Lake Worth’s Lost Legend
Lake Worth has a long and vibrant history of Finnish-American residents. In a moment of research, it was discovered that Lake Worth boasts another famous son: Herb Score (1933-2008).
Herbert Jude Score (June 7, 1933 – November 11, 2008) was an American professional baseball pitcher and announcer in Major League Baseball (MLB). He pitched for the Cleveland Indians from 1955 through 1959 and the Chicago White Sox from 1960 through 1962. He was the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year in 1955, and an AL All-Star in 1955 and 1956. Due to an on-field injury that occurred in 1957, he retired early as a player in 1962. Score was a television and radio broadcaster for the Cleveland Indians from 1964 through 1997. He was inducted into the Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the Press Club of Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame in 1998, and into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame in 2006. He was married to his Lake Worth high school sweetheart, Nancy McNamara (1936-2022) in 1957. A photo or two of them can be found of them at DigitalCommonwealth.com.
The Palm Beach Post wrote quite a long piece on the Long-Lost Legend of Herb Score in 2015, which bears many great photos of the time period. Cleveland’s paper also wrote an extensive memoir about Nancy, and also one about Herb’s career. At the time of his retirement, Herb had played or broadcasted 6,000 games, including the World Series in 1997.
It’s very interesting and worth a read into the life and legend of Lake Worth’s Herb and Nancy Score.
“He gained a loyal following, although he did not have the greatest voice or elocution. He was like a favorite uncle who talked baseball. ‘For me, broadcasting the game is like sitting in the stands talking to the fellow sitting next to me,’ he said. Still, to those who had seen his talent on the mound, it was comparable to Napoleon becoming a war correspondent.”
