Yes. As a summer intern at a neighborhood newspaper in Brooklyn in 1989, I met Battey, who was conducting a baseball clinic for kids on behalf of the Yankees and Con Edison. He was very courteous to me, and very patient with the children. I have to dig up the article I wrote about the event.

I grew up about five miles from the old Metropolitan Stadium. When I was a grade schooler in the early 1960's, sometimes a bunch of us would ride our bikes over to the stadium in the summertime - in the afternoon before a night game. The stadium was open, and you could go in and watch the players practicing from the box seats.

Sometimes players would come over to the rail, and talk with you for a bit. Occasionally they would invite you onto the field and play catch with you.

Earl Battey was one of the best at visiting with kids, signing autographs, and generally being a very nice guy. It's sad to see him go.

Old Timer: You had even less to add than Salerno did. You took the passing of a good ballplayer and a good guy, and tried to turn it into a referendum on steroids. Why not air your grievances in one of the many threads on that topic?

As a Twins fan, it still amazes me how many "stars" the early Twins had, though of course I am guilty of hometown bias here. But the obvious one is Killebrew (Oliva came later, Carew much later). And right at the start Camilo Pascual was probably the local fave, Killebrew really didn't become the Killer until he had been mashing them for a few years. And then there was the "prospect," Zoilo Versalles.

And then there were the rocks. Battey and Allison. That Twins team could have put a hell of a touch football team out there.

And there were the guys who didn't last--Power, Jim Lemon, Lenny Green, Pete Ramos, Reno Bertoia...

And of course Jim Kaat. How come he looks so good, the rest of the gang is a little worn down. Allison died very young, I can't pronounce his disease, not Lou Gehrig's but like that. (I used to clean his desk at Coke when I was doing janitor work in college.) And Versalles died young. And now Battey, 68 ain't that young anymore. Ouch.

Joe, I'm sure you're right. But no question Battey was the Twins' best catcher ever and still is today.

Battey earned 130 WS as a Senator/Twin, Ruel 114 as a Senator. If you wanted to be perverse about it, you could throw out 1960 and say that Battey earned exactly as many WS as a Twin as Ruel did as a Senator.

Sorry, Timmy, you're not even #2. Wynegar 81.

The guy that ran the show was a mathematician

50Pound A head?....Do you have his name?

Sounds sort of like Julius Sumner Miller on baseball.

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Dang. I forgot. Geocities doesn't allow linking to pictures. This homepage link should work though.