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  Roger Tomlinson, shortstop with Edmonton Eskimos in 1958 and
Regina the following season, was among the Arizona State University
stars to play in Western Canada. In March, 2001, Tomlinson, with
one of the wackiest homers in ASU history, was featured in the ASU
Booster Club Newsletter.
Roger
Tomlinson played shortstop for the ’60 and ’61 Sun Devil nine and
was elected as co-captain for the 1961 squad. He was also selected team
MVP for the ‘61 season after leading the team in batting with a .342
average. In addition, Roger belted 10 home runs, 56 RBIs, 65 hits, and
scored 54 runs. Roger
and his wife Mary Sue have four grown children, Mike, Bruce, Gary and
Stacy. After
obtaining his degree in 1961, Roger signed with the San Francisco Giants
and played in their minor league organization for a few years. He put
his education and baseball experience to use, as he became a high school
teacher and baseball coach and later went back to ASU to obtain his
master’s degree. He taught in Utah for one year, Arizona for five
years, and ended up at Sweetwater Union High School district in San
Diego for the next thirty years. Now
retired, Roger fills his time with golf, jogging and working out. He
loves to travel, has done quite a bit already, and plans to do more in
the future. He still follows ASU sports and remains a big fan. -
Jim Brink
From the
Wednesday, May 10, 1961, edition of the State Press:
The Sun
Devils made a gallant bid for a split in their four game series with the
Cats, taking the first game of Saturday’s double header in Phoenix
Municipal Stadium and losing a squeaker at night. After the Devils’
booming bats pounded out a 12-10 win in the wind-blown opener, the Cats
tightened things up and grabbed a 3-1 verdict in the second contest. In
the afternoon contest Saturday the Sun Devils showed a complete reversal
of the form they displayed in Tucson a week earlier. Long ball hitting
by Mario Ramirez and Roger Tomlinson and clutch relief pitching from
Roger Barnson and Sam Cook played key roles in the A-state win. Ramirez
and Tomlinson each blasted a pair of home runs and Tomlinson added a
triple to provide the backbone of ASU’s offensive attack.
So You Think
You Know Baseball?
Having lost a
double header to the U of A earlier in the season, the nationally ranked
#6 Sun Devil nine were anxious to get revenge. Roger Tomlinson, as the
teams’ leading hitter, in particular, wanted to right the earlier
wrongs.
In his first
at bat of the days’ double header, Roger was fooled by a two strike
pitch and took a booming swing at a ball that bounced two feet in front
of the plate. To everyone in Municipal Stadium’s amazement, Roger rips
the ball over the left field fence for a home run. To no one’s
surprise, Frank Sancet comes running out of the Cats dugout protesting
that the pitch was illegal and that Tomlinson actually was struck
out.
What was the
umpire’s ruling?
It is a home
run. Per the NCAA, 2001 rule book, section 5, “A Ball, A.R. (Approved
Ruling) – If a pitched ball strikes the ground in front of the batter
and the batter swings at it, the ball is in play if hit and a strike if
missed.
Let’s carry
the preceding scenario a few steps further.
Suppose (1)
Roger, with two strikes on him had not swung and the ball bounced
through the strike zone? Or (2) the ball bounced and struck Roger? Or
(3) Roger swung and missed the bouncing ball?
(1) – It
would be a ball. (2) – Roger would be awarded first base. (3) – The
catcher’s simply fielding the ball cleanly would not constitute an
out. The batter must tagged as on any dropped third strike, or he must
be thrown out at first base unless first base is occupied before two are
out.
 Bennie Griggs, long time Western
Canada stalwart, took a fling at pro ball beginning in 1959 when he went
21-7 and was an All-Star with the Wellsville Braves of the New York-Penn
League. By this time Griggs, who first suited up in Canada in 1950, was
31. He finished 8-10 the following season in moving up to Jacksonville of
the South Atlantic League.
On May 27, 1961 Griggs tossed a no-hitter
for 9 2/3s but came away a loser as he lost the no-hit bid in the 10th on
a single by the opposing pitcher and lost the ball game in the 12th. The
story from the Jacksonville Times-Union :
Jacksonville righthander Ben Griggs
pitched nine and two-thirds innings of no-hit, no-run ball against
Greenville in the scheduled seven-inning opener of a double-header last
night -- only to lose, 1-0, in the 12th when opposing pitcher Mel McGavock
singled home the winning run.
McGavock, who also went the route in
the season's finest pitching duel here, had spoiled Griggs' no-hitter with
two out in the tenth by beating out an infield hit to the third base side
of the mound.
In the Greenville 12th, Art Burnett
opened with a walk, and was sacrificed to second by Wendell Hall.
After John Werhas bounced to third for the second out,
McGavock popped a single to left, scoring Burnett with the winning
run. Gary Smith, next up, singled up the middle for
the Spinners' third and final hit of the game.
All told, Griggs struck out 13
batters and walked six. He fanned six in the first two innings en
route to his first defeat of the year after two wins.
McGavock was tagged for 11 hits,
including four singles by Dale Bennetch and doubles by Bill
Rittman and Joe Wooten. He fanned four and
walked three in notching his seventh win against two loses.
The Jets had ample opportunities to win,
the best one being in the bottom of the tenth, when, with two on, Walt
Matthews smashed a 410-foot fly to centerfield, Dick Smith
hauling it down at the base of the scoreboard.
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