When Funerals And Minor League Baseball Collide

This is the kind of story that only seems possible revolving around a minor league baseball team in Tennessee. Observe the lede from this story in the Elizabethton Star:

Like the old shirt used to read, Larry "Moe" Riddle knew Elizabethton Twins baseball. Now he knows Jesus.

And I hope Jesus knows Elizabethton Twins baseball, because that's probably what Larry "Moe" Riddle will want to talk about. Riddle had been a lifelong fixture at Elizabethton Twins games before dying at the age of 61. And the team, in a ceremony before Thursday night's game, had the coaches wheel his casket around the bases.

To some, it may seem odd and off-putting to wheel a dead guy around the bases before a game, but ... it's more personal and less messy than sprinkling ashes, and they did keep him in the box. It's not like the dragged his body across home plate and had the umpire signal him safe at home. That would've been weird.

And hey, he still made it around the bases faster than Frank Thomas.

Riddle honored with unique ceremony [Elizabethton Star] One "Moe" lap before departing to Heaven [Elizabethton Star]