Bill Graham was purchased from the Tigers on August 31st, 1967. Graham is sort of a mystery to me. He pitched very very well in his five Met appearances, three of which were starts. He put up a 2.63 ERA with a 1.13 ERA. His peripherals say that he may have been a bit lucky, but either way he made the most of his big league opportunity. He concluded the '67 season with a 6 hit, 1 run complete game victory vs the Dodgers on September 29th. It was his only major league win. He then just disappeared. He never pitched again, not even in the minors. On October 26th, 2006, Graham died at age 69 in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, the same place he was born and buried. Why did he walk away at the peak of his career? Perhaps there was more money to be made outside of baseball? Baseball players didn't make much in those days. I read that he served in the military, perhaps he went to Vietnam? Coincidentally, I have distant relatives in Flemingsburg. I was very young when I visited, but the memory that always stuck out in my head was the inside of a huge barn. There were tobacco leaves hanging everywhere. Perhaps he retired to a tobacco farm. One thing is for sure, he served his country, then retired to the hills of his Kentucky home.
This ball was picked up off of eBay for way more than I wanted to pay for it. I figure there can't be very many of these out there, so I didn't want to pass it up. It's slightly fading black ink on a little league ball.
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