Posted By:
Tom HuffordI made my first trip to Cooperstown in 1971, for the induction ceremony and for the Founding Meeting of SABR. Someone told me the place to go was the Otesago Hotel, where the players stayed. So I went over there and found a chair in the lobby - there is absolutely no way you could do that now! An old fellow walked by, and someway I figured out it was Rube Marquard, there for his HOF induction. I asked him if he would sign my copy of "Glory of Their Times," and he said he would be glad to, if he could sit down first. So, he sat down, signed my book, and then we chatted for a while. Then he said "Do you mind sitting here for a few minutes? I'll go up to my room and get something to show you." Of course, I said yes.
After a few minutes, Marquard came back with a large scrapbook that he (or someone in the family?) had kept during his career. He sat down and went through every page of that scrapbook with me, it must have taken a couple of hours. I sure wish now that I had had a tape recorder! When I got home, I wrote Marquard and thanked him, and we exchanged Holiday cards for several years after that.
So, while some others on this board may have run into a grumpy Marquard, I sure didn't!
On that same trip, I also met T206er Zach Wheat, and Harry Hooper and Larry Gardner, who weren't in T206 but made it into the T207 set.
Tom Hufford