Mel Harrison

From Palo Alto Wiki

Mel Harrison (b. 1922) was born in Monroe, N.C., but was only 7 months old when he arrived in Palo Alto in 1922 with his family and father, who had less than $1 in his pocket. Mel graduated from Palo Alto High in 1940 and later coached Little League and Babe Ruth baseball in Palo Alto and was head baseball coach at Gunn High for five years in the '70s. He's currently writing his memoirs.

[edit] Memories

"When I was a kid, I used to hang out at Sunken Diamond (at Stanford) with my friends. One day, when Stanford was playing UCLA (in 1939), I got the baseball that Jackie Robinson hit out of Sunken Diamond. I was a pretty big kid then, and I beat the little kids to it. Usually we'd take the ball back to the entrance, turn it in and get in free. But I took it back to the (Palo Alto train) station where my dad worked as a redcap. I said, 'this is the ball Jackie Robinson hit out of the stadium.' He asked me if I'd like it signed by all the UCLA players. My dad got to know them at the train station. So my dad got everyone to sign it. My grandsons got it a few years ago, and one day they took it outside and they played with it. He (Mel's father) retrieved it before it got too banged up. We cleaned it up a little. Jackie Robinson's name survived."