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Submarines and Sunglasses
Those were two words that popped into my head when I read that today is Kenton Charles Tekulve'sbirthday. Although he wasn't a perennial all-star or enshrined in Cooperstown, he played a role in my childhood. Tekulve owned one of the coolest, sweetest looking pitching deliveries in baseball. (IMHO) His submarine delivery rivals Fernando's "eyes to the sky" delivery... both of which I'd regularly try to emulate as a kid. But that's only half the story.
In terms of collecting, Tekulve had another distinguishable trait: his sunglasses. He was one of those players I actively sought out while busting 25ยข packs on my porch. His cards were never hot commodities (at least in my neck of the woods), but flipping through them over the years eventually left an impression that has lasted three decades. To this day, I can still close my eyes and picture those wire rimmed, dark tinted glasses.
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