SMSBL Hall of Fame

Rankin owes his baseball career to the invention of the automobile! He grew up on his father’s farm in Michigan in a rural community that loved baseball. Rankin attended a one room country elementary school grades 1-6. They had a baseball team and actually played other schools nearby. In fourth grade while getting trounced by another school that had 7th and 8th graders Rankin asked if he could try pitching after catching the first few innings. After shutting them out for the rest of the game Rankin both pitched and caught for the next 65 years including high school, college, and MSBL!

Later Rankin became the only catcher in the community tough enough or dumb enough to catch the local phenom pitcher, John Thomas, who threw hard but wild before he signed with the Dodgers. He would pitch the first four or five innings before tiring and walking people. Rankin would remove his catching gear, proceed to the mound, and mop up. Until events enlightened them the opposition calculated the converted catcher would probably be wild and allow them back in the game. Their coach would instruct them to take a strike trying to work a base on balls. After Rankin got an 0-2 count on the first 3-4 batters they soon abandoned that strategy. That high school team won their conference allowing half a run per game and scoring an average of 14. As a junior his team lost the state championship game 2-1 with Rankin pitching all nine innings allowing no earned runs after catching all nine innings of the semi final that morning in 98 degree Michigan heat and humidity. (After graduating 6 starting seniors, including John Thomas, they were expected to fall apart. Rankin pitched every inning all year, getting blasted and losing the first game following up with 7 shutouts and winning the conference again. His now 87 year old coach still talks about how surprised he was about that team.)

After graduating high school he attended Central Michigan University, pitching on junior varsity with a 3-0 record in starts but pitching mostly In relief. The varsity coach calculated Rankin did not throw hard enough to pitch on varsity. Back to catching. Finally he let Rankin start one game, a complete game 7-2 win with no walks and only 3 strikeouts. The infielders loved it. The third baseman said it seemed like they were always up to bat because Rankin worked so fast achieving so many 2 and 3 pitch hits or outs. He never started another game pitching until 16 years later. He did win one college game in relief. He came in with 2 outs in the top of the 9th in a tie game with a man on second base. He picked him off before throwing a pitch. Central scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning making Rankin the winning pitcher without throwing a pitch!

He was injured in a home plate collision that summer ending his college baseball career. 16 years later he started playing in local adult leagues. Since 1981 he has managed and played in several leagues in Sacramento and San Jose and in about 100 senior ball tourneys in Arizona, Florida, Nevada, and California. As a result of these activities he is equal parts grateful and surprised to be elected to the SMSBL Hall of Fame.