Today we say Happy Baseball Birthday! to former Detroit Tigers outfielder Willie Horton.
William Wattison Horton was born in Arno Virginia, moved to the Motor City, and graduated from Northwestern High School, signed with his Hometown team, the Tigers, and made his big league debut on September 10, 1963.
💗 The Pink TIGERS team name on the 1967 Topps cards certainly stand out.
Remember to head over to Collecting Cutch's to see his daily blog post.
🐯⚾ Horton played his final game with the Tigers in 1977, yet, he's still 5th in HRs, with 262.
👀👀 The players ahead of "Willie The Wonder" are, Miguel Cabrera, Hank Greenberg, Norm Cash, and Al Kaline.
👉 Of course, my favorite play by Willie is his outstanding throw in Game 5 of the 1968 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
🐯⚾ The Tigers, down in the game, and the Series, would rally after that play to win the game, and, eventually, the Series, with 3 straight wins over the Redbirds.
Hope everyone had a great weekend, and, as always, thanks so much for stopping by to read my blog.
Play Ball! ⚾💗⚾💗⚾💗⚾💗⚾💗
I met Willie a couple of years ago at a card show signing. He was super friendly. I asked him if I could shake the hand that threw out Carew. He laughed and of course, shook my hand.
ReplyDeleteSweet buyback. I remember hearing Horton's name when I was younger, but wasn't familiar with that exact play. Maybe Brock should have slid? Lol. Kudos to Freehan for holding onto the ball.
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