So Long Uncle Don

The ECKS dropped me an email today to let me know that her Uncle Don died this week and that she was in North Carolina for the funeral.

Don EUGENE Cardwell was a pitcher for the "Amazin'" 69 Mets, which is pretty damned impressive in and of itself, but before that, he played for the Chicago Cubs. A friend of mine in Petaluma, when he was a kid, actually saw Don play for the Cubs and one night when I was sitting in The Old Same Place talking about Marsha's Uncle playing for the Amazin' Mets he up and spouted off something like "Don Cardwell... played for the Chicago Cubs... had a no hitter... I saw him play..." I sat back, took another sip of beer and stared at him, speechless (which is something for me to be). Not only did my friend know who I was talking about, but he had seen him play! He even knew something about him that I did not... Don Cardwell, at the age of 24, had one of those moments in baseball that don't come around very often, and usually only come to the blessed... He pitched A NO HITTER.

The above video from You Tube shows you the last moments of that game and it's pretty damned inspiring.

It seems to me that this is what baseball is supposed to be about... in a time before players were paid the kind of astronomical salaries they make today, and before they felt the need to shoot themselves full of various chemicals in order to keep going and keep hammering and keep making the money... they played the game. And evidently (though I've never seen him myself) Don Eugene Cardwell PLAYED the game.

So thanks Don... thanks for being one of the heros... one of those guys that kids grew up looking up to and believing in and hoping to be some day.

Thanks.