Friday, October 30, 2009

Aguirre!


Aguirre is a Basque name, and it reminded me of Hank Aguirre, the 50's - 60's baseball pitcher, so I looked him up dutifully to see if we had any Basque connections/were related, which, it turned out, was impossible, because Hank was famously Mexican. Nonetheless, the Wiki gods provided this amusing anecdote:

As a rookie for the Cleveland Indians in 1956, Aguirre struck out Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams the first time he faced him. After the game, Aguirre asked Williams to autograph the ball. Reluctantly, Williams complied. A couple of weeks later Aguirre faced Williams again. This time the "Splendid Splinter" smashed Aguirre's first offering for a home run. While circling the bases, Williams yelled to Aguirre, "Get that ball, and I'll sign it, too."

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