The Alabama-Florida Baseball League – Ed Nottle

In 1959, when he was 19 years old
and fresh out of the Army, Ed Nottle went looking for his dream
job: playing baseball and getting paid for it. The Pittsburgh
Pirates invited him to a tryout in Jacksonville, Fla., that spring.
But even though they kept him around for two weeks, they didn’t
offer him a contract. Looking back, Nottle wishes they had – if
for no other reason than it would have given him a distinction
few people can claim: six decades in pro ball. But then, Nottle
isn’t complaining. « It just means I’ll have to go another
eight or 10 years to get there, » the ex-pitcher said with
a laugh. As it is, the 62-year-old Nottle has been in the game
for five decides – and, as the new manager of the Northern League’s
Brockton (Mass.) Rox, is beginning his 40th pro season. « It’s
been a long, long road, but it’s been fun, » he said. « I
couldn’t ask for a better life. I love it. »

Nottle reported to his new job on
Monday after making the 1,200-mile drive from his home in Evansville.
He met his wife, Patty, here while pitching for the Evansville
White Sox in 1966. It’s one of the dozens of places he’s called
home since breaking into pro ball in 1960. Nottle recalled that
when the Pirates declined to sign him as a free-agent the previous
spring, they told him he was too small. « Everybody told me
that, » he said. « Every (newspaper) clipping I have from
back then calls me « little’ Ed Nottle or ‘tiny » Ed Nottle. »
Nottle was small: 5-foot-9 and 145 pounds. « But I’d pitched
well everywhere I’d been, including Army ball at Fort Campbell
(Ky.). I told (the Pirates), ‘If you’re worried about how much
I weigh, why don’t you weigh my arm?’  » Or his heart. The
day the Pirates cut him, they gave Nottle a plane ticket home
to New Jersey. He didn’t use it, though. Instead, he hitchhiked
through Florida and went to 16 tryout camps. « I didn’t have
any money, but I made do. I slept in a police station, a Salvation
Army, even a judge’s quarters. » That was in St. Petersburg.
« The cleanup people let me in and I slept in the judge’s
chair. Then they woke me the next morning before the judge got
there. » Nottle finally hooked on as a free agent with Pensacola,
a Class D team in the Alabama-Florida league that was owned by
the Chicago White Sox. He pitched so well that summer that the
White Sox bought his contract.

« I spent 10 years with the White
Sox organization – everywhere from D-ball to triple-A, » he
said. « Everywhere but the big leagues. » When a sore
arm ended his playing career, Nottle switched to coaching and
managing. He managed in the Oakland A’s and Boston Red Sox farm
systems between 1972 and 1989 and won more than 1,000 games. He
was named Baseball America’s Minor League Manager of the Year
with Tacoma in 1981, and was the A’s bullpen coach in 1983. Nottle
has managed in the independent Northern League since 1993. He
said he’s « thrilled » to be « back home » in
Brocktown, a first-year franchise located within a half-hour’s
drive of Pawtucket and Boston. Nottle managed the Red Sox’s triple-A
farm team in Pawtucket from 1987 to 1990 and sent 34 players to
the big leagues.

« I love the Northern League;
I’ve been with it since it started, » Nottle said. « And,
believe me, this is gonna be a beautiful place to work. They’re
building a brand-new $17- to $20-million ballpark, and I think
we can draw 3,500 to 4,000 fans a night. « The season doesn’t
start for another six weeks, but, man, I’m excited. » Nottle
has been out of baseball only two years since 1960 – in 1991 and
’92, when he stayed in Evansville and managed the bar at Dilegge’s
Restaurant. « I think I’d die if I couldn’t manage, »
he said.

And if he has his way, his time will
come in the third-base coach’s box. « Maybe when I’m 70, 75
years old. An errant throw from the outfield hits me between the
eyes and kills me . . . (pause) . . . as the winning run scores.
« Man, that’d be the perfect way to go. »