one thing thats great about baseball is the history and the quirky stories there are from the past about mantle and dimaggio and ted williams and babe ruth and so on. i just read this last one about mantle and mays and whitey ford. anyone else have good ones, i always like reading them
in 1961, mickey mantle and whitey ford went to san francisco for the all star game game, and they wanted to play a little golf before the game. they went to giants owner horace stoneham, and they asked, "can we use your club to play a little golf?"
stoneham said, "sure, here's my card, go to olympic and play as much as you want." and so they did. they bought sweaters and balls and windbreakers - five, six hundred dollars' worth - and signed everything to horace stoneham,
they see stoneham at toots shor's restaurant that night, and mickey peels off $300 and begrundgingly gives it to whitey to give to stoneham.
horace stoneham says to whitey, "i'll make a bet with you, if you strike out mays the first time he gets up, you don't owe me anything. if he gets a hit, you owe me double." whitey takes the deal back to mickey. mantle says, "geez, i don't know." but then he throws a couple of scotches down in him and mickey, half in the bag says, "oh go ahead."
the next day in the game, in the bottom of the first, clemente doubles off the right field wall. two out. mays is up. whitey gets ahead of him 0-2.
he looks in. he remembers the bet and he loads up the biggest spitball he can. he throws a pitch that looks like it's heading for willie's head. mays ducks out of the way and falls on his fanny. and the pitch breaks over for a strike.
willie gets up and looks at whitey incredulously. "what, are you throwing me that pitch in an all star game?"
and then whitey looks out at center field, and there's mantle jumping up and down, laughing his butt off, because he saved the $600.
I love baseball history. I need to watch that Ken Burns documentary again. That has tons of great stories.
I'm with you guys on this, I love the history of baseball. Mostly though the old days, when players worked on farms and as delivery boys in the off season to make ends meet. Some would play all year round and go barnstorming during the off season. Barnstorming was when players would team up and travel across the country and play games in towns that didn't have teams and never had the chance to see a professional major league game. Before television and most every major city having the game available. Everyone from Cobb to wagner to ruth did it, mostly for the money but also for the love of just playing. Not like today, it just makes you sick that these fuckin athletes are more worried that some geek is gonna re-sell their autographs and make a few bucks. Granted its out of hand with some of the autograph hounds but a dude making 15 million a year off those same fans that they charge up the ass for some ink and a few seconds of time just makes me sick. Those fans who buy tickets, jersey's, cards, etc.
I just love hearing the old stories of before steroids, personal trainers, private jets with round the clock manicurists, million dollar contracts, protective gear, etc. Just a guy in a uniform and a bat who played with broken bones, in the rain sleet and snow. Pitchers who pitched 9 innings and 60 games a year, no DH's, no free agents.
There's so many great stories, ruth, gehrig, foxx, mantle, wagner, hornsby.
For all the horrible things Ty Cobb did, he also had soft spots for players. Cobb was what Magic Johnson is today minus the HIV. Cobb was a genius, he invested in everything before it became a household name. He was one of the founding investors of coca-cola, the ford motor company and many other huge companies. He was making millions when ball players were lucky to make 5 grand a year. Rogers Hornsby who was one of the greatest hitters of all time, Hornsby hit over .400 3 out of 4 years once. He still holds the highest single season average of .424, he became a lush and a certified loser after he retired and had not a penny to his name. Cobb supported him till his dying day.
didn't ty cobb beat a fan with a bat?
Velociti Wrote:I'm going to top a thread that has nothing to do with Arpi, and hopefully move the discussion away from him. Lord, I hate him so.
this isn't going to work.
my favorite is the whitey , martin, mantle hunting story
Velociti Wrote:didn't ty cobb beat a fan with a bat?
He beat a guy who had no hands cause he was heckling him from the stands.
Doc Ellis pitching a no hitter in 1970 while on LSD.
Darryl Strawberry sliding head first so he wouldn't crush the crack viles in his pant pockets is even better.
GonzoStyle Wrote:Darryl Strawberry sliding head first so he wouldn't crush the crack viles in his pant pockets is even better.
that was dale berra and it was coke.
so martin,mantle and ford go hunting.
they drive up to a farmers house and mantle and whitey go inside to ask the farmers permission to hunt on his land while martin says sure.
the farmer says ok but would they do him a favor and shoot a horse that he says needs to be put down. they agree.
mantle walks outside and tells martin that the farmer said no so he is going to kill the farmers horse.
mantle and ford run to the barn and shoot the horse.
afterwards mantle and ford start to walk out of the barn and they hear 2 shots. they run out and yell for martin.
martin comes around the barn and tells them that he shot 2 of the farmers cows to really teach that son of a bitch farmer a lesson.
needless to say they had to pay for the cows.
That is one of the best stories I ever heard.
Here's some Yogi Berra shorts, there are so many.
While ordering a pizza one day, Yogi Berra was asked whether he would like it cut into four or eight slices. "Better make it four," he replied. "I don't think I can eat eight."
After a streaker took to the field during a game one day, Berra was asked about the perpetrator's gender. "I don't know," he replied. "Their face was covered by a bag."
One day a reporter assigned to cover a New York Yankees road trip was surprised to learn that Yogi Berra still traveled with a beat up old bag. "Why don't you treat yourself to a new suitcase?" he asked. "What for?" Yogi replied. "The only time I use it is when I travel."
One morning Yogi Berra had breakfast with a sports writer who later became incensed over the size of the bill. How, he asked, could a meal in a diner be so expensive? "That's because," Berra replied, "they have to import those English muffins."
After catcher Johnny Bench broke Yogi Berra's home run record for catchers, Berra sent a telegram to express his congratulations:
"Congratulations on breaking my record," it read. "I always thought the record would stand until it was broken."
GonzoStyle Wrote:That is one of the best stories I ever heard.
mantle told it on some radio show. i nearly pissed myself cause i could picture martin all worked up.
When I played baseball in little league, I use to pitch sometimes. Being a lefty, I was great at pitching to right-handed batters, but I always beaned the left-handed batters. Those were good times.
Maybe if Mantle told your story it woulda been better.
That hurt, old buddy. Remember all the fun we had at the softball game?