Buddy Lake
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March 04, 2003|By Gary Taylor, Sentinel Staff Writer
When it comes to baseball, Bernard David "Buddy" Lake did just about everything. He played, he coached and he even drove the team bus during a career that spanned almost three decades.
Although Lake never made it to the major leagues, he played alongside home-run king Babe Ruth and pitched to New York Yankees great Lou Gehrig.
Lake, considered by many to be the finest athlete to come out of Sanford's Seminole High School, died Saturday (March 1). He was 89.
"Buddy Lake was one of the finest persons I ever knew," said retired attorney and former state legislator Douglas Stenstrom. "He was a gentleman.
"He gave my generation more absolute thrills than anyone else when we were growing up."
One of those thrills, recalls Stenstrom, was the night Lake stole home to win a playoff game against St. Augustine.
Three times Lake took big leads, only to retreat to third base.
"On the fourth try he went down the line and stole home and we beat St. Augustine," Stenstrom said.
Asked about it years later, Lake said he gave the batter three chances to drive him home and then decided he had no choice but to steal if his team was going to win.
Lake is best remembered for a game he pitched in DeLand on July 19, 1947. After playing third base in the first game of a doubleheader, Lake took the mound for the second game.
He pitched 19 shutout innings and won the game 1-0 by hitting a home run in the top of the 19th inning.
Almost a year later, also against DeLand, Lake pitched the Florida State League's first perfect game, not allowing a single base-runner in a 6-0 victory.
Lake was also an accomplished hitter. He won the league's batting title in 1940 with a .352 average and set a league record in 1946 with 140 runs batted in.
He remains the only professional baseball player to both win a batting title and pitch a perfect game.
Lake began his professional career in the New York-Penn League with the Boston Braves organization and went to spring training with the Braves in 1934 where he played with Ruth and pitched against Gehrig.
Lake's career appeared to be over when he hurt his arm in 1936, but he came back to Sanford and learned to throw a knuckleball.
Playing for St. Augustine, Lake won 13 games in 1939. He returned to Sanford that July with the league's all-star team to play the hometown team and a record 4,132 people showed up for the game.
Even a tour in the Navy during World War II couldn't keep Lake away from baseball.
He helped the Norman (Okla.) Naval Air Station team win a military championship in 1945.
When he finally retired from baseball in 1950, he had played a Florida State League-record 832 games.
For 32 years Lake was co-owner of the Thrifty Service Station at Second Street and Palmetto Avenue in downtown Sanford.
Lake was born in Louisville, Ky., and moved to the Sanford area with his family in 1916. He was a star in both baseball and football at Seminole High School.
The meeting room at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium was named the "Buddy Lake Room" in 2001, and he is featured prominently in the sports collection of the Sanford Museum.
Lake is survived by sister Doris Eldred of West Palm Beach; sons Kelly of Deltona, Thomas of Lake Mary, John of Sanford and Chris of Longwood; daughters Cindy Anderson of Lake Mary and MaryBeth Lake of Sanford; 10 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
Gramkow Funeral Home, Sanford, is in charge of arrangements. [1]
Footnotes
- ↑ http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2003-03-04/news/0303040078_1_sanford-perfect-game-lake, retrieved on 2011-09-06.
