Update 1-2-2025
HAPPY 2025!
College Baseball, With a Little Help From My Friends, Another Lost Bill Bradford Story, AIC Record Book
With a little practice, I will attempt to remember that we are in a new year.
College baseball season is about a month away. Arkansas Tech opens its baseball season in 29 days. The Wonder Boys’ first home game is on February 11. The Razorbacks play in Fayetteville on February 14. February 14 is also the home opener for UALR and the University of the Ozarks. UCA plays at home on February 18.
Check out the college baseball near you, find some warm clothes, and buy a good thermos. You can’t beat college baseball in person.
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With a little help from my friends: Do you have an old baseball story? This week’s Backroads and Ballplayers Weekly post featured Bill Bradford from Van Buren County. My old friend Bobby Tiner shared this Bill Bradford story.
Most of you know the Bobby Tiner story. Tiner was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1990. I saw him play football for Arkansas State Teachers in the mid-1960s and got to know him personally in grad school. Some say his best sport was baseball. He was named All-AIC in both football and baseball and went on to a very successful coaching career.
Bob asked if I knew the story of Bill Bradford’s “injury” that occurred while Bradford was pitching for the Travelers. According to Tiner’s story, Bradford was closing out his pro career in 1957 pitching for Little Rock in the old Southern Association. In a game in New Orleans on July Fourth, Bradford was hit with what newspapers called a “terrific line drive that split his head.” Bradford collapsed immediately, but the ball caromed directly back to catcher Lou Heyman for the putout. Bradford was rushed to a New Orleans hospital where he eventually recovered.
According to another report, Heyman claimed that with the runner on first headed to second, he could have recorded an easy double play had the first baseman not been so taken by the strange event that he froze in his tracks.
Bradford recovered well enough to pitch in 11 games for the Travelers and Amarillo in 1958, before retiring to Van Buren County.
If you missed this week’s Backroads and Ballplayers Weekly, the post included Wally Moon’s rookie season in St. Louis and the lost story of Choctaw’s Bill Bradford. The link below will give you a second chance.
Lost Stories: Moon replaces a Legend and the lost story of Bill Bradford
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Did you know the AIC Record Book is available on the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame website? Link
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Here is a link to Backroads and Ballplayers on Facebook. Save it somewhere if you do not feel comfortable subscribing. Look for a new post on Monday evening.
I also understand that you can turn on notifications for my page which will send you an alert whenever you post something new.
To turn on notifications for a favorite Facebook page, go to the page itself, and click "Following.” Under "Notifications" select the type of posts for which you want to be notified. Choose Standard" or Highlights. This will prompt Facebook to send you alerts whenever the page posts new content. Maybe!
Currently, there are about 300 subscribers in our community. The most important benefit for me is that I can email any subscriber personally to discuss our shared love for baseball history.
More lost stories and book ordering information.