By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave after a great night with the fans at the Great Darke County fairgrounds harness racing extravaganza. . .even after leaving with an empty wallet.
—BUCKY AT HIS BEST: What an honor I had this week when I had lunch at Romer’s in Bellbrook with two legends: Bucky Bockhorn and Larry Hansgen.
Bockhorn, the former University of Dayton basketball star and long-time UD radio analyst with Hansgen, is 93 years old and still as sharp as a two-sided razor blade. And he is as witty as ever.
When he played with the old Cincinnati Royals in the NBA, he once made 11 straight shots and he said with a twinkle in his eyes, “And they were all 30-footers. Oscar Robertson started taking the ball out of bounds and passing it to me and said, ‘You’re hot, go shoot.’”
Bockhorn had to be convinced to name his all-time memorable Flyers for fear of missing somebody, “Because I saw so many and so many are my friends.”
But he finally said, “Donnie May is my all-time favorite. Coach Don Donoher ran the same play over and over to get Donnie the ball for that little jumper that he never missed.”
Bockhorn said he loved the backcourt of Johnny Davis and Donald Smith. And he mentioned the shooting ability of Brian Roberts and all-around play of Damon Goodwin.
And he mentioned the defensive skills of Ed Young, whom he dubbed ‘The Blanket,’ and the many skills of Devon Oliver.
There were many great ‘unprintable stories’ and the hour-and-a-half blew by and will remain as one of the highlights of the last five years. . .or more.
—JUST CALL SAL: When Sal Stewart hit a sacrifice fly against the San Francisco Giants Wednesday, it gave him 100 RBI.
That tied him with Jim Greengrass (1953) for the most RBI by a Reds rookie. And Sal has a month left.
Stewart, with a great September, could possibly catch the 130 RBI acquired by Albert Pujols, the National League record for a rookie. But the MLB record, 145 by Ted Williams, is pretty much untouchable.
Stewart, though, is only the third rookie to be the first player in a season to reach 100 RBI, joining Ted Williams (1939) and Jose Canseco (1986).
Greengrass came to the Reds in 1952 with three other players and $35,000 from the New York Yankees in a trade that sent pitcher Ewell Blackwell to New York.
When Greengrass drove in 100 in 1953, Ted Kluszewski and Gus Bell both drove in more than 100 for the Reds.
Greengrass finished sixth in the Rookie of the Year voting and the award was won by second baseman Junior Gilliam of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
If Sal Stewart doesn’t win Rookie of the Year this season, should toss the trophy into Montego Bay.
—Specter Of Hector: To me, exit velocity and launch angles are superfluos to me, just some meaningless numbers for broadcasters to foam at the mouth.
An exception today. . just because it involves Reds rookie Hector Rodriguez. His leadoff home run in the ninth inning of the Reds seven-run rescue of a 10-9 victory, was clocked at 115.3 miles per hour, the hardest ball of any MLB player that day.
It traveled 423 feet and swan-dived into McCovey Cove.
“It was truly great to hit it,” said Rodriguez. “Into the bay? I never thought that ball was gonna land that far.”
Hmmm. Not a word about exit velocity.
—OFF TO THE PCL: As of the start of the weekend, the Houston Astros led the American League West with a losing record (66-67), giving new meaning to the term wild, wild west.
I love the suggestion from fellow baseball writer and great friend Kevin Kernan: “Just immediately put the entire American League West into the Pacific Coast League.”
The last place Los Angeles Angels are 52-82 and only 14 1/2 games out of first place.
—REBIRTH OF CES: The web-site Baseball-Reference still carries a photo of Christian Encarnacion-Strand wearing a Cincinnati Reds cap.
If only it were true.
CES launched a 450-foot home run Tuesday during Baltimore’s 13-1 annihilation of the St. Louis Cardinals.
In 109 plate appearances with the O’s he has seven homers, 25 RBI and four doubles. Ke’Bryan Hayes, the reason the Reds let CES go, has 207 plate appearances with five homers, eight RBI and two doubles.
