1950 Bowman, Wayne Terwilliger

#114 Wayne Terwilliger

A little over a month ago, my grandma called me to let me know most of the family was converging at her place in southern Texas and she wanted to know if I could make it. The first thing I did was to check the Ft. Worth Cats schedule to see if they were going to be home that weekend. They were, so I told Grandma that I would see her in a month.

The reason that I checked the American Association Cats schedule was because I have this card of Wayne Terwilliger that I have been wanting to get signed all year. I bought this card off of Ebay before the season started, hoping that I could get it signed in Wichita this year. When the schedule finally came out, Ft. Worth was not coming to Wichita; Wichita was instead heading to Ft. Worth. The closest to me the Cats would come was Lincoln. So, back in May, I headed up to Lincoln. I was able to get a cool autograph there, but Wayne had a staff infection at the time and didn't make the trip. So, when this oportunity came, I jumped on it.

Most of you may be wondering why I would go so far out of my way to get a card signed. I think that the main reason was so I could get a card from 1950 signed. I have two cards from 1954 signed, so I now have a new "oldest signed card".

Another reason is because it of the legendary Wayne Terwilliger. Sure, he didn't have a spectacular playing career and he never set any records. But, he is only the second octogenarian to ever coach in baseball and the first since Connie Mack. Granted, most of his recent coaching has been done in the independent leagues. But, he is still a part of the game and I'm sure that there is much that you can learn from a man that played in the '50s and coached in the '70s under Ted Williams. He was also a coach for the Twins when they won their last two World Series titles.

I normally do not show the backs of the cards I post on here. After all, the autograph is the main feature to this blog. But, on this card, I could not help it. This card is so old, it talks about Wayne spending time with the "Los Angeles farm team". I asked Wayne if he played in LA's Wrigley Field and he said that he did. When asked how it compared to Chicago's, he said that it was much smaller. When I asked if the Los Angeles Wrigley had ivey on the fence, he told me that it had been so long that he couldn't remember. Nonetheless, it was very cool talking to someone that has been around the game as long as he has.



I guess that I forgot to mention it earlier, but Wayne is the Cats first base coach. Here is a picture of him in action. And no, the American Association has yet to adopt the base coach helmet rule.