Three former Redbird stars were inducted to the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame this afternoon. Pepper Martin, Tim McCarver, and Mark McGwire were honored by the Cardinal Nation for their tremendous contribution of talent. It was quite a special event as the fans gathered to see three of their favorites receive such privileged notoriety.
Getting to view portions of the festivities, I could not help but watch in such gratitude for what God let's me get to do in life. He lets me be in some of the most unusual settings. I love it. It's just so weird in a weird sort of way; but I had connections of some fashion with all three inductees.
I never met Mr. Martin. But I was named after the captain of his team, Terry Moore. Terry and I were close friends and he was always telling me about the antics of his colleagues.
Tim McCarver was my manager at my very first Cardinals fantasy camp; he along with Curt Flood. I was just too thrilled to be placed on their team. They made a catcher out of me because I was one of the youngest in the camp. They did so because, being only thirty-six, my legs could take the punishment.
However, I didn't know there was a specific way to wear the mitt so that an incoming pitch would not jamb my thumb...repeatedly. It hurt so badly that I brought the metal shoe horn from the hotel bathroom the next day. Later in the game McCarver saw the shoe horn and had a fit! He wouldn't let it drop as he had never seen nor heard of such a thing.
And then with Mark McGwire, I've never actually met him in person. But we've done a bit of work together. When Carole Buck asked me to write a book about her husband, Jack, she wanted Mark to write the Foreword to what eventually became Voice of Silver, Heart of Gold.
Mark isn't a writer. My job was to have several conversations with him over the phone. I interviewed him regarding Jack and then I would write what Mark conveyed. Next I would send him my perspective, he would make adjustments and return the volley. We went through this enough times that I finally had written what Mark wanted written from his perspective...through my perspective of his perspective....if that makes any sense.
Regardless, today's induction took me down three memory lanes. Each of them still fascinates me as God just seems to have me at the right place at the right time. You just can't make this stuff up!
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