Baseball
 

A little less than 36 years ago there was some baseball I was interested in. The World Series featured the St. Louis Cardinals and my Red Sox. All the games started at 1 PM, remember that, and Massachusetts is 12 hours different in time zones from Vietnam. Each day/night of a game I?d swap with others and stand guard on the companies bunker line from midnight to 6AM. Each night it was Lonburgh and Yaz for the Sox and a SOB named Bob Gibson for the Cards. Great series even if the bad guys won. It sort of put the war in perspective.

Tonight is the first time the two teams are playing against each other since that October of 1967, an October we spent in the Hobo Woods. I?ll not wear anything green, no bugs allowed in the house and I may have a cocktail as I watch this one. Will be watching for a few other guys who did not make it to ?03, several didn?t make it to ?68.

It?s funny how people come and go, players come and go, wars come and go; but there is always baseball. Strange how I grew up with Ted Williams, lived with Yaz and Fisk, Lynn and Rice and now grown old with Pedro and Nomah. Grew up learning about WWII, lived through RVN and grow old with a government that found fighting in the desert is more user friendly than jungles. It?s as though the universe has a rhythm, and idiom, that for 150 years has been tied together with a sport.

Didn?t mean to get that serious, enjoy something tonight.

Stay healthy,
Andy

Wow!
 

That sure raised up a bunch of memories!The Sox finally have a chance to exorcise the Curse of the Babe,and I was just up the road,and like you-12 hours off kilter.October was one hell of a bad month for me..lots of ..what is it you say,'Bad Ju Ju".Unfortunately,I remember more about the shit than the World Series. Thanks for the memories,Andy.(I think)

Hey Andy I caught a foul ball in the Kingdome off Jim Rice sure wish I could of got him to sign it.

I know what you mean about Bob Gibson In 67' I was just a kid collecting baseball cards and every other pack seem to have a Bob Gibson card and I was looking for a Nolan Ryan :) hope your team did well tonite Andy :ae:

Gibson
 

Off the mound, one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life. On the mound, he was one of the biggest SOB'S I've ever met.

In 68' I asked if he would pitch me a few, knowing I'd probably never get in a game. He agreed. It was a big moment for me. I used to like to crowd the plate, which was a big mistake. He played a 90+ song of chin music on his first pitch knocking me to the ground. He then said, as I looked at him in horror with the whole Pgh bench laughing, "Thats my plate rookie". I jumped up, looked at him with the sternest eyes I could gather, and said, "Yes Sir Mr. Gibson". I did hit him a few times, but not as many as I missed. I did not crowd the plate again.

That was a great series......I am glad baseball, but not as we knew it, is alive and kicking.

By the way....Sosa's use of the cork bat an honest mistake....yeah, and I'm going to be inducted in the Hall of Fame.

Packo

Major leagues ?
 

Did you play in the major leagues ? Did not know that. What teams and years ? Thanks.

Larry

life goes on
 

It was an interesting game, tied in the 9th and the Sox lost. I suppose that means that all is right in the universe and the earth will rotate around the sun again today. The definition of an optimist is anyone who cheers for the Sox or Cubs.

Phuloi, you were up the road in the fall of ?67? We were guarding Rome Plows that were knocking down the jungle, along with the green being sprayed with AO. For some reason I thought you were in the Hobo?s.

Sn-e3, you came very close to not catching that ball, for a number of reasons. One of them being that Rice was recruited by Nebraska to be a football running back. At the last minute after signing a letter of intent with that collage he decided to play baseball.

Packo, I?ve heard that story before and know it?s just stone cold true. Jerry Remmey, former short stop for the Sox was announcing the game last night. He said the first time he went up against Mr. Gibson, he made a big deal out of digging in real close to the plate. Gibson stepped off the mound, toward home plate and yelled, ?Dig a little deeper. That?s were I?m going to burry you.? Good control, 95 mile per hour fast ball and a bad attitude - frightening, simply frightening. (I liked hitting fast balls, it was the junk, especially inside, that could not be hit. Course I was just playing high school and Legion ball.)

Stay healthy,
Andy

Larry,
 

I was only called up to Pittsburgh in 68' for less than a month due to the injury to Jerry "Jay" May, their starting catcher. There were 2 other catchers, Chris Cannizzaro and the other guy's name was Taylor but can't remember his first name. I had been playing for the "Charleston Charlies" at the time. I never got in a major league game. Worked in the bull pen with Jim Bunning, Bruce Dalcanton, Bob Moose, Juan Pizarro, Bob Veale, Doc Ellis, and some others. We had a night game with St. Louis when I met Gibson. We were all at the park early and that's when I got him to pitch to me. I also played in Hickory and Salem. Those that know me know I don't talk much about it. Vietnam ended any hopes, and they were slim, that I would ever get to stay in the bigs after Vietnam. I was a better hitter than a catcher, but loved catching. In those days, the catcher moved the outfield and the infield, and called the pitches. Now it all comes from the dugout. Even my mom doesn't talk about it much because it was very painful for me and my family. Last visit though, she broke down and told my darlin' Deb and her family, "Tom used to hit that ball and it would just fly out of the park." They were good days.

