Former Baseball Player Says He is Not Dead

MICHELLE NORRIS, host:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michelle Norris.

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

And I'm Melissa Block.

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Bill Henry of Houston, Texas, is 79-years-old and he wants you to know that he is very much alive.

Mr. BILL HENRY (Former Major League Relief Pitcher): I tell them I'm still alive and kicking.

BLOCK: This Bill Henry was a relief pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds. He appeared in two games of the 1961 World Series against the Yankees. Henry also pitched for the Red Sox, Cubs, Giants and Pirates before ending his Major League career in 1969 with the Houston Astros. Well, last week, all of Bill Henry's accomplishments were listed on the newswires, only they were details in anther man's obituary, a man named Bill Henry from Lakeland, Florida, who is four years older. A man who had led his wife and friends to believe that he was baseball's Bill Henry.

Mr. HENRY: We're 6'2" and same weight, left-handed and, I guess he was quite a baseball fan and he knew all about me and just picked up on it.

BLOCK: Bill Henry says he doesn't understand why this other man would claim to be him. The Florida man's widow doesn't know either. Her Bill Henry was a salesman whom she met two decades ago in Michigan. He had been married before and she never met his two children, who are both now dead. Elizabeth Henry says she had no reason to doubt her husband even though he didn't have any memorabilia from his time in the Big Leagues. Some of the late Bill Henry's golfing buddies are shocked, too, especially a former semi-pro pitcher who joined him for a lecture at a local college called "Baseball, Humor and Society."

Bill Henry, the pitcher from Texas, found out about his impersonator last week when an eagled-eyed genealogist and baseball historian called him. He jokes gently that the other Bill Henry probably did boost his fan base in Florida. He also adds that he has no ill will toward him.

Mr. HENRY: I just feel real sorry for his family, you know, that they find out about it. He was living such a fantasy life. I just feel sorry for him.

BLOCK: As shocked as they are, the late Bill Henry's friends and family say it doesn't matter that he spun stories about a baseball career that didn't belonged to him. They say he was a good man anyway. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.