Testimonial Celebrity Dinner honoring

H. EARL AVERILL

Complete 1973 pictorial ticket

"Our goal for Earl - the Baseball Hall of Fame"

In late 1973, the sports hobby periodical Sports Scoop, together with interested Northwest baseball fans, sponsored a "Night" for retired baseball great EARL AVERILL. Vernon "Lefty" Gomez was enlisted to address the throng of approximately 400. The former Yankee great regaled the crowd with a repertoire of fun nearly as varied as the deliveries that earned him his plaque at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

And that was the point of the event: a similar place of honor for the Cleveland Indians all-time record holder* in runs, triples, home runs, RBI, long hits and total bases. Earl Averill had been retired from the game for more than 30 years, still held 6 of Cleveland's most important all-time records (as well as slugging and batting averages of .540 and .322, respectively) and yet had been snubbed for Cooperstown accolades.

The event this ticket entitled the bearer to attend brought out the Northwest's leading baseball men, past and present. Earl Averill's ex-teammate JEFF HEATH served as Master of Ceremonies, Second "Earl" of Snohomish (EARL TORGESON) assisted, and another long-ignored great, "Indian BOB" JOHNSON (Athletics, Red Sox & Senators star outfielder) threw his support. Averill drew encouraging letters and telegrams from many of his contemporaries, including DIZZY DEAN - the man whose career Earl nearly ended in the 1937 All Star Game!

This pictorial Earl Averill Night ticket is left from that November 12, 1973 event. The hundreds who attended and lent their support saw their efforts rewarded when, a little more than a year later, Earl Averill was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in January, 1975.