OBSERVATIONS: De La Cruz Is Batting Third. . .And That’s Right

By Hal McCoy

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, only 10 days before Opening Day, but who’s counting? I am. I no longer have to count on my fingers and toes, just my fingers.

—ORDER-LY FASHION: As I’ve written many times, during my 52 years of covering the Cincinnati Reds, only one manager ever asked for my opinion. It was Lou Piniella during his first year at spring training of 1990.

“Hal, you’ve covered this team for a long, long time. What does this team need?” he asked.

I told him it needed a leadoff hitter and I suggested Barry Larkin. He took my advice and thanked me for it after the season when they won the World Series.

David Bell never asked me anything, but if he had I would have suggested batting Elly De La Cruz third in the batting order instead of second. It seemed to me that Bell’s lineups were always out of alignment.

To me, Elly De La Cruz is the prototypical No. 3 hitter.

New manager Tito Francona didn’t ask my advice, but he said recently that De La Cruz will bat third. In fact, he laid out his first four hitters — TJ Friedl, Matt McLain, De La Cruz and Austin Hays.

Appearing on a podcast with Thom Brennaman, Francona said, “He (De La Cruz) is going to hit third. He wants to hit third. I like that. I like the idea of McLain hitting in front of him. I really like the idea of Hays hitting behind him. That helps there too, because you’ve got to protect Elly.”

Couldn’t agree more. Don’t most teams bat their best hitter third in the order? Isn’t that where Joey Votto batted throughout his career? Didn’t Joe Morgan bat third for The Big Red Machine? Didn’t Paul O’Neill bat third for the 1990 World Series champions? And, oh, guess where Babe Ruth batted.

And you have to love what De La Cruz said when an interviewer asked who is the most exciting player in baseball and he said, “You’re sitting right in front of him.”

—CHIEF-LY SPEAKING: The most under-rated and quietest member of The Big Red Machine was center fielder Cesar Geronimo.

Mostly he sat quietly at his locker listening, with a big smile, to the incessant banter and chatter of Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench and Tony Perez.

To get a quote from ‘The Chief’ was like pulling a molar with a pair of tweezers. So when I ran across this quote I figured it was the longest speech Geronimo ever made.

“My dream as a boy had been to play alongside Mickey Mantle. The Yankees, as a team, were my heroes, but at this minute, I would not want to trade uniforms.”

Geronimo said that right after the Cincinnati Reds swept the Yankees in the 1976 World Series during which he hit .308 (4 for 13) with two doubles and three runs scored.

But. . .how could Geronimo ever believe he could play with Mantle? Mantle was 17 years older than Geronimo. Mantle was 37 when he retired in 1968, the year before the 21-year-old Geronimo began his career with the Reds.

—QUOTE: From Mickey Mantle: “A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide.” (But was that a ‘gang’ that consisted of Mantle, Billy Martin and Whitey Ford, the Yankees’ ‘troublemakers?’)

—A LEG UP?: East Carolina University’s Parker Byrd collected his first collegiate hit last week as a pinch-hitter, a single off the William & Mary third baseman’s glove.

Big deal? A real big deal.

Three years ago Byrd was in a boating accident and his right leg was amputated below the knee. He plays with an athletic prosthetic.

In his only other collegiate at bat earlier in the week, he drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

ECU is the Pirates, so it stands to reason they should have a one-legged player. . .and what a great story.

—THE LA BROWNS?: The 1941 major league baseball meetings were scheduled for December 8. Donald Lee Barnes, owner of the moribund St. Louis Browns, planned to present a plan to move the Browns to Los Angeles. . .the Los Angeles Browns.

But when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, the meetings were canceled and the Browns remained in St. Louis until they moved to Baltimore in 1954.

Had the Browns moved to Los Angeles in the early 1940’s, one wonders if the Dodgers still would be in Brooklyn or someplace other than LA?

And what is it about Browns teams moving to Baltimore. . .first the baseball Browns and then the NFL’s Cleveland Browns in 1996.

—RICKEY’S RACKET: Speaking of the Dodgers, former team president Branch Rickey is known for integrating MLB with Jackie Robinson and for building the first minor league farm system.

In 1937, when Rickey was president of the St. Louis Cardinals, he had 37 minor league teams affiliated with the Cardinals.

What else about Rickey, other than garish bow ties and a constant swirl of cigar smoke? He played two years in MLB as a catcher. His second year with the old New York Highlanders, he came up with a sore arm and in one game the opposing team stole 13 bases, an MLB record.

Rickey, though, developed the sliding pit to practice sliding and came up with the points system, 20 to 80, to evaluate players. Scouts still use the system to this day.

—Curry’s Flurries: Some players who have influenced and changed the NBA game during their careers: Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan. . .and Steph Curry.

Golden Gate’s Curry recently passed the 4,000 mark in three-point baskets, some shot from Fisherman’s Wharf.

When he began his career, the NBA averaged 18 three-point shots a game. Now it is 37.

—QUOTE: From Steph Curry: “Basketball isn’t just a sport, it is an art that must be mastered to succeed.” (When it comes to mastering the art of the three-point shot, Curry is Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Rembrandt all wrapped into one. . .three masters for the master of the three-pointer.)

—McCOLLUM IS MAN-DRAKE: Is there a better candidate for Coach of the Year than Drake’s Ben McCollum or a better story? Nay, nay.

Drake coach Darien DeVries left after last season and 12 Drake players transferred. McCollum was hired and had no players.

So he brought some with him from DII Northwest Missouri State, where over the past decade McCollum was 253-21 with four DII national titles. DII? Isn’t that where second-level players not good enough for DI go?

Well, four of McCollum’s Northwest MIssouri State playeers are Drake starters and. . .the Bulldogs are 30-3 and won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament with a 63-48 win over Bradley.

—WELL, THEY ARE DUCKS: What did it mean when the University of Oregon jumped from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten?

It meant the basketball Ducks flew more than any real mallard. This past season Oregon flew 26,700 miles. Their last season in the Pac-12 they flew 7,300 miles.

—ANOTHER UECKER-ISM: From catcher/broadcaster/comedian Bob Uecker: “They told me I was such a hot prospect that they were sending me to a winter league to sharpen up. When I got off the plane I was in Greenland. Then in my rookie year, they told me, ‘Most of us wear out jockstraps on the inside of the uniform.’”

—GRIN ’N ‘BEAR’ IT: Mama Bear and Papa Bear were divorced and in a custody battle for Baby Bear. A judge asked Baby which parent he wanted and he said, “Neither one. They both beat me.”

The judged asked if he had any relatives and Baby said, “I have an uncle in Chicago.”

“Does he beat you?” the judge asked.

“No,” said Baby Bear. “The Chicago Bears don’t beat anybody.”

—PLAYLIST NUMBER 153: Who agrees with what writer/producer Tiffanie DeBartolo said: “Tell me what you listen to, and I’ll tell you who you are.”

—Wayward Wind (Gogi Grant), 16 Tons (Tennessee Ernie Ford), Hey There Lonely Girl (Eddie Holman), Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head (B.J. Thomas), Rainy Night in Georgia (Brook Benton), It’s The Same Old Song (Four Tops), Daylight (Maroon).

—Come See About Me (Supremes), Keep Searchin’ (Del Shannon), Moonshadow (Cat Stevens), I Feel The Earth Move (Carole King), Old-Fashioned Love Song (Three Dog Night), What Is Life? (George Harrison), Mr. Lonely (Bobby Vinton).