Friday, December 20, 2019

Ron LeFlore TTM Success


I’m on a bit of a TTM cold streak of late. Today I received a RTS from Joe Torre and a note from someone connected to Casey Blake informing us that he’s stopped signing. So it goes.

So let’s look at another recent, but pre-blog TTM success…
Sent: 11/25/2019 Received: 12/3/2019 8 days
1/1: 1981 Fleer Star Sticker
Address: Home (Pinellas Park, FL) through PastPros.com         

Point of order: I haven’t yet seen One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story, a 1978 movie starring LeVar Burton. It’s on the 'To Do' list. As you might suspect of the subject of a made-for-TV movie, LeFlore’s story is a fascinating one.

A school dropout and heroin user, LeFlore was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison for his January 1970 role in an armed robbery of a local bar (he was carrying a rifle). Incarcerated in April of that year, he gravitated to baseball in prison. A fellow inmate convinced a friend, who co-owned a Detroit bar frequented by sports celebrities, to speak to his good friend Tigers manager Billy Martin about LeFlore.

Martin visited the prison on May 23, 1973, then helped LeFlore get permission for day-parole to a tryout at Tiger Stadium. LeFlore impressed at his workout and was signed to a free-agent contract upon his release from prison – having served 3 ½ years.

LeFlore played six seasons with the Detroit Tigers before being traded to the Montreal Expos. He retired with the Chicago White Sox in 1982, a career .288 hitter with 455 steals in 1,099 MLB games.

1 comment:

  1. LeFlore was a favorite as a kid. I'd love to get him to sign his card from 76 or 78 or 79. I saw the movie back when it came out. Haven't seen it since.

    When I interviewed Johnny Wockenfuss, a former teammate of LeFlore's, I asked him about LeFlore. He said LeFlore was always on the go, not just on the field, all the time. He also called him an unkind word. But I got the impression he didn't mean much by it.

    ReplyDelete