MON-CLAIR LEAGUE: Legend rolls into Hall
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| Mel Patton was recently welcomed into the Greater St. Louis Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame. Terry Smith photo |
That's not to say that the honor didn't come out of left field.
"I got a phone call from the president of the St. Louis Hall of Fame, telling me that I was nominated and approved by the selection committee for induction," Patton said. "It was really a nice surprise. I didn't even know I was nominated. It was a one-time phone call."Despite deserving every minute he spent at the podium, Patton was humbled by his inclusion.
"The real honor is when you look at the names of the people who have gone before you," Patton said. "You recognize people that have made major contributions to baseball in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. To be a part of that makes you feel special. Even though I don't compare to some of the contributions some of these other men have made, boy, it sure is nice to be among those names."
Patton was in town over the Fourth of July weekend to see his family and fulfill his longtime commitment beside former teammate Art Voellinger as emcees of the Mon-Clair League's 36th Annual Midsummer Classic at Twyla & Alois Luhr Field in Borsch Memorial Park in Valmeyer.
The Laurel and Hardy of the league's senior set, Patton and Voellinger keep the crowd baffled by baseball trivia and entertained with stories of yore. From time to time one or the other of them may also croon a lovely, off-key version of "God Bless America" to honor the country they both love deeply.
"Artie and I have been doing this for more than 25 years," Patton said. "We do this because we enjoy baseball and we enjoy the people of Valmeyer and the quality of people that seem to follow these different baseball teams.
"I guess it is something that both he and I have in common as well, that we want to give something back to the community and the game of baseball and this is sort of our way of doing it. We have a lot of fun and people tolerate us and have fun as well."
Patton understands the importance of carrying on baseball's cherished traditions, the unbroken string that stretches from his own playing days in the 1960s to players-turned-coaches like Waterloo's Tony Musso and on to Musso's son Brandon, a current Waterloo pitcher.
"Small-town baseball is a tradition, not just in Southern Illinois, but all across the country," Patton said. "The Mon-Clair League is one of the few men's baseball leagues that exist. At one time this was a thing where, come Sundays, everybody in these small towns showed up for baseball games and that has sort of disappeared.
"I think it is really important that people like (Mon-Clair President) Dave (Powell) and others keep this league alive. I like to see the second generations, the Degeners and the Rohlfings and others, and sometimes the third generations. I think that's really neat."
Even though the promise of the Big Show has largely disappeared for most of its participants, the Mon-Clair League keeps the players passing through the turnstiles year after year, stoking the fires of competition that have never been extinguished.
"It's the game of baseball," Patton said. "Guys love to compete and play and just because they are no longer thinking in terms of playing in the Major Leagues it doesn't mean they don't still enjoy playing baseball. People like the officers, managers, fundraisers and sponsors make that possible. They do it because they like to do it, they enjoy it."
Patton was past the end of his playing days when, at age 35, he was called upon to pull a Kirk Gibson for the Valmeyer squad. Patton led the Lakers to victory in the Fourth of July Tournament as well as the league championship.
"When I think back on it that was a lot of fun," Patton said. "Valmeyer had always been sort of the bridesmaid. Waterloo had dominated this league for so many years and Valmeyer was so good, but it seemed like they needed one more piece of that puzzle and maybe I was able to furnish that. I had played on teams that had beaten them before and my job was basically to convince them that we were better. We did it and it was fun."
Patton graduated from Belleville Township in 1960, before the school split East and West, and attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale on a basketball scholarship after All-State stints in both sports for his alma mater as a junior and senior. His high-school basketball coach, the late horse enthusiast Ray Freeark, even named a thoroughbred after him, "Marvelous Mel," that ran at Fairmount Park. Patton signed a professional baseball contract after his sophomore year of college.
"I had a chance to play both baseball and basketball at SIU," Patton said. "The University of Houston and (head basketball coach) Guy Lewis recruited me heavily for basketball, but SIU said that I could play both baseball and basketball and I wanted to do both."
Patton entered the St. Louis Cardinals organization and made stops at all of the Redbirds' minor-league affiliates.
"I started in the Northern League for two years and played out of Winnipeg in Canada," Patton said. "That was perhaps the most fun I had until my final year, when I got reassigned to a Class A team playing out of Rock Hill, S.C. Back then, and they still exist, teams were on a split schedule.
"There was a manager down there by the name of Sparky Anderson, that was the Sparky Anderson. He had a very tough first half of the year and the Cardinals loaded him up with veteran players and limited-service players and I was among those.
"We went out and that was the most fun I had, playing for Sparky. I loved playing for him. He was one of those motivational people, where he didn't have to say much-you just knew that he wanted to win. You enjoy playing for people like that. We won the second half of that season and won the championship playoffs that season and then I retired. After Sparky it doesn't get any better than that."
Patton returned to the area in the mid-1960s and played for Belleville in the Mon-Clair League for a few years.
"My older brother (Larry) was playing for Belleville and a lot of good ballplayers were playing for Belleville, but they were a little older than me," Patton said. "One day they all quit playing, retired, and I found myself one of the older players on a much younger team. I retired then, but I met some friends from Valmeyer one night when I was going to school during the day and working at night. I came back and decided to play a few more years with Valmeyer and loved every minute of it."
Patton now lives in Florida close to Clearwater, where he serves as the Vice President at Keiser College. Though he's miles from the sport's hallowed heartland, he still gets his baseball fix, particularly when Big Leaguers migrate south for spring training.
"Baseball is great in Florida," Patton said. "It starts in spring training and it's fun to drive by. I live about two blocks from the Philadelphia Phillies' spring-training camp, about three blocks from the Blue Jays, the Yankees are right across the bridge and Tampa Bay is about 20 minutes from me. You are seeing guys on the field throwing the baseball and it just continues right on through. What a neat place to live if you like baseball."
