Batboy barrels his way into Hall of Fame
Reliford breaks color barrier at 12 years old
Joe Louis Reliford simply wanted a job. What he got instead was a place in baseball history.
Reliford grew up in the Deep South in the late 1940s and early 1950s, one of 10 children raised by a single mother. His father died when he was 4 years old and as Reliford got older, the desire to help his mother and take care of the family grew stronger.
So, he did what any 10-year-old would do. He headed to the place he knew best -- the hometown ballpark in Fitzgerald, Ga. Reliford had spent countless hours watching the Fitzgerald Pioneers of the Class D Georgia State League from the nearby railroad tracks. What better way to earn some money, he thought, than through baseball?
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"I got the job because I wanted to help my mom," Reliford, 67, said. "We had the field right down the street and I watched games for years and years, and I got to know the players by watching from the tracks and hanging on the fence. I finally got the nerve to go find out who the manager [and owner] was. And when I found out it was Ace Adams, I told him I wanted to be the batboy for his team."I went back the next day after school, and he told me what a batboy had to do. I also told him he'd have to ask my mom if it was okay because this was a team that traveled. He asked my mom, and she said yes. So he took me back to the ballpark and gave me a uniform. That uniform was so big, it would fit me today. My mom had to alter it."
(Ed. this shouldn't be quoted. I don't have time to fix this right now) Charles Ridgeway, a player for the team, took Reliford under his wing and eventually became a the manager of the team.
As the calendar turned toward the summer, Fitzgerald was languishing near the bottom of the eight-team circuit. The Pioneers would eventually finish sixth, 14 games under .500 and 20 games out of first place.
So, it was no surprise that on July 19, they were getting shellacked at Statesboro, another team of questionable quality.
What made this game a bit different, however, was the crowd. Sparse crowds were commonplace, but the local Elks Lodge was sponsoring the game. The stands were packed with lodge members, many of whom had been enjoying their share of adult beverages. When Fitzgerald fell behind, 13-0, heading into the eighth inning, the crowd started chanting for Ridgeway to "put in the batboy."
Here's what happened next:
"He was 12, but he had been working out with us every day and we let him hit once in a while, so I knew he wouldn't embarrass us. I didn't even think about his color because we didn't have any racists on the club."
So Reliford grabbed a bat and -- 131 days shy of his 13th birthday -- stepped into the history books, becoming the youngest player ever to appear in a professional baseball game. Joe Nuxhall had previously held that distinction, appearing in a game for Cincinnati as a 15-year-old in 1944.
Reliford proceeded to dig into the batter's box against shocked Statesboro pitcher Curtis White, who threw a fastball right by him. The next pitch was another fastball, but this time Reliford was ready. He caught it perfectly and drilled a hard grounder down the line that appeared to be headed for the left-field corner. But the Statesboro third baseman snagged the ball on a nifty backhand play and fired to first base, throwing out Reliford by a step. That should have been the end of Reliford's outing but Ridgeway felt compelled to put him out on the field. So he told the youngster to grab his glove and head to right field for what would be an eventful bottom of the eighth inning.
"They had one fellow on first base when another one hit a grounder to me," Reliford said. "The runner was headed to third because I guess he was thinking 'that little child can't throw me out.' But when he got to third base, the ball was waiting on him, and I had thrown him out."
The next batter was Harold Shuster, Statesboro's best hitter and one of the more feared sluggers in the league. Shuster smacked a drive into right field, one that sent Reliford racing back to the wall. He leaped, making a spectacular catch -- the grab also ended Shuster's 21-game hitting streak -- and pandemonium ensued.
"The bleachers emptied, and it scared me to death," Reliford said. "I caught a ball and I wasn't even supposed to be on the field. All those white folks were coming toward me, and I thought they were doing it because I caught the ball. But they were happy for me, and I didn't know it. I was 12 years old, and I was scared to death.
"After that, Mr. Ridgeway rushed me into the dressing room. He looked at my back pocket when we were in there and saw that it was full of money. They stuffed my pockets full of money. I couldn't handle it. I didn't know what to do. But I did something that no one had ever done before, and I remember that day just like it was yesterday."
Ridgeway was fined $50 by the league and suspended for five days for allowing Reliford to play. He said the town took up a collection for him to pay the fine and raised $52. Kubick wasn't so lucky. The league fired him for allowing such an incident to take place. Reliford eventually left Fitzgerald later that summer to work for the Fitzgerald Lucky Stars of the Negro Leagues.
There is more on Reliford at the story, but he does have one of the better quotes to end an article ever.
"I've had a lovely life," he said. "I've been blessed. God has been good to me."
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