By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave and when it was 78 degrees last week I considered traipsing into the backyard to toss the ol’ horsehide around. Then I remembered I’m 85 and the only thing I’d toss is my cookies.
—WHY NOT BOTH?: During a spring training interview with baseball writer Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz revealed that he ran into Kyle Schwarber leaving Great American Ball Park over the winter.
It was after Schwarber’s ‘negotiations’ visit, obviously a courtesy call to his hometown team before re-signing with the Philadelphia Phillies for five years at $150 million.
Seeing Schwarber excited De La Cruz and he thought Schwarber might sign with the Reds, that the Reds should have signed him.
“I thought we were going to get him,” said De La Cruz. “I told him, ‘Oh, man, it’s gonna be fun if you sign here.’ And he said, ‘We’ll see.’”
We saw. He’s back with the Phillies, even though teammate Bryce Harper said he thought Schwarber would sign with the Reds.
When Wittenmeyr said, “Well, it’s not bad that you got Gene (Eugenio Suarez,” De La Cruz said, “No, Geno’s a great player. But if we got both of them it’s gonna be better. That would have made us a lot better.”
Both? That’s the biggest pipe in a huge pipe dream. There was no way Schwarber was coming to Cincinnati and the Reds were fortunate Suarez was still available to re-sign with the Reds for one year at $15 million and a mutual $16 million option for 2027.
—HUGH WAS HUGE: With Opening Day slowly approaching, let me take you back to 1894 — and, no, I didn’t cover that one. Yes, I covered in 1994, but I barely missed 1894.
It was the first season they moved the pitcher’s mound back from 50 feet to 60 feet, 6 inches. And nobody has ever explained why they added six inches to the 60 feet.
Hugh Duffy of the Boston Beaneaters opened the season with a shattered heart. A week before Opening Day, his wife died from tuberculosis.
Duffy then proceeded to hit .440 that season. That’s not a typo. It wasn’t .340, it was .440. He had 237 hits, 51 doubles, 16 triples and led the league with 18 home runs — a lot of home runs in the dead ball era.
He amassed 374 extra base hits and he was only 5-foot-7. Boston finished third at 83-39 while the Baltimore Orioles finished first at 83-49. The Cincinnati Reds finished 10th in the 12-team league at 55-75.
Notice anything? They all played a different amount of games. Some scheduled games were never played due to major stadium fires in Boston and Philadelphia. The Beaneaters South End Grounds was destroyed.
***Speaking of the 1800s, pitcher-outfielder John Coleman was a rookie in 1883 for the Philadelphia Quakers.
He started 65 games and was 12-48, the most losses in MLB history. He completed 59 of those 65 starts, pitched 538 /13 innings and faced 2,541 batters.
And he should have benefitted from the 50 feet distance between the pitcher’s box and home plate, plus it was the first year pitchers were permitted to throw overhanded.
—IN THE BUCKET: His given name was Aloyisius Harry Syzmanski and when he played for the Philadelphia Athletics they called him ‘Bucket Foot Al.’ That’s because when he swung, he stepped toward third base with his front foot instead of toward the pitcher.
Coaches told him he couldn’t hit that way, that he’d never be successful, that his style would ruin him.
Oh, yeah? In his first 11 season he never hit below .300 and he drove in more than 100 runs all 11 years. In drove in 165 runs in 1930 and he hit .390 in 1931.
And that’s how ol’ ‘Bucket Foot Al,’ who played under the name of Al Simmons, landed in the Hall of Fame.
—NO DOUBTING THOMAS: A sidelight to the University of Dayton’s final regular season game in UD Arena Friday night was the re-appearance of Malcolm Thomas.
For the past few games the 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman has had a seat at the far end of the bench that may as well have been a doghouse.
But when Amael L’Etang encountered early four problems, coach Anthony Grant removed Thomas’s handcuffs. And he responded with 11 1/2 solid minutes — five points, a rebound, an assist and a steal.
And Grant praised him after the 68-62 loss to VCU.
“I’m so proud of him,” said Grant. “It has been hard. He fell out of the rotation. The group that was playing was having success.
“It’s really hard, y’know, when you’re young and talented to keep your head,” added Grant. “The thing we talk about is it’s better to be prepared for an opporunity and not have one than to have an opporunity and not be prepared.
“He was prepared today,” said Grant. “And I’m proud of him for making sure when the opportunity presented itself, he was ready despite the frustration that comes with not being in the rotation.”
—WHIRLWIND FINISH: Wonder why they call it March Madness? Ask Charleston Southern, once its players recover from shock and awe.
Charleston Southern led Winthrop by seven points, 81-74, with 45 seconds left in a Big South tournament game. Bench-sitters were celebrating on the sidelines, high fives everywhere.
