Don Drysdale

On this date in 1969, Don Drysdale retires from baseball due to shoulder problems.

"I was so drugged up at times (to block the pain from a torn rotator cuff) that I couldn't see the scoreboard from the mound. I was a walking drugstore. I had to cover one eye, like a drunk driver does when he wants to see the road. Roberto Clemente hit a line drive back through the box that could have killed me. I never saw it. I still haven't seen it. I was that fuzzy, that blurred. But I heard it. Did I ever hear it. And I felt it too. After I escaped being hit, I felt a little sensation on the left side of my neck - like I had a mosquito sitting there, waiting to bite it. I brushed the area with my hand and looked down and my hand was dripping with blood. Clemete's drive had taken the skin right off the edge of my ear. How's that for a gentle reminder that you've about had it."