Gaedel X 2
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Posted By User Carl Shimkin
In 1951, Bill Veeck, the St. Louis Browns' owner, employed 3'7" small-man Eddie "Carl" Gaedel for one game. It was maybe the most famous of his many promotions to increase sagging attendence for the dreadful St. Louis Browns. Gaedel had one plate appearance, which resulted predictably with him drawing a Walk.
Today we have the anti-Gaedel and he is anything but a sideshow. If you take Gaedel and multiply him by two minus three inches, you get 7'1" pitcher Ryan Doherty of the Defending Midwest League Champions- The South Bend Silver Hawks (A-Ball). The 22-year old right-hander spent three years at Notre Dame University where he chose to pursue his baseball dream after eschewing basketball scholarships from Duke, Stanford and Princeton. In an interview with ESPN Magazine Doherty explained his decision to play baseball over basketball,
"I started to fall in love with baseball right around the time Randy Johnson was making a name for himself with the Mariners. I had a hero for life. I think I might have had a decent future in basketball, but my height in baseball makes me a real oddity."
Oddity is an understatement, downright disorienting is more like it. Add in the ten-inch height of the pitchers mound, and hitters are approximately dealing with an eight-footer slinging 90-mph heat and a curve ball that seemingly drops out of the sky.
Doherty began his professional baseball career a year ago and is one of the top relievers in the Silver Hawks' vaunted bullpen, where he is presently 3-0 with a 3.32 ERA. With the Diamondbacks' top prospect Justin Upton as a teammate, the Silver Hawks should do much better attendence-wise than the St. Louis Browns could have ever hoped to do. While Pitcher Jon Rauch (6'11") of the Washington Nationals is the tallest man ever to play in the major leagues, it is believed that Doherty is the tallest man ever to play professional baseball.
Carl The Cabbie
http://www.bestblog.mlblogs.com
Date
Fri 07/07/06, 7:23 pm EST
