Eddie Gordon holds up the newspaper clipping that verified his state record. The Alabama man waited 61 years to get credit for the mark.
Photo courtesy of Guntersville Gleam-Advertiser
Eddie Gordon is now Alabama's record holder for most strikeouts in an extra-inning baseball game.
However, it took 61 years for the record to be recognized.
In 1953, the 6-foot-2, 165-pound junior struck out 26 batters as Marshall County (now
Guntersville High) nipped Arab 1-0 in 11 innings on a home run by Frank Wedgeworth. Gordon also collected two hits. The only Alabama prep to fan more in any prep game was future Brooklyn Dodgers and Washington Senators pitcher Fred Sington, who struck out all 27 batters in nine innings as Phillips-Birmingham defeated Jefferson County 10-2 in 1926.
Ron Ingram, director of communications for the Alabama High School Athletic Association, noted, "It is always exciting to me to get an 'old' record verified and added. Those were special times and few recorded the exploits."
Gordon in high school.
Photo courtesy of Guntersville Gleam-Advertiser
The 79-year-old Gordon told MaxPreps, "It feels pretty good. I had wondered over the years how I stood in the records. Somebody else usually brought it up, but I would talk about if then. It kind of surprised me, really. It probably would have been a lot better if it had been recognized then."
Gordon actually can thank his stepdaughter, Traci Taylor, for the unexpected recognition.
"He had talked about that game before," Taylor recalled. "I sent a clipping from the paper (Guntersville Advertiser-Gleam) and in a few days (the record was recognized). It was a remarkable accomplishment. For some reason it fell through the cracks. It was about time, 61 years."
It wasn't hard to figure out why she enthusiastically went to bat for Gordon.
Taylor explained, "Baseball runs in our blood on both sides of our family. My grandfather, Tom Jackson, has a little league ballpark named after him in Guntersville. My brother, Dr. Steve Taylor, had a tremendous memorabilia collection. It was insured (before he died four years ago)."
Gordon started on the mound and in the outfield from eighth grade through his junior year. He had a "live" fastball and a good curve. He also was a fine hitter, batting either No. 3 or 4 in the lineup.
"My fastball would actually rise," he said.
He may have been an even better hitter and hinted that batting probably was his favorite part of the game.
As a junior in high school he already was being scouted by several professional teams. He recalled seeing scouts all over town and talking to them at home, even in the local pool hall. He could not sign until graduation, however, and unfortunately, quit school at the end of his junior year for a three-year stretch in the U.S. Army.
He was a shy teenager and admits to feeling pressure from the constant presence of Major League Baseball scouts and calls the decision to quit high school "a 17-year-old boy's mistake. I felt like I had to leave. The scouts did bother me a little."
In the Army he faced several future Major League players and batted No. 5 in the lineup, but never was able to have a pro career of his own.
Still enthused about her stepfather's long-ago career, the diehard Taylor believes "He probably set some other records, so I'm going to keep digging."
