|
Bobby Messenger
Bob Messenger, Bates College Class of 1908, is an enigma. Like a meteor, he blazed a trail across the school’s Garcelon Field, then vanished in a flash. Five years later, reunited with classmate Harry Lord, he reappeared with the Chicago White Sox. But what a life he lived — before, between and after. Messenger played 15 years of professional baseball with 14 teams in 11 states and three countries. A folk hero and living legend, he was lionized across swaths of America — dubbed the “human flash of speed” and “fastest pair of legs this side of the Mason-Dixon line.” Yet even where he was a legend — he remained an enigma. The “Can’t Miss” Kid who missed — three times. After retiring from baseball, he returned to Maine under a different name to solve sensational murders that were splashed across national headlines.
Today Bob Messenger is all but forgotten, rated the briefest of mentions in Wikipedia. Even his obituaries didn’t do him justice. One said he graduated from Bates in 1907; another he left Bates for Toronto in the minor leagues; a third he played infield in the majors. All are wrong. He had two names — and adventures too many to regale. This is Charles Walter “Bob” Messenger’s American journey...
- SABR (and that's a great intro - tip o' the cap to SABR author Bob Muldoon)
I found a facegen with the old code and that's the one on the left, but as nice as it is I didn't think it looked like the enigmatic, square-jawed, crime-busting ballplayer that I'd read about... so I did him over.
|