THAT MAGICAL SOUND

-Buck O'Neil, Negro League HOF'er and MLB's 1st black coach, on the crack of Bo Jackson's thunder stick

"I heard (Babe) Ruth hit the ball.  I'd never heard that sound before, and I was outside the fence but it was the sound of the bat that I had never heard before in my life.  And the next time I heard that sound, I'm in Washington, D.C., in the dressing room and I heard that sound of a bat hitting the ball — sounded just like when Ruth hit the ball. I rushed out, got on nothing but a jockstrap, I rushed out — we were playing the Homestead Grays and it was Josh Gibson hitting the ball.  And so I heard this sound again.

Now I didn't hear it anymore.  I'm in Kansas City.  I'm working for the Cubs at the time, and I was upstairs and I was coming down for the batting practice.  And before I could get out there I heard this sound one more time that I had heard only twice in my life.  Now, you know who this is?  Bo Jackson.  Bo Jackson swinging that bat.  And now I heard this sound...  And it was just a thrill for me.  I said, here it is again.  I heard it again.  I only heard it three times in my life.

But now, I'm living because I'm going to hear it again one day, if I live long enough." 

Sadly, Buck O'Neil was taken from us October 6, 2006.  He'll be long remembered and missed by his adoring fans, and he will no doubt continue listening for that magical crack of the bat sound from Heaven!