The Hindu : Sport : O'Neil becomes oldest-ever pro

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 20, 2006

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Sport - Sports : General

O'Neil becomes oldest-ever pro

KANSAS CITY (U.S.): John Jordan ``Buck'' O'Neil never got a free pass in life.

The grandson of a man brought to the United States as a slave, O'Neil moved to Kansas City to avoid racial persecution in the Deep South. He played baseball during an era of segregation, and earlier this year was denied entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by a special 12-member panel.

It figures that on Tuesday, when the 94-year-old O'Neil stepped into the batter's box during a minor league All-Star game, nobody could quibble over an intentional walk.

Except maybe O'Neil and a few thousand fans.

``I just might take a swing at one,'' he said before the Northern League All-Star game.

Leading off for the West in the top of the first inning, O'Neil argued with the umpire after the first pitch from Kansas City T-Bones pitcher Jonathan Krysa sailed high and was called a ball. After another high pitch that narrowly missed his head, O'Neil took a called strike before being walked, as planned.

O'Neil ambled to first base, then took a lead off the bag as if he was going to stay in the game before being pulled for a pinch runner.

After the top of the inning, T-Bones owner John Ehlert announced that a trade had been brokered to bring O'Neil to the T-Bones, allowing him to also lead off the bottom of the inning.

In his second at-bat, O'Neil took three balls — all of them high and greeted with a chorus of boos from the crowd — before swinging at a pitch and almost spinning off his feet. Possibly lost in the novelty of the inning, the umpire gave him two more balls before sending him down to first base with his second walk of the night.

The T-Bones signed O'Neil to a one-day contract, making him the oldest man ever to play U.S. professional baseball. He surpassed 83-year-old Jim Eriotes, who struck out in a minor league game in South Dakota earlier this month, by more than a decade.

Very special

``This is special, very special,'' O'Neil said after his second at-bat. ``I've been in baseball 70 years. This is how I made my living. And here I am at 94 with a bat in my hand.''

O'Neil said he thought the last time he swung a bat in a game was in 1955.

Asked if he remembered whom he was facing in that last at-bat, he replied: ``I don't remember yesterday and you ask me who the pitcher was in 1955?''

Nobody disputes that his involvement in the game bordered on a gimmick. But O'Neil's supporters hope it also provides more ammunition in their quest to get him into the U.S. Hall of Fame. — AP

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