American Innings - Ron LeFlore

the fabric of America is built on second chances for many people the country was built by people emigrating to the United States with the hope of building a new life second chances are a part of American culture the story of r on the floor an inmate in jackson prison in Michigan is one of the most compelling you will find an American life Ron Lafleur went from prison to a tryout to being signed by the Detroit Tigers in the early 1970s signed by then Tiger manager Billy Martin Ron the floor made his major league debut with the Tigers on August 1st 1974 Ron Lafleur tells us how his story started and where this amazing second chance at life took him well really my story started off with me writing a letter to the Detroit Tigers I know the response back from Jim Campbell and their organization said did all their players have been proved to be scouted and they didn't have the manpower to send someone up so the public relations director at the institution I was in wrote a letter to the Tigers and they agreed to come up so Billy came up his self which I thought was phenomenal I got a chance to talk to her in the fields or really muddy - rained out so he was going to try me out but he did Tim that he would grant me a child if I got a furlough from the Department of Corrections and so I got the furlough I went to the ball park and it was one of those things where you thought it was never happened for you because my father was driving me from Jackson prison to Tiger Stadium and about 40 miles out car through a ride so motor broke down we out on the highway hitchhiking so we eventually get a ride we go to the ballpark and I go in Billy cancelled the batting practice for the team and I hit for the whole batter for I hit for an hour when I first reached the major leagues Ralph Hawkins manager Billy Martin signed me and they told me when I got there Ralph came through he said Ronnie said you gonna be my centerfielder regardless of what you do is you're gonna have to learn the play up here cuz I only had like 130 games of professional baseball experience and I really worked my butt off really hard Jim Leyland was my first manager in Clinton I when Leyland would really devote a lot of time with me he would take me out at 8 o'clock in the morning and throw batting practice till me hit ground balls and they'd fly balls to me so my developing starting to come around really well because of being a phenomenal athlete as a kid as a football and basketball player my instincts was really so starting to learn to pick up again with baseball is really a big factor for me but you know I didn't think I'll pick it up that fast because I hadn't hit the previous experience learning how to judge balls and then they used to use a bazooka at one time to shoot the balls near and you couldn't really see them because there's high skies using I had a couple of balls hit me on the shoulder on the foot you know because I was misjudged them but that helped me tremendously and then Leland kept hitting balls took me hitting balls to me I went to the instructional league for a few years and worked out every day there my game started improving 75 was my first full season I hit 292 the first half I thought it was going to be easy the next half I think I hit like one 156 the next year 76 I won on a 30 game hitting streak which was as long as I guess to begin in the season in history baseball and I made the all-star team I was second highest vote getter to rock a rule that year it was really an amazing feat for me because not having of yeah Little League and you know high school baseball experience and playing in the minor leagues a long time but I was concentrating enough to know that I wasn't gonna let anything distract me from getting to my primary goal now with the pentacle of baseball and I was to the major leagues and then I had told all the inmates before I left prison you guys are gonna see me on TV the next year and I don't want to let those guys now Ron the floor debuted with the Detroit Tigers on August 1st 1974 the floor played for the Tigers Expos in White Sox from 1974 through 1982 he retired with 455 stolen bases while hitting 288 on-base percentage of 342 and a slugging percentage of 392 he was an all-star in 1976 and said at the time a record by going 134 games in a row without going two straight games without a hit Ron the Floor Store is America and the opportunity our country gives those looking for a second chance he didn't miss his pitch u.s. history through the eyes of baseball brought to you by American innings Oh our G

Channel: American Innings

Views: 7,424

Keywords: American Innings, Baseball History, Ron LeFore, Marty Lurie

Id: fn9P6pfxTKo

Length: 4min 16sec (256 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 19 2019