| |
Bat Boy Of The Giants by Garth
Garreau, published
by Comet Books in 1949, features
cover and interior art by science
fiction legend, Richard Powers. This is
a true story told by Garth, a bat boy
from Teaneck, New Jersey. In 1940 he
meets all the baseball heroes of the
day at the old Polo Grounds, back when
the Giants were the New York Giants. He
meets and tells stories about Johnny
Mize, Buddy Kerr, Bill Rigney. Walker
Cooper, Willard Marshall and other
stars . . . dugout and clubhouse
chatter, and his trips around the
circuit.
On September 19, 1948, the New York Giants honored the bat boy-author
Garth Garreau at the Polo Grounds,
before the game against the St. Louis
Cardinals. Garreau, who turned 20 years
old four days after "Garth Garreau
Day," return to Michigan State College
for his second year on September 22. He
retired as Giants bat boy after years
of association with the team, first
assigned to the bats of visiting teams,
later promoted to the Giants own
Garreau graduated with an engineering
degree. He participated in the NROTC
program at school where he earned his
wings with the U.S. Navy after
graduation. But misfortune was to
follow. On Nov. 8, 1954, Ex-batboy,
Navy Lt. Garth Garreau, died in an
airplane crash in the Mediterranean
sea, during a simulated bombing NATO
training mission. Catapulted off of the
flight deck of the USS Coral Sea,
something went terribly wrong. The wing
tip of the AJ-2 caught the water. The
aircraft cartwheeled into the sea and
exploded in a huge fireball. All three
crewmen died on impact. Only one body
was recovered. LTJG Garth Garreau,
serving as navigator.
|
|
