The Pecan Park Eagle

Danny Kramer with Dad, Jerry Kramer (insert) of the Green Bay Packers.

Last Saturday in Katy, Danny Kramer came to the Houston Babies vintage base ball tourney as the Houston Press photographer there to cover assignment with reporter John Lomax of the same paper. Both Danny and John ended up playing in the Babies’ afternoon game against the Boerne White Sox, one in which Danny made a key one bounce out catch and throw from center field that turned out to be the start of a game saving double play retirement of a runner trying to score, killing a Boerne rally and leaving the Babies poised to sweep the day with one more out.

The problem for me was that I got it wrong in my own original reporting of this play in my Sunday morning report on the game saving double play. I thought (or “misremembered,” as Andy Pettitte might have said) that it was our regular center fielder Kyle Burns that had started the play, but I was wrong. After first sacker Larry Joe Miggins called it to my attention, and also sent me a photo of Kramer’s knee injury of the play, I went back to my original digital story and made the proper corrections. Check it out:

https://thepecanparkeagle.wordpress.com/2012/05/06/undefeated-babies-take-two-at-katy-festival/

As it turns out, we should not be surprised by Danny Kramer’s blood-spilling act of valor in behalf of our Houston Babies. It’s in his bloodline as a son of the great Jerry Kramer, the magnificent pulling guard and member of the Green Bay Packers (NFL) team Hall of Fame. For eleven years (1958-1968) and through those first two Super Bowl (1967-1968) victories for the Packers. Kramer was heart of that great Packer line and the guy who personally pushed that hole at the goal line that cleared QB Bart Starr to score the victory TD over the Dallas Cowboys in the famous “Ice Bowl” up there on Green Bay’s “frozen tundra.” It was arguably the most romanticized moment in the history of offensive linemen when Danny’s dad pushed the mountainous Jethro Pugh out-of-the-way so Starr could ramble through the hole for a score.

I knew about Danny’s family connection on Saturday, but I didn’t report it originally for a couple of reasons: (1) I don’t know Danny Kramer, but I’m aware that many adult kids of famous people prefer to not have their own identities tagged to the celebrity parent; and (2) I wasn’t aware that Danny had started the big play for the Babies. I had seen his bleeding knee after the game, but I had no idea how he got it until Miggins filled in the blanks for me.

Once I had all the facts, I knew that I also had to write this column and emphasize Danny’s connection to his father. If you are going to play with heart of a lion, the world deserves to know the whole truth about your relationship to the big cat.

To get a detailed feel for what Danny Kramer actually did in the Boerne-Babies game that made such a difference, use the link provided earlier to go back and see for yourself.

Thanks for coming out, Danny Kramer and John Lomax. – The Houston Babies look forward to seeing you guys again. By the way, Danny, based upon the two smiles in today’s photo, you and your dad do look a lot alike. Pretty cool too.

Cool also: even us hard-core baseball guys know who Jerry Kramer was,