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Home , 1962 World Series, Bill McGowan, Bobby Richardson, Bob Uecker, Clete Boyer, Dale Long

THE NEWBERRY OBSERVER – Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010 PAGE 7 55th 55th

Newberry major leaguer looks back Leslie Moses Staff Writer

t still seems like a dream, says New- Iberry’s Billy O’Dell of his nearly 14-year major league career. But 55 years ago, O’Dell stepped from the Clemson campus as an All-American into the big leagues in Baltimore. “June 8, 1954,” says O’Dell, 77. “That’s one of those things you never for- —Staff photo by get. That was the Leslie Moses beginning of it all.” DIGGER — As a for Billy O’Dell in Newberry High, O’Dell knew he was a pret- never would be. He was a nice guy,” he says. his living room ty good ballplayer. today. Sometimes 10 scouts watched the strike- O’Dell, too, it seems, king at his high school ball games. is a nice guy. In one game, the lanky left-hander sat 28 Orioles pitching Harry Brecheen Clinton High batters. took him out to dinner right after O’Dell At Clemson, he once sat 21 Gamecock bat- signed with Baltimore for steak and wisdom ters, all of whom returned after the game to to ensure O’Dell stayed on track. shake his hand. “Billy, you’re going to be a good pitcher,” His Clemson team was good, he says, but O’Dell recalls Brecheen saying. “You’re full of graduating seniors. So, as a junior, going to the top. You’re going to pass a lot of figuring the Tigers wouldn’t be as good his players. Be nice. Because you’re going to senior year, O’Dell moved on. come back down.” With the help of Clemson’s public rela- And 55 years later, O’Dell says he still tions rep, O’Dell sent letters to all 16 major lives by Brecheen’s advice. league baseball clubs in the country “’Course, by my personality, I’m like that announcing he was ready to play profes- anyway,” he says. sionally. And others across the country are glad. Each team wanted him, but O’Dell chose Their autograph requests come in droves. Baltimore’s “terrible ball club” for good rea- “Mama, why do people want daddy’s sons, he says. name?” O’Dell’s wife Joan remembers their In the 1950s, players who accepted a sign- young son asking. ing bonus for more than $4,000 had to stay “That’s about a month’s worth,” says with the team they signed with for two Billy O’Dell pointing from his Lay-Z-Boy to years. a cardboard box spilling over with letters O’Dell signed with Baltimore for a total of and and cards awaiting his signa- $12,500, reasoning that if he wasn’t good ture. enough to pitch in the majors, he’d at least “If you have time, sign any, keep any,” bag a two-year stay. writes one man from Summerville, Mass. “I said, well, if I can’t pitch for Baltimore With the Summerville note is a self- in the major leagues, I can’t pitch for any- addressed stamped envelope with two Billy body,” says O’Dell. O’Dell baseball cards. He could, it turned out, pitch for Balti- “I believe that one come today,” he says. more, and strike out the best the league had “They’ll send ’em. I’ll sign ’em.” to offer—, Aaron and He even signs repeat requests from peo- . ple he knows make money off his signature. He was chosen for both the 1958 and 1959 And annually, O’Dell drives to Atlanta to All-Star games, and awarded MVP in the sign more autographs at the Braves’ stadi- 1958 game after striking out nine straight um. batters. But because O’Dell is getting a little more A year later, he’d have a 2.69 -to- “laid back” these days, his last flight to a far- walk ratio, the highest in the major leagues. away baseball memorial was last year to San Only at first, O’Dell checked before games Francisco, where O’Dell played four years to see the big names he’d pitch against. But for the team. then before long, “you got to know every- Former Giants’ stars were invited on the body,” he says. field for ’s 50th anniversary of “I know in the ’62 , (Mantle) . was still with the Yankees and I struck him As O’Dell walked from center field and out with a curveball the first of the took the pitcher’s mound again, the nation- opening game of the series. And he said, al anthem played and he was right back ‘Digger! Where’d you get that?’ I said, almost 50 years ago. ‘Mickey, you got to learn new tricks as you “I thought about when they played the get older,’” recalls O’Dell with a smile. national anthem and how many times I A San Francisco newspaper, however, stood out there on that mound and heard interpreted the jest the next day with the them play it before a game,” he says, “prob- headline, “O’Dell and Mantle have words,” ably a thousand times in my career. says O’Dell. “That may be the last time,” he says. “It “Mantle wasn’t mad at anybody. He makes you feel a little weak on the stom- ach.”

