Brogna Thread 2020

[Edgy MD]

Howie and Pat Zachry (or Sam Elliott as Pat Zachry). https://youtu.be/Rc3mmuKNQl4https://youtu.be/Rc3mmuKNQl4 Laconic a Texan as he may be, he'll break your heart talking about his late wife.

Zach sure doesn't come across as somebody accustomed to drawing attention to himself, but Howie does a pretty good job drawing him out.



There was crosstalk and I wasn't able to quite make out the apparent insult [CROSSOUT]Bob Howsham[/CROSSOUT] Dick Wagner made about his wife-to-be. It sure seems odd to think that both pitchers in the deal were motivated by anger over an affront to their spouses.

[MFS62]

Does Matt Adams count (he only appeared for the Mets in exhibition games)?

He just signed with the Braves.

Later

[Edgy MD]

Brogna threads are usually reserved for retired exxies, rather than continuing careers of exxies.



Adams, of course, is a bit of a stretch to categorize as any kind of exxy, but I'm not here to discourage.

[G-Fafif]

Can't say I spent a minute missing Willie Randolph, but this is a terrific baseball and life conversation between our former 2B/Mgr and Howie Rose.



https://youtu.be/tH-WkaEGKNshttps://youtu.be/tH-WkaEGKNs

[G-Fafif]

Jose (Jose, Jose, Jose) officially retires.

[G-Fafif]

Tim Graham of The Athletic catches up with R.A. Dickey. More of a Blue Jays angle, but that works, too, given the knuckleball taking flight ten years ago in Buffalo. Plus there's a sweet Seaver anecdote.

When I was having my Cy Young season, I met a few times. He always challenged me on my hitting, which I found pretty funny. He was always asking me if I'd hit a home run yet. “Don't talk to me until you've hit a home run.” He was great with that stuff.

https://theathletic.com/2055379/2020/09/11/qa-r-a-dickey-on-his-endangered-weapon-his-home-pitching-lab-tom-seaver/https://theathletic.com/2055379/2020/09/11/qa-r-a-dickey-on-his-endangered-weapon-his-home-pitching-lab-tom-seaver/

[Edgy MD]

There was an account that Gary Cohen (maybe Darling?) was giving about David Wright and Seaver being big leaguers about busting chops, and that when Seaver was mentioning a pitching teammate of Wright's, but couldn't recall his name, Wright thereafter just called Seaver, "Hall-of-Fame Guy."



In retrospect, maybe busting Seaver's chops over his memory was a bad idea, but according to the booth, Seaver loved it at the time. But in my mind, it was Dickey's name that Seaver couldn't come up with. "You know ... the Knuckleball Guy."

[G-Fafif]

Gelbs was relaying the Wright story.

[whippoorwill]

Edgy MD wrote: Howie and Pat Zachry (or Sam Elliott as Pat Zachry). https://youtu.be/Rc3mmuKNQl4https://youtu.be/Rc3mmuKNQl4 Laconic a Texan as he may be, he'll break your heart talking about his late wife. Zach sure doesn't come across as somebody accustomed to drawing attention to himself, but Howie does a pretty good job drawing him out. There was crosstalk and I wasn't able to quite make out the apparent insult [CROSSOUT]Bob Howsham[/CROSSOUT] Dick Wagner made about his wife-to-be. It sure seems odd to think that both pitchers in the deal were motivated by anger over an affront to their spouses.

God love him.

Did I hear a rooster? I ask because as I was watching, the neighbors rooster was crowing

[G-Fafif]

Ron Gardenhire retires from managing.

Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire stepped down on Saturday, announcing his retirement after three seasons in Detroit and 16 years managing in the Major Leagues. The decision came out of a Saturday afternoon meeting with general manager Al Avila at Comerica Park, during which Gardenhire discussed his recent health issues. “This afternoon when I got here to the office, I come down and go into Gardy's office to talk baseball stuff,” Avila said in a Zoom conference. “And at that point we started talking, and he mentioned to me he was going to retire and he wasn't feeling well from a health perspective.” Gardenhire, 62, is a cancer survivor. He missed two games in Minnesota earlier this month with what was described as a stomach virus. He said he initially planned to retire at season's end, but he decided to retire immediately after talking with Avila about his issues, including shakes in his hands from the stress of the job. “The way I've been feeling since I had that bout of food poisoning in Minnesota and the stomach problems and the stress involved with this job, I told Al I'll step down right now,” Gardenhire said. Bench coach Lloyd McClendon will manage the Tigers through the rest of the season. The remainder of the coaching staff will stay on through the end of the season.

https://www.mlb.com/tigers/news/ron-gardenhire-retires-as-tigers-managerhttps://www.mlb.com/tigers/news/ron-gardenhire-retires-as-tigers-manager

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Maybe they hire the Michigan native Terry C. Good luck to Gardy

[Edgy MD]

McClendon played bushie ball in the Mets system with Gardenhire.

