Knowing The Bulk Of You, My Peeps, Haven’t The Foggiest as to Where I’m From…
You Also Haven’t The Foggiest as to The Ribbon of Baseball Within My Life.
You Do Know I Grew-Up a St. Louis Cardinals Fan…
You Do Know of a Few Other Teams I Enjoy Rooting For (The Kansas City Royals, The Detroit Tigers, The Chicago White-Sox, The Philadelphia Phillies, and The New York Mets)…
You Do Know I’m a Midwestern Boy Through-And-Through…
Otherwise, I Do Have a Tendency Toward Saying Very Little About My Hometown. —
— So Tonight…
I Felt It Important To Make-Mention of The Baseball Hero of Marion.
We Have ONE.
That Alone is Something Most of This Region CANNOT Say.
Period.
For The Township of Marion…
We Have Former Major-League All-Star Catcher RAY FOSSE. —
— Ray Fosse was Drafted in The 1st-Round by The Cleveland Indians in 1965.
That’s Made More Special as 1965 was The Very 1st Year of The Major League Baseball Draft.
Ray Fosse Played For…
The Cleveland Indians (1967-1972, 1976-1977)
The Oakland Athletics (1973-1975)
The Seattle Mariners (1977)
The Milwaukee Brewers (1979)
Ray Fosse Was…
A TWO-Time All-Star (1970, 1971)
A TWO-Time Gold-Glove Winner (1970, 1971)
Ray Fosse Will Likely…
Always Be Remembered For His Collision At Home-Plate with Pete Rose…
In The Final Play of The 1970 All-Star-Game.
Many People Continue To Believe said Collision was The Fatal-Blow to Fosse‘s Career…
Though, as You Can All Plainly See…
Fosse Ended Up With His 1st Gold-Glove in 1970…
Then Won Another in 1971…
Then Helped Oakland Win The World Series in both 1973 and 1974.
His Final Regular-Season was 1979 while Playing in Milwaukee…
Though His Major-League-Career Didn’t Officially End Until The End Of Spring-Training 1980. —
— May 30, 1977…
Ray Fosse (then playing for Cleveland)…
Caught Dennis Eckersley‘s NO-HITTER…
Against The California Angels.
Afterward…
Eckersley Remarked…
“Give Fosse A Lot of Credit Too…
…He Called A Helluva Game.”—
"You Jivin' Me, Turkey?" 