Wit and Wisdom of Baseball

[Lando Lincoln]

Here is the other one... Robin Yount.


Baseball Hall of Fame - Biographies: Robin Yount

[Lando Lincoln]

Ernie Harwell quotes...  When I was a kid, the Braves moved to Atlanta and devastated this young fan.  I picked up a book about Al Kaline and became a Tigers fan overnite.  My twin, in turn, adopted the Cubs.  My AM radio could often pick up Tigers night games or late west coast games and I learned to love Ernie Harwell.  I will never forget the 1967 and 1968 pennant races and the 1968 World Series against the Cards.  Golden times, golden voice and great memories.  Here is some wisdom from one of the all time baseball great voices, Ernie Harwell:

"Baseball is a lot like life. It's a day-to-day existence, full of ups and downs. You make the most of your opportunities in baseball as you do in life."

"God blessed me by putting me here for thirty-one years at Michigan and Trumbull. I had (after being "released") the greatest job in the world—a job I loved to do. But most of all, I appreciate you fans. I appreciate your loyalty, your support and your love that you've shown me, especially the love." (September 30, 1991)

"I had a job to do, and I did it all these years to the best of my ability. That's what I'd like to leave behind as I finish my final game in Toronto."

"I'd like to be remembered as someone who showed up for the job. I consider myself a worker. I love what I do. If I had my time over again, I'd probably do it for nothing."

"If I walked back into the booth in the year 2025, I don't think it would have changed much. I think baseball would be played and managed pretty much the same as it is today. It's a great survivor."

"I love the game because it's so simple, yet it can be so complex. There's a lot of layers to it, but they aren't hard to peel back."

"I think I owe thanks to the people who have listened to me over the years, who tuned in on the radio. They have given me a warmth and loyalty that I've never been able to repay. The way they have reached out to me has certainly been the highlight of my life."

"I think once you start as an announcer, you have to decide what kind of approach you're going to have. I decided very early that I was going to be a reporter, that I would not cheer for the team. I don't denigrate people who do it. It's fine. I think you just have to fit whatever kind of personality you have, and I think my nature was to be more down the middle and that's the way I conducted the broadcasts."

"So much happened (in 1968) it was hard to keep up with everything. We had Denny McLain's thirty-one victories, Gates Brown's great pinch-hitting in the clutch, Tom Matchick's home run to beat Baltimore in the ninth inning, then Daryl Patterson striking out the side to beat them in the ninth. Excitement every day in the ballpark."

"The greatest single moment I've ever known in Detroit was Jim Northrup's triple in the seventh game of the World Series in St. Louis. It was a stunning moment because not only were the Tigers winning a world championship that meant so much to an entire city, they were beating the best pitcher I ever saw—Bob Gibson."

"Wheaties was the big sponsor in those days (1940s). They sponsored almost all the baseball games in the majors and the minors. That was a lot of Wheaties. I think there were twenty-four boxes in a case and some of these guys were hitting twenty-five and thirty home runs a season. We had a dog in those days named Blue Grass and the players used to give us their Wheaties for him. Blue Grass loved Wheaties and so did I."

[DCPatriot]

Here is the other one... Robin Yount.


Baseball Hall of Fame - Biographies: Robin Yount

That SOB was an "Oriole Killer".

I still remember that game in 1982 when we had to play them on the last day of the season....for the pennant.   They beat us 9-3.  Pretty sure Yount had a mammoth game.

Was in the stands holding my 7 month old daughter.  (She got in free!)

[sinkspur]

I remember once when the manager came out to make a pitching change, Jimmy Persall went out and sat at the flagpole while the new pitcher was coming in from the bullpen.

Back then the pitcher slowed walked, carrying his glove and jacket....where the bat boy didn't touch that jacket until he reached the infield.

Today, they get driven in a golf cart.

Do they?

I haven't seen a golf cart for a bullpen pitcher in years.

Remember when pitchers threw complete games?  Now, it's all about pitch counts; you've got seventh-inning set-up men, and eighth-inning set-up men, and closers. 

Guys making eight figures throwing one inning every two or three days. 

If I was a young dad, I'd want my son to aspire to be a closer.

[DCPatriot]

Thanks, Lando!

Seeing your love of baseball only reinforces our FRiendship over the years!

Great stuff!  

[sinkspur]

Speaking of broadcasters, my favorites growing up were Mel Allen, Dizzy Dean and PeeWee Reese in the "Game of the Week" on CBS, and Joe Garagiola, anywhere.

Here are some of Joe's quotes:

I know a baseball star who wouldn't report the theft of his wife's credit cards because the thief spends less than she does.

I went through baseball as "a player to be named later."

Nolan Ryan is pitching much better now that he has his curve ball straightened out.

