Todd Anderson
11-18-2007, 10:12 PM
(I had provided this info to some other folks, regarding the little-known eye condition of my dad, Ferrell Anderson—Dodger catcher in 1946. How he even got to the majors with this condition is beyond me. Thought it might prove informative to others as well! Happy Thanksgiving to all you Dodger fans!)
I spent yesterday at my brother's home for Thanksgiving, with his family and mine. We talked about our recent internet fun as it relates to researching baseball. Anyway, I quizzed him about our dad's eye condition, to see if I had missed anything. He shared some info that I truly had never heard! Plus, I borrowed some of the old scrapbooks that my brother kept tucked away. The information they contained proved to be a huge bonus.
Turns out my dad's eye problem wasn't a birth defect. My brother tells me that when our dad was a young child, he wanted some apples that were hanging in a tree. He somehow borrowed a nearby horse and got up on top of the animal, standing on his back to reach high enough to retrieve the apples. Suddenly, the horse bolted, and my dad fell. The side of his head took the impact of the fall, as he landed on top of a post—a wooden one, I'm guessing (ouch!). When he got up he knew he was injured. His vision was blurry. (My brother said that he recalls dad saying that the trauma had somehow damaged the optic nerve. I'd love to ask an opthalmologist what the heck happened. Perhaps they would know.) Anyway, dad soon noticed that he could clear up his blurry vision by "cocking" his head to the side. When he did that, the images both eyes were receiving "fused together."
To corroborate that story, I then discovered an old newspaper article in our scrapbooks called "Looping The Loops," by J.G. Taylor Spink (sorry I can't figure out which newspaper—my mom didn't include the nameplate or anything when she cut it out), it focuses on my dad being signed by the Cardinals, but also looked back at his career. I've included the interview where he speaks about being signed to the majors by Brooklyn:
"I had proved I could overcome this handicap," Anderson said, pointing to his left eye, "and I was satisfied." The handicap to which Andy referred is erroneously believed to be an arthritic condition which tilts his neck to the right. Actually his neck had normal mobility, but he can't see well by holding his head upright. The tilt is to enable him to line up his vision for a left eye that rolls upward when he tries to take a straight-on bead at someone or something.
Anderson later explained that he had hurt the optic nerve of the left eye in a childhood fall, although the injury was not recognized at the time. When a few years later he began to hold head in the abnormal position, his folks took him to a doctor, believing his neck was injured. Examination showed that it was the eye, not the neck, but the boy balked at surgery and the doctor advised the elder Andersons to bring Ferrell back when he was ready. "By then," the catcher related, "my father's business had been wiped out by a fire and we didn't have any money. After I got to the University of Kansas on an athletic scholarship, the college surgeons operated, but it was too late. The injured eye muscles couldn't be corrected."
Both my brother and I recall how dad talked about having the surgery, but within a few days of the operation, he sneezed. He remembered "hearing" the sutures inside his head "pop" from their positions. When the docs checked out the damage, they said nothing more could be done.
One more article I read by Harold C. Burr of Brooklyn, NY (again, I can't tell what paper this appeared in) carried the headline: "Anderson, Catcher With Crossed Eyes, Focuses On First-Strong Dodger Job. Husky Backstop Wins No. 1 Rating Within Period of Only Two Weeks." Within this piece I read:
Because of the odd manner in which Anderson carries his head, it was thought that he had a wry neck. The Dodgers began riding him from the bench during the practice tilts with the Royals. "Turkey neck! Turkey neck!" they yelled. He came striding over and stood before his tormentors.
"The next one of you guys who makes a crack like that again, I'll punch you right in the nose!" he threatened, but in a quiet voice of authority. Nobody cared about tangling with this rugged rookie who was a guard on the University of Kansas football team for three years.
As a matter of fact, Anderson hasn't a wry neck at all. He holds his head that way to bring both his eyes into focus. When he was a child he had a fall that affected the optic nerve in one of his eyes and he's cross-eyed. But he didn't explain his case in medical terms to the ribald Dodgers that afternoon. He was ready to fight first and explain afterward.
"I guess I just lot my temper," he apologizes for the flare-up. "I don't mind kidding ordinarily. It depends on the mood I happen to be in at the minute. I don't care what anybody calls me, now that I'm up here."
Finally, another scrapbook bonus: I noticed the attached image of a "run-down" that was captured by a newspaper photographer. You can clearly see my dad (the catcher) in the background, having taken part in the play, "tilting" his head to the right in order to clearly view the ongoing action of the player getting ready to be tagged out. The caption reads:
HOT BOX: Phils catcher Andy Seminick, no feather-foot he, overstepped a bit in yesterday's first game with the Dodgers in Philadelphia when he tried to score from second on Emil Verban's single. Andy changed his mind as he neared home plate, but the Dodgers hung him up between third and home. Catcher Ferrell Anderson has just tossed the ball to pitcher Hank Behrman, covering third, while third-baseman Cookie Lavagetto runs cautiously along the baseline beside Anderson to keep the trap sealed. Behrman finally ran Andy back to the bench. (Associated Press Wirephoto)
Hope you all enjoy this. Might just prove to be a great trivia tidbit at an upcoming party! haha
Best wishes,
Todd (Anderson)
Andy's #3 son
I spent yesterday at my brother's home for Thanksgiving, with his family and mine. We talked about our recent internet fun as it relates to researching baseball. Anyway, I quizzed him about our dad's eye condition, to see if I had missed anything. He shared some info that I truly had never heard! Plus, I borrowed some of the old scrapbooks that my brother kept tucked away. The information they contained proved to be a huge bonus.
