Former area baseball players get chance to reconnect at Vets Field
Former area baseball players enjoy chance to reconnect at Vets Field
Trending
Saturday afternoon brought generations of baseball players -- going as far back as the 1960s to one who played for the Altoona Rail Kings -- to historic Vets Field.
It was all part of the celebration for the facility's 100th anniversary as the Booker T. Washington Corporation held an alumni and old-timers Game. Proceeds helped with improving local area baseball fields.
Players from both teams enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with those who they once played on that field either with, or against.
"It's fun to put the uniform on again, and then you go out and realize you're not who you were 50 years ago," Don Appleman said. "It's still fun to be out on the field. Baseball is a great game to play, a great game to coach, a great game to watch. I just love to be around it."
Appleman -- who pitched for two innings -- was surprised he managed to get a number of his pitches in the strike zone.
"I figured I was going to pitch one inning, I ended up pitching two," he said. "I should've stayed with one. You always think you're better prepared than you are. When you actually get out on the mound and start to throw, the first thing you realize is the mound is farther from home plate than you thought it was going to be.
"It was a lot of fun, good to see some of these guys again -- played with, played against some of them. A lot of these guys can still swing the bat."
Altoona Area High School baseball coach Tom "Turtle" Smith provided his own moment of humor as after getting hit by a pitch, he faked charging the mound but returned to the batter's box after a couple of steps.
"Just trying to have some laughter out there," he said. "It was a great time. It really was nice to see some guys you haven't seen in a long time. I played and coached in the (Greater) City League 32 years and made a lot of good friendships.
"It was good to see these guys again. I don't know that the quality of play was that great, but who cares. Just seeing guys, talking with guys before the game was pretty cool."
Smith remembers coming to the field and seeing his older brothers compete, and that helped foster the love of the game he shares today with the Mountain Lion baseball team.
"This was my home field from Teener League all the way up through Federation," he said. "I used to watch my older brothers play, then I got to play with my one brother out here. Just a lot of good memories."
Before the likes of Adam Hyzdu, Starling Marte, Gerrit Cole, Paul Skenes and Konnor Griffin became household names in Altoona, there were the Altoona Rail Kings.
The game brought back Duke Neatrour, who remembered clearly one of the highlight moments of his time playing at the historic venue as a member of the Rail Kings.
"The one night I was playing right field and there was a ball hit to me, a guy tried to take third from first and I gunned him out," he said."
"This place was packed every night whenever they had it (at Vets Field), It was fun. I don't get a chance to play. I coach (Altoona junior high baseball). It was really good to come out with these guys and see some old friends, and have a little bit of fun."
Neatrour believes the Rail Kings helped paved the way for the Curve to find their footing when they arrived in 1999.
"That showed some major league organizations, particularly the Pirates that you can draw fans because they were filling this place, and everyone wanted more," he said. "Everybody watches the Pirates. I remember going to watch (Andrew) McCutchen, Marte and Gerrit Cole. It was great to watch those guys progress and really come up."
The Rail Kings relocated following the 1997 season. Today, Vets Field hosts George B. Kelley Federation, the Altoona Greater City League, Altoona's AAABA along with Bishop Guilfoyle Academy's baseball seasons.
Rocky 104.9 morning show co-host Tommy Edwards served as the event's master of veremonies while Cory Geishauser -- who played Steamer for the Curve from 2000 to 2008 -- threw out the first pitch. The original Curve mascot was also on hand for the game.