One thing you learned as a Cubs fan: when you bought your ticket, you could bank on seeing the bottom of the ninth.

The Orioles' Dick Hall comes off the mound like a drunk kangaroo on roller skates.

"Every game is kind of the same. He rushes a couple up there at 97, 98, then gives you a couple of off-speed pitches, the changeup, the curve, ... It's so unfair. It's just wrong."



One player Joe mentioned a lot was Choo Choo Coleman.   He was the catcher for the hapless 1962 Mets who lost over 100 games.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/sports/baseball/mets-choo-choo-coleman-50-years-later.html

[DCPatriot]

Great story about Choo Choo Coleman, Sink!

Good stuff here.

Thanks to all!

[DCPatriot]

The pitcher has to find out if the hitter is timid.  And if the hitter is timid, he has to remind the hitter he's timid.  ~Don Drysdale, quoted in New York Times, 9 July 1979


It ain't like football.  You can't make up no trick plays.  ~Yogi Berra

I can't help it!  Just going back over the thread.  They lied.  It's better than the first time.   

[famousdayandyear]

Baseball Loses Ryne Duren, Fireball Pitcher from Great 1950’s Yankee Teams

Contact: Mark Jackson
mark@centralfloridasports.com
863-559-9239

For Immediate Release
Baseball Loses Ryne Duren, Fireball Pitcher from Great 1950’s Yankee Teams

Lake Wales, FL (January 7, 2011)— Ryne Duren, one of the premier relief pitchers in the Major Leagues in the late 1950s, died January 6, 2011 in his winter home of Lake Wales, Florida. He was 81. Duren was an integral part of the New York Yankees American League Championship teams of 1958 and 1960 and played a major role in defeating the Milwaukee Braves in the 1958 World Series. In addition to his wife of thirty-six years, Diane, Duren is survived by his son Steve, step children, Mark Jackson, Brian Jackson and Cynthia Newcomer, and 11 grandchildren.

Known for his ability to throw a baseball in excess of 100 miles per hour and the thick glasses he wore to correct his 20/200 vision, Duren was also famous for being a bit wild, both on and off the field, during his playing days. He parlayed his throwing speed and controlled wildness on the mound into an effective career. During his 10-year Major League career, Duren pitched for the Yankees, Orioles, Phillies, Reds, Angels, Athletics and Senators.

At the suggestion of Yankee coach, Frank Crosetti, after Duren threw a warm-up pitch into the screen behind home plate, Duren incorporated one of those pitches into the screen into every warm-up session, drawing the attention of all the fans and announcers, and making the on-deck batter apprehensive about digging in. Today, 45 years after Duren retired from the game, his name is mentioned whenever a pitcher uncorks a pitch high and wild over a batter’s head.

[DCPatriot]

"Baseball reflected the language of America, and spiced it, too. Presidents, politicians, executives, generals and
parents touched all the bases regularly so that nobody would be out in left field or caught off the base in the
greater pursuits of life. If you did it right, you hit a grand slam home run; if not you struck out."
-- Joseph Durso

Today....nobody strikes out.  Everybody walks.   



.....and scores.   

[DCPatriot]

Baseball Loses Ryne Duren, Fireball Pitcher from Great 1950’s Yankee Teams

Contact: Mark Jackson
mark@centralfloridasports.com
863-559-9239

For Immediate Release
Baseball Loses Ryne Duren, Fireball Pitcher from Great 1950’s Yankee Teams

Lake Wales, FL (January 7, 2011)— Ryne Duren, one of the premier relief pitchers in the Major Leagues in the late 1950s, died January 6, 2011 in his winter home of Lake Wales, Florida. He was 81. Duren was an integral part of the New York Yankees American League Championship teams of 1958 and 1960 and played a major role in defeating the Milwaukee Braves in the 1958 World Series. In addition to his wife of thirty-six years, Diane, Duren is survived by his son Steve, step children, Mark Jackson, Brian Jackson and Cynthia Newcomer, and 11 grandchildren.

Known for his ability to throw a baseball in excess of 100 miles per hour and the thick glasses he wore to correct his 20/200 vision, Duren was also famous for being a bit wild, both on and off the field, during his playing days. He parlayed his throwing speed and controlled wildness on the mound into an effective career. During his 10-year Major League career, Duren pitched for the Yankees, Orioles, Phillies, Reds, Angels, Athletics and Senators.

At the suggestion of Yankee coach, Frank Crosetti, after Duren threw a warm-up pitch into the screen behind home plate, Duren incorporated one of those pitches into the screen into every warm-up session, drawing the attention of all the fans and announcers, and making the on-deck batter apprehensive about digging in. Today, 45 years after Duren retired from the game, his name is mentioned whenever a pitcher uncorks a pitch high and wild over a batter’s head.

LOL!  I was just thinking of him this afternoon...reading the thread.

