One local resident saw his childhood dreams come true when he was able to play Major League Baseball in 1966.

Bill Edgerton was called up to the big leagues as a pitcher out of the minor leagues in Mobile by the Kansas City Athletics. He was then picked No. 1 or 2 to join the Seattle Pilot expansion team in 1969 ending his career with them in 1971. Overall, he appeared in 17 career games, working 20 and 2/3 innings, with an earned run average of 4.79.

During the years he was playing, players needed four years to quality for annuity and medical benefits, but this rule was changed in 1980 so that one day qualified players for health benefits and 43 days qualified them for a pension. Edgerton’s not sure exactly how many, but he thinks there could be around 900 men that played from 1940 to 1980 that did not qualify for compensation at that time.

Last year, MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association announced that the men from 1947 and 1979 would receive up to $10,000 a year depending on their length of service as compensation for their contributions to baseball.

Edgerton checked in with Cooperstown city records to make sure he had enough days to qualify, which he did. He had his records sent over to the pension section of MLB. Then, he was informed that he had not gotten his paperwork sent in during the window that MLB had set for applying for compensation even though he knows he did.

Edgerton feels that the decision made by MLB was a way for them to “grab the glory like they’ve made a wrong, right,” but he still hasn’t received funds and isn’t expected to at this point. Approximately 10 years ago, he was part of a civil suit with others against Major League Baseball over retirement and discrimination.

Edgerton and other players were not contacted about the change and ability to apply for funds, but the topic was discussed by Doug Gladstone in his book A Bitter Cup of Coffee. Edgerton credits Gladstone with helping him find out about it. He thinks Gladstone wants what he wants: to see the families get a little compensation, especially the wives if something happens to these former players.

Gladstone, who works for the New York retirement system and is a freelance journalist, said he set out to right what he believes is a “flagrant injustice to retirees.” He said these retirees don’t really have any legal standing but that it’s a “matter of equity and fairness.” These early players worked to “grow the game” and they’re not being looked after.

Edgerton retired four years ago from the Hummer plant in Indiana after 34 years there. He moved back to Foley, Ala., a few years ago because of the weather and the people.

He is pursuing the issue to see if he can receive what MLB decided he was owed. He doesn’t want to look at the organization negatively or bitterly, he said. He wants them to follow-up on what they said, so he can look back on his time as a professional player positively, as it was: “It was my life-time dream, the best time of my life. It was a once in a lifetime experience.”