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Carl Scheib signs autographs for Gratz-area Little League players during a stop in his hometown June 18. He also posed for pictures with the players.

He may have spent most of his life in other places, but Gratz-area native Carl Scheib always will remain one of this region's "own.'' The former major-league baseball pitcher made time June 19 to meet and sign autographs for players on Gratz-area Little League teams - and to pose for photographs with the players on the field where he played ball more than 60 years ago. Now 82 and a longtime resident of the San Antonio, Texas area, Scheib was in the Gratz area to visit his brother, Paul. Officials with the Gratz Area Historical Society - which has several pieces of memorabilia from Scheib's major league playing days - asked if he'd be willing to have his photos taken with the players.

It's apparent that Scheib - who grew up on a farm just north of town - still holds his hometown and its people in high regard.

During his visit to Gratz June 18, Scheib spoke of the quality of the young men he played ball with and against - and about the local storekeeper (Hannah Clark) who believed in his talent enough to brag him up to a salesman who frequented her store - a salesman who happened to know people within the what then was the Philadelphia Athletics organization. (The team later moved to Kansas City, then finally to its current home of Oakland.)

Scheib signed a contract at age 16 with the "A's.'' It had been a little more than a year since he's pitched the Gratz High School team to the Upper Dauphin League baseball championship. (Millersburg resident Warren Hassinger, also a member of that team, was present to welcome his old friend back to the area.)

He reportedly remains the youngest person - 16 at the time of his first major-league start - ever to play in the American League.

Even now, Scheib still seems awed by the fact that he ever was a "big leaguer.''

"I signed a contract, warmed up, and pitched my first major-league game, all in the same day,'' he told the people present.

He also recalled the first time he was told to go to "the bullpen,'' where pitchers warm up before going into the game.

"I was so innocent, I didn't even know what a bullpen was,'' he said.

He recalls the major-league players of that era as tough men; pitchers, he said, weren't as intimidated by batters as they now seem to be.

He said he still considers Tommy Henrich of the New York Yankees as the toughest batter he ever faced. Henrich, he said, had a "big bat'' - baseball jargon for a batter not giving away his potential "strike zone'' to a pitcher.

"Usually, you could figure out where a guy's strike zone was. But you never had any idea where you could pitch (Henrich),'' His bat was so big,'' Scheib said to the group.

Scheib also gave some advice for the young pitchers present - control is your most important asset.

"What got me my chance was that I had control,'' he said. "It doesn't matter how fast your pitches are; without control, it doesn't matter.''

Except for a 2-year stint in the U.S. Army (where he also pitched his team to a title), Scheib played with the "A's'' until 1954, when he played briefly with the St. Louis Cardinals, then spent two seasons with Portland (Ore.) in the Pacific Coast League. He finished out his career with a Texas League team in San Antonio, then chose to make his home there.

The field where Scheib played as a youth was renamed in his honor on Carl Scheib Day in Gratz in June 2005.

Each player who attended the June 19 event received a paper copy of a "Table Topper'' on display at the Gratz Historical Society museum on Main Street in the borough.

The "topper'' includes all of the baseball cards of Scheib that were issued when he played in the majors. It also includes other photographs.

The original "topper'' was donated to the historical society by the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society during the Carl Scheib Day events in 2005.

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