Can still see those Mason-jar glasses.  And he was winding up and hit the freaking backstop in the air.

Scared the sh*t out of one guy.....he didn't want to get in the batter's box.  LOL!

[DCPatriot]

DAMNIT!

There has GOT to be baseball in heaven or I'm not going. 

[sinkspur]

Well, I've just got to throw this in here.  One of the most famous George Carlin routines:

Football or baseball?


Football or baseball

[famousdayandyear]

Mark Fidryk's Dream Season



(Fidrych pads the mound. Photo by William T. Anderson, The Detroit News)

6/28/1976 - Fidrych comes on the scene

Tigers pitcher Mark Fidrych was a character if baseball ever had one. He padded the pitcher's mound like a nest, he talked to the baseball as if it was a living creature, and he carried a grin wherever he went. Nicknamed "The Bird" from of his likeness to Sesame Street's Big Bird, Fidrych was largely unknown at the beginning of his career. That all changed on June 28, 1976, when his team hosted the New York Yankees on ABC's Monday Night Baseball.

In front of a massive audience both at home and in Tiger Stadium, the blond-haired rookie pitched a complete-game shutout, holding the Yankees to only seven hits in nine innings. Fidrych improved to 9-1 and it was his ninth complete game of the year. Afterward, the Detroit audience was so elated at his performance that they refused to leave after the players left the field. They chanted "We want Bird!" for minutes and only exited when an amazed Fidrych ran back from the locker room and waved to the crowd.

That game vaulted Fidrych from a local phenom to a national sensation. In 1976, Mark Fidrych was the biggest athlete in the country. He was the AL starting pitcher in the All-Star Game, he became the first athlete to appear on the cover of Rolling Stones Magazine, and he even graced the cover of Sports Illustrated, which he did alongside Big Bird. Fidrych brought big crowds wherever he went; games he pitched in accounted for over 40% of his team's attendance and each of his starts following the Yankees game were televised.

Fidrych finished his dream season with a 19-9 record and a 2.34 ERA. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award and finished second in Cy Young voting to Jim Palmer of the Orioles. The Bird's career took a nosedive after that. Injuries to his arms and knees limited him to only five more seasons, and he finished his career with just a 29-19 record and a 3.10 ERA. He attempted a minor league comeback with the Red Sox in 1982 and 1983 before calling it quits, no doubt as the most notable 29-game winner in MLB history.

[DCPatriot]

Didn't he get in trouble with the law?  Or, was that another Detroit starting pitcher I'm thinking of?  He won 30 games but can't think of his name.

[sinkspur]

A Brief History of the Eephus Pitch

By FRED BIERMAN

On Sunday, Randy Johnson was facing San Francisco outfielder Fred Lewis in the first inning and threw a pitch so slow that it failed to even register on the radar gun. Lewis was obviously expecting something with a little more heat on it and the pitch fluttered in for strike two. Lewis eventually worked a single in the at bat on the way to becoming the first lefty ever to get four hits off Johnson. Arizona went on to win the game, 7-2.

The slow ball, however, turned out to be inadvertent. A boat horn honked in McCovey cove right as Johnson was delivering the ball distracting the Johnson in the middle of his windup and resulting in the surprising pitch. As my colleague Tyler Kepner can tell you, when he was with the Yankeees, Johnson actually intentionally threw a pitch similar to the one he threw on Sunday. This is from a Yankees game story in 2005, when Johnson was pitching for the Yankees.

    Johnson has mostly hidden his sense of humor since spring training. Yesterday’s game, however, was such a laugher that Johnson even smiled after lobbing an Eephus pitch to Sal Fasano in the third inning. Johnson let it go when he noticed catcher John Flaherty was confused about where to set his target.

The Eephus pitch, popularized in the 1930s and 40s by a Pirates pitcher named Rip Sewell (here’s a cool shot of his grip on the pitch) is basically just a high arcing lob or a “junk ball.” It seems that everyone who throws the pitch (or some version of it) has their own name for it. Dave LaRoche called his “LaLob”. Dave Steib called his the “Dead Fish”. Bill Lee (one of the most colorful figures in the history of the game) called his the “Spaceball” or “Leephus”. Yankee fans will of course remember Steve Hamilton’s “Folly Floater”. Today Orlando Hernandez and Tim Wakefield are among the only players to throw some version of the Eephus.

There are also two famous stories of players missing or fouling off an eephus and asking for it again. In the 1946 All-Star game, Sewell threw one to Ted Williams, who missed it and asked for another. Sewell obliged and Williams hit it out of the park. In 1975 (CORRECTION — the commenters were correct that this incident happened in 1970 not 1975), Hamilton threw one to Cleveland’s Tony Horton who fouled it back behind home plate. Horton asked for another and got it only to pop it up to catcher Thurman Munson. Steeped in shame, Horton crawled back to the dugout. Thanks to YouTube you can watch the footage of this incident above. (Also thanks to YouTube you can watch this bizarro clip from some kind of Japanese television program of a different kind of eephus.)

