OBSERVATIONS: ‘We Just Aren’t Going To Lose Any More”

By Hal McCoy

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, awaiting Amazon to deliver two new baseball books. I already have more than 300 and I’m nearly out of shelf space in my home office, and I dread gettining rid of some to make room. I’m a baeball book hoarder.

—WORDS TO LIVE BY: One of the famous, now infamous, quotes to come out of the mouth of Cincinnnati Reds CEO Bob Castellini was, “We just aren’t going to lose any more.”

He said that to me and he said it tersely and with darts aimed my way. It was a press conference after he fired general manager Wayne Krivsky and I asked, “When is this franchise going to display some stability and continuity?”

Castellini took over the Reds in 2006 and. . .just not going to lose any more? During his 17 years, the Reds have had five winning seasons. They’ve lost 90 or more six times and 100 once.

When he took over, the man who made his fortune as a fruit and vegetable wholesaler authored an open letter to the fans with these promises:

***We will bring championship baseball to Cincinnati.

***We will build one of the most respected organizations in baseball.

***We will rekindle the Reds Nation spirit.

***We will not rest until you are happy.

Either Mr. Castellini is extremely naive or he was peddling the fans rotten tomatos. No championships. No respect for the organization. No large rabid support from Reds Nation. And they must be awfully tired from not resting.

And writing stuff like this is why Mr. Castellini tried to get me fired when I wrote columns for the Fox Sports Ohio web-site.

—FRANK-LY SPEAKING: Most baseball people believe a team should not trade a player to another team in the same division.

Why? Who knows.

There was chagrin among some fans when the Reds traded pitcher Frankie Montas to division rival Milwaukee.

But think about it, fans. Montas won his first two games of the season, then went 2-and-8. The Reds lost14 of his last 20 starts.

So shipping him to Milwaukee might be a good thing. If he continues pitching for trhe Brewers the way he was pitching for the Reds, that’s beneficial to the Reds, right?

You’re welcome.

—NOW ‘EAR’ THIS: Billy Hamilton was a fleet base-stealer. . .and I don’t mean Cincinnati’s Billy Hamilton. There was a Billy Hamilton in the early 1900s who once stole seven bases in one game and he is in the Hall Fame.

This Hamilton also was adept at fouling off pitches and once fouled 29 straight pitches from Cy Young.

After the 29th, Young walked toward home plate and told Hamilton, “I’m putting the next pitch right over the heart of the plate. If you foul it off, the next one goes in your ear.”

Hamilton struck out.

—A FOUR-BALL STORY: A really good find by Jeff Singleton of a video with former New York Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford, called ‘The Four-Ball Story.’

“It was 1959 and the Chicago White Sox were in Yankee Stadium,” said Ford. “My first pitch, Luis Aparacio bunted for a hit. One pitch, one on.

“On my next pitch, Nellie Fox doubled. On my third pitch, a real good curveball, but it hit Minnie Minoso on the knee. Three pitches, bases loaded,” said Ford.

“That brought up big Ted Kluszewski, who made his fame with the Cincinnati Reds but was now with the
White Sox. First pitch, double off the right-centerfield wall for three runs. Four pitches, three runs.

“Manager Casey Stengel and catcher Yogi Berra come to the mound and Casey asks Yogi, ‘Does Ford have anything?’ And Yogi says, ‘How the hell would I know? I haven’t caught one yet.’“

—CATFISH QUIP: When Reggie Jackson played for the New York Yankees, a candy company come out with a candy bar called ‘The Reggie Bar.’

Pitcher Catfish Hunter, never a big fan of Reggie’s, uttered this gem: “When you unwrap a Reggie Bar, it tells you how good it is.”

—AIN’T THAT THE TRUTH?: Anybody else get a chuckle out of the commercial aired before the Cincinnati Reds pre-game show: “Reds baseball is brought to you by AAA.” Hmmm. That seems to be truth in advertising at its finest.

—WHAT’S IN A NAME: Baseball team nicknames and their evolution fascinates me.

For instance, this is how Boston became the Red Sox. They were called the Boston Pilgrams and wore blue socks.

One day their owner decided to change the teams uinforms and decided they’d wear red socks. He told writers, “You newspaper men will have to pick a new nickname for my team.”

The writers began calling them the Red Sox and it stuck. Previously the American League Boston franchise was nicknamed, the Collinsites, the Puritans, the Somersets and the Yankees. Yes, the Boston Yankees and we know how much Red Sox fans hate the New York Yankees these days.

—BALL MOVEMENT: Before the 1920s, only three balls were used in an MLB game. That’s because fans were required to throw back foul balls. And it was the law. Fans keeping a ball were arrested.
In 1923, a 12-year-old boy refused to give up his treasured souvenir and was arrested and held overnight in jail. The next day, a judge ruled that the kid could keep the ball and he would throw out any other foul ball cases.

From that day forward, fans were permitted to keep foul balls, leadinng to today’s usage of more than 80 baseballs a game.

And I am the proud owner of a World Series baseball that Derek Jeter fouled into the press box in 1998.

—NEW EVENTS: When the Olympic summer games come to Los Angeles in 2028, there are rumors that four events will be added:

Drive-bys, Smash and Grabs, Suspect Kicking and Car-Jacking.

—PLAYLIST NUMBER 79: Creeping up on double digits:

One Moment In Time (Whitney Houston), Goodbye Time (Conway Twitty), Without You (Air Supply), Paradise City (Guns N’ Roses), Cat’s In The Cradle (Harry Chapin), Sweet City Woman (Stampeders),
Poor Little Fool (Ricky Nelson).

Bluer Than Blue (Michael Johnson), Oh, Lonesome Me (Don Gibson), Let’s Go (The Cars), She Cried (Jay & The Americans), You Can Call Me Al (Paul Simon), Walk Of Life (Dire Straits).