For the record: Kingsport TN, 1949.

A couple months ago, I was surprised to discover that research into the dusty archives of lower-tier baseball had advanced to the point where my father's name appeared for the first time ever on the Internet site www.baseball-reference.com, albeit without statistics.

Nonetheless, there it was: In 1949, for the Kingsport Cherokees of the Appalachian League, Roger G. Baylor played in at least a few baseball games. He was 24 years old, surely over the hill for the lowest of the low minors; then again, he'd put in three years in the Marines during WWII before turning 21.

I looked again tonight, and incomplete numbers now are posted: http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=baylor001rog

It may have been "D" league, and his batting average was only .213, but more than half his hits went for extra bases, and that's not so bad. Finally, ten years after his death, my dad enjoys numerical immortality on the Web. It is a very strange world, although one that I continue to appreciate.