Shay Oberg, a 21 year old switch-hitting junior at Montana State-Billings, has hit three homers so far this season. Shay was born without a left hand. She always batted from the left hand side of the plate starting in Little League on through high school, using her right hand with a back hand stroke. That was good enough to be named all-state in her senior year at Billings (Mont.) West High.
Shay just started switch-hitting this season. Her three round-trippers have all been righty, using a forearm stroke from the right side. Her team, the Yellowjackets, are a game out of first place, and are 16-4 in their last 20 games. In addition to the three homers, Shay is batting .259, has 12 RBI in 81 at-bats, and has three assists from leftfield.
It's nice to see a woman overcome real adversity, and get recognition through her performance on the field. She wanted to play, and excelled at it. She didn't demand respect, she earned it. Here's to Shay Oberg, a real lady on and off the field.
mose...I do resemble that remark, BUT I will not mention her in these remarks. The name that shall not be spoken. I'm still picking birdshot out of my backside from stating MY opinions yesterday. Is it beer-thirty there yet?
It is always beer-thirty here, the problem is that I can't get into my Dockers if I partake every evening.
BTW, have you perused the NBA blogs lately? It seems as if there is a veritable Civil War happening. And your "friend" Monique is right in the middle of it. She has lit the mansion on fire and everyone else is pouring gasoline on it.
Ah, sorry about that H. I love Waylon, too. Haven't seen pictures of him in years!!! Know he was the DOH narrator, but I didn't really watch that show much. Was always out playing some sport or drinking or getting into trouble like throwing water balloons at moving vehicles. Think it was 1982 when I saw Mr. Jennings at the Country Music Festival in my fair town. Great show except that I had to leave before Conway Twitty came on.
mose...Waylon died a while back. Diabetes. 6 or 7 years ago, I believe. He told a great story about quitting coke on his own. He said he gained weight when he quit. "I was eatin' everything that didn't eat me first," was the line I remember.
All right, don't want to see you 'working' overtime. You can go on home.
I've got family near there (Lincoln City) and I've been through there more than once, beautiful country on the Pacific coast. I lived on either side of Oregon, I'm from Central California (San Joaquin Valley) and then moved into Central Washington (Yakima and Okanogan Valleys)...
volfan...I do have someone in mind for the next installment, Chrissy Wallace from NASCAR. I will do these every now and then, and try to let folks know about interesting sports women who compete against the odds.
Hanny...nice! Reminds me of that baseball player w/o a full arm. You have hit a good note here...too many athletes going unnoticed.....she is an inspiration! Nice job. Hugs!
Lisa....awww, now I'm blushing. 'Tweren't nuthin' ma'am.
When Shay was a kid Jim Abbott heard about her and called her. She and her family went to Colorado to see him pitch. That had to be great, for her to see it could be done. OK, one hug!
Country-boy Pete Gray made it to the St. Louis Browns in 1945 sans an arm...
"...During that season, which was his only year in the Majors, Gray appeared in 77 games, hit .218 and drove in 13 runs. He also posted a .958 fielding percentage (which was higher than Manny Ramirez's percentage in 2002), stole 5 bases and had 6 sacrifice bunts...."
Few of us could that with both arms...
Last edited by StevoinHTown on April 24th at 6:10 AM.
Stevo....thanks for comenting. I remember seeing a movie about that guy. WW2 had a lot to do with him making the big leagues. But, he still made it, and a million others didn't.