[G-Fafif]

[MFS62]

I thought Jesse Orosco might be pitching long after Gardenhire retired as a manager.

In fact, isn't he still pitching? Somewhere?

Later

[Edgy MD]

I'm still hoping we'll see some Ed Cuervo action with the big club soon.

[G-Fafif]

"I didn't have that many great moments as a player, as far as doing anything," Gardenhire said. "But that was a great moment to be a part of — to watch Tom Seaver at Shea Stadium make the walk to start that day. That was a really cool thing."

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2020/09/03/detroit-tigers-ron-gardenhire-tom-seaver-dies/5700386002/https://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2020/09/03/detroit-tigers-ron-gardenhire-tom-seaver-dies/5700386002/

[G-Fafif]

Vance Wilson reportedly under consideration to succeed Gardenhire.

[Edgy MD]

"I didn't have that many great moments as a player, as far as doing anything," Gardenhire said.

Can't forget the extra-inning walkoff shot off the Expos and Bryn Smith, though.



[FIMG=700]http://leaptoad.com/mets/scorecard_graph.php?game=3348&font=5[/FIMG]

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

That Ownbey kid might turn out to be something

[Edgy MD]

That's some dangerous living for Frisbee Boy — walking eight batters including four in a row, but somehow getting out of there with only one run across.

[G-Fafif]

Gelbs gives us 1999 Met porn, the best kind.



https://sny.tv/articles/like-we-never-left-the-1999-mets-and-the-best-infield-everhttps://sny.tv/articles/like-we-never-left-the-1999-mets-and-the-best-infield-ever

[G-Fafif]

The day Jeff Innis was Called Up.

I got there, and the culture shock was just unbelievable. Nothing would have ever prepared me for it, because I'd never been to big league camp and I didn't know anybody except a couple guys. My uniform was there and I was just blown away by how regal everything was. And being in New York, it was just crazy. My head was spinning the whole time. Reporters came up to see what the new guy's about. Then, the game started, and I felt like a child among men. It was a Saturday night game, and this was the year after the Mets won the World Series. The Giants were in town and there were nearly 50,000 people there. I was down in the bullpen. In the seventh inning, the phone rings, and it's the loudest phone ring ever. The bullpen coach yells my name, and it scared me to death. I got up to warm up, and I swear, I couldn't even feel the ball in my hand. I was numb. My first throw to the catcher sailed 10 feet over his head and hit the wall behind him. I gradually started to settle down a little bit, but I didn't get in that inning. I got up the next inning and didn't get in that inning. By the time the eighth inning rolled around, I had gone from being scared to actually wanting to get into the game. It was tied, and had we gone ahead, Roger McDowell was going to pitch the top of the ninth inning. If it was still tied, I was going to go in the game. I was praying we wouldn't score because I wanted to pitch. That's how much of a metamorphosis happened in about an hour. I got into the game and what I noticed when I went out there was that the lights were so bright. It's not like the minor leagues. It's almost like a fight or flight response. You're either going to be scared or you're going to dig in and have the concentration you've never, ever had. That's what happened with me. I was really very concentrated and and my stuff was really good. The first time I ever met Gary Carter was on the mound when I was pitching. He was really cool. He was like, ‘Hey, listen, I've never caught you. I know you're a sinker slider guy, but if you need to, just shake me off, okay? You're the guy in charge.' I was like, ‘Okay, thanks.' That's how I was. I threw the pitches I wanted to throw. I didn't care who was catching. So, I was glad he said that. The first guy up was Chris Speier and he grounded out to second. I struck the second and third guys out. Three up, three down.

https://www.facebook.com/104004107709626/posts/jeff-innis-in-the-seventh-inning-the-phone-rings-and-its-the-loudest-phone-ring-/353586849418016/https://www.facebook.com/104004107709626/posts/jeff-innis-in-the-seventh-inning-the-phone-rings-and-its-the-loudest-phone-ring-/353586849418016/

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

What a great story--and another great idea for a series I wanna punch myself for not thinking up sooner.

[Edgy MD]

There's nothing I can add here.



https://twitter.com/ArtShamsky/status/1320103743053070337https://twitter.com/ArtShamsky/status/1320103743053070337

[G-Fafif]

[G-Fafif]

The Stork! Via the Son of The Stork!

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

The Stork! Via the Son of The Stork! https://twitter.com/boywondergolf/status/1328458980088188928?s=21https://twitter.com/boywondergolf/status/1328458980088188928?s=21

YES!!!! George Theodore sighntings are the BEST!!! Get that man a marshmallow milkshake!!

[G-Fafif]

Lee Mazzilli returns to his speed skating roots.

