...front page Sun Gazette? He's probably happiest that they called his lawn manicured.
Loyalsock Township man recalls time playing Major League baseball more than 50 years ago
Top News
Aug 7, 2017
Mike Reuther
Reporter
mreuther@sungazette.com
Former Major League Baseball player Bob Farley of Williamsport holds an old Baseball Digest magazine which he was featured. KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
A glimpse of a box score from a long-forgotten game of more than 50 years ago certainly could give pause to serious followers and amateur historians of Major League Baseball.
The name, B. Farley, appears in the San Francisco Giants lineup, batting cleanup behind the great Willie Mays.
The date was Sept. 15, 1961.
Who is B. Farley? Or more precisely, Bob Farley?
Farley, a Watsontown native, not only played with Mays, but can also list such stellar ballplayers for teammates as Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Gaylord Perry, and Al Kaline.
Unfortunately, his Major League career was a short one.
These days, Farley, 79, lives a quiet, but comfortable life with his wife Janet in a well-kept home with a pool and a manicured lawn bursting with flowers next to the fourth hole of the Williamsport Country Club.
“It’s a wonderful place to live,” he said, of his Loyalsock residence. “I start every day with a walk on the golf course.”
With his baseball days long behind him, playing golf twice a week is a way to remain competitive.
His professional baseball days ended in 1965, with the Williamsport Mets in the Eastern League.
Farley said he’s not surprised that a lot of people from around central Pennsylvania don’t know or recall he played professional baseball, let alone with the likes of Willie Mays.
Farley, a Montgomery Area High School graduate, was never even inducted into that school’s athletic hall of fame.
“He was never nominated,” president Gary Yocum Jr. said. “I’ve heard the name. I’ve never hear anyone talk about him.”
For his part, Farley said: “I don’t seek the limelight.”
No regrets
He said he neither watches nor follows baseball anymore.
And, he seems to have no regrets or hold any bitterness about the way his professional baseball life turned out.
Down in the basement of his home can be found baseball mementous, photos and other keepsakes.
It’s a way to perhaps remember. And Farley recalls so many of those baseball days of more than 50 years ago.
“I haven’t talked about this stuff in years,” he said, while sitting in the living room of his home with his wife.
The early years
As a boy, baseball came easily to him.
Growing up in Montgomery, Farley played Little League Baseball.
“I became the phenom in Little League,” he said.
He helped his team get to the state championship series and pitched three no-hitters.
As a teenager, he played more than his share of baseball for adult amateur teams.
At 13, he was good enough to play on men’s teams in Montgomery and Picture Rocks.
“In those days, they didn’t have all these leagues,” he said.
Montgomery Area High School had no baseball team, although he played other sports there including football and basketball.
After high school, Farley joined the Army and it looked like he might become yet another star athlete who’d never get a chance to test himself against professionals.
“I volunteered for the draft at 18,” he recalled.
Fortunately, Fort Hood, Texas, where he was stationed, had a baseball team, and Farley tried out for the team.
His talent didn’t go unnoticed, and he ended up spending more time in baseball uniforms than in khaki greens.
“In the Army, I did nothing but play baseball,” he said.
It was a good place for Farley to be.
His team went up against a lot of other clubs stocked with talented ballplayers, including former Major Leaguers, allowing Farley to hone his skills
While in the Army, he caught the attention of Irv Jeffries, a former big league infielder.
“I was a left-handed pitcher,” Farley recalled. “He advised me to play first base. He was a motivation guy. He told me I was going to the Major Leagues to play first base.”
Farley eventually got out of the Army and signed with the San Francisco Giants organization.
The future looked bright.
“It was what I always wanted to do,” he said.
Farley made a steady climb through the minor leagues, beginning with Class D Michigan City in 1957.
The left-handed batting Farley was a good hitter with pop in his bat.
In 1961, he hit .307 for Tacoma of the Pacific Coast League and swatted 20 home runs.
The Major Leagues
He earned a promotion to the San Francisco Giants that year but saw just limited action with 23 plate appearances.
His locker was next to future Hall of Famer Mays, whom he recalled as a great guy and the best ballplayer he ever saw.
“Mays could do things that no one else could do,” he said.
Another “good guy” was teammate Willie McCovey.
Unfortunately, McCovey, who would go on to hit 521 home runs, was a first baseman — Farley’s position.
Giants manager Alvin Dark was the one who gave Farley the bad news that perhaps didn’t surprise him: He wouldn’t be playing in San Francisco the next year.
Sure enough, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox.
“That’s where my troubles started,” Farley recalled.
