Friday, July 31, 2009

Dodger Correspondence: Joe Landrum


Joe Landrum had a fairly short stay in the Majors in 1950 and 1952 for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was a right handed starter who showed some promise in the minors. He had won 19 games for the AA Fort Worth team in 1949 and had a career Minor League ERA of 2.71 while recording 81 wins. Then, like many ballplayers of the period, he entered the service in 1953 and never again reached the Majors afterwards. Nevertheless, his son, Bill Landrum, did get to have a decent 8 year career in the late 80's and early 90's.

Below is another letter written to Roy and dated from 1976. He ask the old Dodger about his time in the pro's, the players he knew and his fondest memory. Being an old Dodger farmhand means he hung out with some very well known Dodger players. He list Tommy Lasorda, Danny Ozark, Sparky Anderson, Dick Williams, Chuck Connors as former teammates.
Below is his fondest memory in his own words.
"However, one of my fondest memories concerning the sport is that I was elected to the Clemson University Athletic Hall of Fame two years ago, only the second baseball player to be selected. The first was Billy O’Dell, who pitched for Baltimore, Washington, Atlanta, etc. This was especially pleasing to me since it came at a much later stage in my life, after the Baseball days were over.”
In his first start as a freshman at Clemson, March 29, 1946, he pitched against Carl Erskine and threw a complete game no-hitter, striking out 15 with no walks. Go here to his Clemson Tigers page for more about him.
(click to enlarge)

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