55th 55th PAGE 8 Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010 – THE NEWBERRY OBSERVER 55th 55th

Fifty-five Billy O’Dell facts, figures

Billy O’Dell made his major league baseball 23. In the three World Series games he debut 55 years ago. His major league totals are a appeared in, here is how each batter he faced career record of 105-100, a 3.29 ERA, allowed did in total at-bats: ..3-5; Bobby 1697 hits, 137 homeruns and 758 runs to score. Richardson..2-6; ..2-6; Mickey Man- He struck out 1,133 batters and walked 556. tle..0-5 with a walk; ..1-5 with a Here are 55 facts and figures on O’Dell’s career. walk; ..1-5 with a walk; Moose 1. His Clemson record was 19-8 with a 1.51 Skowron..0-4 with a walk; ..1-5 ERA. He struck out 300 batters, walked 83, (homerun); ..0-3; Hector Lopez..0-1; allowed 129 hits and 84 runs during his career. ..0-1; ..1-1. He had five career shut-outs including throwing 24. Sumter native got the a 21 strike-out no-hitter against USC in 1953. first off of him in the ’62 Series. 2. While at Clemson, he was named an All- 25. He has the second most complete games American in 1954. He was also named to the in the in 1962 with 20. 1952 and 1953 All Southern Conference teams. 26. He had the fifth most National League 3. He helped lead Clemson to the 1953 South- wins (19) and (195) in 1962. ern Conference championship and the 1954 27. He is referred to in a 1963 baseball maga- inaugural ACC championship. Of the team’s 14 zine article as the “best quail shot in the whole total wins that year, he was the winning pitcher darned country.” in eight of those games. 28. In the third inning of a game at Milwau- 4. He was the first baseball player ever induct- kee on May 9, 1963, he threw two wild pitches, ed into Clemson University’s Athletic Hall of faced , and Eddie Fame. Fred Cone, Frank Howard and Banks Matthews. These three future Hall-of-Famers McFadden were among the other inductees in would be his teammates just two years later. that 1973 inaugural class. 29. His best batting career performance was 5. He signed with the on when he went 3-4 on Sept. 26, 1963 against June 8, 1954 as their first-ever “bonus baby” for Philadelphia in San Francisco. $15,000. This was the Orioles’ first year in Balti- 30. In the 16+ months that he was a member of more. the Braves organization, he saw them move 6. His nickname “Digger O’Dell” is believed from to Atlanta. to have come from the character of the same 31. He recorded the first road ever for name on the popular show “Life of Riley.” the at ’s Digby “Digger” O’Dell was “the friendly morti- in their first away game in history. cian” on the radio and television show. 32. The last out he ever recorded was a left 7. He never threw one pitch in the minor field fly-out by . leagues. 33. Five of the last batters he ever faced were 8. He made his pitching debut on June 20, Roger Maris, , Tony Perez, Johnny 1954 at home against the Washington Senators. Bench and . The first batter he ever faced was Pete Runnels, 34. Twenty-five broadcasting Hall-of-Famers whom he walked. That day he also recorded his announced at least one of his games. He pitched first strike-out (Dean Stone) and allowed his to three future broadcasting Hall-of-Famers. first hit (Tom Wright). 35. Of the 63 complete games he had, 13 were 9. Future Hall-of Fame Bill McGowan shut-outs. was behind home plate when O’Dell made his 36. Thinking his opponents might be picking pitching debut. Three other Hall-of-Fame up the ’s signals, he would sometimes umpires also called at least one of his games. throw entirely different pitches than what had 10. McGowan was one of the umpires at the been called. His were quoted as saying inaugural All-Star game in 1933. , they “didn’t even know what was coming.” , , and Lefty 37. He was walked twice in six different Grove were among the players on the squads. games; one time in 26 different games. 