Gerald Laird
Vic Darensbourg
Dan Petry
Steve Bilko Cult
baseball players
Jim Delsing was the center fielder when Al Kaline became a
Tiger. Jim came to the Tiges from the
St. Louis Browns in 1952 and became our centerfielder. He was always known as being fleet of foot
and a mediocre bat. He moved over to
left for the Tigers in 1954 for Bill Tuttle.
In five seasons with the Tiges he was a .260 hitter who hit 30 homers
and 175 RBI’s in 417 games. But Jim’s
SABR bio by Jim Sargent has some great sections on the life of a baseball wife
in the 1950’s. Here is a direct lift
from Sargent’s bio from an interview with Jim’s wife Roseanne. “"I didn't go to all
of Jim's games, once we had the children. Before we had kids I would go every
night. But Jim would leave for the ballpark about 3:00 or 3:30 for a night
game. If we had another player living near, then the guys would ride together,
and the wives would get together and come later. In those days, nobody had two
cars. Given my druthers of being a baseball wife then or now, I loved the way
it was in the 1950s. I think there are just so many memories that we both have
of baseball, of rough times and good times. But those memories are very, very
important to us, and we still cherish them. Would I do it again? Oh,
absolutely. Patty Boone and I were real good friends in Detroit. Louise Kaline
and I would throw our kids in the car and go to the park and spend a day. There
was one time in Detroit when it was Patty Boone, Jeanette Gromek, four or five
of us wives. The guys were going to be gone for three weeks -- the road trips,
you know, were longer then. So we rented a place up on Saginaw Bay, and took
all of our kids up there, and spent a couple of weeks on Lake Huron. It was
just great! The camaraderie at that time was just unbelievable.
"A couple of years ago we went to a Tiger Alumni get-together. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see more of the people. We did see the Gromeks. We didn't see the Houttemans or the Grays. Jim did get to see a lot of the guys, but maybe some of the wives just didn't come. Yes, I would do it over again. I don't know if they have the camaraderie today that we did. But who knows? Times have changed. Everything is different now, life is different, and you don't want it to stay the way it used to be. But, for example, when [pro golfer son] Jay was playing in the Bob Hope Tournament in Palm Springs in February of this year, someone came up to him and introduced himself. And it was Jim McDaniel, a pitcher that Jim had played with in the Dominican Republic, forty-some years ago. He wanted to know how our oldest daughter Kim had injured her leg down there. She broke a femur and had a lot of problems. Jim McDaniel told Jay to tell us hi, and to ask how Kimmie's leg was. Well, ‘Kimmie' is 42 now! Later that day, when Jay went to Mass, Jim and Mary Bunning came up to Jay and introduced themselves, and said to be sure and tell us hi. There are just so many good memories that go back 30 and 40 years ago, and I hope the modern-day players will be able to have the same recall, and the same good memories, and the good friends, and the pleasure in hearing from them."
Roseanne said they always liked Detroit: "I enjoyed knowing Van Patrick, the broadcaster, who used to have parties and invite us over after the games. "One of the main reasons I liked being in Detroit was that [Tigers executive] Spike Briggs was such a neat person. It was always funny, because he and his wife had four boys. While we were in Detroit, our second daughter was born. Spike would catch me, and say, ‘Let's make a trade, I'll give you four boys for one girl!' They never had any daughters, and they really wanted a little girl. But the day games were so nice. Jim would leave home at 10:00 or so, and be home at 5:30 or 6:00. That was fun. It was different, after a full diet of night games and doubleheaders on Sunday. People don't remember that they played a lot of Sunday doubleheaders. But we were always the happiest in Detroit. I loved Michigan at that time. It was just wonderful."
"A couple of years ago we went to a Tiger Alumni get-together. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see more of the people. We did see the Gromeks. We didn't see the Houttemans or the Grays. Jim did get to see a lot of the guys, but maybe some of the wives just didn't come. Yes, I would do it over again. I don't know if they have the camaraderie today that we did. But who knows? Times have changed. Everything is different now, life is different, and you don't want it to stay the way it used to be. But, for example, when [pro golfer son] Jay was playing in the Bob Hope Tournament in Palm Springs in February of this year, someone came up to him and introduced himself. And it was Jim McDaniel, a pitcher that Jim had played with in the Dominican Republic, forty-some years ago. He wanted to know how our oldest daughter Kim had injured her leg down there. She broke a femur and had a lot of problems. Jim McDaniel told Jay to tell us hi, and to ask how Kimmie's leg was. Well, ‘Kimmie' is 42 now! Later that day, when Jay went to Mass, Jim and Mary Bunning came up to Jay and introduced themselves, and said to be sure and tell us hi. There are just so many good memories that go back 30 and 40 years ago, and I hope the modern-day players will be able to have the same recall, and the same good memories, and the good friends, and the pleasure in hearing from them."
Roseanne said they always liked Detroit: "I enjoyed knowing Van Patrick, the broadcaster, who used to have parties and invite us over after the games. "One of the main reasons I liked being in Detroit was that [Tigers executive] Spike Briggs was such a neat person. It was always funny, because he and his wife had four boys. While we were in Detroit, our second daughter was born. Spike would catch me, and say, ‘Let's make a trade, I'll give you four boys for one girl!' They never had any daughters, and they really wanted a little girl. But the day games were so nice. Jim would leave home at 10:00 or so, and be home at 5:30 or 6:00. That was fun. It was different, after a full diet of night games and doubleheaders on Sunday. People don't remember that they played a lot of Sunday doubleheaders. But we were always the happiest in Detroit. I loved Michigan at that time. It was just wonderful."
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