Field of Dreams Archives - All Mississippi Baseball

cornfield connections

Three Mississippi products are on the Chicago White Sox’s active roster for tonight’s Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville, Iowa. Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn is slated to be the ChiSox’s starting pitcher, ex-East Central Community College star Tim Anderson is the shortstop and probable leadoff batter and Ocean Springs native Garrett Crochet works out of the bullpen. (Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton is currently on the injured list.) For the record, there also was a Mississippian on the infamous 1919 White Sox team that is central to the story in the “Field of Dreams” movie, though he is not one of the eight who come out of the cornfield. Ewell Albert “Reb” Russell was a Jackson native who pitched for the White Sox for seven years, winning 80 games from 1913-19, including a 23-win rookie season. The left-hander was on the 1917 club that won the World Series. Russell injured his arm in 1918 and made just one appearance for the 1919 team; he was released long before the World Series that the Black Sox were accused of throwing. Russell would return to the majors in 1922 as an outfielder with Pittsburgh and earn a dignified place in the history books. He hit 11 homers that season. Only two other players have ever posted both a double-digit win season and a double-digit homer season: Babe Ruth and Rick Ankiel. Shohei Ohtani could be the next to do it. P.S. Cleveland has placed former Southern Miss standout Nick Sandlin on the injured list, where he joins teammate Bobby Bradley, the Harrison Central High product. Ole Miss alum Drew Pomeranz was put on the IL for the third time this season by San Diego.

the only day

On this date in 1905, Archibald Graham, better known as “Moonlight,” made his one and only major league appearance, an otherwise obscure event immortalized by the film “Field of Dreams.” There have been hundreds of players who got into only one major league game, but the list of those who, like Graham, never got to bat or make a play in the field is considerably shorter. On that list is John Howard “Lefty” Merritt, a Tupelo (or Plantersville) native. Eight years after Graham’s one appearance, Merritt made his, also for the New York Giants. A successful pitcher in the minors, Merritt played right field, same as Graham, in his one big league game. A year earlier, in 1912, Meadville native Pat McGehee made his one big league appearance, as a starting pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. McGehee faced two batters, allowed a walk and a hit, then left the game. In 1963, Hattiesburg’s Mickey Harrington made his lone MLB appearance as a pinch runner for the Philadelphia Phillies. Never got to bat, never played in the field. But he was, for that brief moment, a major league player. And that’s still pretty cool.