White Sox manager Al Lopez informed him that he would be used as a pinch-hitter. That didn’t sit well with Farley, who felt he needed to play every day to keep sharp.
Limited action
He saw just limited action with the White Sox.
Later that season, he was sent off to the Detroit Tigers — also not the best of situations for Farley.
Norm Cash, who hit .361 for the Tigers the previous season, was holding down the first base position.
“I was ready to quit,” Farley said.
Instead, Farley asked to be sent to Hawaii of the Pacific Coast League.
“They had a short right field. I knew I could hit there,” he said.
But he spent most of 1963 not playing much, recovering from injuries.
Baseball was becoming less and less fun for Farley.
“I didn’t want to do it anymore,” he recalled.
At the behest of Eddie Stanky, then the director of Player of Development for the New York Mets, Farley decided to give professional baseball one last shot
He spent parts of the 1964 and 1965 seasons playing for the Williamsport Mets before calling it a career.
Farley wasn’t quite 28 years old when it ended.
He settled in Lycoming County and worked for his father-in-law in his tool sales company before eventually taking it over.
The memories
Farley recalled the highlights of his baseball career.
There was his hit that gave White Sox teammate Early Wynn his 299th pitching win.
He recalled Wynn as a tough competitor who thought nothing of knocking down hitters who crowded the plate.
“Yes, Early was tough,” he said.
He smiled at the memory of pitcher Gaylord Perry, a Tacoma teammate, who won more than 300 Major League games.
“Gaylord was a big Carolina guy, and he was tight as a drum with his money,” he said.
The best baseball days, he said, were with Tacoma.
His wife agreed.
“But every year was good,” she said.
“I didn’t have a favorite year in the Major Leagues because I never played,” Farley said.
Let the record show that Farley appeared in just 84 games over two Major League seasons, batting .160 with two home runs.
Summing up his career, Farley felt it was a case of often being in the wrong place at the wrong time, his playing time in the Major Leagues sporadic and too often relegated to pinch-hitting appearances.
“I probably could have played 15 years in the Major Leagues,” he said.
Instead, he became among the multitude of professional ballplayers, while never stars, who can brag that they played in the Major Leagues.
Now, in the twilight of his life, he’s just fine with that.
Looking at his wife, he said, “We are almost 80 years old and still do what we want to do.”
He noted the two children they raised and the good lives they’ve enjoyed.
“He has no regrets about baseball,” Janet Farley said.
Loyalsock Township man recalls time playing Major League baseball more than 50 years ago
Top News
Aug 7, 2017
Mike Reuther
Reporter
mreuther@sungazette.com
Former Major League Baseball player Bob Farley of Williamsport holds an old Baseball Digest magazine which he was featured. KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
A glimpse of a box score from a long-forgotten game of more than 50 years ago certainly could give pause to serious followers and amateur historians of Major League Baseball.
The name, B. Farley, appears in the San Francisco Giants lineup, batting cleanup behind the great Willie Mays.
The date was Sept. 15, 1961.
Who is B. Farley? Or more precisely, Bob Farley?
Farley, a Watsontown native, not only played with Mays, but can also list such stellar ballplayers for teammates as Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Gaylord Perry, and Al Kaline.
Unfortunately, his Major League career was a short one.
These days, Farley, 79, lives a quiet, but comfortable life with his wife Janet in a well-kept home with a pool and a manicured lawn bursting with flowers next to the fourth hole of the Williamsport Country Club.
“It’s a wonderful place to live,” he said, of his Loyalsock residence. “I start every day with a walk on the golf course.”
With his baseball days long behind him, playing golf twice a week is a way to remain competitive.
His professional baseball days ended in 1965, with the Williamsport Mets in the Eastern League.
Farley said he’s not surprised that a lot of people from around central Pennsylvania don’t know or recall he played professional baseball, let alone with the likes of Willie Mays.
Farley, a Montgomery Area High School graduate, was never even inducted into that school’s athletic hall of fame.
“He was never nominated,” president Gary Yocum Jr. said. “I’ve heard the name. I’ve never hear anyone talk about him.”
For his part, Farley said: “I don’t seek the limelight.”
No regrets
He said he neither watches nor follows baseball anymore.
And, he seems to have no regrets or hold any bitterness about the way his professional baseball life turned out.
Down in the basement of his home can be found baseball mementous, photos and other keepsakes.
It’s a way to perhaps remember. And Farley recalls so many of those baseball days of more than 50 years ago.
“I haven’t talked about this stuff in years,” he said, while sitting in the living room of his home with his wife.
The early years
As a boy, baseball came easily to him.
Growing up in Montgomery, Farley played Little League Baseball.
“I became the phenom in Little League,” he said.
