Random Baseball Book on the Shelf, Randomly Opened to a Random Paragraph

[Benjamin Grimm]

I wish this forum had a LIKE button!

[MFS62]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I wish this forum had a LIKE button!

Should we bring back the BOC?

Later

[G-Fafif]

Wilpon was grooming his son Jeff to become involved in the organization and asked a favor of Valentine as the manager prepared to hold a season-ending meeting with his coaches: Could Jeff Wilpon sit in on the meeting? Fred Wilpon wanted his son to be immersed in all aspects of the organization and told Valentine not to worry about disruption, as Jeff Wilpon would be there to listen and not talk. As Valentine recalls, the elder Wilpon insisted that Jeff Wilpon would not speak up for two years. The plan was for his son to be seen, but not heard. Valentine was fine with the arrangement. Tom Robson, the team's bench coach, had been a respected hitting coach with the Mets previously. During the coaches' meeting, Robson began speaking about the team's hitting woes, prompting Jeff Wilpon to violate his gag order. Wilpon insisted that Robson's analysis was amiss, and began interjecting his own thoughts on hitting philosophy. Wilpon cited the swing instruction he had received from some of the country's best golf professionals, whose teaching differed from what Robson was preaching. Valentine, remembering Fred Wilpon's vow that Jeff Wilpon would be seen but not heard for two years, later conveyed his disgust to the owner: "Have two years gone by already?" Valentine said to the elder Wilpon. The following day, Valentine says he was told by Fred Wilpon that he had changed his mind: Valentine was fired.

--Mike Puma

If These Walls Could Talk: Stories from the New York Mets Dugout, Locker Room and Press Box, 2021

Pages 36-37

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

bombshell

[Benjamin Grimm]

Wilpon cited the swing instruction he had received from some of the country's best golf professionals, whose teaching differed from what Robson was preaching.

Holy crap!



You know, I'm beginning to think it's a good thing that Jeff isn't around anymore.

[MFS62]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Wilpon cited the swing instruction he had received from some of the country's best golf professionals, whose teaching differed from what Robson was preaching. Holy crap! You know, I'm beginning to think it's a good thing that Jeff isn't around anymore.

He doesn't have enough intelligence to run for Senator from Georgia.

Later

[G-Fafif]

Baseball wives, then, are their own club. "I always joke that when you get traded they kind of throw you into the family room and say, "Pick a friend," said Lory Ankiel, wife of former Nationals outfielder Rick. "And you think about it. What if I would not be friends with any of these girls? Who would understand?

--Barry Svrluga

The Grind: Inside Baseball's Endless Season, 2015

Page 27

[Edgy MD]

That's some good random.



Lori kind of looks like she fell through the La Brea sinkhole/time portal.



https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E03AQE9_hN0xNKTrQ/profile-displayphoto-shrink_800_800/0/1516809480463?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=A12eZitF7qt2pKL-mBhb_oarsvsE-egtofyJhZCSw4I>



Of course, that passage is kind of a dis to the wives of Rick's Mets teammates. On the other hand, Alyson Cowgill could occasionally rub a person the wrong way.

[G-Fafif]

Satch didn't often get to the railroad station. He had spent so much of his life hopping from town to town by himself that he had a rather cavalier attitude toward communal travel. It can be said of Satch that he missed countless trains but no scheduled games. He had the plane schedules committed to memory. When the game was due to start, Satch and the umpires would be there. It was a mark of the special esteem in which he was held that the other players permitted him this special privilege.

--Bill Veeck with Ed Linn

Veeck -- As In Wreck, 1962

Page 194 (Paperback Edition)

[Edgy MD]

"I'll tell you what I hate. I loathe the trading that goes on in baseball. It's tragic. You commit yourself to a friendship, and the next thing you know, the guy is traded and shipped out. Baseball players and their families live in great fear of this cruel practice. Being a baseball widow isn't much fun. I hate being alone, but most of all, I hate the question, 'What's it like being married to Tom Seaver?' Ugh!"

　　— https://www.abebooks.com/9780698107168/superwives-Parr-Jeanne-0698107160/plpThe Superwives

　　Jeanne Parr

　　Avon Books (New York), 1976



　　Page 121, first edition, paperback



　　https://www.abebooks.com/9780698107168/superwives-Parr-Jeanne-0698107160/plp [fimg=459]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/413Sg7xZ+9L._AC_SY780_.jpg[/fimg]