Sunday, October 25, 2015

Play Ball

Congratulations to the Kansas City Royals on making it to the World Series for the second year in a row! To celebrate, here's a post about my wife Julie Mettenburg's family connection to baseball.

Julie's maternal grandfather, Dean Martin, a Kansas native and lifelong baseball fan, played for the University of Kansas in 1941-42. In this photo, Dean is in the middle of the second row, right in the center of the picture.

University of Kansas baseball team, 1941-42
Dean's coach was the legendary Phog Allen--he's in the front row, third from the right. He coached the baseball team for the same two years Dean was a player, 1941-42. But he was best known as the KU basketball coach; he coached three teams to national championships, in 1922, 1923, and 1952. The Jayhawks still play in the venue that bears his name, Allen Fieldhouse.

As a baseball coach, though, Phog was less legendary. During his tenure, KU played in the Big Six; in 1941 the team finished fifth (3-10), and in 1942 it finished sixth (3-5). Dean played outfield and the one story that is remembered in his family is the time he hit a home run that was called back because he missed second base. Oops!

Of course, there were more serious things going on at the time. In December 1941, right in the middle of Dean's time with the Jayhawks, Pearl Harbor was attacked. As a senior in Army ROTC, he was allowed to finish school before entering active duty. The Jayhawks didn't even field a team in 1943, no doubt because of the war. A reconfigured team with a new coach struggled through the 1944 season, sat out again in 1945, and was back for good in 1946.

After the war, Dean returned to Franklin County, Kansas, where he and his wife, Dorothy, farmed and raised their two children, Fred and Roxanne. According to Roxanne--Julie's mother--Dean's love of baseball never waned. He helped establish a ball field in the Franklin County community of Princeton, and volunteered there as an umpire for years. In nearby Kansas City, the Athletics left for Oakland in 1968, leaving a vacuum quickly filled by the upstart Royals in 1969. Dean became a fan and always tried to catch the game, if not in person at least on radio or TV. He even had a "George Brett for President" bumper sticker.

The Royals last won the Series in 1985, five years before Dean passed away. I know where his attention would be focused this week.

#TakeTheCrown

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