The other day my brother brought me some old sports books he had found in our parents’ house.
Jerry had no use for them as what he knows about sports you could shove into his ear and still have room for the Goodyear Blimp. Jerry always tells people I’m the sports authority in the family and he’s news and weather.
One of the items in the box of goodies was an official souvenir program from the 1971 World Series featuring the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Baltimore Orioles.
There is a interesting story behind the classic that I may bore you with at this time.
I was living with numerous Bradfordians in the Oakland section of the Steel City while we were attending the University of Pittsburgh. The apartment house was just up the street from a bar called “Chief’s” which featured 10 cent beer and 25 cent shots. We hung out there until a guy was gunned down and then we stopped going there.
I believe it was Game 3 or Game 4 of the Pirates-Orioles series when some of the roommates drove down to Three Rivers to secure tickets I had no interest in. At that time I was a Yankees’ fan and was still mad at Mazeroski for the 1960 home run.
While these poor saps were waiting in line for hours, my dad called and said he had two tickets for the game. He was the shipping supervisor for 42 years at Dresser Industries and the truck drivers were always greasing his palms with free stuff. It’s good to be the King of shipping.
To make a long story short — those roomies were so ticked at me about the free tickets I thought they were going to drag me down to Chief’s for a shot and a shot.
Another book in the pile was called “The Baseball Hall of Shame.”
I would like to read a couple of passages might I? Save it for later and it could be your bedtime story. Maybe I’ll come by and tuck you in. Wouldn’t that be special?
Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators was pitching in a spring training game in 1922. They say, and you know who They are, Johnson could throw 120 mph. That’s some serious heat my friend.
A Cincinnati Red named George Harper strode to the plate and heard the first two offerings sail by the plate for strike one and strike two. At that point Harper walked away and the umpire reminded him he had one more strike.
Harper turned to the ump and said, “I don’t want it.”
The second excerpt involved Dizzy Dean of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1934.
Dean always got peeved when a batter dug into the box and would yell, “Are you comfortable? I’ll send for the groundskeeper and a shovel because that’s where they’ll bury you.”
On one occasion the New York Giants had scored seven runs off Dean so the fireballing right-hander beaned the next seven Giants.
The umpire finally halted the carnage and told Cardinals’ manager Frankie Frisch to “get that maniac out of here.”
Well that’s it for story hour. I’ve always found it’s easier to steal material and pay The Era lawyers than trying to come up with some cleverosities on my own.
