San Diegan Brian Westre connects with Winfield to share story of baseball thrown to him 50 years ago by Hall of Famer before his debut with Padres
The signature is barely visible on the baseball, its browned patina hiding an autograph from half a century ago.
Westre was among 5,338 people who welcomed Winfield to the majors on June 19, 1973, in a game against the Houston Astros. “You turned and gave me that big smile.’ And I said, ‘Hey, can you throw me the ball?’ And you tossed it up there.”In doing so, a lifetime memory for one man was contrasted with an occasion for the other that was blurred by thousands upon thousands of such moments.This was an era where players rarely threw the balls into the stands, often because they were threatened with a $50 fine from the ballclub.He wasn’t exaggerating.
“Teams didn’t have a lot of money, the Padres certainly didn’t,” Winfield added. “Any extra ball you hit out of the stadium or gave away, you were going to be admonished.
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