Earlier tonight I saw the movie "The Stratton Story", starring James
Stewart and June Allison, on the Turner Classic Movie channel. I was
reminded of the time, in 1948 I believe, when Monty Stratton was
promoting the movie and he came to Tyler with a group, the exact
description of which now escapes me, but which must have been a full
baseball team. Anyway, this group was to play the beloved but inept
Tyler Trojans, a Class D team, in a short exhibition game. Stratton
came to the plate and hit a clean single into straight-away center.
As he struggled toward first, Oscar Williams, the Trojan center
fielder, fielded the ball before Stratton, with his wooden leg, had
covered 20 feet. Williams felt that he should throw to first, and he
did so, a high, arching throw which settled into the mitt of the
first baseman (Phil Kuykendall, I believe) a split-second after
Stratton had crossed the bag. As I recall, Williams was given a
standing ovation for his sportsmanship, as everyone knew he had a
fine arm and could easily have thrown Stratton out.

There have been many memorable professional baseball games played in
Tyler during the past 60 seasons, and I hope to live to see it
played again.