My Little Project: Digging into Jim Slaton
So, the other day, I was rummaging through some old boxes. You know how it is, stuff piles up. Anyway, I found this beat-up shoebox full of old baseball cards. Not worth much, probably, mostly commons from the 70s and 80s. But then I pulled one out – Jim Slaton. Milwaukee Brewers. The name just kinda jumped out at me. I remembered him, vaguely, from way back.
It got me thinking. I didn’t really know much about him, just the name and the team. So, I decided, why not look him up? Just see what his story was. It wasn’t like a big research project, more like scratching an itch.
First thing I did was grab my old baseball encyclopedia off the shelf. Yeah, the actual book, heavy thing. Flipped through the index, found his name. Looked at his basic stats. Okay, decent pitcher, long career, mostly with the Brewers. Saw he won 20 games one year, that caught my eye. But the book only gives you numbers, right?
I wanted a bit more flavor. So, I went online. Didn’t go crazy, just typed his name into a search engine. Started reading some old articles, summaries of his career. Found out he was part of that ’82 Brewers team that went to the World Series. Harvey’s Wallbangers, they called ’em. I remembered that team! Suddenly, it wasn’t just a name on a card anymore.
Then I tried finding some video. This was trickier. You don’t find full games easily from that era, not like today. But I managed to find some highlight reels, old news clips. Saw some grainy footage of him pitching. It wasn’t fancy, just looked like a solid pitcher doing his job. Reliable, maybe? That’s the word that came to mind.
What I Found Out (The Simple Stuff)
- Long Career: Pitched for a good while, mostly Milwaukee but also bounced around a bit later.
- Workhorse: Seemed like he threw a lot of innings back in the day.
- Part of History: That ’82 World Series team was a big deal for the Brewers. He was right there in the middle of it.
- Not Flashy: Didn’t seem like a big strikeout guy or someone who threw incredibly hard, just effective.
It wasn’t like I discovered some hidden secret. But it was interesting, you know? Took an old baseball card, spent an afternoon just following the thread. Remembering guys like Slaton, the solid players who were the backbone of teams for years. It felt kinda satisfying, just connecting a name from a piece of cardboard to some actual history and memories. Didn’t really do anything spectacular, just spent some time looking back. And that was okay.
