?
Bill -- Showed this clip to my grade 6 class a couple of days ago, on Jackie Robinson's birthday: Jackie on What's My Line?, with Bert Convoy on the panel (he briefly and self-deprecatingly mentions his baseball career). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvsSxxPoAHU
I didn't remember Convy had a minor league career until you mentioned it. I remember he was a tennis player in a movie called "Racquet" (and I remember that because "Penthouse" had photos from it. Convy was also in the vocal group The Cheers which had a top 10 single in 1955 with the Leiber and Stoller song "Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots". With numerous game show credits, Convy was a true Renaissance man of our era. At least someone put a TBS broadcast of "Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders" up on youtube. So a pig-tailed Jane Seymour in a cheerleaders uniform, dancing to disco music along with Lauren Tewes from "Loveboat" is on the information super highway.
Your comment about the Billy Martin manager not being viable reminds me that two weeks ago I was at the Yankees Fantasy Camp in Tampa. One night they had about 8 of the 18 former Yankees available for questioning by the campers. Someone asked about Billy Martin. Mickey Rivers defended Martin saying he liked players with action and Rivers was that kind of player. Bucky Dent (when will we get a DVD of the 1979 tv movie "Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders" that Dent was third-billed after Jane Seymour and Bert Convy?) had a terse "no comment." Dent later said that if Martin was managing the playoff game against Boston, he never would have batted against Mike Torrez (Torrez was also one of the Yankees there, hero of game 5 against Kansas City in 1977). Roy White said Ralph Houk was the best manager he played. Several others didn't care for Martin. In a July 1979 "Playboy" article Martin was the manager players most wanted to play for. followed by Lasorda, Franks, Tanner, Boyer and Fregosi.
Have you read the Robert Harris fictionalized trilogy of Cicero's life (Imperium, Conspirata, and Dictator)? Thoughts?
In Queens, we used to play a game called Off the Barrel. In our playground we had these concrete barrels that we would throw the ball off of. When there were 3 outs the fielding team would run in and try and throw it off the barrel before the batting team could get into the field. We also played a game called box baseball on a sidewalk where you would pitch a Spaulding into a box and the hitter would hit it and if the fielder didn't make the catch you would get a single if the ball bounced 1 time before being picked up, a double if it bounced 2 times and so on. How did we and all of the people weighing in on the site think of these games and where did they go?
In general, I enjoyed my time playing "organized" baseball as a kid, but I did have one very bad experience which goes along with the previous comments. When I was in the fourth grade, playing in what was called the "Knothole Gang" league, I was on a combined third and fourth grade team. About midway through the season, the coach, whose son was one of the third-graders, embarked on a "youth" movement, largely benching us fourth graders and moving in the third-graders. At one point, my father asked the coach about my playing and the coach told my father I would be starting the next game. Whether he forgot or was simply lying (which I suspect), I did not start the next game. The team of third-graders stayed together for the next two years and became a very good team. It's over fifty years and I still remember that; and I think what pisses me off the most was this SOB lying to my father. The next year, I played on another (very bad) team in the same league but had fun.

One person who comes close to oldest debut as a professional was Ollie Carnegie. He played 7 games with the Flint Vehicles of the class B Michigan-Ontario league in 1922 when he was 23. After that he preferred to stay in western Pennsylvania, working for the Pennsylvania Railroad and playing semi-pro baseball. In 1931 he lost his job with the railroad and played professional ballat age 32, primarily with the Buffalo Bisons of the AA International league until 1941. He was a power hitting outfielder, hitting 30-40 home runs every year. Buffalo's Offerman stadium was considered a good hitter's park. Carnegie never played in the majors

Asked by: ZachSmith

Answered: 2/5/2016

Thanks.

Speaking of retired players you don't hear much about (albeit from a different sport) what about Gale Sayers? I haven't heard his name mentioned in 25 years. Is he still alive?

Asked by: manhattanhi

Answered: 2/5/2016

Yeah, he's still alive, and he lives here in Lawrence, Kansas. (I say "here"; I'm actually in Boston, but you take my point.) I don't know him, but I do see him around town once in a while.

Hey Bill, I remember a scouting report on "that basketball guy" saying "It's called bat speed; and he ain't got it". Do you suppose the scout was referring to bat speed or bat quickness as you differentiated them recently? Or both? Also, wasn't the lefty reliever for the Rays about whom "The Rookie" was based older than 34 when he debuted? Thanks

Asked by: AJD600

Answered: 2/5/2016

I think he may have pitched briefly in the minors years before, not sure. Also there was a similar story since then that didn't get much attention. . . .Steve Dela-something. Delacourt or Delathon or something. I would guess he was referring to bat quickness.

According to baseball-ref.com, Easter debuted in MLB a week after his 34th birthday and according to his SABR bio, "Easter first took part in organized baseball in 1937, when he played outfield and first base and batted cleanup for the St. Louis Titanium Giants. The Giants were sponsored by the American Titanium Company. Easter and the other players worked for the company year-round, but were given time off to play ball. The St. Louis Stars had previously been the top black team in the city, having succeeded the St. Louis Giants in 1922, and they won three Negro National League championships between 1928 and 1931." Easter was born in 1915, so he was playing Negro League ball in his early 20s. Yesterday, you wondered about the plural of OPS, by the way--by a strange coincidence, I posted an article practically simultaneously with yours that used multiple OPSes and that was the plural form I decided was correct, meaning that you probably want to go in a different direction.

Asked by: Steven Goldleaf

Answered: 2/4/2016

Thanks.

Speaking of "that basketball guy," was Jordan (31) the oldest person to ever *begin* a professional baseball career? At least in 100+ years?

