A strapping, blond right-hander from Hammond, Indiana, Bob Anderson pitched for the Cubs from 1957 through 1962. He was supposed to the Cubs' starter for the opening day game with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1959, but a spring blizzard hit Chicago and the contest was postponed.

Before the game was cancelled, however, the 6'4'', 210-pound Anderson came ambling out of the Cubs' dugout bundled up in his bright blue warm-up jacket and a pair of winter gloves. He sculpted a melon-sized snowball and, to the delight of newspaper wire service photographers, cheerfully tossed it around with battery mate Sammy Taylor.

Anderson pitched for the 1956 Los Angeles Dodgers, one of the best teams in Pacific Coast League history. The Angels went 107-56 that year, with Anderson winning 12 of 16 decisions. The pitching staff also included future Cubbies Dave Hillman (21-7), Gene Fodge (19-7), Dick Drott, and Johnny Briggs (5-5).

After his fine work with the Los Angeles squad, Bob Scheffing took over as Chicago's skipper. Scheffing and pitching coach Fred Fitzsimmons pinned their hopes on the new kids, as well as a young right-hander out of Trinity College in Connecticut named Moe Drabowsky.

With the Cubs however, Anderson, Hillman, Fodge, Drott, Briggs, and Drabowsky would combine for just 113 wins against 159 losses.

Anderson holds a unique niche in baseball lore. Of the hundreds of big league hurlers from Don Aase to George Zuverink, he's the only one ever to be on the mound while more than one baseball was in play.

This bizarre incident took place during a Cubs-Cardinals game on June 30, 1959. With one out in the fourth inning, Stan Musial came to the plate. Stan the Man worked the count to 3-1, and Anderson threw him a high, inside fastball.

Musial turned into the pitch, then seemed to hold up. The ball jumped, nicked home plate umpire Vic Delmore's shoulder, and traveled all the way to the backstop. Delmore called ball four and motioned Musial toward first base. Catcher Sammy Taylor spun around to argue, claiming the ball had ticked Musial's bat before it grazed Delmore.

While Taylor stood with his back to the field, Anderson strolled toward home plate as Musial sauntered to first. Cubs manager Bob Scheffing rumbled out of the dugout to add his voice to the protest. No one, however, asked for time.

The ump, seeing Anderson coming toward him with his upraised palms, assumed the hurler wanted a new baseball. As Delmore tossed one to Anderson, Cubs' third baseman Alvin Dark alertly scampered toward the backstop for the original ball.

Musial, hoping to take advantage of the confusion, rounded first base and took off for second. At about that time, Dark reached the backstop, where Cubs' on-field announcer Pat Pieper had grabbed the original baseball and had dropped it into a ball bag.

Meanwhile, Anderson spotted Musial's dash and whirled and fired toward second base. As Anderson threw, another baseball whizzed over his head toward second. Musial slid as Anderson's toss sailed into centerfield. Musial scrambled to his feet with an eye on third base. As he stepped of the bag, he was tagged out by Chicago shortstop Ernie Banks.

Dark has retrieved a ball from Pieper, and he and Anderson had simultaneously thrown toward second. While a stunned Musial had tried to figure out what was going on, both dugouts emptied. Scheffing and St. Louis manager Solly Hemus engaged in a three-way shouting match with Delmore and fellow umps Al Barlick, Bill Jackowski, and Shag Crawford.

The umpires finally decided that the first baseball-the one thrown by Dark- was indeed the ball in play, and the one thrown by Anderson was a dead ball. Musial, they declared, was out at second. Enraged, the Cardinals announced the game was under protest. They dropped it, however, after posting a 4-1 victory.

Anderson finished the '59 season year with a 12-13 record and was 9-11 in 1960. After that, arm trouble diminished his fast ball. He spent most of 1961 and 1962 in the Cubs bullpen, and was traded to Detroit. he bowed out of the major leagues following a 3-1 record with a 3.30 earned run average for the Tigers in '63.

A graduate of Western Michigan University, Anderson retired from Inland Steel in 1993. He still gets frequent requests for details of the two-balls-in-play incident from over four decades ago.

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