Then. . .With a flurry of turnovers, Winthrop scored 12 points in 45 seconds, a 12-0 run. They scored eight points in the final 13 seconds to win, 86-81.
And the final two points enabled Winthrop to cover the 4 1/2-point spread.
***And how about this one? It happened in the Iowa state girls 4-A semifinals. Dallas-Grimes High School trailed Norwalk by six points with 35 seconds left.
And in the final 35 seconds one girl scored eight points. Norwalk missed a free throw and 5-foot-11 sophomore Ava Smid grabbed the rebound and drove the floor for a basket.
Then she stole the inbounds pass and scored. Then she stole the next inbounds pass and scored. Then she told the inbounds pass for a third straight time and scored.
Dallas-Grimes won, 47-42.
Queston: Was the Norwalk coach napping or texting friends to brag about the win. The Norwalk girl throwing the inbounds pass stood right under the basket, making it easy for Smid to steal the pass right at the hoop and lay it in. Why didn’t the coach tell the girl she could run the base-line and get away from under the basket?
Yep, hindsight is 20/20.
***And here’s one from Saturday that’s hard to believe. Richmond led Duquesne, 38-8, and 49-28 at the half. FINAL: Duquesne 79, Richmond 77 on a tip-in at the horn. For Richmond, Gabriel was blowing that horn.
—DID THEY WANT PICKLES: An Arizona motorist was passing a Chick-fil-A when he saw something he couldn’t believe, even after removing his sun glasses and rubbing his eyes.
He spotted two Seattle Mariners baseball players, in full uniform, steering a golf cart through the Chick-fila-A drive-through.
Only in spring training.
—OH YOU BOBCATS: While speaking this week to the Dayton Agonis Club, new Ohio University football coach John Hauser puffed out his chest a couple of times.
First, he pointed out that over the past four seasons, the Bobcats are 23-1 at home. The only team with a better home. record over that span is Georgia at 25-1.
Hauser also pointed out that OU was the only major Ohio school to win a bowl game this season when it upset UNLV, 17-10, in the ever-popular Boca Raton Bowl.
And he is correct. Ohio State lost to Miami (Fla.), 24-14, in the CFB playoffs, Miami (O.) lost to Fresno State, 18-3. in the Fresno Bowl and Cincinnati lost to Navy, 35-13, in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
—WALK ON BY: There is no doubt that basketball is the most difficult sport to officiate. The super-pituitary players are mostly huge, quick, fast and athletic.
But how difficult is it to see big men shuffling their feet as they try to squirm their way to the basket? They do the ol’ soft shoe, the ‘Shuffle Off To Buffalo.’
That used to be called traveling, but these days you seldom, if ever, hear a whistle blown.
—QUOTE MACHINE: Sports people say the darndest things:
—From former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz: “You wife is not your best friend. Your dog is. Lock the two in the back of the trunk, come back two hours later and see which one is happy to see you.”
—From ESPN talk show host/screamer Stephen A. Smith: “There is no reason on God’s green earth why a team that goes 30-0 in the regular season (Miami) — only the fourth team in the last 45 years to do so — can’t make a field of 1 of 68. That’s insane.”
—From pitcher Sal Maglie, known as ‘The Barber’ for giving hitters close shaves: “I don’t want to get to know the other guys too well because I might like them and then I might not want to throw at them.”
—From Frank Robinson, hard-nosed manager in Cleveland, San Francisco, Baltimore and Montreal/Washington: “I had no trouble communicating. The players just didn’t like what I had to say.”
—TRIVIA TIME: Stuff that rattles in my head, or maybe it’s just my brain rattling:
—Only two players in MLB history have hit 35 or more home runs in 12 seasons. One is an easy one, Babe Ruth. The other? A shocker. It’s Alex (A-Rod) Rodriguez.
—Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek caught four no-hitters by four differ pitchers — Hideo Nomo, Derek Lowe, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester. Amazingly, over his 17-year career Johnny Bench never caught a no-hitter.
—How rare is a triple play? Not rare enough for Baltimore’s Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson. During his career he hit into four triple plays, the most for any player’s career.
—PLAYLIST NUMBER 156: As author/poet Victor Hugo put it, “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”
—Saturday Night (New Christy Minstrels), Take Me Home Tonight (Eddie Money), You Give Love A Bad Name (Bon Jovi), I’ll Never Love This Way Again (Dione Warwck). In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel), In Dreams (Roy Orbison).
—Our House (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), Solitaire (Laura Branigan). We Belong Together (Richie Valens), You’re The One (Vogues), You Baby (Turtles), Thank God I’m A Country Boy (John Denver), One Of These Nights (Eagles).