Post a lesser known or obscure player who went
 

to High School in the town where you presently live. While it's hard to say "obscure" on this board, someone the casual baseball fan likely wouldn't know anything about.

Here's my contribution:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Borowy

We went to HS together and played sports together. He had a much better career being a hitting coach than being a player.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Long_(baseball)

Was a very good hitting coach for the Mets. They should never have fired him.

Here's a recent one.

Also recent. The pride of Closter, NJ...

1963 Cardinals
 

This handsome young fellow lives in my daughters home town of Beaver Falls, PA. Played minor league ball for 17 years, had one call up with the 1963 Cardinals as a Pinch hitter, unfortunately his first major league at bat he faced Sandy Koufax! ouch....

Interesting career...

He is a great guy with some great baseball stories. He was nice enough to sign this card for me :-)

Attachment 570234

Attachment 570235

When it comes to athletes from this town there is Jalen Hurts and then everyone else including:


Attachment 570252

Living outside Richmond VA, it’s this guy:

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/monty-kennedy/

The thinking is he played at Amelia High but didn’t graduate. I bought a NM 52 Bowman of him for about $12 last month. His control was not Dalkowski-level but it was darn close.

Most obscure. Also most famous.

I always liked Hank Borowy, so much so that I have a few autographed photos. He had some excellent seasons, and while he played for some good teams, he played for some bad teams as well and didn't get run support. And he also had some health issues that limited him later.

Fred Newman - Brookline, MA
 

Only three graduates of Brookline (MA) High School have played MLB ball, and Fred Newman is the only one who appeared in more than 4 games or has a card. Here's his 1966 Topps.

Eddie Phillips. He pinch ran 9 times at the end of the season for the 1953 Cardinals but never got an AB.

Not sure if he went to school here. Kevin Stanfield was born in the town I live in and the only person born here to make the majors. He pitched 3 innings for the Twins in 1979.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...tanfke01.shtml

Cheating a bit because A. Most Net54ers know him and B. He technically grew up about 20min away from my hometown, but Hooks Wiltse is one of the only professional players to come from our middle of nowhere portion of Central New York!

Homer
 

Homer Hillebrand was a pre-T206 Pirate from Freeport, IL. From the NFL, Preston Pearson was our guy. And we had a pretty solid high school basketball coach at one time, whose picture was on the gym wall, before he went off from there to coach at Kentucky…Adolph Rupp. Cool thread…

Cheers,
Geno

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...3a177208_o.jpg

Derek Lowe
 

Derek Lowe is the biggest name to come out of the high school I went to.

Rico Brogna went to HS in the town I currently live in, not the HS I attended. I grew up one town over. When Rico was coming up it was kind of huge for us in CT

I went to high school and played football with Shaun O'Hara, starting center for the NY Giants when they last won the Super Bowl. Haven't talked to him in a while but he was always cool with everyone back in the day.



.

I never went to school in Georgia but this guy did in the same city I currently live in and he still lives here, he's 89 years old. This is his 1959 Topps Venezuelan. ETA: correction, he currently lives in a bordering city in a bordering county, the city of Hiram.

Born in Riverside.

Evar Swanson.

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/evar-swanson/

Around 2000 I went to Freeport IL on business for Honeywell. At that point it my life I had never been in a town so small. Totally blew me away. I remember I got a parking ticket downtown — for $1.50. Coming from NYC I thought a parking ticket for $1.50 was hysterical. I remember I saved it for years.

That’s awesome! They probably pumped that whole $1.50 into the Tutty Baker Days festival. I haven’t been back since I left in 1985, and I’m sure it hasn’t changed a bit…in some ways, things like that are pretty refreshing.

Gabrinus, aka Jerry. 😏

I don’t know if tBob played here?

I have several....

Carl Lundgren is from Marengo, Illinois and went to the same church my 90 year old mother in law went to when she was growing up in this tiny, farming community.

John Raleigh was born in Elkhorn, Wisconsin which is my current residence and has been for 15 years.

George Perring was and raised in tiny Sharon, Wisconsin, not far from Elkhorn. My wife's dad grew up in this town and named my wife after it as well.

Nick Martini is from my hometown of Crystal Lake, Illinois and Mike Meyers, former sidearming reliver for many teams including the Red Sox went to my high school.

Lamar 'Skeeter' Newsome was the first graduate of my high school to play in the majors. I believe he was the first American League player to use a 'partially' protective 'sleeve' within his cap.


from SABR profile- In Skeeter’s obituary, it was noted, “Newsome claimed that he was the first player to wear a batting helmet. After being beaned in the head twice, the second time suffering serious injuries, Athletics manager Connie Mack wouldn’t let Newsome return to action until he wore some type of head protection.” He wore an aluminum helmet of some sort in late 1938, then a fiber helmet in 1939.


The Big Hurt is not obscure, so I won't even mention him...but he also attended Columbus High.

DJ Dozier of Penn State Football fame ( Vikings and Lions in the NFL ) was a few years behind me in high school....played 25 games for the Mets in 1992.....

Here is his 1992 jersey in my collection which I have photo matched....

https://i.imgur.com/qJgfLBi.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/IfkziMI.jpg

A question: who do we reach out to in Marengo Town Hall to get the comma following "back-to-back" eliminated from the Lundgren plaque? :)

CJ Nitkowski was a freshman when I was a senior. Don Bosco HS, Ramsey, NJ

Two guys from my high school ended up making the big leagues: Darrel Chaney and Stan Perzanowski.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...haneda01.shtml

https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...erzast01.shtml

Unfortunately, no one has made the majors as of yet from the town that I reside in.

