Baseball Stories

Here are a couple of stories people that I found interesting. The first was inspired by David Wells yielding three consecutive homers. Somebody heard this story on the radio:

"A Cincinnatti pitcher had yielded back-to-back-to-back homers, and a cannon had been shot off after each homer. The pitching coach came out to discuss it with the pitcher who was visibly upset. The pitcher cursed and muttered something about not needing time to collect his thoughts. The pitching coach replied, "I was just giving the guy time to reload."

The second story is a brief story told to me by former Red Sox equipment manager Vin Orlando. Vin was a great guy; he gave me an All-Star Wally that helped break the curse. Sadly he passed away a few years ago. Vin said he was the first Sox employee to greet Ted Williams off the bus from San Diego when he arrived to Spring Training in Scottsdale, Arizona. Vin gave him a tour, and Williams noticed a white house behind the right field fence. Ted asked if anyone had ever hit a ball over the house. Vin told him no. The Splinter told him that he would, and sure enough, he did.

My late father thought he knew a bargain when he saw one. While I was away in the Navy back in the late 1980s, he came upon some of my childhood baseball cards, including a 1966 Mickey Mantle Topps card, in excellent condition. Naturally, he took it to a dealer, sold it, and told me he got a great deal, thirty-five dollars. I didn't really have the heart to tell him that Mantle cards were highly valued by collectors. Mantle cards go for anywhere from about 50 bucks to 250 bucks on EBAY, but as a childhood baseball memory, the card would have been priceless to me. I still miss my Dad and hope you take a minute to remember or call yours, if you can.