Last month, Mazzilli got a chance to reconnect with speedskating and was delighted when the memories came flooding back. Bigwigs at U.S. Speedskating asked him to participate on a Zoom call with supporters to promote the sport. The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing are just over 400 days away. Blair was on the call and so was Eddy Alvarez, the Marlins infielder who won a Silver medal in speedskating at the 2014 Winter Olympics as part of the U.S. 5,000-meter relay team. Alvarez made his Major League debut last August and his story — he's the first Winter Olympics medalist ever to get an at-bat in MLB — garnered national attention for speedskating. It was natural to put Mazzilli and Alvarez together. In fact, Heiden suggested it when organizers were discussing Alvarez and his baseball background. “Lee was such a good athlete,” Heiden says. “Every once in a while, you'd see him throwing a baseball around with both arms. He was ambidextrous. It was always cool, when he was playing in the majors, to think, ‘Hey, I used to know that guy.'” It's mutual admiration. Mazzilli gushes when talking about what Heiden did at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, winning five Gold medals at distances ranging from 500 meters to 10,000 meters. Heiden was the first person to win five Gold medals in a single Olympics. “It's Jim Thorpe-ish,” Mazzilli says. “It's mind-boggling what he did from sprint to the middle to the distance. It's not talked about enough.” On the Zoom call, Mazzilli and Alvarez touched on everything from backgrounds to the not-so-plentiful similarities between baseball and skating: “Turning left all the time,” Alvarez jokes. “There's really not that much. But the competitive spirit, that was instilled in us in skating and baseball — always trying to find an edge.”

https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-lee-mazzillis-speedskating-olympics-20201212-kyorxlvyojhc5jvwagxsuapxyi-story.htmlhttps://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-lee-mazzillis-speedskating-olympics-20201212-kyorxlvyojhc5jvwagxsuapxyi-story.html

[Edgy MD]

“At that time, you couldn't be a pro in one thing and amateur in another,” Mazzilli recalls.

That's just one of many insensible injustices you can chalk up to our obsession with amateurism.



I kind of guessed that at least part of the reason Mazz chose baseball was because he figured the entire sport belonged to Heiden for his generation.

[G-Fafif]

Deep literally random dive into the career of 1966 debut wonder Dick Rusteck from Random Former Major League Player of the Day:

In February 1966 Dick signed a major league contract with the Mets and went to spring training, where manager Wes Westrum was high on him and planned to keep him, but a couple of poor outings led to the team deciding he needed more time in the minors. He was sent to the Jacksonville Suns of the Class AAA International League, where he got off to a great start, overshadowing teammate Tom Seaver; he was almost called up in early May but he got hit in the elbow by a line drive and the Mets decided to hold off. In his first six starts he had six complete game wins and an ERA of 1.13. He lost the seventh start, and then the Mets promoted him on June 9. The next night at Shea Stadium he made his major league debut, as reported by Jack Lang in the following day's Jersey Journal: Rusteck Lives Up to Westrum's Hopes It is obvious now why Wes Westrum spent the better part of a month pleading with the front office to bring up Dick Rusteck. From the first time he saw him in the Florida Instructional League last November, Westrum has been impressed with the slender, blond lefthander from Notre Dame. Last night 33,977 fans at Shea Stadium and a million or so watching on TV saw why. Rusteck, who arrived in New York only the night before following his recall from Jacksonville, made his first start against the powerful Cincinnati Reds and shut them out with four singles, 5-0. Not a single Cincy baserunner reached second base as Rusteck pitched a masterpiece in his first league start. The only walk he issued was in the first inning. He went to a 3-2 count on just three other batters and he accomplished his mission with haste, making only 95 pitches in the two hour and six minute ball game. Was Rusteck nervous pitching before the largest crowd he'd ever seen in a ball park? “Just the normal nervousness of a pitcher making his first major league start,” the cool kid admitted later. “I might have been more nervous a few years ago but I'm 24 now. All I did was to try and pitch the way I did at Jacksonville.” At Jacksonville he was 6-1 and he confessed that he had expected to be recalled earlier. “When I won my first four or five I knew there was talk about me coming up,” he said. “But then I lost my first game, 4-0, last Saturday night I forgot about it. I didn't think they'd bring me up after that.” Rusteck wasn't aware that he had a booster in Westrum. Even after the kid had been rocked in his last two appearances in spring training, Wes wanted to keep him. But the front office decided otherwise and perhaps it was for the best, because when Dick came up last night, he was ready. As Westrum said, “The magnificent thing about him is that he throws strikes.” Rusteck is Westrum's type of pitcher because he keeps the ball low. “He has a major league arm plus complete control of his fast ball and his curve,” the manager raved. “He never lets up to get a ball over.”

https://rfmlbpod.blogspot.com/2020/12/dick-rusteck.htmlhttps://rfmlbpod.blogspot.com/2020/12/dick-rusteck.html