Hoyt Wilhelm

First pitch to Scowen is a swing and a miss, strike one.

Clint Courtney catching tonight, but not using the, uh, oversized catcher's glove that he uses for Hoyt Wilhelm.

The one-strike pitch is a slow curve, a little bit high inside.

Ball one, 1-1.

And that brings up Clint Courtney.

Clint Courtney.

And then Courtney has suddenly become quite a favorite here, catching Hoyt Wilhelm with the big gloves, on account of the fact he's been doing the bulk of the Oriole catching against left-hand and right-hand pitching.

Clint's batting 235 with one homer and seven runs batted in.

Then charge it on your Atlantic Richfield credit card and take it home.

Jerry, we talk about birthdays, mentioning Jim Ogle having a birthday today and Hoyt Wilhelm celebrating his 46th.

I guess Wilhelm could be the only player in the history of Major League Baseball who could be drawing his pension while drawing a regular active paycheck, isn't he?

Very possible, if he wanted to collect it, they cut that minimum age from 50 to 45, and he's been eligible for some time now, so all he has to do is write that letter and say, I want it.

Hoyt

Wilhelm, on his 46th birthday, is making his 970th appearance in a Major League Baseball game, and of course, that's an all-time record.

Getting a fine hand from the fans here, Hoyt Wilhelm, the third California pitcher.

Jim McLaughlin started it when five innings gave up.

Well, it's a family story, but I think, uh, in general, I mean, the knuckleball is, uh, I would say the one skill in all of sport that can take someone without kinda these supernatural talents, these, you know, explosive, uh, explosive power, strength, um, the ability to throw 100 miles an hour, and take those guys and, and, and give them a shot at making the MLB, maybe even the Hall of Fame.

I mean, if you look at Hoyt Wilhelm, widely considered to be one of the top two knuckleballers of all time, he pitched for the Orioles.

The Orioles media relations department said he was the worst athlete ever to step on a Major League field.

[laughs]

Pitch back is outside and the count one ball and one strike.

Tommy John, the White Sox starter, has been replaced by Hoyt Wilhelm in the fifth inning.

Al Downing, the starter for the Yankees, replaced by Pete Ramos in the fifth.

One ball, one strike.

Claude Osteen loosening up, and Mike McCormick back in the dugout now, so take a little bit a while before we get underway in the sixth inning.

So when you, when you say goodbye to a Drysdale at 33, you realize how extremely fortunate a Hoyt Wilhelm is to be still doing what he wants to do in a game that is so exacting as Major League Baseball, in a game where youth is such a precious commodity, that Wilhelm is still pitching, might very well wind up in a World Series for all we know, at the tender age of 46.

How fortunate he has been.

I don't know whether Don Drysdale is still in the ballpark or not.