SPORTS

Corky Miller feels 'blessed' to have number retired

By Tim Sullivan
The Louisville Courier-Journal
It was Corky Miller Night at Louisville Slugger Field on Sunday. Miller's No. 8 jersey was retired by the Bats, the first number the team has retired. Miller was presented with his shirt. With him were his wife, Jenny, son Caden, 9, and Chase, 6.

Corky Miller spent parts of 11 seasons in the big leagues. He played for five different clubs and wore seven different numbers. At the highest level, his baseball career was a study in impermanence.

Miller's legend is largely local. His stature is greatest at Louisville Slugger Field. His most revealing remark upon having his No. 8 retired by the Bats was of the importance that a ballplayer "be fulfilled and be rewarded in small things." Even when he's not dressed in baggy jeans, the journeyman catcher has never been too big for his britches.

"I've got a bunch of jerseys in the basement," Miller said Sunday afternoon. "Whether they ever come out, whether my kids will ever want them, I don't know. ...My family sees me as a dad. They see me as a player, too, but most of my friends are guys who have 9-to-5 jobs and they don't see me as some superstar, which I'm not. They don't see me as a baseball player as much."

One of the qualities most consistent among catchers is perspective. They see baseball from a different angle than everyone else and from a more pain-inducing posture. They need strong backs and sturdy knees and the ability to persevere when a foul tip plays havoc with their fingers. Theirs is not a position for prima donnas, but punishment gluttons.

So beyond the statistical considerations, which include the most games played and most doubles in the brief history of the franchise, making Miller the first Bats player to have his number retired sends the heartening message that there's a lot to be said for sheer striving.

He was not a superstar. Not even close. In 216 major-league games, Miller struck only 11 home runs and compiled a career batting average of .193. Yet behind his trademark mustache was the kind of noble grinder Kevin Costner portrayed in "Bull Durham."

Audiences found Costner's Crash Davis so compelling that the Durham Bulls eventually retired the number of a fictional character. Like Corky Miller, Crash Davis wore No. 8.

"Bo Jackson wore 8 at one time and I wore it in high school," Miller said. "And so I wore it all through high school and junior college. When I went to college, I wanted to get it at Nevada, wanted to get 8, but I was vetoed by a freshman. I don't know how THAT happened.

"Then I went to 32. Then I was 7 for a long time. But when I got back to being a Bat, I said, 'No. 8 is available and I might as well get it..' . .The number 8, too, I've heard someone say that it never ends. It's infinity if you turn it on its side. I kind of felt that's been (representative of) my time here in Louisville."

Bill Lee, one of the most original thinkers ever to pitch in the big leagues, picked up on the connection between 8 and infinity while contemplating the longevity of his great Boston teammate, Carl Yastrzemski. The number would later define endurance as embodied by Baltimore's Cal Ripken and remains the only number the New York Yankees have retired twice: once for Bill Dickey, once for Yogi Berra.

Shortly before the Bats' game against Indianapolis Sunday, a drape was pulled back from the facing of the second deck behind home plate to reveal a sign depicting an oversized baseball bearing the No. 8. Miller was presented with a framed jersey during pre-game ceremonies and was later accorded the honor of carrying the Bats' lineup card to home plate. Seth Buckminster, the umpiring crew chief, abandoned his impartiality long enough to greet Miller's arrival with applause.

"It hasn't really sunk in yet, ..." Miller said an hour before he was introduced to the crowd. "But to be honored in that way is something special. I'm not taking it as something that should have been done — no one ever has to do that – but I feel honored and blessed for them to think of me that way."

Corky Miller wore a lot of different numbers during his career, but he wore the number 8 with enough distinction that it now belongs to him permanently. Or, if you prefer, to infinity and beyond.

Tim Sullivan can be reached at (502) 582-4650, by email at tsullivan@courier-journal.com, and on Twitter @TimSullivan714