Spitballin’ 200: Greatest Hits

After 200 installments of Spitballin’, we have certainly heard our share of incredible baseball stories from some amazing people. Here is just a small sampling of some great nuggets from along the way.

We now present you with: Spitballin’s Greatest Hits.

LEGENDS OF THE GAME

We became very friendly. We went to dinner together sometimes. I thought he was the greatest hitter I ever saw. I never saw him look bad. Ever. You know how some guys can get out in front or get jammed? I never saw Ted Williams do any of those things. He was in command at all times at the plate. He was something else. – Indians icon Rocky Colavito

The first time I faced Ted Williams I got ahead of him and threw him a palm ball. He got way out in front of it and the best he could do with it was pound it into the dirt right in front of home plate. The next time up, I’m concentrating on the guy at the plate and I got the feeling that someone was staring at me. I looked around and Ted was in the batting circle scrutinizing me. To this day, I think he was trying to pick up that pitch. When he came up the second time, I threw him a palm ball and he shuffled his feet and served it into left field for a double. He either guessed right or he picked up something when he was staring at me. He was no dumb guy. – 96-year-old former MLB pitcher Bob Kelly

Jackie Robinson undoubtedly has been the most influential player in my life. I had the opportunity to be with him in 1972 when we retired uniform numbers for the first time in Dodgers history. There was an incident before the game that is forever in my mind. Jackie was suffering from diabetes and could barely see. A fan wanted Jackie to sign a ball. He tossed Jackie the ball and it hit his shoulder and glanced off his head. He couldn’t see it. Everyone was irate. They were screaming, “Get that guy! Throw him out!” Jackie said, “Calm down. Give me the ball and give me a pen.” They gave him the ball and a pen and Jackie signed the ball. He said, “Give this ball back to that gentleman.” In all that turmoil, having the calmness of his mind and spirit, I couldn’t imagine painting a better picture of Jackie. – Former Dodgers GM Fred Claire

To play in the 50’s and 60s was as good as you could get. The players you got to play with, my God. I got to play with Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella. All the Dodgers, Erskine, Hodges and Reese. Don Zimmer. I am very happy to have played when I did and had the career that I did. – Six-time MLB All-Star Jim Gentile

Mickey Mantle went 3-7 against me. He hit one home run off of me. We were playing in Comiskey Park and the wind was blowing in. He hit a shot that was headed over the roof, but the wind blew it back into the upper deck. It was one of the hardest hit balls I ever saw and would have been over the roof if it wasn’t for the wind. – White Sox pitcher Bruce Howard

I was in Spring Training in 1953 with the Braves, so moving up the next year was natural. I pitched to Big League hitters before, so I was confident that I could do the job. I didn’t want to think, “Oh wow, I’m pitching to Stan Musial!” I didn’t want to put these guys on a pedestal, I wanted to get them out. I think it’s going to go down in history that the 1950s is the era with the best players. It was after the War, so all the players were coming back to their teams and the black players were now in the league and making their names. It was an era that I thought was great, really the best. – 92-year-old former Braves pitcher Ray Crone on pitching in the 1950s

Buck O’Neil was a tremendous manager and he was a great player too. He was different than the managers I encountered in the major leagues, especially Leo Durocher. Leo would always threaten you. He’d say that if you didn’t do well, he’d back up the truck and get you out of there. Buck O’Neil was different. He was always supportive and positive. He was very encouraging and a very good baseball man. He knew baseball up and down. I just loved playing for him compared to some of the other managers I played for. – Cubs and Mets outfielder George Altman who also played for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues for Buck O’Neil

Being perfectly honest, it wasn’t the easiest task in the world. I would go into all these cities and columnists would always write about this young kid who thinks he’s taking over for Brooks Robinson. I used to get booed just from my name being announced. When Brooks was still in uniform, fans didn’t want to see me, they wanted to see Brooks. If I made an error, I would hear, “Brooks never would have done that.” There were times when doubt would come in because of the outside pressures. I saw a sports psychologist when that wasn’t a popular thing to do. – Doug DeCinces on replacing Brooks Robinson

 I walked over to him and said, “Father, this is Stan Musial. The great ballplayer.” He said, “Who? Did you say he played music?” I said, “No, he plays first base for the Cardinals.”