Also as Lee found out in the 1975 World Series, you can’t get too cute with the pitch. In game 7 of that series, Lee twice retired Cincinnati slugger Tony Perez with his space ball, but went to the well one too many times and in his third at bat Perez hit one out of the park for a 2-run home run to bring the Reds to within a run. That was the beginning of Cincinnati’s comeback and the Reds went on to win the game and the series.

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/a-brief-history-of-the-eephus-pitch/

[famousdayandyear]

The only trouble he had that I know of is he injured his knee fooling around.  And his arm=rotator cuff
Don't know who at Detroit you may be thinking about.  I love the game, but don't know too much else.

[famousdayandyear]

Randy Johnson Makes Bare-Handed Grab on Prince Fielder


Randy Johnson makes a bare handed grab on Prince Fielder

[DCPatriot]

The only trouble he had that I know of is he injured his knee fooling around.  And his arm=rotator cuff
Don't know who at Detroit you may be thinking about.  I love the game, but don't know too much else.

Denny McLean     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denny_McLain

He had a lot of demons.

[famousdayandyear]

Thanks for the link.  I now remember him making headlines years ago.

[Lando Lincoln]

Thanks, Lando!

Seeing your love of baseball only reinforces our FRiendship over the years!

Great stuff!  

That may be the kindest compliment I have received on a forum.  It means a lot.

As for Robin Yount being an Orioles killer that day, I remember it was a clincher for his MVP season.  Earl Weaver only had high praise afterwards.  Nobody could go from 1st to 3rd faster than Robin Yount.  Paul Molitor was one of the smartest base runners in baseball.  Just being on base would unnerve most seasoned pitchers.  But only a true baseball fan would see it, I think.  Gorman Thomas, Ben Oglivie, Cecil Cooper...  Jimmy Gantner, Ted Simmons, Rollie Fingers...

It has been 20+ years since I read it, but there is a book called 9 Innings by David Okrent.  His goal was to devote an entire book to one perfect game of baseball.  He chose a game in 1982 between the Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore Orioles.  It was brilliantly written and I remember, it expanded my knowledge of the game and my overall vocabulary considerably.  It was out of print for a long time, but maybe Amazon has it.  If you can get your hands on it, I highly recommend it.

I am serious when I say this... baseball is majestically American.  It is a game of achievements and records.  There is nothing like it.  The drama that can build in a single nine inning game or a playoff series, without a clock, is unrivaled in sport.  It is a team game of individuals.  It is a game of match ups and strategies.  It is heartbreaking or exhilarating in an instant.  Nothing... nothing... can match it at its finest.  It is life at its best.

Way back when, I saw Steve Busby throw a no-hitter against the Brewers.  George "Boomer" Scott walked after fouling off several pitches to spoil the perfect game.  But, what a night!  Back then, I could go to 20-30 home games while working at a grocery store.  I always sat in the upper deck as I convinced myself they were the best seats at old County Stadium. I would travel to old Comisky in Chicago to support "my" Brewers.  God, how I long for those times.  Nothing, nothing was better than when I was at the ballpark.

And... don't get me started on the 1967 and 1968 Tigers!  Good Heavens!  I had an old GE AM radio that I would put under my pillow at night when I was supposed to be asleep.  The Angels, Red Sox were even with the Tigers.  Tony Conigliaro?  Remember his gruesome injury?  I talked Mr. Narloch, my geography teacher to let me listen to Game 7 against the Cards.  Denny McClain!  Mickey Lolich the Series hero - winning 3 and beating Bob Gibson on short rest in Game 7.  Mickey Stanley moving in from the outfield to play shortstop so Al Kaline could get in the lineup.  Mayo Smith made one of the all time brilliant moves with that one.

Yes my friend... I love the Green Bay Packers.  But baseball is divine.

[DCPatriot]

I grew up in a AAA city....the Buffalo Bisons of the International League.

I recall Columbus Ohio, Richmond Hens, Syracuse....and even Toronto being in the league.

Road games were broadcast on ticker tape....and the announcers had to create the scene and drama...sitting in a studio somewhere.  It was pretty amazing when you think about it.

Back in the days of Luke Easter and Ruben Amaro (the father, I'm sure)

[Lando Lincoln]

For DCP...


Baseball Hall of Fame - Biographies: Eddie Murray

[Lando Lincoln]

Tony Conigliaro Story Documentary

[Lando Lincoln]

For DCP...


Baltimore Orioles Earl Weaver in his last game in 1982 as described by Howard Cosell