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This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.

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This is Bob Serve of the Kansas City Athletics. In a few moments, I'll tell you about my greatest sports thrill.

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This is Harry Wismer. What you're about to hear is a transcribed story of one of baseball's outstanding players.

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And an event our special guest Bob Serve considers his greatest sports thrill.

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And Bob himself is here to tell us all about it.

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But first, here is Bill Redick with the message of interest from your United States Air Force.

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In a thrilling ninth inning rally, it may be difficult to pick out the most important baseball player on the field.

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However, in the expanding age of space, there's no question about who the most important men will be.

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The most important men in this new era will be Air Force trained specialists, or the space age will be run by technicians.

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Right now, today, you still have the opportunity to get in on the ground floor.

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If you join the Air Force and are qualified for training, you'll be instructed by the finest technical experts available.

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Perhaps your field will be electronics, jet mechanics, guided missile systems, or radar.

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In any case, Air Force training will stick with you and make you a valuable man anywhere.

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So see your local recruiter now for the full story on your future in the United States Air Force, where the age of space is reality.

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Now, back to Harry Wismer.

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Bob Serve is over 30, and by the usual baseball standards, is a veteran whose best years have to be considered behind him.

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But by his own standards, Bob Serve is just beginning his career in the majors.

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The records show that Bob Serve has been around on and off ever since 1951.

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But the records tell only a small part of the story of this husky Nebraskan who won a reprieve from a life sentence on the New York Yankee bench,

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and in one solid season, established himself as one of the top power hitters in the American League.

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In 1958, the Yankees won the World Series.

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Ted Williams took the batting title.

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Jackie Jensen was the most valuable player, and Bob Turley walked away with the pitching honors.

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But Bob Serve, at the seventh place Kansas City Athletics, undoubtedly had the most remarkable season of anybody in the junior circuit.

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Serve, a promising non-entity for years, who couldn't get anywhere when he was in good health,

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went from mediocrity to stardom in a season of injuries that would have all but disabled a less hardy man.

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In 1958, Bob Serve played in 141 ball games in spite of a broken jaw, a broken toe, a bruised hand, a sprained knee, and a badly dented arm muscle.

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He not only played, but he was the Athletics' outstanding star and one of the big guys in the American League.

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He was in the batting race until the last ten days of the season and ended up with a respectable 3.05 average.

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His 38 homers put him in fourth place, only four behind Mickey Mantle, who led the league.

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He was also fourth in runs batted in with 104.

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At one point, Bob Serve led the league in all three major batting departments.

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He was so far ahead in home runs and RBIs at the time he broke his jaw in May, that it appeared he wouldn't be caught by anyone.

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If he hadn't been hurt so often, Bob might have gone all the way.

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Even in the best of health, Bob Serve didn't figure to be that good.

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The Yankee cast off had been commuting between New York and their Kansas City farm when it was in the American Association for years.

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The Yankees expecting him to develop into a stick out any minute weren't quite sure what to do with him.

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They were reluctant to turn him loose because he was a powerful right-handed slugger who seemed to lack only experience.

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When he still didn't develop, they let him go right after the 1956 World Series.

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Bob Serve went to Kansas City, which for a Yankee was like going to Siberia.

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The shift seemed to mark the end of the line for Serve.

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He started off as if it were.

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His 1957 season at Kansas City was pretty dreadful.

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He reported there 20 pounds overweight, and the only thing he could reduce during the year was his batting average.

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When the season ended, he was ready to quit. So were the Athletics.

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Then came the transformation. No one is quite sure how it happened.

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Even Bob Serve doesn't know. He cut his weight down and reported in shape, but he had always been in shape with the Yankees.

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Perhaps he had a little more determination.

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He might have figured this was his last chance, but that wasn't anything new either.

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The year before had looked like his last chance too.

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The only thing that's sure is that he caught fire all of a sudden, and once he got going, he didn't stop.

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Bob Serve was the hottest thing in baseball during the first month of the 1958 season.

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Right up to the time, he broke his jaw.

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At that point, after 23 games, he had 11 homers, 30 runs batted in, and an average of 344.

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Bob Serve broke his jaw trying to score from second base in the seventh inning of a night game against the Detroit Tigers in Kansas City.

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As he neared the plate, he saw that the Tigers catcher Red Wilson was waiting for him with the ball.

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Serve decided to try to knock it out of Wilson's hands by crashing into him.

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He smashed his jaw against Wilson's bony shoulder, and he could feel something give.

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He was not only stunned, but his jaw throbbed with pain.

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The first thing he said when he saw manager Harry Kraft on the Athletics bench was, I think my jaw's busted.

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He was right. It was broken in two places.

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One week after the accident, Serve returned to action.

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Bob lost weight, and his hitting fell off, but he became an inspiration to the whole team.

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He became a take-charge guy without being able to talk.

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During the month he played with his jaw wired, he smacked six homers, and batted in 21 runs.

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By the time the braces were removed, he was still leading the league in homers and RBIs and had a batting average of.308.

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Bob Serve started in left field in the 1958 All-Star game at Baltimore.

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He had never been on the All-Star squad before.

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He was not quite up to par since he hadn't completely recovered from his injuries.

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He failed to distinguish himself, but at least he was among those present.

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Happy Kansas City fans held a day for Bob Serve on July 22, 1958.

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He was presented with an endless collection of gifts.

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The affair was also characterized by the most distinguished gathering of notables ever to honor a ballplayer outside of New York or Washington,

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including a former president of the United States, three governors, and six mayors.