Packo

Huh..The longer you hang around here,the more incredible things come to the surface.I had no clue you ever played ball,Packo.Talk about Vietnam ruining a career,just think what kind of numbers Mr. Ted Williams could have put up if not for his service in WW11.Andy:That`s what I meant about being just up the road from you.Had no idea you were in the cut at the time in Hobo Woods.Exact times and places are not my long suit,but I`d give a dollar to a donut that we crossed paths.

In the stands...
 

...Andy, If you see a good looking woman in the stands tonight, she's from NY...It's my wife's co-worker, she, and another are probably already sitting down there somewhere having a beer...

...went on a spur of the moment invite, and headed over earlier today...

...was that a traveling circus the other night at Fenway, or was it "farm team night"... nah, won't go there...

Yes
 

Phuloi, I thought we talked about this and you were with the Rome Plows while I was on an APC, so you sort of threw me. We protected (sometimes) the plows from the very end of October to the first several days of December, '67 of course; 56 straight days. You guys had some how obtained the chain to an anchor of a big ship, it was cut into about 100' pieces (or maybe that's how long they are{?}) and you'd hook it to two plows and drag lots of the bush away. It was amazing! Other plows were knocking down large trees, one on one. However, like all good things, someone didn't like the idea. As a result we had almost as many Rome's hit with RPGs as our tracks. Charles really had some wood for you guys.
In the early evenings I used to walk over to the plows, drink beer and watch you guys sharpening your blades for the next day. I know I didn't meet you, no one there was as old as the guy I met last year. :)

Jerker, every woman in the crowd looked good tonight, 13 to 1.

Stay healthy,
Andy

Griz,
 

Your right about Williams and others that served their country. One of my favorites is Rocky Blier, Pgh Steelers, who was from Wisconsin and was a star at Notre Dame. He was drafted by Pgh then by Sam. He didn't try and get out of it and was in the Infantry with the Americal. He lost most of his foot and was told he would probably never walk let alone play football. He has 4 Super Bowl rings and was an intrical part of the Steeler Offense and Special Teams. One year he and Franco Harris had over 1,000 yards apiece. How good would he have been had he not gone to Nam. Merlin, the "dickhead" Olsen, said of Blier in their second Super Bowl after he made an unbelieveable catch in the end zone against Dallas, "Blier's not much of an athlete.......". Don't recall Merlin fightin' in any war. Many players served in WWII and Korea and they never whinned. I am proud of all of them.

Bench Blistered Packo

Dizzy Dean
 

I remember in the middle 50's listening to a Yankees game on the radio, Dizzy Dean and I can't remember who his partner was were calling the game. A foul ball came into the announcers booth and Dizzy bent down to pick it up. His partner remarked that if you were watching the game on TV you could not have seen that shot with less than a 21 inch TV. :D :D

I love baseball but have lost the desire to go see a big league game ever since the strike. WWII did not halt baseball but players making outragous amounts of money to play a game did. It just isn't right. I love to watch the movie "The Sandlot" it is what baseball and being a kid is all about.

Somewhere we "as a society" turned from baseball to professional sports. I think we need to somehow go back to baseball. We used to have heros in baseball now all we have is players.

The Money in Baseball.
 

Sid,

Agree! There was a time when the smaller market teams could compete with the larger market teams. Now, it's just who has the most money and can buy the best team. I'm surprised there are even any farm systems left. I still love the game, love to watch it, but not with the same enthusiasm. Every year the teams change players like we change socks. It's sad. A good point here is the charity golf tourney I started here in Beaufort. The old NFL players, hockey, baseball, basketball, whatever, come here and get virtually no compensation. Just a hotel room, a round of golf, and a couple of free meals. They go to the childrens shelter and eat supper with the kids. We can't get any new former "stars" to come. They all want appearance money.

Packo

First game I ever went to was to see the Brooklyn Dodgers play at Ebbits field. What Sid and Tom said about baseball today. Cork in whose bat ?

Hello Paco,
I was stationed at MCAS Beaufort, SC in the 80's. Loved it there (being from SE Louisiana it was like being home) and had a real good friend there and he said he would retire there. He (when I was there) was a (Gunny) GySgt in the Marines, I wonder if he is still aruond. I doubt that you would know him though but if you happin to know a guy with the intinals of DWH (and a retired MarineAO) tell him AJ says hello.
Thanks, AJH