Oriole Bob Saverine Studied For First HR

Bob Saverine might be one of baseball’s most patient names of the 1960s.

Although he debuted with the 1959 Orioles at age 18, he’d wait a full four years before his first baseball card appearance.

He waited a year for another crack at sidewinding reliever Ted Abernathy. The patience paid off in a first career home run on June 19, 1963. Saverine explained in a thoughtful letter:

“I had faced Ted Abernathy in triple-A the year before. I learned to watch his knee when he delivered a pitch as the knee would turn aside and the ball would follow.

I saw the pitch well and it did not curve as it ordinarily would. thus I hit it for a home run.”

Tomorrow: Saverine pays tribute to manager Gil Hodges.

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