Goldstein: Carl Scheib, youngest player in AL history, dies at 91

From Richard Goldstein at the New York Times on April 6, 2018:

In the summer of 1942, Carl Scheib was working on his family’s farm in Pennsylvania and anticipating another year in high school.

At age 15, he didn’t have a car, but he did possess a nifty fastball and curve, pitching for his high school baseball team.

He had never seen a major league game, but even if he had ventured to Philadelphia to watch the Athletics or the Phillies play, there wasn’t a lot to look at. Both teams had been in the doldrums for years, and baseball was beginning to lose ballplayers to military service in World War II.

Opportunity beckoned.

A salesman in his hometown, Gratz, Pa., happened to work as a part-time scout for the A’s, and on his recommendation the team invited Carl to a workout at Shibe Park. Connie Mack, the A’s president and manager, was impressed enough to ask him to come back the following summer.

 

Read the full article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/05/obituaries/carl-scheib-youngest-player-in-american-league-history-dies-at-91.html



Originally published: April 6, 2018. Last Updated: April 6, 2018.