Shea: PCL legend Neill Sheridan and the 613-foot home run
From John Shea at the San Francisco Chronicle on January 26, 2014, with mention of SABR member Rick Cabral:
Neill Sheridan was talking about his baseball career when he dropped this doozy:
“Ted Williams and I were talking, and Joe DiMaggio comes out and asks me if I’d like to meet Babe Ruth.”
Whoa.
That’s some serious name-dropping. Not that Sheridan was showing off. He simply was answering a question about his brief fling in the big leagues. Sheridan grew up in the Bay Area, like DiMaggio, and was Williams’ teammate on the Boston Red Sox.
But Ruth was in another league, figuratively, a bigger-than-life legend, a guy who once out-homered every other team in his league. What did he say, Neill?
“Nice meeting you, kid.”
Life is good.
Sheridan, 92, who lived in Pleasant Hill most of his life and now resides in Antioch, recently visited the nearby home of his granddaughter, Tami Hopkins, who pulled out his scrapbook and some photographs and mementos from a career that might have been short in the majors but was distinguished in the Pacific Coast League.
Sheridan was a ’40s version of Archibald “Moonlight” Graham, except without a book (“Shoeless Joe”) or movie (“Field of Dreams”) to capture his story. While Graham played one game in 1905 and never got to the plate, Sheridan played two games and got one at-bat.
Read the full article here: http://www.sfgate.com/sports/shea/article/PCL-legend-Sheridan-s-613-8-foot-home-run-5175501.php
Originally published: January 27, 2014. Last Updated: January 27, 2014.