By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from the Man Cave, hoping that Terry Francona doesn’t mind me second guessing his decision during Wednesday’s loss to the San Francisco Giants. Second-guessing is so, so easy.
—SHOULDA WALKED YAZ: Wonder if Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona knew that San Francisco’s Mike Yastrzemski had four walk-off home runs when he came to bat Wednesday afternoon in the bottom of the 10th
Now it’s five. Emilio Pagan’s first pitch made a splashdown in McCovey Cove and the Reds lost, 8-6.
And I still believe, with a runner on third and one out, Francona should have walked Yaz intentionally. Francona’s explanation was that Yaz would have stolen second, “Putting runners on third and second.”
I love and admire Francona, but so what if Yaz is on second? The winning run is on third and it didn’t matter whether Yaz was on first or second.
Now get off my devil strip (You can look up devil strip).
—A BILLIONAIRE IS NEXT: Where will it end? Well, it never will end, all these obscene baseball contracts. The Toronto Blue Jays signed Vlad Guerrero Jr. to a 14-year $500 million deal.
That’s baseball’s third highest contract behind Shohei Ohtana and Juan Soto. How soon will it be before a player signs the first billion-dollar deal? It won’t be long.
Remember who was the first player to make $1 million? It was Nolan Ryan when Houston signed him for $1 million in 1979.
Any idea who was the first $2 Million Man? It was George Foster, but it wasn’t the Reds signing him. It was the New York Mets in 1982.
—THE ‘BIG TWO?’: The first time baseball’s general managers discussed the replay/review it was voted down, 28-2. The two who voted yes were Steve Phillips of the New York Mets and Jim Bowden of the Cincinnati Reds.
“After that, the rest of the GMs called me and Bowden ‘The Big Two,’ said Phillips.
Reds fans had other nicknames for Bowden.
—LOSE, LOSE, LOSE: You can’t make this stuff up. . .well, you can but nobody would believe it.
There was a Division III (non-scholarship) baseball doubleheader played this week between two teams that had lost 141 straight games.
Yeshiva Unversity had lost 99 straight and Lehman College had lost 42 straight. And Lehman was 17-0 against Yeshiva, averaging 15.35 runs per game.
Apparently, they had not played each other for a while. Well, Lehman broke its losing streak in Game One, 7-6, extending Yeshiva’s losing ways to an even 100.
Fortunately for Yeshive it was a doubleheader. The Maccabees (that’s Yeshiva’s nickname) won the second game, 9-5, ending the 100-loss mess. And now the Lightning (that’s Lehman’s nickname) has a one-game losing streak.
—TALENTED STAFF: Speaking of small college baseball, there is a school in South Carolina that has four former major league players as assistant coaches. . .and two are former Cincinnati Reds.
It is the North Greenville (S.C) University Trailblazers, an NCAA Division II program. The former Reds coaching there are catcher Eddie Taubensee and pitcher/outfielder Micah Owings. The other two are Darrren Holmes and Matt Williams.
The school, located in Tigerville (I’m not kidding) won the NCAA Division II national championship in 2022 and since the MLB draft was instituted in 1965 nine NGU players have been drafted.
—A WALK-A-FEST: How would you have like to sit in the stand watching this one. The Jupiter Hammerheads in the low Class A Florida State League issued 22 walks. . .in one game.
The recipients were the Dunedin Blue Jays. In the first four innings they drew three, three, three and five walks. Before it was over Jupiter pitchers issued seven bases loaded walks.
And there were three wild pitches and a hit batsman as Jupiter pitchers threw 267 pitches, only 45 per cent for strikes.
It was, of course, an all-time professional record and the Hammerheads got
hammered, 19-5.
Oh, and Dunedin pitchers issued 10 walks and the game last 3 hours and 39 minutes.
—WHICH MOSES, JIM?: As everybody who visits my scribblings knows, Jim Murray is my sportswriting hero and idol.
And he overdid himself when he described Olympic hurdles champion and Dayton native Edwin Moses:
“I like to see Edwin Moses run the hurdles for the same reason I liked to see Rod Carew bat, Bing Crosby sing, Joe DiMaggio drift under a high fly, Joe Louis throw a left, Sammy Snead hit a drive, Swaps in the stretch, Arnold Palmer putt, Sandy Koufax with the hitter in a hole, Marcus Allen hit a line. . .or for that matter, a Swiss make a watch, an Arab sell a rug, a Manolete fight a bull and Hemingway write about it, an Englishman do Shakespeare or Roosevelt make a speech.”
Geez, Jim. Take a deep breath. Now what do you really think about Moses?
While we’re at it with Murray, one of his favorite writing subjects was Pete Rose. When Murray lost his eye sight he needed a driver, a Los Angeles Times writer named John Sheibe.
“He always wanted me to read him the morning paper because he wanted to know what Pete Rose did,” said Sheibe. “He once told me, ‘You ask Pete a question, then stand back.’”
I know that feeling, Jim.
—A SAD STATE: This is the current state of basketball in the college ranks and in the NBA. . .and it isn’t pretty.
Jakob Gillespie just received $3 million in NIL money from the University of Tennesse. His brother, Collin Gillespie, plays for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and is making $580,000.
Want to wager that Collin wishes he were back playing for Villanova?
—DAYJUAN FROM DAYTON: Dayton native Dayjaun Anderson, a product of Ponitz High School, began his collegiate career at Wright State, but decided to go the JUCO route and transferred to Triton College, a junior college in suburban Chicago.
After averaging 17.8 points a game and hitting 122 three-pointers, second in the country in NJCAA Division I, Anderson is transferring to Alabama-Birmingham.
Anderson was Dayton Public Schools Offensive Player of the Year his senior season at Ponitz after honing his shooting skills in Dayton parks.
“It really started with me going to the park and shooting on those double rims,” Anderson said. “That’s not easy to shoot on. I didn’t play basketball when I was young, so this was about 7th grade. I was never playing against guys my same age. The double rims helped me as a shooter.”
—ANOTHER UECKER-ISM: From catcher, broadcaster/comedian Bob Uecker, the first line of his Hall of Fame acceptance speech, which stunned me: “In deference to Hal McCoy, I was asked to leave many places.”
—PLAYLIST NUMBER 161: As violinist Isaac Stern put it: “Music is what takes place between the notes.”
—The Wonder Of You (Elvis Presley), I’m Coming Out (Diana Ross), Hey Won’t You Play (B.J. Thomas), Waiting For A Girl Like You (Foreigner), Love Is All Around (Troggs), Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love (Barry White), You Wear It Well (Rod Stewart).
—It’s Over (Boz Skaggs), I’d Really Love To See You Tonight (England Dan & John Ford Coley), Right Down The LIne (Gerry Rafferty), All Right Now (Free), Sentimental Lady (Bob Welch), A Lover’s Concerto (Toys), Listen To The Music (Doobie Brothers).