Rob Hunt: Special honors for special family
Aug. 3—The rolling hills of upstate New York are a perfect backdrop and setting for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, particularly during this time of the year.
Everything is so perfectly green and the massive forests dominate the area around Cooperstown, wedged between the Catskill Mountains and the foothills of the Appalachian range.
The whole area looks like a giant baseball field with villages and hamlets dotting the scenery like bases on a ball field for the sport that Abner Doubleday supposedly created in those very hills.
Finally — and rightfully so — Carl Erskine has a permanent place in the home of baseball's immortals.
No, he was not inducted into the hall as one of the game's greatest players. Despite his considerable accomplishments wearing Dodger blue, he never amassed the numbers required for such consideration.
Erskine has been recognized for something far greater, a legacy of off-the-field greatness.
That legacy takes many forms and will go on forever.
There was Erskine's friendship with Jackie Robinson, who broke Major League Baseball's color barrier, that flew in the face of national sentiment during a time of high racial tension in the country. It was simply a natural relationship for Carl following a childhood and lifelong friendship with Johnny Wilson, who was Black, back home in Anderson.
When Erskine's fourth son — Jimmy — was born in April 1960 with Down's Syndrome, again Erskine defied common thinking at the time.
"He was born with Down's Syndrome at a time when it was common to place children with special needs in institutional settings," Gary Erskine said in an acceptance speech Saturday in Cooperstown.
"But there was no doubt in our parents' minds that they would bring him home and raise him with the rest of us and he would be a part of everything that we had done."
Erskine pushed locally and nationally for greater acceptance and inclusion of people with developmental challenges. His efforts bore fruit in Anderson, as he was instrumental of the creation of the Hopewell Center as well as being enlisted by Eunice Kennedy Shriver to help with the establishment of the Special Olympics, a familiar event now, but a novel concept during the 1960s.
"In those early years, Mrs. Shriver asked Dad to speak at the Kennedy Center about my parents' experiences with Jimmy," Gary said. "That speech inspired so many that Dad went on to travel the country to promote the Special Olympics and its mission to foster acceptance and inclusion for all."
Of course, Erskine also found time to coach Anderson University's baseball team for a dozen seasons with multiple conference titles to show for it.
More so, he left a positive impression on the young men he led.
"I know that many of those players come and see him today and thank him and credit him for their lives of service to others," Gary Erskine told the audience at Saturday's ceremony.
And they aren't the only ones.
"Dad still receives fan mail every day, and most of it asks for autographs," Gary added. "But a lot of it includes hand-written letters just thanking him, and he personally responds to all of those letters."
Legacy is an important word, and much of Carl's lasting legacy is chronicled here, but certainly not all of it.
Erskine's most important legacy was in attendance Saturday and Sunday in Cooperstown to receive the honor that he could not travel and accept in person.
Two of his kids — Gary and Susan Erskine Short — were there, along with many of Carl's grandkids, filmmaker Ted Green, John Wilson Jr., and other friends. As anyone with children knows, that is the greatest legacy a person can leave behind.
Those who know Carl's beliefs and the causes he has championed will continue to hand down the stories of his true greatness and his inspiring dignity in the face of challenges.
And that is a legacy for the ages.
----With the attention focused on Carl this weekend, many readers have sent emails about Anderson's favorite son, and I wanted to share one particular story. This has nothing to do with the award, but it's a great baseball story.
Paul Church wrote of a time he and his son, Nolan Ryan Church, met Carl at a wedding reception back in 2009. Paul, as any fan of the sport can understand, had to ask one question about baseball.
He asked about one of the most iconic moments in baseball history, Jackie Robinson's steal of home ahead of the tag of Yankees catcher Yogi Berra in Game 1 of the 1955 World Series. It is a play that has been debated, with some saying he was indeed safe and others claiming the umpire missed the call.
"Oh, it wasn't even close, he was safe by a mile," Carl told Paul.
"Berra disagrees," Paul replied.
Carl's response was perfect.
"Well, I had a better look than Yogi did."
Of course, the Dodgers went on to win that series, the first — and only — world championship for Brooklyn.
As they say in baseball, "You can look it up."
Contact Rob Hunt at
or 765-640-4886.