Asked by: PB

Answered: 2/4/2016

I doubt it. Luke Easter, maybe? Luke was 37 or something by the time he made the majors, but I think he hadn't even played in the Negro Leagues until he was past 30.

Hey Bill...I just read that Navin Field in Detroit just got funded with $3.8M for restore the field with the Detroit Police Athletic League the prime tenant. Evidently there is a proposal to install artificial turf, but wouldn't that be counter-productive as a tourist site..I'd want to go in there with my buddies and play on "REAL Tiger Stadium Grass"

Asked by: clambeau

Answered: 2/4/2016

The kids might not care about that.

I always thought Convy and Khadhafi were twins separated at birth...at LEAST the hair !!

Asked by: clambeau

Answered: 2/4/2016

Not even close. Convy was an outfielder; Khadafi was a second baseman who couldn't turn the double play.

About this tread about baseball, back in the day, baseball as we remember it, be careful. The things we do as adults, can affect, children forever. We all remember, what we remember. Just do the best you can.....First, do no harm.

Asked by: mauimike

Answered: 2/3/2016

Well, not to be rude, but what in God's earth are you talking about?

How often will it happen that (a) a hitter comes up to the majors and hits well initially, (b) pitchers detect a weakness and exploit it, and (c) the hitter never adjusts to that first adjustment?

Asked by: bobfiore

Answered: 2/3/2016

I don't know that that ever really happens, but something that looks like that happens sometimes to guys like Hurricane Hazel and Shane Spencer. I don't think it's very common, and I don't know that THAT exactly--what you said--has ever happened. Baseball is a game of refusing to make adjustments. The good hitters stick with what they do. Sometimes weaker hitters get intimidated into making inappropriate adjustments and get driven out of the league by that.

Bill -- Showed this clip to my grade 6 class a couple of days ago, on Jackie Robinson's birthday: Jackie on What's My Line?, with Bert Convoy on the panel (he briefly and self-deprecatingly mentions his baseball career). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvsSxxPoAHU

Asked by: Phil Dellio

Answered: 2/3/2016

I can't believe we're talking about Bert Convy. I actually came by this information honestly; I was going by a 1950s Sporting News Guide page by page, and found his name. I sort of collect the names of people who played minor league baseball but are known for something else, like Dwight Eisenhower, Mario Cuomo, John Elway and that basketball player guy. . .can't remember his name.

I didn't remember Convy had a minor league career until you mentioned it. I remember he was a tennis player in a movie called "Racquet" (and I remember that because "Penthouse" had photos from it. Convy was also in the vocal group The Cheers which had a top 10 single in 1955 with the Leiber and Stoller song "Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots". With numerous game show credits, Convy was a true Renaissance man of our era. At least someone put a TBS broadcast of "Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders" up on youtube. So a pig-tailed Jane Seymour in a cheerleaders uniform, dancing to disco music along with Lauren Tewes from "Loveboat" is on the information super highway.

Asked by: ZachSmith

Answered: 2/3/2016

Thanks.

Your comment about the Billy Martin manager not being viable reminds me that two weeks ago I was at the Yankees Fantasy Camp in Tampa. One night they had about 8 of the 18 former Yankees available for questioning by the campers. Someone asked about Billy Martin. Mickey Rivers defended Martin saying he liked players with action and Rivers was that kind of player. Bucky Dent (when will we get a DVD of the 1979 tv movie "Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders" that Dent was third-billed after Jane Seymour and Bert Convy?) had a terse "no comment." Dent later said that if Martin was managing the playoff game against Boston, he never would have batted against Mike Torrez (Torrez was also one of the Yankees there, hero of game 5 against Kansas City in 1977). Roy White said Ralph Houk was the best manager he played. Several others didn't care for Martin. In a July 1979 "Playboy" article Martin was the manager players most wanted to play for. followed by Lasorda, Franks, Tanner, Boyer and Fregosi.

Asked by: ZachSmith

Answered: 2/3/2016

Did you know that Bert Convy played minor league baseball? He did. I rarely get to use that piece of trivia, because nobody remembers Bert Convy anymore.

Have you read the Robert Harris fictionalized trilogy of Cicero's life (Imperium, Conspirata, and Dictator)? Thoughts?

Asked by: Ben from New York

Answered: 2/3/2016

Nope.

In Queens, we used to play a game called Off the Barrel. In our playground we had these concrete barrels that we would throw the ball off of. When there were 3 outs the fielding team would run in and try and throw it off the barrel before the batting team could get into the field. We also played a game called box baseball on a sidewalk where you would pitch a Spaulding into a box and the hitter would hit it and if the fielder didn't make the catch you would get a single if the ball bounced 1 time before being picked up, a double if it bounced 2 times and so on. How did we and all of the people weighing in on the site think of these games and where did they go?

Asked by: metsfan17

Answered: 2/2/2016

Patent attorneys soaked them all up; you're not allowed to play them anymore without a license. . .

In general, I enjoyed my time playing "organized" baseball as a kid, but I did have one very bad experience which goes along with the previous comments. When I was in the fourth grade, playing in what was called the "Knothole Gang" league, I was on a combined third and fourth grade team. About midway through the season, the coach, whose son was one of the third-graders, embarked on a "youth" movement, largely benching us fourth graders and moving in the third-graders. At one point, my father asked the coach about my playing and the coach told my father I would be starting the next game. Whether he forgot or was simply lying (which I suspect), I did not start the next game. The team of third-graders stayed together for the next two years and became a very good team. It's over fifty years and I still remember that; and I think what pisses me off the most was this SOB lying to my father. The next year, I played on another (very bad) team in the same league but had fun.

Asked by: Marc Schneider

Answered: 2/2/2016

OK.