John Reed makes a one-handed claw grab watching his Coastal Carolina Chants

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

Anyone who saw the late Buck Reed catch Bob Johnstone knew that the catcher had huge mitts.

Johnstone’s nickname might have been “Flakey” in the 1960s, but few Ontario right-handers threw harder.

Anyone who shook the hands of Buck Reed (Scarborough, Ont.) knew he had huge hands. He was the late Alfie Payne’s best friend and they had nicknames for each other. I don’t remember any of them as they went back decades, but I recall a guy shaking hands with Buck Reed at Brian McRobie’s 70th birthday in Brockville 10 years ago and the man said to Buck Reed “Hello Bear Claws.”

That’s how big the man’s hand were.

Big Buck, a mammoth man, with a heart almost as big, played for legendary Leaside coach and fungo magician -- the best I have ever seen since California Angels’ coach Jimmmy Reese, who roomed with Babe Ruth ... or as Reese would correct us “his suitcase.” Irvine’s license plate was FUNGO and his cat answered to the same name.

His son, John Reed, never picked up the game, but he gained his father’s love of the game. He spends part of the year north of Peterborough (Buckorn, Ont.) and most of the rest of the time he is in Conway, SC.

Why Conway? Well, John Reed is part of One Teal Nation -- a big-time fan of the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.

John Reed pulled off a Buck Reed moment April 18 seated down the left field line in Conway. In the top of the first Georgia State’s Walker Mitchell hit a line drive foul ball in a Saturday night game, a national TV game on ESPNU. Seated in area fans yelled; look out!.” “down scope,” and “incoming.”

Seated in the front row just behind the Diamond Girl (ball girl), John Reed calmly reached up with his right hand and caught the rocket,” said John Reed. “The broadcast didn’t catch it clearly but there is a clip of the video.”

“You can see the slight movement of my hands going up to the left side of my head and nothing else moving. I responded to the photographer I gave zero reaction and went back to watching the game because I could hear my father saying ‘Act like you’ve been there before.’ Buck Reed was not a fan of two-run double celebrations that cut a team’s deficit to 9-3.

You can still see the ball in his right hand in the enlarfed picture. Fans behind him applauded his highlight-reel catch, which we are guessing would have been on every highlight show from MLB Network, Sportsnet and ESPN - had the cameraman been able to follow the ball on time. John Reed eventually gave the ball to a youngster.

John Reed asked “Do you think my father would have been proud of me?”

I answered “Buck caught Bob Johnstone with a mitt, you caught a liner off an aluminum bat with your bare hand. John, Buck was always proud of you.”