Two Ball Players Buck Stinnett, Youth Start New Friendship
Buck Stinnett is hard of hearing and in a wheelchair, but if you ask him where he played ball, he’ll tell you, “Twin Falls, Idaho, Dothan, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina,” with perfect clarity.
And he may not be able to throw a pitch anymore, but when you mention playing for the Phillies, he’ll square up like the bases are loaded and they have two outs. His love for baseball makes him light up, especially when he gets to talk to another ball player, like fourth-grader Weston Coffer.
An unexpected friendship started back in November when students from The Bridge Christian Academy in Natural Bridge Station went on a field trip to Heritage Hall in Lexington. It may have looked like a young boy visiting with a resident of an assisted living facility, but it was actually a ball player talking to another ball player.
“They had a field trip and this little boy starts talking to have looked like a young boy visiting with a resident of an assisted living facility, but it was actually a ball player talking to another ball player.
“They had a field trip and this little boy starts talking to Dad and he plays baseball,” Jeff Stinnett, one of Buck’s sons, said about the start of their friendship. “He found out Dad played professional baseball and they just got along real good.”
Joseph Edward “Buck” Stinnett, a 1960 Parry McCluer High graduate, played minor league baseball for the Magic Valley Cowboys, Spartanburg Phillies, and Dothan Phillies. He was either in the outfield or on the pitcher’s mound. During his baseball career, Stinnett pitched right but he would bat left. He played from 1961 to 1963 and had a batting average of .265 in 183 games. He was inducted into Parry McCluer High School’s athletic hall of fame in 2018.
Ron Adams, Heritage Hall administrator, remembered how Weston and Stinnett met: “He just ended up sitting next to Buck and when he found out [who he was], he wouldn’t give up his seat. He just loved the fact that he was a ball player.”
After the initial meeting at Heritage Hall, “[Weston’s] family reached out. They had wanted to see him again,” said Brooke Williams, who works The Bridge. “We got it all orchestrated and he was dying to come even before then.”
In honor of Weston coming to visit last week and being so interested in baseball, Buck Stinnett signed a baseball to give to him. A photo of Stinnett playing in his Phillies uniform was also framed and given, along with the signed baseball.
When asked about how he felt in that moment, Weston said, “It’s one of the greatest moments I’ve ever had in my life.”