He helped his team get to the state championship series and pitched three no-hitters.
As a teenager, he played more than his share of baseball for adult amateur teams.
At 13, he was good enough to play on men’s teams in Montgomery and Picture Rocks.
“In those days, they didn’t have all these leagues,” he said.
Montgomery Area High School had no baseball team, although he played other sports there including football and basketball.
After high school, Farley joined the Army and it looked like he might become yet another star athlete who’d never get a chance to test himself against professionals.
“I volunteered for the draft at 18,” he recalled.
Fortunately, Fort Hood, Texas, where he was stationed, had a baseball team, and Farley tried out for the team.
His talent didn’t go unnoticed, and he ended up spending more time in baseball uniforms than in khaki greens.
“In the Army, I did nothing but play baseball,” he said.
It was a good place for Farley to be.
His team went up against a lot of other clubs stocked with talented ballplayers, including former Major Leaguers, allowing Farley to hone his skills
While in the Army, he caught the attention of Irv Jeffries, a former big league infielder.
“I was a left-handed pitcher,” Farley recalled. “He advised me to play first base. He was a motivation guy. He told me I was going to the Major Leagues to play first base.”
Farley eventually got out of the Army and signed with the San Francisco Giants organization.
The future looked bright.
“It was what I always wanted to do,” he said.
Farley made a steady climb through the minor leagues, beginning with Class D Michigan City in 1957.
The left-handed batting Farley was a good hitter with pop in his bat.
In 1961, he hit .307 for Tacoma of the Pacific Coast League and swatted 20 home runs.
The Major Leagues
He earned a promotion to the San Francisco Giants that year but saw just limited action with 23 plate appearances.
His locker was next to future Hall of Famer Mays, whom he recalled as a great guy and the best ballplayer he ever saw.
“Mays could do things that no one else could do,” he said.
Another “good guy” was teammate Willie McCovey.
Unfortunately, McCovey, who would go on to hit 521 home runs, was a first baseman — Farley’s position.
Giants manager Alvin Dark was the one who gave Farley the bad news that perhaps didn’t surprise him: He wouldn’t be playing in San Francisco the next year.
Sure enough, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox.
“That’s where my troubles started,” Farley recalled.
White Sox manager Al Lopez informed him that he would be used as a pinch-hitter. That didn’t sit well with Farley, who felt he needed to play every day to keep sharp.
Limited action
He saw just limited action with the White Sox.
Later that season, he was sent off to the Detroit Tigers — also not the best of situations for Farley.
Norm Cash, who hit .361 for the Tigers the previous season, was holding down the first base position.
“I was ready to quit,” Farley said.
Instead, Farley asked to be sent to Hawaii of the Pacific Coast League.
“They had a short right field. I knew I could hit there,” he said.
But he spent most of 1963 not playing much, recovering from injuries.
Baseball was becoming less and less fun for Farley.
“I didn’t want to do it anymore,” he recalled.
At the behest of Eddie Stanky, then the director of Player of Development for the New York Mets, Farley decided to give professional baseball one last shot
He spent parts of the 1964 and 1965 seasons playing for the Williamsport Mets before calling it a career.
Farley wasn’t quite 28 years old when it ended.
He settled in Lycoming County and worked for his father-in-law in his tool sales company before eventually taking it over.
The memories
Farley recalled the highlights of his baseball career.
There was his hit that gave White Sox teammate Early Wynn his 299th pitching win.
He recalled Wynn as a tough competitor who thought nothing of knocking down hitters who crowded the plate.
“Yes, Early was tough,” he said.
He smiled at the memory of pitcher Gaylord Perry, a Tacoma teammate, who won more than 300 Major League games.
“Gaylord was a big Carolina guy, and he was tight as a drum with his money,” he said.
The best baseball days, he said, were with Tacoma.
His wife agreed.
“But every year was good,” she said.
“I didn’t have a favorite year in the Major Leagues because I never played,” Farley said.
Let the record show that Farley appeared in just 84 games over two Major League seasons, batting .160 with two home runs.
Summing up his career, Farley felt it was a case of often being in the wrong place at the wrong time, his playing time in the Major Leagues sporadic and too often relegated to pinch-hitting appearances.
“I probably could have played 15 years in the Major Leagues,” he said.
Instead, he became among the multitude of professional ballplayers, while never stars, who can brag that they played in the Major Leagues.
Now, in the twilight of his life, he’s just fine with that.
Looking at his wife, he said, “We are almost 80 years old and still do what we want to do.”
He noted the two children they raised and the good lives they’ve enjoyed.
“He has no regrets about baseball,” Janet Farley said.
