While I’ve wondered from time to time how much longer Livan Hernandez and Jamie Moyer might start for their respective clubs, there’s always a 90 year old starter available in a pinch. Sadly, that hurler happens to be social commentator Bob Feller, as the New York Times’ George Vecsey explains.
The old boy plans to be the starting pitcher in something called the Hall of Fame Classic, for retired major league stars, in Cooperstown, N.Y., on June 21. This game will take the place of the extinct exhibition between two major league teams ” mostly farmhands, in recent years ” who made the schlep into deepest upstate New York on the rare off day.
œRidiculous, Feller blurted, insisting that baseball should still supply two teams for this pleasant tradition, the way it did when baseball had a lighter schedule, confined to the northeast quadrant of the United States.
œWe look at the last 70 years as a gift, said Jeff Idelson, the president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. œBut the game had run its course.
As soon as the Hall came up with the gimmick of an exhibition among old-timers on Father™s Day, the first incoming call was from Rapid Robert.
œHe was the first to volunteer for the war, Idelson said. œYou think he wouldn™t be the first to volunteer for this?