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His black and white photos from his baseball career are torn, creased and displayed in dusty frames and plastic sleeves.
But his recollection of those glory days is in mint condition.
It’s been 60 years since George A. Thatcher Sr. played for the Cincinnati Tigers, a Negro League baseball team that was so talented the Cincinnati Reds refused to play them in an exhibition baseball game.
At the time, Thatcher, then a 20-year-old with a steady bat, fast feet and an accurate arm, appeared destined for a Major League career with the Reds. But during the 1957 spring training in Douglas, Ga., Thatcher’s right eye was severely damaged in a freak accident when a teammate accidentally hit him with a baseball.
There is a yellowed newspaper article that shows Thatcher, a medical patch over his eye, being examined by Reds scout Buzz Boyle.
“That was a sad day there,” he said. “That hurt.”
That eye injury ended his dream of joining Frank Robinson, Ted Kluszewski and Joe Nuxhall on the Reds, but it didn’t blur his love of baseball, a game he was introduced to on the streets of West Side Cincinnati as a youngster. With other boys in the neighborhood, Thatcher played baseball from morning to night.
“We just played ball all day long,” said Thatcher, 80. “We enjoyed it. My parents always knew where we were at — a ballpark.”
He said they used a tennis ball and a broom handle because few boys owned bats and balls. He remembers the day his father, also an outstanding athlete, gave him his old glove and bat.
He was the envy of the neighborhood.
Thatcher attended Withrow High School in Cincinnati through the 10th grade, then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. His enlistment papers were signed by his father after his mother refused. She didn’t want her baby in the military.
Throughout Thatcher’s military career that lasted from 1953-57, he was connected to baseball. He played on the Air Force team, based in Kansas, and traveled around the world. After being named to the all-star team in 1955, he was offered a contract by Casey Stengel, then manager of the New York Yankees.
Even though Stengel had just led the Yankees to their fifth consecutive World Series championship, a record, Thatcher told him: “I want to be a homeboy, a Redlegs.”
He also was offered a contract by the Tokyo Giants, but wanted to return home and chase his dream of playing for the Reds.
“I’m coming home to mom,” he said. “I’m not staying over here.”
During his career, Thatcher said he met some of the game’s greatest players: Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Pete Rose and Frank Robinson. Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947, was Thatcher’s idol. He even wore Robinson’s number 42, now retired throughout the Major Leagues.
He wanted to be just like Jackie Robinson.
When Robinson heard that, he told Thatcher: “You be like yourself. Don’t be like nobody else.”
Like Robinson, and hundreds of other black players, Thatcher faced discrimination throughout his career. He and other black players didn’t stay in the same hotels as their white teammates.
“I knew what Jackie went through,” Thatcher said. “Things were said. Ballplayers said things. I ignored it and did my job.”
Thatcher worked for General Motors in Norwood for 26 years and for a sand and gravel company in Miamitown for 30 years. He still works a couple a days a week as a truck driver.
“It keeps me active,” Thatcher said of his part-time work.
His wife, Asalene, sitting in the family room, couldn’t resist.
“He could run faster than you out there,” she said with a smile.
No one disputed that point.
Thatcher said he has been hospitalized just once when he thought he had a heart attack. Instead, it was just a pulled muscle in his chest.
“God has been good to me,” he said.
He glanced down at the table, and there were 60-year-old memories looking back at him.
“It makes you remember what you did and how long it has been,” he said.
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