By ERIC AHLQVIST
Editor

George Goodale stands out on a baseball diamond.

Not just because at the tender age of 92 he can still field, throw and hit a baseball as well or better than players 20 and 30 years younger; and not just because of the eye-catching Chicago Black Sox uniform from the 1919 season which he prefers to wear while playing for the Legends of Baseball in Cooperstown this week.

What makes him stand out above everything else is his glove, which he got from a supply room when he entered the army in 1943 and has used ever since.

"It's a (former major leaguer) Johnny Riddle model, but his name wore off long ago," Goodale said Monday, pounding and spitting into the pocket. "This glove is almost 60 years old but I wouldn't give it up for anything."

Some of Goodale's teammates have encouraged him to show the glove to Hall of Fame officials, but he said "As long as I'm alive, I'm going to keep using it."

Goodale grew up in Bellville, Illinois, and said baseball was always a big part of his life. After graduating from high school in 1930, he tried out for the St. Louis Browns in 1931, but Browns manager Bill Killeser told him "You're too damn little," and that was the end of his professional career.

But even now, 70 years later, Killiser's words serve as an inspiration to Goodale.

"I'm not going to bull---- you, I could play this game," Goodale said Monday while playing for the Indians, one of six teams playing at Doubleday Field this week in the Legends' Cooperstown Classic Tournament. "I could hit from both sides of the plate, and I could play a good shortstop. I don't know if I could have been a major leaguer, but I could have played in the upper levels of the minor leagues."

Goodale did get to prove he belonged with the best of the game when he played with the Stag Brewery semi professional baseball team in his hometown, which played exhibition games against the "Gas House Gang" St. Louis teams of the 1930's, as well as the Negro League's Homestead Grays team, which included Satchel Paige. He has also hit against Hall of Fame pitchers Goose Goslin and Heine Manusch. Goodale still has vivid memories of those days.

"I remember one game against the "Gas House Gang" we were trailing 6-4 and I got a base hit from the left side with the bases loaded to tie the game at 6-6, but they won in extra innings," Goodale recalled. "That team won the World Series the next year, and I'll never forget playing against them."

Through Hundley's fantasy camps, Goodale had the chance to get to know former Cubs player Ernie Banks and Billy Williams, who recognized Goodale's love of the game.

"I remember at a ceremony after one camp, Ernie Banks, got up and said 'George, I've never met anyone who loves the game as much as you do.' That meant a lot to me."

Dr. Ralph Lach, one of the founders of the Legends of Baseball, and Goodale's manager, said Goodale is an inspiration.

"We draft him every year to be on our team because we love to play with him," Lach said. "I'll tell you what, he can still field that ground ball and he makes contact at the plate. If he suspects a pitcher is letting up for him, he goes right out to the mound and tells him to throw at normal speed."

"I don't fan (swing and miss) too often," Goodale said. "The trick about hitting is to only swing at the good pitches, and I've always had a good eye."

In fact, Goodale still has two good eyes, claiming he still has 20/20 vision, and "no ailments." He now plays second base, and his only concession to age is that when he hits has a runner waiting to run for him.

"I'm just lucky, this game is in my blood and I can't give it up," Goodale said.

Goodale played for 25 years for former Chicago Cubs catcher Randy Hundley, who was the first to run fantasy style camps. Seven years ago, while in Cooperstown visiting the Hall of Fame, he ran into one of the Legends founders, Ed Berkich, and has played in Cooperstown every summer since. The sign the league hangs at Doubleday reads 'Legends of Baseball. The Game for Life." In Goodale's case, it's very literal.

"I love Cooperstown and I love the Hall of Fame. What a place to play baseball," he said. "I'm just going to keep playing. I feel great."