Oxendine, LiPrando maximized outs

Stepping into the batter's box with the bases loaded and less than two out remains one of the most enviable positions in all of baseball. The odds of driving in at least one run are tremendous, even though the thought of clearing the bases entirely is usually foremost.

Joe Oxendine had such visions when he stepped to the plate on Aug. 4, 1955 in the small town of Wytheville, Va. The young slugger, fresh out of the service, was in the process of attempting to revive what would be a short-lived baseball career, when he dug in against Bristol in an otherwise ordinary Appalachian League game.

What happened next, however, was anything but ordinary.

Oxendine launched a long fly ball to center field that Bristol's Jimmy Flanagan ran down without much difficulty. But upon catching the ball, Flanagan slammed into the stone wall that served as the fence, knocking himself out. Three runs scored giving Oxendine a most productive sacrifice fly.

That three runners scored on a sacrifice fly is rare enough. Consider that it hasn't been done in the Major Leagues since July 7, 2000. But when Oxendine did it that August afternoon, it marked the second time in less than a month that a player in the Appy League drove in three runs with a sacrifice fly. Bluefield's Johnny LiPrando also did it on July 7, against Kingsport.

While Kingsport center fielder Johnny Charles, the brother of former heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles, didn't knock himself silly running into a wall, he probably looked a bit comical falling into the hedge that bordered center field. By the time he had extricated himself from the bushes, Clint Clinton, Ray Viscovi and Dick Karl had raced around the bases to give Bluefield three runs in what would eventually be a 7-6 victory.

"I watched and saw that he caught the ball, and then he was down," Oxendine, 77, said. "I may have even started circling the bases. Clearly the umpire got out there and found he [Flanagan] had retained the ball in his glove so I was out from the start. It was a little more painful for him than the one that happened with the guy from Bluefield. It wasn't like today, where you have padded walls and if you run into it full speed, you don't get hurt. We had a stone fence in deep center field.

"It was a long fly ball that the center fielder chased and chased. He got it securely in his glove a split second before he crashed into the wall. It knocked him out stone cold dead and he collapsed. The runner on third was going to score anyway, and when the others realized what had happened, they tagged up and kept running. No one thought to go and get the ball. They were naturally concerned about their buddy, and I got three RBIs in one at-bat without getting a base hit."

Wytheville won the game, 8-3, and wire service stories around the country declared that "it happened again." The lead of The Associated Press story spoke about how "Observers said it couldn't happen once, let alone twice, but the second three-run sacrifice fly of the Appalachian League went into the record books." The AP story went on to say that the play "stole the show" as Wytheville extended its winning streak to nine games.

LiPrando's multi-RBI sacrifice wasn't as clear cut. There was some controversy surrounding the play, because LiPrando wasn't so sure that Charles actually caught the ball.

"When he got out of the hedge fence, he had the ball in his glove," said LiPrando, 75, who lives just outside of Pittsburgh. "I wanted a two-base hit, and when I was coming around second base, the umpire said he caught it. I remember arguing with him, and he told me to shut up, that I got thee RBIs on a sacrifice fly. I told him how did he know the guy caught the ball, and he told me to shut up. I won't forget that."

The Sporting News ran blurbs on both events, and for a while there was some buzz about the plays. For each player, though, the sacrifice proved to be the pinnacle of his baseball career. Oxendine got off to a hot start in Wytheville, and the three-run at-bat against Bristol pumped up some gaudy Appy League numbers. But when he was later promoted to the Carolina League, the Pirates farmhand began to realize that baseball wasn't going to be part of his future.

"I was 23 and playing in the Carolina League with people who were 29 and 30 who still thought they were going to make it to the Major Leagues," Oxendine said. "I was better than they were and I couldn't make it. I had already completed college and was prepared to teach. I had hurt my arm when I was in the Army, and I couldn't throw hard from center field anyway.

"Branch Rickey [who was running the Pirates at that point] believed in running fast and strong arms. So, even though I was hitting over .300, I thought it was time to try something else. I taught for a while in Lynchburg and then spent 30 years at Temple University [eventually becoming a dean]."

Oxendine would then serve as the chancellor at the University of North Carolina-Pembroke, a position he still holds in an emeritus status. He is also a Lumbee Indian and author of American Indian Sports Heritage. So it's easy to see how one fly ball on a summer afternoon could get lost among life's experiences.

"It was an interesting point, and I did see something in The Sporting News a few weeks later," Oxendine said of his three-run fly. "But who knows what things people get remembered for? It's not what I considered a high point in my career. The high point of my career wasn't baseball.

"I played Minor League ball, and that's a great experience for a young fellow. But it's not my claim to fame."

LiPrando, meanwhile, played for one more season and walked away from the game. He eventually took a job with the Carnation Milk Company and rose to the ranks of regional sales manager before retiring in 1991.

While neither got famous playing baseball, they did have their moments -- and both came less than a month apart in the Appy League more than half a century ago.