Don Bosco … a lot better known for massive football dudes.

Frank Grube Born in Easton, Pa

https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...rubefr01.shtml


And born 5 minutes across the river in Phillipsburg, NJ...Charley Berry was born.


https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...errych02.shtml

Both Grube and Berry played at Lafayette College here in Easton, Pa.

Went to high school with and played on the same football teams with Brent Jones, I discovered motorcycles, fast cars, and loose women senior year, he went on to have a nice career with the SF 49ers.

The first house I bought was 1 block from Harry Hoopers house, my current house is 1 block from Harry's mausoleum. My office is 1 block from City Hall where Harry was civically involved for 20 years.

Hoboken Johnny!
 

Hoboken’s own Johnny Romano!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Romano

Lundgren was from Marengo, Illinois and I can only imagine I would be met with blank stares when asking if the comma could be removed. Next time I am there I will try and use a black marker to blot it out! :)

Now that you have pointed this out I cannot unsee it.

Attachment 570526


George Hunt was a sophomore when I was a senior at Clearwater High School.

I played football with his older brother, who was even more obscure than George. His brother was the immovable object in the middle of our defensive line. Not only was he virtually unblockable by the opponent's offensive line, but he was nearly stationary himself.

George's career as a placekicker was short-lived in 1973 with the Baltimore Colts and in 1975 with the New York Giants. He ranks 13368th overall in Career Value since 1960. That meets my definition of obscurity.

My mom went to high school with Doug Sutherland and my brother alnd I went high school With Tom Brurke.

chum
 

One time Met prospect =

Played HS baseball in the stadium named after this guy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Walker

Brent Jones's dad was my high school girlfriend's teacher (maybe science?) at Branham high school.

Wilmer Fields
 

For the last 10+ years, I have resided in Manassas, VA, a distant suburb of Washington, DC. Wilmer Fields is a relatively obscure player who was born in Manassas, grew up and went to high school in Manassas, and lived in Manassas permanently after his nomadic baseball career was over. Fields was a quality pitcher who was also a very good outfielder and third baseman. Fields played for the Homestead Grays in the Negro National League, in various Latin American leagues, and in Canada. He declined offers in the late 1940's and early 1950's from several MLB teams for reasons that made good sense to him. Some, including Mr. Fields himself, have suggested that he belongs in the HOF. Here's the link to Fields' SABR biography, which is a most interesting read: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Wilmer-Fields/ Below is Fields' 1952 Parkhurst Frostade card - I'm not aware that any other cards of Fields were issued during his playing career.

Being on the West coast our history doesn't go back very far...we have had a couple kids make it to the pros from my High School, but probably the most successful was a pitcher named Larry Christensen...he was a couple years younger than my parents who knew him...

https://i.ibb.co/z52DwWR/74-Larry.jpg

Just while I was in school these were the three I saw play at some time during my elementary through graduation years -

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/iCkAA...cM/s-l1600.jpg

https://images.pristineauction.com/2...uction.com.jpg

...and this kid that some may have heard of who was nice enough to be my assistant JV baseball coach while in the minors -

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/jvYAA...P1/s-l1600.jpg

One more that went to Hannibal High and was 4 years ahead of me in high school was Scott Anderson who was an All-American center in football at Mizzou and was in 2 Super Bowls with the Vikings. Never got much playing time because he was behind Mick Tinglehoff who never missed a game and is now in the PFHOF.
Scott still runs a roofing business (he replaced mine) and is in great shape since he had knee replacements on knees he hurt playing football. Has some really good football stories if you ask him. Doesn't boast about his football career. Great guy!

Jeez, lookls like a 12 year old kid in that picture.

For baseball, Kevin Stocker attended Central Valley HS in Spokane Valley. He played with Philadelphia Phillies during their glory days of the early 1990s.

Not obscure: John Stockton (Gonzaga Prep), Ryne Sandberg (North Central), Tyler Johnson (still playing Chicago Blackhawks, Central Valley HS), Mark Rypien (Shadle Park).

Too Lazy at this hour to post pictures

From Place Born: Eric Karros and I, and perhaps others were born in Hackensack, NJ -- yes the same town immortalized in Billy Joel's Moving Out

Up on the Hill BTW in Hackensack are some very nice houses

My home town of Saddle Brook NU has one major leaguer

Joe Cunningham

and one person on an 1984 Topps FB cards
Ralph Giacomarro

And one person when I checked on Wikipedia the town I had no idea

Steve Beauharnais who had no NFL Cards but does have a 2019 Topps card from the Ill-Fated Alliance of American Football League

I went to a private high school and 2 people out of that school have or are playing ML Baseball:

Pedro Alvarez
Harrison Bader

Regards
Rich

When I was a kid, I called him at home and asked if he’d sell me any memorabilia!

When I went to my first baseball tryout freshman year of HS, they said "OK, all the outfielders over there, first basemen there, second basemen...and so on".

I look around, see 20 outfielders, a half dozen at each spot across most of the infield spots, a lot of pitchers...and three third basemen. Thinking I'm pretty smart, I say "well, I guess I'm a third basemen".

One of the other two third basemen:

https://www.tcdb.com/Images/Cards/Ba...65813-35Fr.jpg https://www.tcdb.com/Images/Cards/Ba...5-106924Fr.jpg

I got really good at keeping score AND splitting sunflower seed shells on the bench. :D