The Miracle of Herb Score

The Miracle of
Herb Score

I went to a private Catholic boys school in Toronto taught by Christian Brothers.

In 1957 before class started,
the Brother explained that something terrible happened
in a Major League baseball game the previous day.

He asked us to get down on our knees beside our desks and pray for 23-year old Cleveland Indian pitcher,
Herb Score.

He told us he'd been injured in a game against the Yankees and he may not survive. He'd been hit in the face with a come-backer line drive.

Remarkably, he not only survived his injuries, he resumed his sensational playing career and followed that with a 34-year very successful broadcasting career as the voice of the
Cleveland Indians on Radio.

Some think his life was much more than just luck.
As a 3-year old, he'd been run over by a truck. Then, he'd survive the rheumatic fever. In his 60's, he'd beat all odds after a life-threatening car crash.

Easy.
His middle name was Jude
-- the saint of the impossible.

Meeting him almost 45 years after his terrible accident was another example of how lucky I've been.

I introduced myself while he was a guest celebrity at the Inter-county Toronto Maple Leaf Baseball Team's home-opener at Christie Pits 15 years ago.  We sat together for a few minutes in the team's clubhouse while he autographed some baseball souvenirs. 

While he was signing, I told him the story about me and my grade 5 classmates praying for him.

I noticed one of the balls he was signing was smudged. He started crying and one of his tears had dropped on the ink. 

He looked like he needed some time to himself. 

I got up to leave. I didn't know what else to do. 

He grabbed my arm, stood up and gave me a bear hug.  The kind of bear hug a pitcher gives a catcher when he's just delivered a no-hitter.