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Former Ballplayer Never Lost Home Ties

This is the second part in a three-part series on Old Greenwich native and former Major Leaguer, Mike Sandlock. Click here to read part one.

Mike Sandlock is an Old Greenwich institution. One of just five residents of the city to play Major League Baseball, Sandlock bounced back and forth between the minors and the majors. Sandlock was born in Old Greenwich and raised a family here. Now at 94 years old, Sandlock is one of the oldest living former Major Leaguers and he still calls Old Greenwich home. He also still loves to play golf and talk baseball.

Sandlock was born in 1915 to Polish immigrants who could neither read nor write, back when Old Greenwich was called Sound Beach. He grew up on Fairfield Avenue in a home his parents bought for $300. Sandlock grew up loving baseball and learned the game in backyards and sandlots all over town.

"I started playing ball just bouncing it off the fence and whatnot," Sandlock said. "Any time I could play I just would. And from then on I just grew up hoping to play baseball."

Neither of Sandlock's two older siblings attended high school, but he learned to be an electrician thanks to two years of trade school. Sandlock's first job was with Electrolux where he helped form a company baseball team, back when such local teams were the social attraction of the region. It was playing baseball for the Electrolux company team in Greenwich that Sandlock first got noticed by the Boston Braves.

Although Sandlock's 15-year career in baseball took him from Boston to Los Angeles, his ties to Greenwich remained strong. Sandlock even took the train to Brooklyn from his home when he played for the Dodgers, earning him the nickname, "The Commuter," from his teammates. He and his wife Vicki raised three children in Greenwich. Sandlock found a love of golf in retirement and amazingly still plays twice a week at Innis Arden Golf Club.

"I always try to exercise and keep swinging the club," Sandlock said. "It's a good day out. I don't hit the ball as well as I used to, but I do kill a few worms out there."

Check back here next Monday for the final part in the series.

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