Kurt Kepshire – Baseball by The Letters https://www.baseballbytheletters.com Hand-written memories from those who lived The Game! Thu, 27 Oct 2016 14:16:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 22759191 Grateful Pitcher Kurt Kepshire Pays Tribute To Fallen St. Louis Cardinals Catcher Darrell Porter https://www.baseballbytheletters.com/2011/06/27/grateful-pitcher-kurt-kepshire-pays-tribute-to-fallen-st-louis-cardinals-catcher-darrell-porter/ https://www.baseballbytheletters.com/2011/06/27/grateful-pitcher-kurt-kepshire-pays-tribute-to-fallen-st-louis-cardinals-catcher-darrell-porter/#respond Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:07:00 +0000 http://www.baseballbytheletters.com/2011/06/27/grateful-pitcher-kurt-kepshire-pays-tribute-to-fallen-st-louis-cardinals-catcher-darrell-porter/ Read more]]> Dan Cote dazzles again. I’m a weekly follower of “Signed DC.” Dan collected Kepshire in 2010.
The Portland picture is priceless. Smile, Kurt!

I took a chance writing to pitcher Kurt Kepshire.

This guy is a speed signer. I saw samples of his abbreviated autograph, combined with his speedy response time. He’s the kind of guy who might sign the cards before the postman gets the mailbox lid opened.

I worried that he might not take the time to respond to, or even read, a question in a letter. You know the type? The person who gets your e-mail and writes back HA HA before seeing the second sentence.

Impressively, Kepshire fielded all three of my three questions. When I asked about memories of batterymate Darrell Porter, Kepshire wrote:

“Him helping me with back-to-back shutouts. Great guy. Sad loss.”

The beginning and the end are the keys to Kepshire’s delight over beating San Francisco in his debut July 4, 1984. (Thanks, http://www.retrosheet.org/!) He replied:

“Taking the mound for the first time and getting a standing ovation at the end. Great memory.”

Lastly, the grateful hurler avoided any chest-thumping bragging when I asked about his back-to-back shutouts in September, 1984. Not only did he beat the Cubs (at home!) and Expos, he faced other call-ups, foes he couldn’t have extensive scouting reports on. How does he recall those wins?

“Pitching against some great players and achieving that goal with the help of my teammates.”

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