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Bob Serve was born in Weston, Nebraska, a small town about 30 miles from Lincoln, on May 5, 1926.

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He went into the service after graduating from high school in 1943, and when he came out two and a half years later, he enrolled at the University of Nebraska.

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Bob Serve played ball all through college, starting as a catcher, but shifting to the outfield his sophomore year.

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After he graduated in the spring of 1950, Bob signed a contract with the New York Yankees for a $6,000 bonus

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and joined the Kansas City Blues in the American Association.

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The next six years were not the happiest ones for Bob Serve, as he battled for a regular job with the parent Yankees.

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But to no avail, he was a two-platoon ballplayer, being used chiefly as a pinch hitter.

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On August 25, 1956, Bob Serve's career underwent a drastic change, although he was unaware of it at the time.

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It was on this date that the Yankees purchased anal slaughter from the Kansas City Athletics.

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The A's were to get a player for slaughter at the end of the season. That player turned out to be Bob Serve.

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When Serve had his bad year for the A's in 1957, many baseball men said that Bob had sat too many years on the Yankee bench,

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and that his best days were behind him.

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It was at this point that Bob Serve decided to try to do something to ensure his success in baseball.

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First, he went on a diet and trimmed off 18 pounds. He worked hard all winter and got into the best shape of his career.

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The rest is diamond history. The 1958 season saw him finish fourth in the voting for the American League's Most Valuable Player Award.

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While Bob Serve at the Kansas City Athletics has shown brittle bones, there never has been any doubt about his heart.

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He has been one of the gamest ever to play Major League Baseball.

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Now, before you meet our special guest Bob Serve in person and hear about his greatest sports thrill,

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here is a message of interest to all young men with an eye on the future.

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Psychologists tell us that young people don't like to be left out of events in which their friends take part.

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This is true of adults, too, and why not? When exciting things take place, everyone just naturally wants to be part of them.

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Consider the dramatic advances now occurring in the space age.

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Consider, too, the important role the Air Force is playing in this new age and will continue to play.

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The fact is, the Air Force is the only service that has most of its men working on aircraft, missiles, and rockets, or in allied fields.

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This means that for top space age training, the Air Force is way ahead.

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And that's why so many forward-thinking young men are joining this great outfit.

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They want the finest technical training, 30-day annual paid vacations, plus a full social life.

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If you're interested in valuable training and a promising future, see your local Air Force recruiter.

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He'll tell you all about the many Air Force opportunities now available.

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And now, back to Harry Wismer.

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Bob Serve, what was your greatest sports thrill?

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I've had many great sports thrills. I guess I'd have to go back to 1955.

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I was playing in the World Series at Edbitts Field. I was sitting on the bench in about the middle of the fifth or sixth inning.

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I get a call from Case, go up my bat, and go up and take a couple pitches.

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And I think it counts two strikes, one ball.

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And then I hit the next pitch and up into the left field.

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Bleachers at Edbitts Field.

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And as I run around the field, I guess that would be my greatest thrill, hitting a home run, pinch home run in the World Series.

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And I think at the time, I was the fifth one to do it.

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Do you recall your first appearance at the plate in a Major League uniform?

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Yes, I recall. It was back in 1951.

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I was playing with Yankees. We were playing against Detroit Tigers.

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And I think they were down seven to five and a couple men on.

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And I pinched hit in the last of the ninth inning.

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And I run the count to three, two, and I struck out. Dizzy Trout struck me out.

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Bob, having come up with the Yankees, have you ever regretted being traded away by them?

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No, I don't think I will ever regret being traded from the Yankees.

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I was a wonderful organization.

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But when I left the Yankees, it was giving me my chance to play.

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And being with Kansas City, that's what I did. I got to play.

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What are your feelings about the Yankee uniform doing something for a ballplayer?

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I've heard that many times. They say, Don, a New York Yankee uniform, and they play better.

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No, I don't say that. I will say one thing.

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The Yankees train their men to be good ballplayers.

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If you notice, they hardly ever trade for catchers, infielders, or outfielders.

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They usually trade for pitching. Other than that, they're always real strong.

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Bob, would you rather play every day in a second division ball club

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or ride the bench as a member of the New York Yankees?

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Well, that's easy to answer there. I would rather be on a second division club

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and play every day. This way, someday, who knows?

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I might be playing for the New York Yankees again.

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Bob, when you injured your jaw in the 1958 season,

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what was the toughest thing for you to do once the game got underway?

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The toughest thing for me when my jaw was broken was, if I had to run any distance,

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I had a real hard time breathing. My teeth were wired together,

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and I had to breathe between my teeth. That was the toughest.

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What did you do when protesting your call by the umpire?

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Well, I could mumble at them, I guess. I don't think they could understand me.

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I'd give them some glaring looks. That was about all.

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Bob, how do you feel about the system of two platooning ballplayers?

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Well, I see where there was always one manager that always platoon,

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but I, after sitting around watching on the bench in New York,

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I could always see his purpose. It seemed like he platooned the men early.

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It wasn't really platooning. He was just giving men a rest

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before they got too tired to do the team any good.

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Bob, as a power hitter, how do you feel about the pitcher who brushes you back from the plate?

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Well, I always say it's the pitcher's privilege.

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They have to stop it some way. I mean, some Pia pitchers are a little rougher than the others,

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but really it's a compliment to the hitter. If they're knocking you back, they respect you.

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Thank you very much, Bob Serve, of the Kansas City Athletics, one of baseball's outstanding players.

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Music