11. The first future Hall-of-Famer he faced 38. Notable players he faced that are broad- was in Boston’s Fenway Park on casters or managers include , July 19, 1954 — O’Dell’s first time pitching in an Tim McCarver, Tony Kubek, , Joe away stadium. Williams grounded out. Torre and . 12. He had his first at-bat on Sept. 24, 1954 39. At least one person that shared the field against . He struck out. The Orioles’ with him as a player or umpire has been associ- season ended one day later. ated with major league baseball in some capaci- 13. Due to military service, he didn’t appear ty for more than the past 70 seasons. in a game from Sept. 25, 1954 to Sept. 6, 40. He scored in 41 different games. 1956. The Orioles played 289 games and also 41. He is credited with having 70 intentional sign during this time. walks, including giving six free 14. He saw then President Dwight Eisenhow- passes. er throw out the first pitch on April 15, 1957 in 42. He was 5-10 on attempts. Washington. O’Dell appeared later in the game. 43. He is incorrectly listed as being from 15. He hit his first home on May 24, 1958 Newnan, Ga. on the Clemson vs. Virginia foot- at Chicago’s Comiskey Park in the second ball game ticket in 1993. There was another Billy inning. His other career would also O’Dell that played football for Clemson during come against the White Sox on May 19, the ‘50s from Newnan. 1959...which was an inside-the-park one. 44. Although they were both in major league 16. His longest outing was a 13-inning affair baseball for a number of years, Johnny Buzhardt on May 3, 1958 against Cleveland in a 3-2 win. of Prosperity and Billy O’Dell never squared off The Indians sent out three different against each other. during the game. The game was played in 3:22 45. Willie Mays in front of an official crowd of 2,262 people. In five plate appearances, could only garner two walks and no hits. 17. He was named the MVP of the 1958 All- 46. Hank Aaron Star game. This game was played in his home went 12-36 with four home- Baltimore stadium. Here is how he fared against runs, four walks and struck out twice. 47. Pete Rose each batter: ..f7; Willie Mays..6-3; went 11-28 with no homeruns, Lee Walls..4-3; ..6-3; Hank Aaron..6- two walks and two strike-outs. 3; Ernie Banks..k; Frank Thomas..f2; Bill Maze- 48. Ted Williams went 3-15 with no home- roski..k; Del Crandall..f4 runs, three walks and three strike-outs. 18. Here is how he fared in the ’59 All-Star 49. Mickey Mantle went 10-31 with one home game: Hal Smith..f4; ..6-3; Junior run, two walks and four strike-outs. Gilliam..(240 foot) homerun; Charlie Neal..5-3. 50. Stan Musial went 6-25 with one homerun, This game was in the Los Angeles Memorial one walk and four strike-outs. Coliseum while Dodger Stadium was being 51. went 13-39 with one built. homerun, six walks and one strike-out. 19. He was the first Baltimore player to ever 52. Ernie Banks went 18-63 with three home- wear four different jersey numbers during his runs, 11 walks and six strike-outs. time there (18, 24, 38 and 41). 53. He pitched to 38 future Hall-of-Famers. 20. He had two shut- Ten other future Hall-of- outs in one week in 1960. Famers saw him play as a 21. He struck out 13 team owner, or in the first as an executive. Although game of a July 4, 1961 he never faced them as -header in a 19-3 batters, Brooks Robinson win at . and were his After giving up a walk to teammates. the first batter he faced, 54. He faced 402 differ- the next seventeen Cubs ent batters in his career. would strike-out, ground 55. From the time he out or fly out. signed until the day he 22. He was the starting was released by the Pitts- pitcher against Whitey burgh Pirates on Oct. 3, Ford in Game One of the 1967, 4,763 days elapsed, in San including counting his Francisco…the first time in the military. World Series in San Fran- cisco history.

— Statistics and — Cards reprinted th cards courtesy of with permission from th 55 Wilson Senn and Clemson 55