As for Shepperd, I went to the Stadium in 1951. I was little. Who knew.

Look at the lineups for the first game he called. Several HoFers. The usual suspects-JoeD, The Mick, Scooter, Yogi, Coleman, Casey, Johnny Mize. Jackie Jensen hit a homer. Somehow he went to the Sox where he played with Ted and Piersall. He won the MVP there. Yankees won 5-0.

Boston had some good players, also. One of note was Lou Boudreau. He went on to manage and be Denny McClain’s father-in-law.

I’ve been going ’round the internet on my lunch break reading various articles and tributes to Bob Sheppard and I found myself smiling broadly over some of his quotes and got such a chuckle over this one from the NY times:

“One day when my wife and I were down in St. Thomas, we went into a restaurant,” Sheppard told The Village Voice in 2002. “I told the waitress, ‘I’ll have the No. 1. Scrambled eggs, buttered toast and black coffee. No. 1.’ My wife looked at me and said. ‘You sound like Jon Miller’s imitation.’ I wasn’t conscious of the fact that I was ordering the same way I’d introduce Billy Martin.”

As sad as his passing is, I know that I can’t stay sad for long because he had a fulfilling and long life. 99 years? Where do I sign up for that?