Mattingly: Hall tribute was vintage Nelson

Time waits on no man.

It was 21 years ago this coming week, July 31, 1988, at Cooperstown, N.Y., the world of professional baseball paid tribute to Lindsey Nelson's more than 35-year career in sports journalism. That day, Lindsey received the Ford Frick Award, given since 1967 for "major contributions to the game of baseball."

The Knoxville Journal's Ben Byrd called it "Lindsey Nelson's finest hour."

It was a high moment in a career replete with high moments, a career that established Lindsey as one of the nation's top sportscasters.

It was all heady stuff for the Giles County native, born near a place called Brownlow Creek. He grew up in nearby Columbia. His first thoughts after being informed of the award were about Columbia and a place called Pillow Park.

"What I remembered were the days I was first connected with baseball," he said. "Pillow Park was where we played baseball all day until it got dark. I spent afternoon after afternoon chasing baseballs down on the banks of the Duck River."

His acceptance speech that day was a vintage look at a tenure covering five decades, including the introduction of television, the development of the New York Mets franchise from scratch, and countless memories from broadcast booths across the country and world.

It was a time of recollections, a time a broadcasting career and lifetime passed in review, a time for memories of a beloved wife, who died in 1973 in Menorca, and their daughters, Sharon and Nancy.

"My wife was named Mildred, but practically no one knew that," Lindsey said. "Everybody called her 'Mickey.' She grew up in Detroit. The Tigers were managed by a great catcher named Mickey Cochrane. When I say baseball is a family sport, I speak from personal experience."

He worked with Ralph Kiner and Bob Murphy for 17 years with the Mets. "No amount of money can replace the joy and experience of being with the Mets. Baseball has all the elements - drama, tragedy, and comedy."

Lindsey was behind the microphone not only for Tom Seaver's first win, but also his 300th. That came in 1985, when Lindsey broadcast part of a White Sox-Yankees game at Yankee Stadium.

Lindsey was the consummate professional who made play-by-play an art form. He swept awards in both radio and television. Radio-Television Daily wrote: "Seldom has a profession been so dominated by one man."

His concluding remarks demonstrated the eloquence that won him the respect of his peers and fans alike. The voice that spanned the generations was in full flower, resplendent as always.

"The baseball story is endless and eternal. Some nights now when I'm in bed, just before I fall asleep, I can hear a voice that sounds strangely like my own. It says, 'Hello, everybody, I'm Lindsey Nelson, with Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner at Shea Stadium in New York.' "

There was more.

"My journey has been from Columbia to Cooperstown, from the Duck River to Doubleday Park, from the mules of Pillow Park to the Mets of Shea Stadium. And to all of you I've met along the way, my gratitude is endless."

In a surprise move, he left a tangible mark on the Hall of Fame. Lindsey had a collection of sports coats that were his trademark. You could never confuse any of Lindsey's coats with anybody else's. His were something special.

"Since my working days have ended, I really don't need my work clothes any more," he said. "As a reminder, however, the Hall of Fame will receive one of the Lindsey Nelson working jackets. As a matter of fact, it's this one."

That said, he took it off to the cheers of the crowd.

Over the years, the crowd cheered numerous times for Lindsey Nelson. Lindsey did it all, as a tutor for Tennessee athletes, soldier, announcer, husband, and father. In later years, he was a columnist for the News Sentinel and professor at the University of Tennessee. He had a reserved seat in the Neyland Stadium Press Box.

He called the NBA "Game of the Week" for six years and NCAA football for 14 seasons on three networks, many years with Red Grange. He did baseball with Leo Durocher and Johnny Bench. He did the Notre Dame replay with George Connor and Paul Hornung. In the mid-1980s, he was the voice of college football on WTBS.

For 26 years, he did the Cotton Bowl. He did pro football and nearly everything else that came up, except professional wrestling. He called a Mets game at the Astrodome from a broadcast location 200 feet above second base shared with television camera and monitor.

One thing is certain.

His was the mellowest of mellow baritones. Whenever fans heard Lindsey's voice, whatever the sport, they knew instinctively whose it was.

Tom Mattingly is the author of "The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006" (2006), now available in second edition at fine bookstores, and "Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years" (1998). Comments may be sent to tjmshm@comcast.net. His News Sentinel blog is called "The Vol Historian."