UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo (KMOX) - If you're in need of a baseball story while there's no baseball, look no further than Wednesday's Whole Nother Story, with Kevin Killeen.
In 1928, All Saints grade school in University City was visited by the entire New York Yankees roster. St. Louis resident Tom Sullivan, whose father was a student at the school then, tells us the story. Take a listen in the audio above.
The reason the team was there is because of a funeral for Urban Shocker. At 37-years-old, Shocker died of pneumonia and according to Baseball-Reference, he pitched two innings for the Yankees in the 1928 season.
Players such as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig came to the funeral and Sullivan says it caused quite the commotion.
"My dad says the kids were hollering at Babe quite a bit," Sullivan says. "And he was telling the kids to quiet down because this was a funeral."
The Yankees won the World Series that year over the St. Louis Cardinals and the team gave part of the money won to Shocker's wife.
Shocker was said to be working as a radio repairman at the time of his death.