As I was researching the various members of the 1946 Spokane Indians for my book, Season of Shattered Dreams, it quickly became apparent that Ben Geraghty would be a key figure in the book. Geraghty, a New Jersey native and former Brooklyn Dodger, was one of six players who survived the Indians’ tragic bus accident on June 24, 1946. After the crash, he managed in the minor leagues for 17 seasons, mostly in the Milwaukee Braves’ farm system.

In 1953, Geraghty managed the Jacksonville Braves, a team included a 19-year-old second baseman named Henry Aaron, who along with Horace Garner and Félix Mantilla, broke the South Atlantic League color barrier. In the Jim Crow south, the three Black players weren’t permitted to eat at the same restaurants or stay in the same hotels as their teammates, so Geraghty would eat with them on the team bus and visit their segregated hotel to talk baseball. Aaron later called Geraghty the “greatest manager I ever played for, perhaps the greatest manager who ever lived.”

While searching for information about Geraghty online, I stumbled across a memorabilia listing for a lineup card with his signature. Given how much time I was investing into learning about his life and career, I thought it would be a cool memento to own, so I forked over the asking price of $40. A week later, it arrived in my mailbox.

There’s no date on the card, but using Baseball-Reference I easily identified that it came from the 1958 Wichita Braves. Wichita was a Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Braves. The leadoff man that day was shortstop Joe Morgan, probably best known for managing the Boston Red Sox from 1988-91. Hitting second was veteran outfielder and former Chicago Cubs outfielder Bob Talbot. Eddie Haas, who led Wichita with a .326 average, hit third. Batting cleanup was Ray Shearer, the team leader in home runs with 18. Eight-year major leaguer Ed Charlies hit fifth, followed by Earl Hersch. Catcher Mike Roarke, who later played four years with the Detroit Tigers and served as a major-league pitching coach, hit seventh. In the eight hole was Dick Phillips. Batting ninth and pitching was Ernie Johnson. All nine starters played in the majors.

I then set out to pinpoint the exact game the card came from. Johnson started only seven games for Wichita, so it wasn’t too difficult to narrow it down. After reviewing the box scores from each of Johnson’s starts, I found only one with this exact lineup: game 6 of the American Association semifinals between Wichita and the Minneapolis Millers on September 15.

The Millers, a Red Sox farm team, had a three-games-to-two advantage in the best-of-seven series entering the game. They were piloted by player-manager Gene Mauch, who penciled himself in at second base that day. Pumpsie Green, who would integrate the Red Sox a year later, played shortstop and went 3-for-4. But the star of the game was Millers starter Dean Stone. The former Washington Senators All-Star twirled nine innings of two-run ball while striking out 11. Stone also drove home the winning run. “That guy Stone was just too rough,” said Geraghty in the next day’s Wichita Beacon.

The Millers advanced to the league finals and swept the Denver Bears in four games.

A year later, the Braves moved their Triple-A affiliate to Louisville. Geraghty, who dreamed of managing in the major leagues, spent three seasons in Louisville. He then jumped to the Jacksonville Suns (a Cleveland Indians affiliate) after being overlooked for a promotion by the Milwaukee Braves brass multiple times. Gearghty never got the chance to manage in a majors. In 1963, 17 years after surviving the deadliest accident in the history of American professional sports, he died suddenly at the age of 50.