What's your favorite basball anecdote?
Question:Mine is that some hitter, against fireballer Walter Johnson, walked away after two terrible swings to the dugout. The ump calls, "hey, you got one more" "I don't want it!" he replies. I'd love a reference for that story BTW. Yours?
Answers:
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I have two that come to mind, both resulting from the mystery that is the actual age of Leroy "Satchel" Paige.Anectdote #1, when commenting on how much older he was than the average ball player:
"Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."
Anectdote #2, from the confusion around his birthdate:
July 7, 1906 is now considered to be Satch's actual birthdate, but Lula Paige, Satch's mother, claimed he was born in 1904. Lula claimed to have written all of her kids birthdates down in a Bible which befell a tragic end. Satch's grandfather was reading it one day when a gust of wind ripped it out of his hands and landed it by the family goat that promptly ate the Bible, hence... no more list! So, technically nobody is positive that Satch was as old (or as young) as he claimed to be (he claimed too many different dates to be taken seriously).
However, Satch was positive of one thing... the goat lived to the ripe old age of 27 (in human years). :D
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Yogi Berra was once given "keys to the city" while sitting with the wife of one of the dignitaries on a very warm clammy evening...Upon hearing her comment that Yogi looked comfortable on such a warm evening, Yogi replied Yeah, you dont look so hot either.How do you strike out right handed hitters?
I don't really have an anecdote, but how about Albert Pujols taking first base on 3 balls? lolDoes anyone have 7 digit upper deck codes?
Although most anything Yogi Berra said is worth considering, I think my favorite would be by Dizzy Dean. It went something like this. In the first game of a double header, Dizzy pitched a shutout, three hitter. In the second game Paul "Daffy" Dean (Dizzy's Brother) pitched a no-hitter. "I wished I'da known Paul was goin' to pitch a no-hitter," Dizzy said. "I'da pitched one, too."WHo is the best in the MLB this year?
John Kruk has some real good ones1. during an All-Star game in the 90's he was facing Randy Johnson for the first time and Johnson promptly threw the first pitch 2ft over Kruk's head about which Kruk said later "After that I was terrified, I just took my 3 pitches and sat back down".
2. After being caught smoking a cigarette in the Phillies clubhouse after a game and asked if athletes really should be smoking, he replied lady I'm not an athlete I'm a baseball player(then again he looked more like a bar-league softball player)
3. After having a testicle removed due to cancer, he actually took infield practice wearing a t-shirt that said If you don't let me play I'm gonna take my ball and go home.
And the clincher while playing for the White Sox he hit a single, when he got to first he called for a pinch runner, then went into the clubhouse and retired.
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George Brett, after spending years studying under Charlie Lau, who was also teaching Rod Carew, was asked by a reporter about his approach to hitting replied "just hit it hard someplace"Baseball/Basketball card pricing?
Watching Ben Sheets throw 18 strikeouts against the Braves in '04 (I think it was that year) he completely dominated that game, it was the best pitching performance I have ever seen. Watch out if he returns to that form.My answer to this involve three references to Bob Gibson, a former pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1959-72.
1. During the '60's when Tim McCarver was catching for the Cardinals, he went to the pitching mound to talk to the pitcher, Bob Gibson on his curve ball. Gibson asked with the straightest face possible, "What do you want?" McCarver replied that he was going to talk to him about the curve ball Gibson was able to throw in that game. Gibson answered with, "Look Kid, the only thing you know about a curve ball is that it's hard to hit. Get back behind the plate where you belong." McCarver was said not to have said anything else and went back to his position.
2. When batters of opposing teams would be taking batting practice before games that Gibson pitched, he would taunt them behind the batting cage saying, "You guys get your hits now because you won't get any against me."
3. Chicago Cubs color man of the broadcast duo asked Harry Caray if Gibson would have thrown at Barry Bonds. Harry responded with, "Yes. When he would be rounding second base."
Is anyone else tired of people asking stupid Yankee questions?
Yogi was telling a story to a reporter about when he was a bench coach and about 8 streakers came out of the stands near 1st base, ran around the infield and climbed back into the stands near third base.The reporter asked, Were they men or women?
Yogi replied, I couldn't tell, they had bags over their heads!
lol
As a general manager (not manager) did Tommy Lasorda kill the Dodgers?
after Jimmy Piersal hit his 100th home run he ran the bases backwardsTwo come to mind:
1. Bob Uekker talking about his greatest memory of playing in the majors "was the time we were playing in Philadelphia and a fan fell out of the upper deck.
2. Tug McGraw being asked if he prefers astroturf or real grass "I don't know. I've never smoked astroturf".
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