Book Description

I met Neil Berry in October 2013 when he was 91. I had recently met his daughter, Linda, and when she mentioned that her father was the "oldest living Detroit Tiger" I had no qualms about asking to meet him. In preparation for this first meeting, I combed eBay for any memorabilia suitable for this former Tiger player to sign. To my surprise, when I handed over my vintage photograph of a play at the plate, Neil was immediately able to recognize the team and face of the catcher he had played against 65 years ago. Neil remembered his life in amazing detail and his anecdotes were colorful and razor sharp. Neil Berry was a star athlete for Kalamazoo Central and made the majors in 1948. Berry is not a household name even among the most ardent Tiger fans, but Neil played with or against many of the greatest players in the game; Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Hal Newhouser, and Don Larsen, to name a few. Through the ups and downs of his seven year Major League career, Neil Berry witnessed many unique or one time events in the history of the sport. Neil was playing shortstop when the shortest player in the history of the Major Leagues made the only plate appearance of his short (pun intended) career. Neil witnessed a teammate throw a no hitter in his first major league start and another teammate set a record with 12 consecutive hits. Neil's favorite game forced the first playoff game in the history of the American League. From that first meeting, he shared his stories and his scrapbooks with me almost weekly until he passed away in 2016. These scrapbooks had been dutifully and lovingly compiled by Neil's wife Gloria. She collected every word the press wrote about him starting with his high school days until his final days playing ball. From the perspective of the sportswriters of the time to the hours of recorded conversations from the "oldest living Detroit Tiger," here is the life and times of the shortstop from Kalamazoo.