And there is that lovely .151 batting average for Hayes.
So what did the Reds get for Encarnacion-Strand? Oh, yes, cash considerations.
There is a story that when his team traded a player for cash, angry manager Leo Durocher threw a bunch of money on his office floor and shouted, “How many hits is cash gonna get for me?”
—WHAT’S BREWING: While the old saying is, “Chicks did the long ball,” the Milwaukee Brewers dig winning.
As of this weekend, the Brewers had hit 120 home runs, fewest in the majors. But they lead MLB in wins with 81.
And yet they had scored 652 runs, fifth most in the majors.
It isn’t that the smallball Brew Crew disdains home runs. When they need ‘em, the launch ‘em. They have hit 59 solo homers, fewest in the majors. They’ve hit 39 with runners in scoring position, fourth most in MLB.
—THE TIP-OFF: Numbers involving Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax always leave me shaking my head and rattling my brain.
For his career, Koufax was 11-3 in involving 1-0 games. And he completed all 14 of the games.
His snappish curveball was mystifying, even if hitters knew it was coming. And they knew because Ernie Banks said he tipped off his curveball.
“He held his hands closer to his head when he was going to throw the curve,” said Banks. “It didn’t matter. Even though he tipped it off you still couldn’t hit it.”
—FROM BROOKS TO BILLY BOB: Billy Bob Thronton won an Oscar in 1997 for the movie ‘Slim Blade.’ And he was a big baseball fan.
One year his girl friend asked him if there was anything he wanted for Christmas, what would it be? “One of Brooks Robinson’s gloves, autographed by him,” he said.
He figured that was impossible, would never happen, but his girl friend chased down Robinson and got it. When Thornton opened it, the glove was inscribed with, “From a huge fan, Brooks Robinson.”
Thornton was stunned and said, “Brooks Robinson knows who I am?”
Who doesn’t?
—THE WRIGHT STUFF: Wright State University did the ‘wright’ thing this week when it extended basketball coach Cliff Sargent’s contract through 2031.
What Sargent is doing with the difficult task of running a mid-major program under the stifling NIL and transfer rules is extraordinary.
Not only is he a remarkably fabulous coach, he is an even better human being. There is Honest Abe Lincoln and there is Honest Cliff Sargent.
—QUOTE MACHINE: Inspirational stuff from baseball stars:
—FROM Willie Mays, the best of the best: “It isn’t hard to be good from time to time in sports. What is tough is being good every day.”
—FROM former New York Mets infielder David Wright: “It’s not about the name on the back of the jersey, it’s about the name on the front.”
—FROM Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper: “There are so many people ourt there who will tell you that you can’t. What you’ve got to do is turn around and say, ‘Watch me.’”
—FROM former catcher Mike Piazza, picked in the 62nd and last round (1,390th player taken in the 1989 draft) and only because he was related to Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda: “Nobody wanted me. Scouts told me to go to school. Coaches told me, ‘You’re never going to make it.’ I appreciated their honesty because when somebody tells you somethling you may not like it, so you have to use that as fuel for motivation.”
—FROM Milwaukee Brewers star Christian Yelich: “I don’t care about three hits in a game. I care about going 3-for-4 and helping the team win.”
—PLAYLIST NUMBER 204: As English writer Walter Savage Landor put it, “Music is God’s gift to man, the only hart of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven.”
—Have I told You Lately That I Love You? (Rod Stewart), Landslide (Fleetwood Mac ), When I Close My Eyes (Kenny Chesney), Sweet Soul Music (Arthur Conley), Good Timin’ (Jimmy Jones), I’m Sorry (Brenda Lee), Harbor Lights (Platters).
—Stuck On You (Elvis Presley), What In The World’s Come Over You? (Jack Scott), Save The Last Dance For Me (Drifters), Beyond The Sea (Bobby Darin), The Big Hurt (Tony Fisher), Special Angel (Bobby Vinton), I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry (B.J. Thomas).