Stan Musial came to my house and then Mass and then I took him to the ballpark. He got to meet the pastor and everyone. There was one priest there who didn’t know baseball, but he was a very prominent priest. He knew nothing about baseball or Stan Musial and he was old and so hard of hearing. I walked over to him and said, “Father, this is Stan Musial. The great ballplayer.” He said, “Who? Did you say he played music?” I said, “No, he plays first base for the Cardinals.” He got excited and said, “Oh! Is he friends with the Cardinal? From the Catholic Church?” – Cardinals third baseman Larry Miggins on going to church with Stan Musial

I missed 2002 and ’03 with three consecutive elbow surgeries. I didn’t think I was gonna make it back. I spent 2004 in AAA and in 2005 I had a disappointing spring. When I finally got called back up, I was the fourth left-hander in the bullpen and by the end of the year I was the only one left. My first game back I was facing Cincinnati. I struck out Ken Griffey Jr., and thought, “Wow, this is real. I am back.” After two years in physical rehab and then a year in AAA, thank God I’m back. – Will Ohman on working back from three surgeries and striking out Ken Griffey Jr., upon his return

Joe DiMaggio was a really quiet man. He wasn’t just a great player, he was a huge celebrity. During his time, who was a more famous guy? I mean, he was married to Marilyn Monroe. He and dad had a special relationship because he was at the very end of his career when my dad came up. As a player, dad would play jokes on him. He’d have the pen with the disappearing ink and get it all over his white suit. Later on, when my dad was managing, Joe would just come out and sit in my dad’s office. They were such old friends that they would sometimes just sit there in silence. Joe would be reading the paper and my dad filling out the lineup card in silence. Just like old teammates sitting in their lockers. – Billy Martin Jr.

FAMOUS PLAYS

I had a great view of it and was thinking that if he missed it, I was gonna have an inside-the-parker. If you watch the replay, the ball kind of pops out of his glove. He put his bare hand over the pocket of his glove and holds it in. I also say that for my career, I hit .229. If he didn’t catch that, I could have been a .230 hitter! We joke about it. I was standing there when he came in. He just looked at me and laughed. Our fans gave him a standing ovation. It was great. – Royals utility man David Howard on the Jim Edmonds catch

We were down by one in the eighth inning and Mike Piazza hit that home run. It was just incredible. I get goosebumps watching that every single time and I’ve seen it hundreds of times. It probably gets more exciting each time I watch it just because of the enormity of the moment. I think about what happened to all those people, all those fans, anyone who had lost loved ones, the first responders and their families. – Mets pitcher Glendon Rusch on Mike Piazza’s home run on the first game back in New York after 9/11

I had the best seat in the whole stadium. I was on the bench and it was straight in front of me in centerfield. I got to see it all. It was a great catch. The best catch I have ever seen. – Giants pitcher Al Worthington on being in uniform for the 1954 World Series to see Willie Mays make The Catch

I was inside changing because I was sweating so much in the game. I said, “Shit! God dang it, I am coming back to the dugout!” But I forgot my pants. I was running down to the field in my jock. I’m standing there with no clothes. It was great when Fisk hit that. It was a great World Series that could have gone either way. If we had Jim Rice, it could have been a little different. We played good though. Cincinnati had the best team in baseball. We were the underdog but we came up just short. – Luis Tiant on Carlton Fisk’s home run in Game 7 of the4 1975 World Series.

MOVIES AND TV

I did really well and made it to the final round. I picked “place” as my category and the puzzle was “The Usual Hangout,” but I didn’t get it. If I would have gotten it, the card I picked was $100,000. I ended up winning like $12,000 in cash and a trip to Costa Rica. I got to take my wife on a second honeymoon for eight days. Then I put $3,000 in my son’s bank account for his 25% that I promised him. – Royals outfielder Les Norman on being a contestant on Wheel of Fortune

They didn’t give me any directions besides, “Just throw.” They didn’t tell me to act like him or anything. But I figured if I was going to do this on film, I wanted to be as best as I could be. There are a lot of videos on YouTube of Nolan pitching, but there were some where the camera just stayed on him, so I could see some of the little intricacies with his sleeve and hat. I had a ton of fun with it. The end product was so well done. – Diamondbacks infielder Matt Kata who played Nolan Ryan in Facing Nolan

