Sunday, February 3, 2008

Splittorff and the McClaughry's

I have enjoyed the Darren Clarke and Bo Jackson story's at Whitesoxcards even though the Darren Clarke story is probably not over yet. Steve has a way of writing the story's that makes them interesting. I have a story I would like to share. My story begins in 1992 when Freddy Patek the former Shortstop for the Kansas City Royals daughter had a bad accident. She was paralyzed and the Royals decided to have a benefit for her. The benefit consisted of a card show and the Royals were present to due a lot of autograph signing. I wasn't going to miss out on something like this! However, sometimes I am not a real fast thinker. I decided to take my six year old son Trevor with me. One thing I would like you to know is, you see when my son was littlwe he was extremely hyperactive. I never gave that much thought about how many people were going to be there. There were autograph lines everywhere. I got in the middle of this huge crowd and my son decided it was time to get away from me. There were so many people and he was moving so fast through the crowd I lost my visual contact with him. Talk about immediate panic setting in! I could see people looking down like something was at their feet through out the crowd. I kept trying to look but I couldn't see anything. Finally, I happened to look over and the great former Royals pitcher Paul Splittorff was off to the side of the lines. Paul Splittorff was talking to some fans when just like a flash my son Trevor went right through his legs! Splittorff didn't laugh or nothing he simply glanced down and kept on talking. Trevor moved back into the autograph lines after that. But I knew one thing about my son he would come back to where he was before. Sure enough he did. I was waiting right behind Splittorff and when my son came by I nabbed him! Needless to say we didn't stay much longer after that I was to scared! As for where these people are at now, Patek daughter passed away four years after the benefit. Splittorff is still commentating for the Royals on TV and Trevor is 21 years old and in college he has totallly calmed down from what he was like when he was little.

2 comments:

Steve Gierman said...

Thank heavens he was levelheaded enough to make his way back in that crowd! Why do I get the feeling that it wasn't the first time a child has run through Splittorff's legs. He must have children of his own.

Thanks for the nice comments on my stories. It's nice to know that they are appreciated by someone other than me.

Bart McClaughry said...

you are probably right, he probably wasn't the first nor will he probably be the last to run through Splittorff's.
Good stories are hard to find and talent like yours should be read.