View how the story appeared on the page (in PDF)

***
THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS
AL.COM ♦ OUR HOME ONLINE
SPORTS
OUTDOORS
|
Snake eyes at night 22C
NASCAR
Greg Biffle
Biffle goes for
third straight win
at Kansas 21C
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2008 PAGE 19C
AUTO RACING 21C ❘ BASEBALL 24C
MLB
Fightin’
Phils clinch
By ROB MAADDI
The Associated Press
NEWS STAFF/BERNARD TRONCALE
From left, Lemuel Bostock, Chris Lyman Bostock and Sherwin Bostock display bats that Lyman Bostock Sr. used to make for friends.
LYMAN’S LEGACY
PHILADELPHIA — One by one, players
grabbed the microphone and told the screaming fans what they wanted to hear.
“We’re not done yet,” Chase Utley said.
The Fightin’ Phils are going back to the playoffs. Just getting there won’t be good enough
this time.
Jimmy Rollins made a sliding stop with the
bases loaded to start a game-ending double
play, and the Philadelphia Phillies clinched
their second consecutive NL East title by holding off the Washington Nationals 4-3 on Saturday.
Rollins went to his knees to snare Ryan Zimmerman’s sharp grounder toward the middle.
He made an accurate flip to second base with
his glove and rejoiced when Utley’s relay
throw ended it.
“Determination beats talent,” Rollins said.
See PHILLIES
Page 25C
Todd Jones
closes out his
rollercoaster
baseball career
Thirty years after Lyman Bostock’s
tragic death, an ESPN feature brings
haunting memories back for
his Birmingham family
By RAY MELICK
News staff writer
By JON SOLOMON
News staff writer
ntil last Sunday, Chris Lyman Bostock had never seen footage of his
famous uncle. ESPN’s “Outside the
Lines” show marking the 30th anniversary of the murder of baseball
player Lyman Bostock, a Birmingham native,
allowed Chris to finally place a face with the
name his family talked about for so long.
Chris quickly noticed the athletic ability his
relatives tell him he inherited from Lyman.
He smiled as he witnessed the professionalism the ballplayer displayed in TV interviews.
And he felt regret too. Chris’ senior season
of football at Miles College is over, the result
of being academically ineligible due to a lack
of oversight by the school. If he could talk to
Lyman today, Chris would quiz him on how
to seize his opportunity in pro sports.
U
Southern Leaguers
shine in the majors
very year, hundreds of ballplayers pass
through Regions Park. They’re anonymous to many of the fans. Forgotten
even in the press box.
Two years ago, Evan Longoria was the best
player on a Montgomery Biscuits roster filled
with prospects. A year before that, Matt
Kemp was the Southern League’s most dominant player.
“Longoria was a special player,” said Curt
Bloom, the Birmingham Barons’ radio playby-play man. “He reminded me a lot of Miguel Cabrera, who went straight from Carolina to the big leagues a few years before.
“When Longoria came through, you knew
he was a big leaguer. The same with Kemp.”
Veterans of the Southern League wars,
they’re now preparing for the major-league
playoffs. Longoria is part of a long list of former Biscuits who have turned Tampa Bay
from laughingstock of the American League
to the team with the third-best record in
baseball.
E
See SEGREST
Page 25C
DOUG
SEGREST
Lyman Bostock Jr., left, followed his father into
a career as a professional baseball player.
How does Chris carry on the Bostock family
legacy? How does he find the niche his grandfather, Lyman Sr., carved out as a Negro
League player, and that Lyman Sr.’s son, Lyman Jr., developed as a promising 27-year-old
ballplayer before he was shot and killed on
Sept. 23, 1978?
“I don’t really know what the next move is
for me,” Chris said. “Watching my uncle on
that show, I just wish I could talk to him.”
Thirty years later, Lyman Jr. is still the only
Major League Baseball player ever to be murdered during a season. His remaining family
members in Birmingham remember him
fondly.
“It was like something I didn’t even think
about anymore until (the ESPN show) Sunday,” Lemuel said. “All of a sudden it brings
back old times and old feelings of 1978. I wish
it had never played.”
See BOSTOCK
Page 26C
See JONES
Page 25C
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The circus comes to town
College GameDay
on ESPN grows in
popularity and influence
By JON SOLOMON
News staff writer
ATHENS, Ga. — Unusual but true fact about
ESPN College GameDay: Lee Corso gestures
with a pencil on TV to promote Dixon Ticonderoga, which is best known for its yellow No.
2 pencil. Corso is the company’s director of
business development.
“It’s live television,” he said. “They can’t
stop me.”
Why would they? No one can stop the behemoth known as ESPN College GameDay,
which visited Athens on Saturday for the Alabama-Georgia showdown.
The show keeps growing in popularity,
sponsors and time. Each week, its opinionated
commentators help shape the national dialogue in college football, whether it’s the race
to the Bowl Championship Series title game or
the lack of leadership from Tennessee coach
Phillip Fulmer.
“It’s gotten out of control,” said Michael
Fountain, GameDay senior coordinator producer. “When I started seven years ago it was
an hour, then 90 minutes, then two hours.
Could we do 2 1 ⁄ 2 hours? Probably. Every Saturday morning, we’re bailing to get off the air at
12:01.”
See GAMEDAY
THUMBS UP
But two half-brothers, Sherwin and Lemuel
Bostock of Birmingham, have conflicted feelings about the shooter who went free, and
they question the accuracy of recent public
statements made by Lyman Jr.’s widow. Revisiting that painful period this week came as
a jolt.
In 16 years as a major league pitcher, Todd
Jones has managed to have more than his
share of what he calls “warm and fuzzy moments.”
“I’ve gotten to play with MVPs, 20-game
winners, batting champions, be part of an
American League championship team and
pitch in the World Series,” Jones said. “I had a
chance to play with Ken Griffey Jr. when he hit
his 500th home run. I saw a no-hitter. I pitched
in an All-Star game in my hometown. I got the
last out in Tiger Stadium, represented my
country in the first World Baseball Classic, and
became the oldest pitcher to get a save in a
World Series.”
But every one of those moments came with
a price.
“When I think about the warm and fuzzy
things, I realize how hard it is to make those
moments happen,” Jones said. “I’ve had my
NEWS STAFF/MARK ALMOND
Above: Lee Corso waves to the
crowd before ESPN’s broadcast
Saturday from the University
of Georgia campus in Athens.
Left: Chris Fowler jokingly tries
to cover the ‘A’ on Kris Kimlin’s
Alabama cap. Kimlin is a
freelance videographer for
ESPN who is from Birmingham
and wears his Alabama cap to
each broadcast.
Page 26C
Paul Newman. The Academy Award winning actor, known for “Cool Hand
Luke“ and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid“ and as a leading
philanthropist, was lauded Saturday for his passion for auto racing as partowner of an IndyCar team. Newman died Friday of cancer.
THUMBS DOWN
Virginia. The Cavaliers hit a new low Saturday, falling
31-3 to Duke. The Blue Devils snapped a 25-game ACC
losing streak. Virginia fell to 1-3.