By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, just hours away from witnessing a professional baseball game — the Cincinnati Reds againstg the team’s prospects at the Dayton Dragons’ Day Air Park.
—OH, THE INJURIES: One thing for certain that the Cincinnati Reds or any team needs is for players to stay clear of the training room.
But before the 2025 season even begins, the line outside the Reds’ trainer’s room is growing longer and longer.
Already on the injured list are catcher Tyler Stephenson, closer Alexis Diaz, pitcher Rhett Lowder, outfielder Spencer Steer and pitcher Andrew Abbott.
Abbott is able to pitch, but because he was slowed in spring training, he will pitch some innings in the minors to stretch him out.
Manager Terry Francona needs to stand at the trainer’s room door and say something like this:“No athlete is truly tested until they’ve stared an injury in the face and come out on the other side stronger than ever.”
—A ‘DEADLY HOMER: Baseball always seems to provide interesting and bizarre stories and I just heard thls one.
In 1961 during a spring training game in Tucson’s Hi Corbett Field, Cleveland’s Tito Francona hit a home run over the right field fence.
He was the ‘original’ Tito, the father of Cincinnati Reds manager Terry ‘Tito’ Francona.
A man behind the fence went looking for the baseball as a souvenir. He didn’t find it. He found something else. A dead body.
It was a man Tucson police were looking for because he was a murderer. There was a gun next to the body. The guy had committed suicide.
And this wasn’t even in the dead ball era.
—WHEN DOYLE TOILED: When Doyle Alexander toiled – and toiled is the right word – for the New York Yankees in 1982, during one spell he gave up 11 runs in five innings and seven home runs in 35 innings.
Sensing something was amiss, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner ordered Alexander to take a physical, saying he feared some of his players would get hurt playing behind him.
Third baseman Graig Nettles was asked if he feared getting hurt when Alexander pitched and he said, “I wasn’t worried. I might have been if I was sitting in the left field seats.”
—THE DODGER DOG: Unless you are a deep-rooted, deep-seated St. Louis Cardinals fan, most likely you never heard of pitcher Larry Jaster. His career record was 35-33.
But he is etched permanently in the minds of any surviving members of the 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers.
That year Jaster faced them five times and pitched five complete-game shutouts. . .45 innings, no runs and 24 hits, all singles.
To the Dodgers, he was the Court Jaster.
—QUOTE: From Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale after he beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, despite home runs by Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell: “Stargell must be in a slum with only one home run. The last time I faced him he hit three homers.”
—WRONG RELIGION: The first game of the 1965 World Series fell on Yom Kippur, so the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Jewish ace Sandy Koufax would not pitch.
Koufax was 26-8 with a 2.04 earned run average and would have started. Instead, Don Drysdale starterd . .not a bad option since he was 23-12 with a 2.77 ERA.
But by the third inning, the Minnesota Twins were up 7-1. LA manager Walter Alston trudged to the mound and Drysdale quickly said, “I bet you wish I was Jewish.”
—PHIL ‘ER UP: One of my baseball-writing heroes was Phil Collier of the San Diego Union. He was universally liked and respected by executives, players and fellow writers.
Because he liked a cocktail as much as a colorful turn of phrase, on the road he made the rounds of bars at night by himself, earning him the nickname of ‘The Phantom.’
He told everybody that his autobiorgraphy’s title would be, ‘The Bases Were Loaded And So Was I.’
But he never did write it.
—PAL JOEY: Somebody familiar with Joey Votto’s high school days in Toronto said there was a day when his girl friend broke up with him.
Was it that he didn’t care or that he took it out on the baseball. That same day, the story goes, he went 4-for-4.
And how many remember that during the last game of his career he was ejected from the game?
—QUOTE: From former Reds first baseman Joey Votto: “I’ll be disappointed if I retire and I am not part of a championship club here in Cincinnati.” (Wonder if he is still disappointed?)
—TO TELL THE TOOTH: St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire’s first major league hit came against pitcher Tommy John.
And there is a kicker to it. McGwire’s father was a dentist, Tommy John’s dentist. And in that at bat, getting McGwire out was like pulling teeth, right?
—ANOTHER UECKER-ISM: From former catcher/broadcaster/comedian Bob Uecker: “When I played baseball I got death threats all the time. . .from my mother.”
—TRANSIENT TRANSFERS: First-year Wright State basketball coach Clint Sargent is feeling the deep sting of college basketball’s insidious transfer portal.
Six players, including four starters, are entering the transfer portal. Leaving are starters Brandon Noel, Alex Huibregtse, Jack Doumbia and Keaton Norris. Also departing are sophomores Drey Carter and Ben Southerland.
And speaking of transfers, three University of Dayton Flyers from the 2023-24 team who transferred made it to the NCAA tournament this season: Koby Brea (Kentucky), Kobe Elvis (Oklahoma), Mustafa Amzil (New Mexico).
The weak-kneed NCAA needs to do something, and do it fast, about the transfer portal. Some players are mere transient mercenaries, playing at four different schools during their careers.
Jamille Reynolds has played at Central Florida, Temple, Cincinnati and South Florida. Noah Farrakhan has played at East Carolina, Eastern Michigan, West Virginia and Hampton.
And remember UD’s Mongolian Mike Sharavjamts? He has played at Dayton, San Francisco, Utah and who knows where next.
Why not go back to making a transfer sit out a year before he is eligible and how about forcing a transfer to stay at his new school at least two years, maybe even three?
—PLAYLIST NUMBER 155: From poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “Music is the universal languge of mankind.”
—The Wonder Of You (Elvis Presley), Hooked On A Feeling (Blue Swede), Never Be The Same (Christopher Cross), I’ll Stand By You (Pretenders), Key Largo (Bertie Higgins), You Can Do Magic (America), Black & White (Three Dog Night), The Winner Takes It All (Abba).
—Heartache Tonight (Eagles), When I Fall In Love (Celine Dion), Crazy (Kenny Rogers), Believe It Or Not (John Scarbury), Sooner Or Later (Grass Roots), Love Will Find A Way (Pablo Cruise), September Morn (Neil Diamond), Denise (Randy & The Rainbows).
Great as usual