MickGasper

[Jared Carrabis @Jared_Carrabis]

5 strong for Ranger, RBI knock for Gasper, RBI knock for Wilyer, 2-run go-ahead knock for Ceddanne, 2-run tank for Duran, save for 44, the Red Sox have won a series at Fenway Park?? #GoldBottles

[Tyler Milliken @tylermilliken_]

The Red Sox have won their second series at Fenway Park ALL season.

1-8-1 in home series overall. Had lost 7 of them in a row.

Last time they won a series at home? April 6-8 against the Brewers.

[sᥕᥱᥱ𝗍 𝗍һіᥒg❤️‍🔥(𝙰𝚜𝚒𝚊) @55SweetThing]

Johnny Cash’s last public performance at the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, VA- just 7 weeks after June Carter’s passing and a few months before his own death. Here he performs “Ring of Fire”🔥 for the last time. His dedication to his wife & co-author of the song is inspirational (2003)

[Jim Koenigsberger @Jimfrombaseball]

"The Mantle legend, which began with his signing, grew during a special rookie camp the Yankees had in 1950.
There, some of the old-timers in the organization who got a sense that they were seeing something rare;
A true diamond in the rough.
Mickey Mantle’s potential, his raw ability, his speed, his power from both sides of the plate, were almost eerie.
If his talent were honed properly, they thought they were quite possibly looking at someone who might become the greatest player in the history of the game.
There were some fast players in that camp, and one day someone decided that all the faster players should get together and have a race.
Mickey Mantle, whose true speed had not yet been comprehended, simply ran away from the others.
What had made some of the stories coming out of the camp so extraordinary was the messenger himself, Bill Dickey, the former Yankee catcher, a Hall of Fame player, and a tough, unsentimental old-timer who had played much of his career with Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Tommy Henrich.
Dickey was not lightly given to hyperbole. Dickey started talking about Mantle to Jerry Coleman, the veteran second baseman, with superlatives that were unknown for him:
“Jerry, he can hit with power righty, he can hit with power lefty, and he can outrun everyone here.”. . .
“He’s going to be the greatest player I’ve ever seen."
A few days later Dickey grabbed his old teammate Tommy Henrich.
“Tom, you should see this kid Mantle that played at Joplin.
I’ve never seen power like that.
He hits the ball and it stays hit.
He’s really going to be something."
Even the sound of his home runs, Bill Dickey said, were different, mirroring something Ted Williams would say years later:
'The crack of the bat against the ball when Mantle connected was like an explosion.'
Tommy Henrich simply shook his head, it was one thing to hear about a coming star from an excited journalist, but quite another to hear it from someone like Bill Dickey."
"The Kid From Joplin"
David Halberstam.

[Jim Koenigsberger @Jimfrombaseball]

Scheduled to pitch for '55th Fighter Group' in England during WWII, but as his plane was shot down, radioed his fellow pilots:
"Tell the boys I won’t be back for the game."
Captured, had his right leg amputated by a POW doctor.
Bert Shepard’s recovery and running so impressed a POW camp doctor, that the Dr. asked Shepard to demonstrate his mobility for the hospital staff.
After WWII, on the day that he officially signed with the Washington Senators, Bert Shepard caught a cab and returned to 'Ward 49' at Walter Reed, where he was fitted for a new artificial leg:
His “baseball leg".
"I got an awful lot of publicity right away. That sort of helped me to stay with the ball club until I could prove myself.
I pitched several exhibition games and got ‘em out each time."
Bert Shepard's first game box score???
5 1/3 innings, three hits, one walk, one hit batter, two strikeouts and one earned run. "The Boston Globe" called it:
"By far the most inspiring performance by a limbless veteran of WWII."
Bert Shepard remains the only player to have ever played in the major leagues on an artificial leg.
Late in his life, when Bert Shepard was in his 70's, he said he often wondered:
“Who carried me from the wreck?”, and “Who saved my life?”
Little did he know that around the same time a British businessman, who knew of Bert Shepard's legend, went on a hunting trip to Hungary.
There he met a fellow hunter, a retired doctor named Ladislaus Loidl, who told a story of how he had once rescued a wounded American flier from his downed plane.
Loidl recalled that his wife had made a dress out of the airman’s parachute, and remembered reading the name Bert Shepard on the pilot’s dog tags.
The British hunter suggested Loidl contact Shepard.
He did!
In May of 1993, the two men met at the doctor’s home in Austria, 49 years after their first meeting on a German battlefield. "I prayed for this.
And after half a century, my dream has incredibly come true."
Bert Sheppard.

[BoSox Injection @BoSoxInjection]

Mickey Gasper is 5-for-11 with two doubles and an RBI since being called up this season.

[Red Sox @RedSox]

Ceddy plates Mickey ⤵️

[Ian Steele @IanSteeleWMUR]

Mickey Gasper still uses the tee routine taught to him at eight years old by the late Bob Caswell at Power Series in Wilton, NH.

Caswell, a longtime coach throughout New Hampshire, died of cancer in 2018.

"I do a lot of it for him."

@WMUR9 #DirtyWater

[Ian Steele @IanSteeleWMUR]

Caught up with Merrimack, NH native Mickey Gasper after his 3/4 day with the Red Sox Sunday.

Those were his first hits playing for Boston in his second stint.

"When I got to second base after the first at bat, I took a nice deep breath."

@WMUR9 #DirtyWater

[NESN @NESN]

Final

[Red Sox @RedSox]

Yellow Saturday.

[Worcester Red Sox @WooSox]

Mickey for the lead!

[Worcester Red Sox @WooSox]

MICKAAAYYYY!!!

[Worcester Red Sox @WooSox]

Mickey Gasper yard work

[Worcester Red Sox @WooSox]

Mickey Gasper SMOKES this ball for an RBI single. 105 mph exit velo 😮‍💨

[Beyond the Monster @BeyondtheMnstr]

Mickey Gasper went 1-for-2 with an RBI (11) and three walks in today's 8-5 Worcester Red Sox win. The switch-hitting catcher is off to an electric start at Triple-A, slashing .406/.548/.750 with three home runs and 10 BB/8 K over his first 42 PA.

[Jamy Bechler @CoachBechler]

KIRBY SMART ON BEING GREAT

"There's one way. The right way. The hard way. There are no shortcuts.

When the alarm goes off...if you wanna be a really good player, you're gonna get up & go to class.

You've gotta do something somebody else isn't willing to do."

~@TerryCollege

[SoxProspects.com @SoxProspects]

✍️ Minor Notes

⚾️ Tyler Uberstine debut
⚾️ Transactions
⚾️ Where are they now?
⚾️ Players of the Week

⬇️

[Short Stop Media @ShortStopMedia]

He was the captain of the New York Yankees.

At the peak of his career…
everything ended in an instant.

Most people remember how it ended.

Almost no one remembers how dominant he really was.

👉 Read the story.

[Andrew Parker @ByAndrewParker]

Worcester wins both games of the double header against St. Paul today after Mickey Gasper carried them in Game 2 with 5 RBI including this grand slam.

Gasper has a 1.371 OPS so far this year with the WooSox. Absolutely raking.