Harvey (The Kitten) Haddix and a Masterpiece (Baseball)

Free Republic ^ | 5/24/06 | self

[beyond the sea]

These kinds of games make baseball great.

[beyond the sea]

brilliant performance and sweet remembrance ............. ping

............ and prayers for Bararo's health.

[pookie18]

Nicknamed "the Kitten" at St. Louis for his resemblance to Harry "the Cat" Brecheen...

[big'ol_freeper]

Ping

[beyond the sea]

Nicknamed "the Kitten" at St. Louis for his resemblance to Harry "the Cat" Brecheen...

I was told over the years that he had that nickname because of his cat-like quickness on the mound! He was the greatest defensive pitcher in the league.

He never let a ball get back up through the middle for a hit.

You may be right about what you said about Brecheen, but Bob Prince (the great Pirate announcer) named him 'the kitten' in Pittsburgh because of his incredible quickness on the mound. Maybe he had that name for various reasons, though.

;-)

[So Cal Rocket]

ahhh... you have to love the days when starting pitchers kept pitching regardless of the pitch count...

I remember back in the 70's... Nolan Ryan would throw 200+ pitches in a game. Nowadays, the starters get yanked after 100 pitches or so.

[beyond the sea]

baseball ping................... and congrats again to the Sox.

;-)

[Ditto]

My mother made me go to bed, but I had my trusty transistor radio with the ear phone and I hid under the blanket and listened to the very end.

BTW. It was the same radio I would use the next year to listen to the World Series during class -- I shudder to think what those nuns would have done to me if they knew I had that radio hidden under my shirt with the wire going up my sleeve and the earphone hidden in my hand.

[beyond the sea]

ahhh... you have to love the days when starting pitchers kept pitching regardless of the pitch count...

July 19, 1955: Pirate hurler Vern Law pitches 18 innings in beating Milwaukee 4-3, giving up just nine hits and fanning 12.

YOI!

[beyond the sea]

BTW. It was the same radio I would use the next year to listen to the World Series during class -- I shudder to think what those nuns would have done to me if they knew I had that radio hidden under my shirt with the wire going up my sleeve and the earphone hidden in my hand.

LOL............... I think I had that same little black transistor radio in my hand in October of '60 when Maz smoked the homerun over Yogi's head. I was playing in a soccer game in Blawnox that memorable afternoon.............. transistor radio in hand and tightly up to my ear. The coach didn't mind!

LOL!

[Ditto]

Nicknamed "the Kitten" at St. Louis for his resemblance to Harry "the Cat" Brecheen...

Resemblance in that they were both outstanding at fielding hard hit balls back to the mound. Two of the best fielding pitchers ever to play the game. Breacheen was a big guy who they said had the reflexes of a cat. Haddix was a small guy, hence the Kitten.

[rwa265]

"You may be right about what you said about Brecheen, but Bob Prince (the great Pirate announcer) named him 'the kitten' in Pittsburgh because of his incredible quickness on the mound."

Pookie got it right. According to basaballibrary.com, Haddix was nicknamed "the Kitten" at St. Louis for his resemblance to Harry "the Cat" Brecheen.

http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/H/Haddix_Harvey.stm

I agree with you on his cat like quickness. I also agree that Bob Prince was great. I remember the first time I heard him thinking 'this guy is good'. As tough as the perfect 12 inning loss was, the game 7 win in the 1960 World Series was even sweeter. Bill Mazeroski's walk off home run was one of the greatest moments in MLB history, and one of my fondest childhood memories.

[rwa265]

We were lucky. The nuns at my grade school were big baseball fans and allowed us to watch game 7 in the assembly hall.

[steelyourfaith]

I listened to that game, too.

I remember walking home from the ball fields and I heard the start of the game from someone's radio playing KDKA on their porch and so i hurried home to tune in.

I remember being in bed and calling downstairs to my dad that Haddix had a no-hitter after 4 or 5 innings. He said something like, "that's nice" and continued watching his TV program.

I called down a few innings later, and he switched over to listen to the game on his transistor radio .

Great memory. Thanks BTS.

[Ditto]

The nuns at my grade school were big baseball fans and allowed us to watch game 7 in the assembly hall.

Then they couldn't have been Dominicans. ;~))

[rwa265]

They were Daughters of Charity. But don't let the name fool you. A couple of them were really mean. I live in Cardinal Nation, though, and we've always been big fans.

[MizSterious]

Where (and when) I grew up, radios were the main source for baseball games. One's imagination filled in for what the teevees would later reveal, and live games were considered too far away for the most part. My grandparents would have the family over for dinner, and three or four radios would be going at once. Heaven help the kid(s) who created a ruckus in the livingroom, where the radios were all set up!

Thanks for the ping, great article.

[beyond the sea]

Breacheen was a big guy who they said had the reflexes of a cat. Haddix was a small guy, hence the Kitten.

LOL ........ makes fine sense!!!

[beyond the sea]

I also agree that Bob Prince was great. I remember the first time I heard him thinking 'this guy is good'.

Yes, rwa265.

As I always say, "Back in the 50's and 60's ........ the rain delays during Pirate games were more entertaining than the game on the radio. Prince and Jim 'Possum' Woods and Nellie King were that incredibly funny tossing around old stories of baseball lore. I loved those rain delays.

[beyond the sea]

The nuns at my grade school were big baseball fans and allowed us to watch game 7 in the assembly hall.

Where was that...... may I ask?

Cool nuns.