Posted by Walt on 3/27/2006, 10:42 pm McGillicuty began playing softball back in the early 50’s at the age of 17 and enjoyed a long and rewarding career covered over 6 decades until he hung up the cleats at the age of 65 in 2003. During his distinguished career, he carved out his reputation with such great traveling teams as Fraizer Foods, Ted’s Steakhouse, Dooley Landscaping, Carson’s Carbon Paper Warehouse, Burger Chef & Jeff’s and Willie Stargell’s “Chicken on the Hill” out of Pittsburgh in the 70’s. The early days of travel and the notoriety gained with the Carson teams would later serve as a harbinger of things to come for teams of the 80’s such as Steele’s, Smythe Sox and Howard’s. “Slat’s”, while not remembered for his Herculean statistics, became one of the great innovators of the game of softball. Although instrumental in the invention of the first aluminum bat, McGillicuty, sold the patent design to a small unknown company named Boombat, which later became Bombat. “Slats” parlayed his royalty earnings into starting a research and development company that never could quite capture the same magic of his initial design. While CSM R&D did enjoy brief success with the design of the polyester coaches short, a design they sold to McGregor, the company made one final attempt at bat design glory by sinking every last dollar of the company into the ill-fated Spaulding Tidal Wave design in 1985. “Slats” legacy continues to live on today however from the development and innovations to the game that today is taken for granted by all but the most studied historians of the game of softball. Chandler “Slats” Montgomery was the man we all pay homage to every time we utter or shout such colloquial phrases on the softball field as… And the next time someone shouts “Hook!” to signify that a left handed hitter is up at the plate, know that “Slats” is smiling down from that dugout in the sky, for that too was one of his trademarks, first spoken on August 28th 1963 at the Smokey Mountain Classic. “Slats” as he was known to all of his friends and those that competed against him, went home to be with the Lord after a long and fierce battle with a rare form of Taint Cancer. Our hearts and our prayers go out to the McGillicutty family! You will live on in our soul.
65.189.31.75
The world of organized softball lost one of its all time greats this past weekend with the passing of Chandler “Slats” McGillicutty.
“A little bingo!”
“Just throw strikes!”
“Potatoes in the blender!”
“Ducks on the pond!”
“One at a time boys!”
“Pick my sorry ass up!”
“No body walks but the mail man!”
“New life”
…remember that the man who coined those phrases and had them patented was none other that ole “Slats”
TC is a condition that can lie dormant for years before the first symptoms show up. Doctors believe it was caused by years of playing with no underwear underneath his softball pants. The combination of diamond dust, line chalk and “sack sweat” help to create a “perfect storm” of taint toxins. The McGillcuty Estate hopes that “Slats’” passing will serve to raise awareness to this rare disease.
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