quote:I was a starting pitcher for him that summer on the O's team that won the Appalacian League Crown with a 47-22 record. Several guys that made it to the big leagues were on that team including Billy Ripken, John Habyan, Eric Bell, Ken Gerhart and Jim Traber. He was a great man that I respected greatly.
Old Pitcher - that is a cool story
Billy Ripkin told a story that fans used to heckle him by telling him he would never be as good as his brother. His response was "No kidding, but nobody else is as good as him either" John Hart gets lots of credit for his past success but his lineage and training goes back to Baltimore. He was hand-picked and trained by Hank Peters who was a legendary figure from the Baltimore glory years. Peters was the intial GM hired by Dick Jacobs when he bought the Indians and Hart eventually took over from Peters when he retired.