By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave and while I was sunning myself in the Caribbean the wacky world went on but I was unaware of any of it.
—TALKIN’ BASEBALL: There was one area on the mammoth Holland America Nieu Statendam for we sinners who smoked — aft of the boat near a swimming pool on the ninth deck.
And I met some intersting fellow cigar smokers.
There was a super nice fellow named Bob Getchell from Oregon. We connected when he noticed my Hall of Fame ring. He showed me photos of his massive collection of vintage baseball gloves used by major leaguers.
He owns one small, flat glove used by Babe Ruth, about the size of a snow mitten. I don’t see how players in those days could catch a cold, let alone a line drive.
And then the kicker. He told me that he was formerly an amateur boxer and put together a 77-2 record. Then he showed me a photo of him with Muhammad Ali and said, “I once sparred with him.”
I told him the story about the day when I worked for the Detroit Free Press and the paper set it up for me to take a ride around town with Ali in his limousine.
We neared a corner where about a dozen young people were congregated and he told his driver, “Stop here.”
He jumped out and the first thing he said was, “I am the greated.” A girl about 12 said, “No you’re not. God is the greatest.”
And Ali shot back, “Well, I have a better left hook.”
Another gentlemen, Ken Schwartz of Marietta, Ga., is a true baseball aficionado and as a kid attended games in both the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field.
The subject of baseball commissioner Rob Manfraud’s idea of a Golden Batter surfaced. His hare-brained idea was to permit teams to use any player to be a Golden Hitter one time during a game.
He could be in the game and bat out of order whenever the manager wanted to use him.
Said Schwartz, “If that happens, the other team should have a Golden Pitcher that a manager can bring in to face the Golden Batter or any other battr in a crucial situation.”
Make sense. But the Golden Batter makes zero sense. Isn’t the DH enough of a gimmick already?
Speaking of Babe Ruth’s glove, much is made of Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee selling Ruth to the New York Yankees for $100,000,
What isn’t mentioned much is that Frazee sold or made lopsided trades to give the Yankees more than Ruth. He also gave them pitcher Waite Hoyt, pitcher Carl Mays, pitcher Joe Bush, pitcher Sad Sam Jones, pitcher Herb Pennock, pitcher George Pipgras, catcher Wally Schang, third basema Joe Dugan and shortstop Everett Scott.
The Yankees won the World Series in 1923 and seventeen players on the roster came from the Red Sox — six of their seven leading pitchers and four of the eight position players.
—THE McGRAW CRAWL: While we’re diving into ancient baseball history, here is one that is stranger than fiction.
When John McGraw managed the 1915 New York Giants, his team won 26 straight games in one portion of the season and won 17 straight games on the road in another portion of the season
So they were a runaway pennant winner, right? Nope. They finished fourth with an 86-66 record, seven games behind the Brookly Robins.
—WHATA YA GOTTA DO?: When Ichiro Suzuki set a major league record in 2004 with 262 hits, he did it the Wee Willie Keeler way. . .hit ‘em where they ain’t.
Of his 262 hits, 225 were singles. He had 24 doubles, five triples and eight home runs. He batted .372 and during a 60-game stretch, Ichiro batted .460.
Despite that, he did not win the American League MVP. In fact, he didn’t even get one first place vote with his incredible 9.2 WAR.
Who won it? Vladimir Guerrero of the Los Angeles Angels.
—MADDUX MAYHEM: Time and time again I’ve marveled at the pitching accomplishments of Greg Maddux.
And never once have I mentioned his hitting. The man could hit. Twice during his career his personal batting average was higher than all the batters hit against him during the season.
Ah, another reason I despise the designated hitter.
—A HOMER? SO WHAT?: Was New York Giants’ manager John ‘Muggsy’ McGraw an autocrat or what? Twice during his long career he fined players after they hit game-winning home runs for ignoring his ‘take’ or ‘bunt’ signs.
And this one is mind-boggling. In August of 1903, McGraw three times started pitcher John ‘Iron Man’ McGinnity in both ends of a doubleheader and he won all six games.
Not surprisingly, McGinnity pitched 434 innings that year. His arm should be hanging somewhere on an American Museum of Natural History wall in New York.
—CAN YOU SEE THIS?: A different view: There was once a sign on an outfield wall of an old New York stadium paid for by an optician that read, “Don’t kill the umpire, it may be your eyesight.”
—UEKE TO A ROOK: Bob Uecker, giving advice to a rookie:
“Don’t do what I do and you’ll be fine. Do what I don’t do and you’ll be fine. Do what I do and you’ll be on a bus to Fayettville in five minutes.”
—MULLING OVER MILLIONS: Ohio State rewarded football coach Ryan Day with a contract extension that pays him $12.5 million a year.
That’s about $8 million more than I’ve made in my lifetime as a sports writer. . .and not once, not one singled time, have I ever lost to Michigan.
—OVER AND OUT: Jim Larranaga, a highly successful basketball coach at Miami (Fla.), quit because of the sinister transfer portal and said this at his press conference:
“I’m physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. I’ve tried every which way to keep this going. What shocked me, beyond belief, was after we made it to the Final Four just 18 months ago.
“The very first time I met with the players, eight decided to put their name in the portal and leave. I asked them, ‘Don’t you like it here?’ And they said, ‘No, I love Miami, it’s great. But there’s an opportunity to make money someplace else.’
“It’s created a situation that you have to begin to ask yourself as a coach, ‘What is this all about?”
Larranaga won’t be the only ‘name’ coach to throw away his clipboard and say, ‘No mas, no mas.’
—WHERE’S THE WATER: Now that the Cincinnati Reds have started spring training in Arizona, I’m reminded of when they trained in Florida.
Nadine loved sitting on the sugary sand beach of Siesta Key. When the Reds moved to Arizona she didn’t accompany me to spring training and said, “I don’t like Arizona, there’s no beach.”
To that I told her, “Honey, Arizona is all beach, there is just no water.”
She didn’t think that was humorous.
—PLAYLIST NUMBER 146: As Bono once said, “Music can change the world because it can change people.”
—Oh, Mickey (Toni Basil), I Go Crazy (Paul Davis), Say You Love Me (Fleetwood Mac), Escape (Rupert Holmes), Saturday In The Park (Chicago), Take It Easy On Me (Little River Band), Love Is Alive (Gary Wright), Fire Lake (Bob Seger).,
—Ride Captain, Ride (Blue Image), Roseanne (Toto), Rich Girl (Hall & Oates), Back In The High Life Again (Steve Winwood), Baby Come Back (Player), Baby What A Big Surprise (Chicago), We Just Disagree (Dave Mason).
Enjoyed talking baseball with you at cigar time! Thanks for the shout out!