Turns out my dad's eye problem wasn't a birth defect. My brother tells me that when our dad was a young child, he wanted some apples that were hanging in a tree. He somehow borrowed a nearby horse and got up on top of the animal, standing on his back to reach high enough to retrieve the apples. Suddenly, the horse bolted, and my dad fell. The side of his head took the impact of the fall, as he landed on top of a post—a wooden one, I'm guessing (ouch!). When he got up he knew he was injured. His vision was blurry. (My brother said that he recalls dad saying that the trauma had somehow damaged the optic nerve. I'd love to ask an opthalmologist what the heck happened. Perhaps they would know.) Anyway, dad soon noticed that he could clear up his blurry vision by "cocking" his head to the side. When he did that, the images both eyes were receiving "fused together."
To corroborate that story, I then discovered an old newspaper article in our scrapbooks called "Looping The Loops," by J.G. Taylor Spink (sorry I can't figure out which newspaper—my mom didn't include the nameplate or anything when she cut it out), it focuses on my dad being signed by the Cardinals, but also looked back at his career. I've included the interview where he speaks about being signed to the majors by Brooklyn:
"I had proved I could overcome this handicap," Anderson said, pointing to his left eye, "and I was satisfied." The handicap to which Andy referred is erroneously believed to be an arthritic condition which tilts his neck to the right. Actually his neck had normal mobility, but he can't see well by holding his head upright. The tilt is to enable him to line up his vision for a left eye that rolls upward when he tries to take a straight-on bead at someone or something.
Anderson later explained that he had hurt the optic nerve of the left eye in a childhood fall, although the injury was not recognized at the time. When a few years later he began to hold head in the abnormal position, his folks took him to a doctor, believing his neck was injured. Examination showed that it was the eye, not the neck, but the boy balked at surgery and the doctor advised the elder Andersons to bring Ferrell back when he was ready. "By then," the catcher related, "my father's business had been wiped out by a fire and we didn't have any money. After I got to the University of Kansas on an athletic scholarship, the college surgeons operated, but it was too late. The injured eye muscles couldn't be corrected."
Both my brother and I recall how dad talked about having the surgery, but within a few days of the operation, he sneezed. He remembered "hearing" the sutures inside his head "pop" from their positions. When the docs checked out the damage, they said nothing more could be done.
One more article I read by Harold C. Burr of Brooklyn, NY (again, I can't tell what paper this appeared in) carried the headline: "Anderson, Catcher With Crossed Eyes, Focuses On First-Strong Dodger Job. Husky Backstop Wins No. 1 Rating Within Period of Only Two Weeks." Within this piece I read:
Because of the odd manner in which Anderson carries his head, it was thought that he had a wry neck. The Dodgers began riding him from the bench during the practice tilts with the Royals. "Turkey neck! Turkey neck!" they yelled. He came striding over and stood before his tormentors.
"The next one of you guys who makes a crack like that again, I'll punch you right in the nose!" he threatened, but in a quiet voice of authority. Nobody cared about tangling with this rugged rookie who was a guard on the University of Kansas football team for three years.
As a matter of fact, Anderson hasn't a wry neck at all. He holds his head that way to bring both his eyes into focus. When he was a child he had a fall that affected the optic nerve in one of his eyes and he's cross-eyed. But he didn't explain his case in medical terms to the ribald Dodgers that afternoon. He was ready to fight first and explain afterward.
"I guess I just lot my temper," he apologizes for the flare-up. "I don't mind kidding ordinarily. It depends on the mood I happen to be in at the minute. I don't care what anybody calls me, now that I'm up here."
Finally, another scrapbook bonus: I noticed the attached image of a "run-down" that was captured by a newspaper photographer. You can clearly see my dad (the catcher) in the background, having taken part in the play, "tilting" his head to the right in order to clearly view the ongoing action of the player getting ready to be tagged out. The caption reads:
HOT BOX: Phils catcher Andy Seminick, no feather-foot he, overstepped a bit in yesterday's first game with the Dodgers in Philadelphia when he tried to score from second on Emil Verban's single. Andy changed his mind as he neared home plate, but the Dodgers hung him up between third and home. Catcher Ferrell Anderson has just tossed the ball to pitcher Hank Behrman, covering third, while third-baseman Cookie Lavagetto runs cautiously along the baseline beside Anderson to keep the trap sealed. Behrman finally ran Andy back to the bench. (Associated Press Wirephoto)
Hope you all enjoy this. Might just prove to be a great trivia tidbit at an upcoming party! haha
Best wishes,
Todd (Anderson)
Andy's #3 son