Vernon’s Equinox

In the oxymoron category, former Washington Senators great Mickey Vernon has died at the age of 90. The two-time batting champ and seven-time All-Star was named on the Veterans Committee ballot for next year’s Hall of Fame induction, but he has already made his mark on the Hall. During a rain delay in Chicago in the 1940s, Vernon picked up a young fan attending his first major league game, brought him into the Senators dugout, introduced him to his teammates, gave him a baseball and sparked a lifelong love of baseball. That little boy grew up to be Harry Kalas, voice of the Phillies for more than 30 years and member of the Hall of Fame. Not quite the Winston Churchill getting cured by Alexander Fleming’s penicillin after his father paid for his education after Fleming saved his son’s life story my mom keeps forwarding me, but a good one nonetheless.