Wonderful chance meeting

[ngineer]

This past Friday night I had to opportunity to attend a wonderful dinner at Lehigh's Iacocca Hall on the top of South Mountain at Lehigh's campus. The event was to honor and install 6 new inductees into the University's Sports Hall of Fame. The first honoree was a man named Lee Butz who pitched for Lehigh in the early 1950's (yes guy is Class of '55!), and still holds the record for career ERA at 1.58! Of course, they didn't play the nowhere near the number of games that are played today, but still....over three years (freshmen couldn't play varsity way back then). After Lehigh Butz gave pro ball a shot and ended up playing minor league ball in Louisville, KY, and a teammate was one William White..yes Bill White who went on to be a solid star for many years with the Cardinals. Butz returned to the Lehigh Valley and took over his father's construction business and turned it into a large construction business doing a lot of institutional, commercial, and industrial projects. But over the past 70 years, he and Bill White always remained close, and Bill made the trip to Bethlehem, PA to be at this dinner. Being the big baseball all fan I am, and a Phillies fan to boot (White was a Phillie for about 3-4 years near the end of his career) I was able to spend a good 10-15 minutes talking baseball with Bill and it was glorious. He's 89 and still had a pretty good memory, remembering players from back in the 50's and 60's, including a guy from my hometown who spent a number of years with St. Louis as a back up catcher, Dave Ricketts.

I had actually left the dining hall and was about to exit the building, when I realized that I had forgotten to go over say hi the Bill. I am so glad I reversed gear and hustled back up to the third floor! I could tell Bill was touched by my coming over and commiserating with him, as so many young people, today, would just shrug. 15 minutes can sometimes have significant impact on oneself, as well as others.

[caribbeanhen]

This past Friday night I had to opportunity to attend a wonderful dinner at Lehigh's Iacocca Hall on the top of South Mountain at Lehigh's campus. The event was to honor and install 6 new inductees into the University's Sports Hall of Fame. The first honoree was a man named Lee Butz who pitched for Lehigh in the early 1950's (yes guy is Class of '55!), and still holds the record for career ERA at 1.58! Of course, they didn't play the nowhere near the number of games that are played today, but still....over three years (freshmen couldn't play varsity way back then). After Lehigh Butz gave pro ball a shot and ended up playing minor league ball in Louisville, KY, and a teammate was one William White..yes Bill White who went on to be a solid star for many years with the Cardinals. Butz returned to the Lehigh Valley and took over his father's construction business and turned it into a large construction business doing a lot of institutional, commercial, and industrial projects. But over the past 70 years, he and Bill White always remained close, and Bill made the trip to Bethlehem, PA to be at this dinner. Being the big baseball all fan I am, and a Phillies fan to boot (White was a Phillie for about 3-4 years near the end of his career) I was able to spend a good 10-15 minutes talking baseball with Bill and it was glorious. He's 89 and still had a pretty good memory, remembering players from back in the 50's and 60's, including a guy from my hometown who spent a number of years with St. Louis as a back up catcher, Dave Ricketts.

I had actually left the dining hall and was about to exit the building, when I realized that I had forgotten to go over say hi the Bill. I am so glad I reversed gear and hustled back up to the third floor! I could tell Bill was touched by my coming over and commiserating with him, as so many young people, today, would just shrug. 15 minutes can sometimes have significant impact on oneself, as well as others.

great post

I don’t remember his playing days but remember him being President of the NL and announcer, a classy guy

[Gil Dobie]

This past Friday night I had to opportunity to attend a wonderful dinner at Lehigh's Iacocca Hall on the top of South Mountain at Lehigh's campus. The event was to honor and install 6 new inductees into the University's Sports Hall of Fame. The first honoree was a man named Lee Butz who pitched for Lehigh in the early 1950's (yes guy is Class of '55!), and still holds the record for career ERA at 1.58! Of course, they didn't play the nowhere near the number of games that are played today, but still....over three years (freshmen couldn't play varsity way back then). After Lehigh Butz gave pro ball a shot and ended up playing minor league ball in Louisville, KY, and a teammate was one William White..yes Bill White who went on to be a solid star for many years with the Cardinals. Butz returned to the Lehigh Valley and took over his father's construction business and turned it into a large construction business doing a lot of institutional, commercial, and industrial projects. But over the past 70 years, he and Bill White always remained close, and Bill made the trip to Bethlehem, PA to be at this dinner. Being the big baseball all fan I am, and a Phillies fan to boot (White was a Phillie for about 3-4 years near the end of his career) I was able to spend a good 10-15 minutes talking baseball with Bill and it was glorious. He's 89 and still had a pretty good memory, remembering players from back in the 50's and 60's, including a guy from my hometown who spent a number of years with St. Louis as a back up catcher, Dave Ricketts.

I had actually left the dining hall and was about to exit the building, when I realized that I had forgotten to go over say hi the Bill. I am so glad I reversed gear and hustled back up to the third floor! I could tell Bill was touched by my coming over and commiserating with him, as so many young people, today, would just shrug. 15 minutes can sometimes have significant impact on oneself, as well as others.

Awesome, remember him with the Phillies.

[ngineer]

Awesome, remember him with the Phillies. xthumbsupx Yes, he also did some radio and tv announcing of Phillies games after he retired before going on the the executive suite of the National League.