For one of my scenes they asked me if I could hit a ball down the third base line. I said, “I’m a professional. I hope so. Just throw one on the outside part of the plate.” They put a camera on the shortstop side of the mound. I had 15 feet between the line and camera to work with. Before they threw the ball, I asked how much the camera was worth. They said don’t worry about it. They threw the ball and I hit it about a foot-and-a-half to the left of the camera and it was the shot they used in the movie on the first take. Right after that shot, they put plexiglass in front of the camera. It was like a $100,000 camera. – Former Yankee Scott Pose on being in For the Love of the Game

Being in LA and doing so many interviews, people told me I should try acting. Frankly, I wasn’t that good at it. I didn’t have enough training, but I loved film. I know a lot about classic films and wanted to learn how they were made and how difficult it was to act. I found out that it was very difficult. You have to be willing to be vulnerable in front of a lot of strangers and that’s not easy. I did not enjoy it. It just took forever and it’s maybe only 30 seconds on screen. – Dodgers first baseman Wes Parker on playing himself on The Brady Bunch

Leslie Nielsen had a hand farter he carried around. It was a rubber cylinder that had holes on both sides and once it gets broken in, you squeeze it and you get, “plft, plft plft.” It sounded just like a fart. He could really work the hand farter. He could do short ones or long ones and make them all drawn out. It was like a trumpet. One day my dad came to visit, and we were going to have lunch in the loge section at Dodger Stadium. We ended up getting in the elevator with Leslie and Ricardo Montalban. We start going up and Leslie starts working the hand farter. It was hysterical. My dad loved it. He was like, “Give me two of those!” So, I had to go out and get my dad some hand farters. – Ernie Banks’ son Joey Banks sharing his experience on the set of Naked Gun

I got to meet Jack Nicholson and it was a great experience. The sketch airs live, but you also do a taped rehearsal. The taped rehearsal was perfect. Everyone did their lines perfectly. When it was live, there were a couple of small mess-ups, but you wouldn’t really notice. It was funny and it all came about just because Todd Hundley asked about going to the show. – Marty Cordova on appearing in a skit on Saturday Night Live

THE WORLD SERIES

It was a time of great despair in this country, much like today. The war in Vietnam was tearing this country apart and lots of bad things were happening. [The 1969 Mets] kind of made people feel better about their lives and I think people remember that and pass that on. I meet people all the time who say they were going through a really bad time, or people say they were ill or that they were in Vietnam. They’ll tell me that the Mets made them feel better about themselves, even if it was for a brief period of time. That makes me feel so good because anytime you can affect somebody’s life in a positive way it’s really special. – Art Shamsky on the 1969 Mets

The Reds could hit and they caught us, passed us and were up 6-3 in the eighth. I started the inning with a single then Rico Petrocelli walked. Carbo pinch hit against Rawley Eastwick with two outs. He had two strikes on him and Eastwick threw a pitch that was literally just about in Bench’s glove. Bernie just flicked his bat late and fouled it off. I thought, “Oh man that was just about the worst swing ever.” But the next pitch was out over the plate where Bernie liked it. As soon as he hit it, I spun around and knew it was gone. Fenway went absolutely crazy. The game was now tied 6-6. That might have been the loudest roar I ever heard, even louder than Fisk’s homer. – Fred Lynn on Game 6 of the 1975 World Series

Well, I was thinking, “Oh man, I almost struck out!” But then Rawley Eastwick threw me a fastball and I hit it out towards centerfield. I saw Cesar Geronimo turn his back and I thought it had a chance. Then it went out and as I’m rounding second, I yelled to Pete Rose, “Don’t you wish you were this strong, Pete!” He yelled back at me, “This is fun Bernie, this is what the World Series is about!” – Bernie Carbo on Game 6 of the 1975 World Series

At the time, I had no clue that somebody had never done that before. After the game I got interviewed about it and that’s how I found out. But getting into a situation like that and getting the job done the first night was a dream come true. That’s everybody’s dream. Whether you want to go to the NBA, NFL or Major League Baseball, you want the chance to play for a championship. I got super lucky to be on a great team with a great group of guys. – Royals reliever Brandon Finnegan on becoming the first player to pitch in the NCAA and MLB World Series in the same year.

