Livin’ a dream

Without looking, Charlie Clark pointed across the street from his Clear Lake, WI home and said, “That’s where Burleigh lived.”

Suddenly, he seemed to be transported into another world — one in which his friend Burleigh Grimes lived and played professional baseball.

It was a time Charlie loved … maybe a time when he was happiest.

He wasn’t a professional himself, but his friendship with Grimes got him into places and introduced to professionals most baseball fans only dream about.

“When you grow up in a little town, you could never think you’re going to be friends with people like that,” said the 86-year-old Clark.

“People like that” included such Hall of Famers such as Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Bob Feller, and so many others.
While Grimes was Clark’s ticket to the big leagues, it was his other long-time friend, U. S. Senator Gaylord Nelson who opened the political doors for his home-town friend.

“They both were my friends. I always knew Gaylord and his family. In fact, I used to mow his parent’s lawn,” said Clark.

He recalled Nelson’s mother making lemonade for him after he mowed and how they’d sit on the porch and chat.

It was his neighbor and friend Burleigh Grimes who made one of Charlie Clark’s deepest dreams come true. In the process, he developed a life-long relationship with another Hall of Famer … Bob Feller.

The big Cleveland Indian fireballer was nicknamed, “Rapid Robert” and he was Clark’s childhood idol.

“We got to be very good friends,” Clark said. Among the dozens of photos hanging on the walls in his home, are many of he and Feller and the Indian pitcher with others. Many of them found Feller dressed in a suit, or street clothes, or even on a farm. He was raised in Iowa.

As the years have gone by, Clark has become a storyteller. He likes to embellish about Grimes and his famous “spitball,” and of Gaylord Nelson and his legacy of conservation and environmental preservation.

But along with his Clear Lake friends, Grimes and Nelson, Charlie Clark talked about Feller.

“We got to be very good friends. We spent a lot of time together,” he said.

When he met a visitor who had met Feller at an American Legion National Tournament in Yakima, WA., Clark flashed a quick smile, then said, “Really, you met him?” When “yes” came back, he said, “We spent a lot of time together. He never failed to contact me when he could.”

Clark obviously felt a special connection with Feller, whose rather large-sized figurine graced his special home “tribute” room.

So how did someone like Clark, who never played professional baseball, become a well-known figure in the MLB (Major League Baseball) arena? After all, Charlie Clark never got beyond high school and club ball. Yet, he’s been asked for his autograph and has collected hundreds of autographed baseballs, bats and photos.

Hardly just another collector, Charlie Clark didn’t just collect the baseball memorabilia of others, “He lived it.”

While living an uncelebrated life in the small town of Clear Lake, WI the retired Andersen Windows employee was slowly growing another career, a life surrounded by some of the best baseball players who ever lived.

That was, initially, because of his neighbor and friend, Burleigh Grimes, a man he holds in deep reverence, as a son holds his father in his heart. In fact, Clark once told Kevin Harter of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, “He was like a father to me.”

For over 30 years, Clark and Grimes greeted each other on the same block where they both lived.

Clark likes to re-tell the stories of Grimes sitting around, smoking a pipe, talking baseball by the hour. Perhaps the best of Grimes stories includes pitching to Babe Ruth, the iconic “Saint” of baseball. There were the countless stories of Grimes pitching in the World Series and especially the pitch that made Grimes famous — the “spitball.”

After pitching for seven different teams, Grimes was inducted into Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, NY.

In character with his roots and friendship, Grimes invited Clark to his special day and that set off a chain reaction that changed Clark’s life forever.

It was during Grimes induction that Clark was able to meet several Hall of Famers and many more who later joined the Hall of Fame.

Clark’s collection of photos aren’t just photographs of baseball’s stars, but historical markers of the stars’ friendship with Clark.

One of Clark’s favorite players was the Minnesota Twins Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew. Clark not only enjoyed knowing Killebrew, but he also looks like the famous baseball “Killer”. “I’ve been asked for his autograph,” Clark chuckled.

Clark recalled the key ingredient his neighbor Burleigh used on his famous and now infamous “spitter.” He called it, “Slippery Elm Bark.”

Like Clark’s surreal life, so was Grimes. From 1916 to 1934 he was part of four World Championships. He was a big part of the St. Louis Cardinals World Series title in 1931, winning two games during the series. He won 270 career games and in five seasons won 20 or more games.

He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Giants, Boston Braves, Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees and finally the Brooklyn Dodgers.

In 1980, Grimes, who never forgot his Clear Lake roots, moved back home, across the street from his neighbor and friend, Charlie Clark. He passed away in 1985.

Not far from Clark’s home is an old brick schoolhouse building turned into a museum for Grimes and Senator Nelson. Naturally, Charlie Clark was one of the biggest contributors to the museum, along with items donated by Grimes and Nelson.

In 2013, Chippewa Falls, WI, native Joe Niese published a book called, “Burleigh Grimes: Baseball’s Last Legal Spitter.”

Niese used a lot of material for his book from Clark and the Clear Lake Historical Museum.

Clark contributed facts, stories and photos to Niese’s book.

One interesting fact uncovered by Niese was how Grimes spent many off-seasons at his cabin on Yellow Lake near Webster.

His off-season conditioning included walking, snowshoeing and hunting at the Yellow Lake home and that physical conditioning may have turned his career around after a couple of tough years, Niese wrote in his book

After retiring in 1934, Grimes continued his link to baseball. He became a minor league manager, was with the Dodgers in 1937-38, was inducted into the Wisconsin Hall of Fame in 1954, acted as a Baltimore Oriole scout in 1979 and earned the Cooperstown honor in 1964.

And through it all, there was Charlie Clark, neighbor, friend and well-known connection to the best in baseball.

Charlie Clark’s wife has passed away and his remaining family hasn’t indicated a concern for his collection.

“Right now I don’t know what will happen to it,” Clark said. But it’s not making him lose sleep. All the memorabilia is secondary. The memories he holds in his heart and mind are the most important.

“The people I have got to meet and all the history (he collected), I couldn’t put a price on it,” Clark told Harter.