Remember when you were in High School. So many characters and personalities. Big guys, big mouths, funny guys, funny gals and many many more one of a kind kids. Here’s one I think you’ll relate to.
My first impression of Gillie was as 12 year old. He was so immense. I remember thinking that I did not want to be hit by him.
If I had Gillie on my team I knew I had an edge. A powerful advantage.
Gillie was the Paul Bunyon of my neighborhood. He had 20-22 biceps, and a neck almost as round. Weighing 220 pounds, he stood six feet one inch and had no fat on his body. Not an ounce of blubber. I had never seen any one like him in my life. He ambled when he walked. The kind of walk someone has when they know they have nothing to fear. His nickname was Mr Clean. He looked a lot like the cleaning icon. Except Gillie had no earring.
On the baseball diamond, Gillie was awesome. His fungo shots to the outfielders in pre game warm-ups touched parts of the sky usually reserved for small engine planes. He scared the other team. He looked like Mickey Mantle, Harmon Killabrew and Ted Kluzewski all rolled into one.
Smacking a softball was where Gillie excelled. His shots were legendary. He was one of a handful that hit the ball over the right field fence. The fence was 270 – 280 feet away and climbed 40 feet high. He was the only person I ever saw that hit a ball that soared over that fence onto Goldsmith Avenue. His hits seemed to gain height as they cleared the fence.
For me, Gillie always represented strength, dedication and just being a real good guy. He never used his size and strength to put others down. It was his way of building himself up. Whether he batted right handed or lefty you would always see the outfield back up and the infield shift to much deeper positions.
Feel free to pass this on to anyone you think would enjoy reading about baseball.
