Herbie decides to call it a career in Tri-Co league

Stahley's likeable Herb Hemerly decides 25 years is enough.


By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call

 

As the Tri-County League playoffs began this weekend, Stahley's Mariners had special motivation.

Player-manager Dave Lutte says simply, "We want to send Herbie out as a winner."

The Herbie he's referring to is Herb Hemerly, a Tri-Co fixture for the past 25 years. After collecting over 450 hits in more than 1,500 at-bats, he has announced that this season will be his last.

"It's just time to step aside for the younger kids," Hemerly said. "My time has come and gone. I will miss it, though. I'll miss the friendships and camaraderie. I'll miss all of it except maybe the 5 o'clock traffic you hit sometimes on your way to games."

Although he's a definite Hall of Famer, Hemerly said he was never a star and never wanted to be.

"I just wanted to show up and play the game," he said. "I'm a single guy who has never been married. I have no kids. So, what better to do in the summertime than play baseball."

Hemerly graduated from Dieruff in 1971 where he played baseball and played Legion ball at the Downtown Youth Center.

After high school, Hemerly's friend Joe Kemeter was getting together a team in the Tri-County League known as the Allentown A's and asked if Hemerly wanted to be a part of it.

Hemerly said "yes" and played 11 seasons for Allentown A.A. and moved with the team in 1974 as it found a new home in Limeport.

His stay with the Allentown A.A./Limeport franchise, which included three straight Tri-Co titles in 1976, '77, '78 and another in '82, lasted until 1988 when he left with his close friends Lutte and Dale Weiss to join a scuffling club known as the Allentown Angels.

The Angels eventually became known as Stahley's and with Hemerly playing a leadership role, the team won the 1991 Tri-Co crown.

"After 15 years in Limeport, I didn't know if I wanted to start over again somewhere else and I thought I was done," Hemerly remembered. "But Ray Ganser called me and said you're not done yet. He brought me, Dale and Dave over to the Angels and we've had a real nice run."

Hemerly hit just .236 in his rookie season of 1971 and had some great years and not-so-great years along the way.

For example, he batted a career-best .442 in 1982 and then dipped to a career-low of .197 a year later.

But through the good times and bad, Hemerly's easy-going demeanor never changed much. He still had a good time whether he was 0-for-4 or hit two home runs.

"Herbie has always been a steadying, calming influence on us all," Lutte said. "He never gets upset, never gets out of control. We all look to him for guidance. Just having him around is so important to this team."

Weiss has been one of the Tri-Co's top players the past two decades and was the head baseball coach at Dieruff before recently resigning to spend more time with his family.

Yet, despite carving out his own niche in the Tri-Co, Weiss still looks up to Hemerly.

"He's the greatest as a person; a true friend," Weiss said. "He'll do anything for you. His personality is just terrific. He just goes with the flow. He coached with me at Dieruff for eight years as an assistant and we made quite a contrast.

"I always was the screamer, the yeller. But the kids loved Herbie because he'd always be in the background, making jokes, lightening up the mood. Whenever things get tough, Herbie's always there for you when need him."

And while his playing time has diminished over the years and he took on more of a coaching role, Hemerly never lost the knack for coming through with big hits.

"I always liked to get in my hacks," he said. "I was always ready to swing the bat when asked. My style was always to crowd the plate and move up to the front of the box. Some teams used to say I was out of the box, but after awhile they just let me go. It was like the `Herb Hemerly Rule.' It was like `Hey, throw the ball and let's go.' I didn't like to stand around too much."

Hemerly will leave the Tri-Co with a career batting mark close to .300 and he'll also leave with the reputation of being one of the few center fielders who played the "hill" at Limeport Stadium as if it was his own personal backyard.

"When I came into the league with Mountainville in 1980, I used to marvel at the way Herb played center at Limeport," Weiss said. "I had never played at Limeport before and I couldn't believe that hill in center field. But Herb played it like it was just a flat field.

"When he was in his 20's I never saw a center fielder go get a ball like Herb. You couldn't get a hit to center. Hit a line drive over second base and he'd come off the hill and get it. Hit a ball 400 feet and he'd go back and get it. When Mountainville folded up, I first got the chance to play with Herb and I could see his ability every day."

Weiss feels it's a shame that Herb's career was sometimes lost in the shadow of his brother Dave's career in the Blue Mountain League. Dave Hemerly was a key cog on Allentown's five consecutive BML title teams in the early '80s and will be going into the BML Hall of Fame this fall.

"Everybody always talked about Dave and he's quite a player," Weiss said. "But I think Herb was one of the best players the Valley has ever had, too. To look at him now when he's older and a little slower, it's hard to remember him the way he was early in his career. He could hit and hit with power. He could run, he could hit for average, he could throw and catch the ball. He could do it all."

But if Herb didn't get the attention of his brother or other players, he never seemed to care. Worrying about hype was not his style.

He is part of a famous family of athletes. His nephew, Andre Reed, has become one of the best wide receivers in NFL history. His other nephews, Dion and Tyrone, were football standouts at Dieruff and in college.

Herbie, meanwhile, will never play in a Super Bowl or World Series, but he will never miss a chance to have fun either.

"I don't like a lot of attention or a lot of fanfare," he said. "I just like to do my thing. I think I always played hard, gave it my best shot. And I'd like to think that I didn't cause a lot of problems. I never got in the middle of a lot of stuff. I think I leave this league with many more friends than enemies."

Among those friends are Kemeter, Ganser and his longtime manager at Limeport, Ishky Fatzinger. Hemerly made sure to thank each of them for being instrumental in his Tri-Co career.

He says he will probably continue playing on weekends in the senior league.

But, as the final games of his Tri-Co career wind down by, Hemerly tries to savor every moment. He enjoys coaching third base, shouting encouragment, talking strategy in the dugout. He even enjoys tracking down the foul balls and gathering the equipment.

And, oh yes, he still loves having a post-game beverage with the guys in the parking lot.

"I'll still be around next year," he promised. "You'll probably find me sitting out in a lawn chair down the line, catching some rays with a six-pack at my side. I'll still be around the guys and having fun. Baseball has meant so much to me. I'm just thankful for the memories."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 3, 1997

Copyright © 1997, The Morning Call