Category: Story Ball Collection

He Played Both Games of the Longest Doubleheader By Time

My daily Twins calendar on January 13th talked about how on 05.31.1964 there was a doubleheader between the Giants and Mets that lasted the longest of any doubleheader (by time:  9 hours, 56 minutes).  I checked the boxscores to see who played a full game in each of the two games and found that Ed Kranepool of the Mets played both.  I sent Ed a baseball and received it back today.  He signed it with
Played Every Inning of Doubleheader 5-3-64″ and wrote about how he played 50 innings in 24 hours and wished the game went a little longer so it would have ended the next month!  Pretty neat comment about Ed’s 24 hour period!

And a Super Star was Born

Today I received one of the coolest baseballs ever.  I was reading an old article and it mentioned how Kirby Puckett was discovered by the Twins.  Jim Rantz was THE guy in this so I thought I would see if I could find him and send him a baseball asking to write about his recollection of seeing Puckett for the first time.  Mr Rantz, like Kirby himself, did not disappoint!  This is one of my top three baseballs in my collection for the content and what Puckett meant to me as a high schooler and beyond.  Thank you so much Mr Rantz!

Handsome Ransom!

Today I received a Story Ball from Handsome Ransom Jackson.  Ransom hit the last home run as a Brooklyn Dodger and wrote about it.  The baseball is really cool.  He included a nice note and mentioned his book coming out.  He wrote that he did not realize until thirty years later when his son called him that it was a question on “Good Morning America!”  This was a real neat response and an awesome addition to the Story Ball Collection!  Thank you Ransom!