An autographed baseball from the 1962 World Series that was auctioned Saturday raised $30,000 for a memorial statue to honor a 9-year-old Kansas batboy who died after he was accidentally struck by a bat during a game in August.
Kaiser Carlile, a batboy for the Liberal Bee Jays, died Aug. 2 after he was hit in the head by a warm-up swing during a National Baseball Congress World Series game in Wichita, Kan., a day earlier. He was wearing a helmet, as is mandated by the league, but still suffered a fatal injury when one of the team's batters made contact with Kaiser's helmet as he was retrieving a bat.
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The ball from the 1962 Yankees was donated to a silent auction earlier this month by Randy Watson. His 13-year-old brother, Rudy, died in 1966 after he was struck in the head by a foul ball. He had been born with osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease.
“Both were big persons in little bodies,” Watson said, via The Wichita Eagle. “Both were scrappers. They were dedicated and had to try hard to do everything.”
Rudy had been given the ball by 1962 World Series MVP Ralph Terry. Watson chose to donate the ball because of the similarities between Kaiser and his brother.
“All my life, I have lived with the thought of how this all started with what Ralph Terry did,” Watson said. “I thought if he can do that, maybe I ought to follow his example. This whole thing was meant to be — it was exactly how God intended it to be. I have always wondered why Ralph gave Rudy that ball. But when things happen, you don’t always know the answer.
“But sometimes 49 years later, you learn the answer.”
The National Baseball Congress suspended its batboy and batgirl program in early August after Kaiser's death.