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My Tribute to a Great Hitter and Even Better Teammate
Lorenzo “Lo” Ogden Now Playing First Base With the Heavenly Host
When Lorenzo Ogden stepped on the Tuskegee Institute campus in1968, he was a tall, skinny kid off the sandlots of Birmingham, Alabama. He spent his summer days playing baseball during the week, but on Sundays you could find him at old Rickwood Field watching the Birmingham Black Barons play the best competition in the Negro Leagues.
While watching the games, “Lo” chased down foul balls and returned them to the team’s player-manager Lorenzo “Piper” Davis.
“Lo” was not recruited to play baseball at Tuskegee. History lured him to “The Pride of the Swift Growing South.” In January 1969, “Lo” joined the other Tuskegee baseball players in practice sessions held in Logan Hall, the school’s gymnasium. When the weather cleared, and the practices moved outside to Washington Field, “Lo” took his reps at first base. His chief competition was Jeff Walker, lanky but taller than “Lo.” Walker was the top home run hitter in Tuskegee baseball history that dates to 1893.
His teammates said that Ogden had a pair of good hands and nifty footwork around the bag but was a weak hitter. Before the season started, “Lo” sustained an injury that sidelined him for the season. Tuskegee went on to win the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic…
