My Lunch with Ezra

Who? Ezra McGlothin. You might know him as Pat McGlothin. Or you might not.

Pat was a pitcher in the Dodgers' organization in the late 1940s and early 1950s. A few SABR members got together for lunch with Pat at his house. I was fortunate to be there.

Although I had a digital audio recorder, I failed to have it start recording.  Don't ask and yes, I'm kicking myself for not verifying that it was actually running.

Pat spent about an hour answering our questions and telling stories.  He played in the majors for 8 games, 7 of them in 1949 and 1 in 1950.

He has a large collection of signed baseballs. You can see Ted Williams' auto on the one that he's holding.

I made a postcard sized card for him to sign. He was very gracious.

While we were there he opened his mail and signed a card that someone had sent him. Placed it back in the self stamped return envelope. He said that he was amazed that people still wanted his autograph, especially since he hadn't played professional ball in almost 50 years.

He only has four cards that I'm aware of.

• 1950 Big League Stars - # 10 (Pat McGlothin)
• 1952 Parkhurst - # 53 (Ezra McGlothin)
• 1952 Victoria - # 135 (Pat Mc Clothin)
• 1990 Target Dodgers - # 1027 (Pat McGlothlin)

I asked him if any of the first three card companies had contacted him before issuing the cards.  He said no, that there was no contract, no money.  They just put the cards out.

He faced Ted Williams in a Naval base game in September of 1944.  Pat struck out Ted five times in a 19 inning game.  In that game Pat also had 3 RBI and 1 Run.  Wearing a wool uniform.  In Corpus Christi, Texas.

When I asked him what the highlight of his professional career was, he thought and said that his three no-hitters.  Asking his about his biggest disappointment was, he said that the time that it took for his arm to heal after elbow surgery.  They removed some bone chips and his arm got tired very easily after that.  He went on to play and manage the Knoxville Smokies in 1954, his last year in professional baseball.

You can see Pat's record at Baseball-Reference.com.  The local NBC affiliate ran a story on Pat last year.  Here's the video link.

Thanks, Pat, for the day.  And the autograph.  And sharing your memories today.