The Yankees were up 2-1 going to the bottom of the ninth and Mariano Rivera was coming in, so game over, right? I was at second base, so to be able to see that walkoff in the bottom of the ninth against Mariano was insane. The funny thing is that if the infield wasn’t in, I would have called an infield fly. But they had no choice; they had to play in. The ball went right over my head. It was just a little dink base hit, but it was amazing. From where I was at, as soon as he hit it, I knew the game was over. My responsibility was making sure the runner at first touched second. The Diamondbacks came streaking out of the dugout and as I was running off the field, Bob Brenly was running out towards first base and for a split second in all the mayhem, we made eye contact. It was just a fleeting moment in time, but I won’t forget that look of joy on his face. From our perspective, we were happy too because the Series was over and there wasn’t any controversy. – Umpire Dale Scott on being the second base umpire in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series

When I was leaving the stadium, it looked like a war zone. There were fires everywhere and collapsed buildings all over. It looked like San Francisco got bombed. I lived 30 minutes from Candlestick and it took me about four hours to get home. – Giants catcher Bill Bathe on the 1989 World Series earthquake

MLB DEBUTS

I came in to pinch hit for Darrin Fletcher and they brought in a lefty, Mike Holtz, who I had faced in college when he was pitching for Clemson. Cito Gaston was my hitting coach and he gave me a scouting report. I told him I faced him in college and he said, “OK, go get ‘em kid!” They announced my name and as I was walking up to the plate, my buddy Bengie Molina congratulated me in Spanish and then said, just relax, you’re not going to hit today. He said, “We’re putting you on.” Back then you had to throw the pitches, so the first pitch of the intentional walk came in and in my mind I’m thinking, “Oh God, I’m going to be the answer to a trivia question!” The next guy it happened to was Hunter Renfroe and that was 15 years later in 2016. Sure enough, they said on MLB Network that the last time that happened was with me in 2001. – Blue Jays third baseman Luis Lopez

I laced a pitch over the second basemen for a base hit. The next batter was Greg Colbrunn and he grounded into a double play to end the game. I slid into second, and I get emotional at this part because it’s a big deal, but I came off the field and like a normal game, the losing team is packing their stuff and heading up to the clubhouse. But there were two guys, Tony Womack and Matt Williams, who stayed to congratulate me. These guys were Big Leaguers and we just lost a big game in a playoff race. For them to take the time to wait for me showed me the kind of people they are. I don’t really remember the name of the pitcher I got the hit off of, but I remember Tony Womack and Matt Williams congratulating me and I thought that was just so great of them. – Diamondbacks first baseman Lyle Overbay

I was in the bullpen and a call comes down and our bullpen coach says, “Wayne, get up. You’re facing Griffey in the seventh no matter what.” I looked up at the scoreboard and we were down 5-4. I was like, “Nah, I ain’t falling for that, man. Larry Dierker told me yesterday he wasn’t throwing me in the fire.” The coach said, “Wayne, I swear to God. I would never kid about this.” I was like, “Man, why did Larry tell me that yesterday then?” I was happy though. I thought, “This is awesome!” – Pitcher Wayne Franklin on facing Ken Griffey Jr. for his first MLB batter

It was a dream that I couldn’t have even imagined. Especially doing it for a team where I grew up an hour north of the stadium. I was the first Twins batter in the history of the Metrodome, but it was something I realized more after the fact. I was just out there playing and caught up in the game, so I didn’t ever really think about it. I just wanted to get on base. I was just trying to make it, so being the first batter wasn’t a thought at that time. – Jim Eisenreich on making his MLB debut as the first Twins batter to hit in the Metrodome

DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS

Tony LaRussa came in and told us what happened. As soon as he said, “DK is dead,” it was like a bomb went off. Eventually, I figured I’d better tell my parents what happened. I had this Nokia phone and I turned it on and was just outside the clubhouse on this walkway above the crowd. I remember turning on my phone and there were so many messages. The first one was from my mom. The message said, “Jaybird! Call me back. Please tell me you’re ok!” I immediately started crying because my mom thought I was dead. I could see my tears falling over onto the sidewalk and people down below me. I didn’t even listen to the rest of the message, I called her back right away and she was hysterical. I told them I was fine, but I was imagining what they were going through. – Cardinals pitcher Jason Simontacchi on the death of teammate and friend Darryl Kile

If something like that happened today to an athlete like that, they would put you in some type of therapy and give you someone to talk to. Nobody came to me and said, “Man, you lost three brothers, a nephew and a daughter in a year, what can we do for you?” I wound up isolating myself and my remedy was Jack Daniels. Even though I was pitching well at times, I would go back and drink in my room to self-medicate myself. I remember the pain of losing so much so fast. I would go to the ballpark and then just right back to my isolation. The book details that journey from my little town to the Majors and everything I went through along the way. The book is to help people become better fathers. – Dodgers pitcher Dennis Powell on dealing with immense personal tragedy as a player

[Seeing my family again] was amazing. By far the best part. Having your freedom back certainly was huge. The gang wars, riots, sleeping on a metal mattress and all the things that happen in prison stinks. At the end of the day, the worst part for me was not being able to reach out and touch my loved ones. When I got out I was texting them or on the phone constantly. Having that line of communication back was huge. I always remind myself, at the end of a very long day I might not want to call my parents, but I think about all the times I couldn’t. That puts things in perspective. – Giants pitcher Brandon Puffer on getting out of prison after spending more than three years away

I had cirrhosis of the liver and the doctor told me I should be on a liver transplant list, but I said I didn’t want that. I had done this to myself through so many years of alcoholism. The doctor told me that I could go into liver failure at any time. By God’s great grace, it looks like I have a chance. Not meaning that I’m not going to die, but my liver is doing well enough to not be day to day. I was so thankful that I wanted to share about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse, so I agreed to write the book and tell my story. I was a big, strong athlete. I didn’t know any better back then that drinking could kill me. I didn’t know cirrhosis was a death sentence. – Former Phillies pitcher Randy Lerch

MLB REFLECTIONS

I give thanks to the Lord Jesus because without him, I don’t do any of it. From the time I can remember whenever someone asked what I wanted to do when I grew up, I always said I wanted to be a baseball player. At that time, I didn’t have any concept of money. All I knew was that I loved playing baseball. Baseball was the best game on the planet and the best players on the planet are in the Major Leagues. To have the opportunity to play with and against them was incredible. I talked about growing up a Tigers fan. In 1990, my first year in the Big Leagues, I pitched against Kirk Gibson. In 1994, I pitched to Lance Parrish. That’s pretty special. – Giants and Mets pitcher Mark Dewey

I never thought I’d have a chance to be a Major Leaguer, but somehow, I got that chance. I wish I could have played longer and could have stayed healthier, but I am one of the few guys who can say that baseball was my life. I never thought it was gonna be that way. I look back and say that I never had to work a job. How awesome is that? I have a nice pension coming and hopefully I’ll get to enjoy it for a long time. We do a lot of camping and go to the beach and desert. I’m on the back nine and hopefully have a lot of time left, so I’m gonna enjoy it. – Former Braves infielder Randy Johnson

When I look back at my career I feel like I got every drop of juice out of the lemon. The last time I had the best arm on any team that I played on was when I was 12 years old. I never lit up the radar gun at any level, so I had to adapt. I had to make the ball move and change speeds and get people out in different ways. Things like learning a cutter or using a change-up. If you go out there and get everybody out, people will stop looking at what you can’t do and look at what you’re doing successfully instead. – Red Sox pitcher Lenny DiNardo

It’s one of those magical careers. It should have been one thing, but I had the injury and it wasn’t. Then I look at it and I have all these stories and all the crap I went through. The Bonds walk, closing the no-hitter, all this stuff happens to me and I’m like, “This can’t be normal.” I think, “Does everyone have these unbelievable game tales?” Because I feel like I have so many. There’s a whole bunch and it’s hilarious. – All-Star closer Gregg Olson