Weekly Baseball Post (Tricia has a post below that I'm sure everyone will enjoy...)

As opposed to the limited few (if any), that like what I write.

A TRIBUTE TO SCOOTER

Last week, as reported in several locations, Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto died. Rizzuto was famous mostly as a shortstop on seven separate World Series-winning New York Yankee team in the 1940s and 1950s. Later, he became the voice of the Yankees on the radio and was most notably known on Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights"--probably one of the worst songs to learn from an uncle. In addition, a funny side note about Rizzuto follows. From the Sports Law Blog:

This past Sunday marked the 56-year anniversary of the debut of professional baseball's shortest player, 3-foot-7 Eddie Gaedel. As part of a publicity stunt, on the preceding Friday, St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck secretly signed Gaedel, a midget, to a big-league contact -- knowing full well that the commissioner's office would not review Gaedel's contract until the following Monday morning.

That Sunday afternoon, before Commissioner Happy Chandler reviewed Gaedel's contract, Veeck suited-up his newest player for the second game of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers, giving Gaedel a jersey with the number 1/8. Gaedel was sent into the game as a pinch hitter and, as expected, he walked on four pitches. Gaedel was then lifted for a pinch runner.

The following Monday, Major League Baseball voided Gaedel's contract and changed its its rules, requiring that all contracts needed to be ratified by the commissioner before any player could appear in a big-league game. Implied in this rule change was a ban of midgets and other players uniquely suited to draw walks.

Finally, on the day after Major League Baseball voided Gaedel's contract, Veeck, in jest, asked the commissioner to also void the contract of the late Yankees shortstop, Phil Rizzuto, who at 5-foot-6 was one of the game's next shortest players.

In addition (Mr. Clark will appreciate this), Saturday night Tricia's dad and I were watching an interview with Tim Russert and several old Yankees, Rizzuto, Whitey Ford, and, of course, Yogi Berra. They were talking about Yankee great (Ford had just put out a book detailing the greatest Yankee at each position. They started talking about Reggie Jackson (which is far and away the all-time career leader in strikeouts for a batter) and how Jackson loved the limelight and hearing how good he was. The story went something like this:

Reggie, Yogi, and Whitey were all the table at a Hall of Famers only lunch, immediately after the induction ceremony. Reggie began to pester Yogi about whether or not Reggie could have played in the 40s and 50s. Yogi wouldn't answer. So Reggie started asking "you don't think I could have played then?" Yogi just sat back and said, "You would've been a fine 5th outfielder."

Well, that just wouldn't do for Reggie. So Reggie figures he'll talk about his hitting. He turns to Whitey and starts pestering Whitey about whether or not he could have gotten a hit off of him. Whitey, seeing how Jackson responded to Yogi not answering, just sits there, and doesn't answer. Reggie, of course, becomes incensed and starts saying, "You don't think I could have gotten a hit off of you? You know I could."

Whitey pats his mouth, puts his napkin on his leg, and looks across the table and says, "Reggie, you've got to understand. Ted Williams was the greatest hitter to ever play baseball. He hit .400. He never struck out. He only hit .215 on me--what chance do you possibly have?" Which, of course, did the impossible--shut Reggie Jackson up.

A BRAVES UPDATE

The Braves can't seem to pull it together consistently (unless you count 3 out of 5 as consistent), but I did enjoy reading a quote from pitcher Tim Hudson (an SEC man, who once won SEC Player of the Year--as an outfielder) from AJC writer Carroll Rogers.

“I’m just going out there and giving us a good chance to win,” Hudson said. “Hopefully we win every one of my starts. I don’t care if I get the win or not. But if the team wins and we’re ready to make the playoffs at the end of the season, that’s all that matters.”

That sounds familiar...

Crash Davis: It's time to work on your interviews.
Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: My interviews? What do I gotta do?
Crash Davis: You're gonna have to learn your clichés. You're gonna have to study them, you're gonna have to know them. They're your friends. Write this down: "We gotta play it one day at a time."
Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: Got to play... it's pretty boring.
Crash Davis: 'Course it's boring, that's the point. Write it down.