Obscure^2 Observation

[Max Power]

What's the most obscure story that you remember or have about a very obscure MLB player?

The mention of Rich Coggins in another thread made me think of this thread topic.............

I recall back in 1975, listening to a Yankee game on the radio - - Bill White and Phil Rizzuto doing the game.

Bobby Bonds did not start the game. It was a close game, NY trailing, and the Yankees started a rally late in the game. During the rally, at a point where nothing was happening, the fans' cheering started to rise (for what seemed like no reason)........to which Rizzuto offered something like:

Look who just stepped into the on-deck circle as a pinch hitter! That's why the crowd is going nuts........it's Bobby Bonds coming into the game........

to which White countered:

Uh, Phil, that's number 26. Rich Coggins. They want a lefty to pinch hit. Bonds wears number 25. I think you and the fans are maybe confused on the numbers. The way he's moving around, it's hard to tell if it's 25 or 26 on his back.

Scooter came back with:

What do I know? All those guys look alike to me.

And, White laughed, and said something like "If anyone else says that to me, they get a punch in the nose....but, you...." and he continued laughing.

Maybe the quotes are not exact, but, that's what happened. To this day, whenever I hear "Rich Coggins" I think of that obscure moment in time - on that obscure player.

Anyone else have one to share?

[Duque]

Every time I see or listen to Keith Hernandez, I cannot help but think of him spitting on Newman.

Okay, granted - Keith Hernandez is not that obscure of a player.

[Max Power]

Originally posted by Duque
Every time I see or listen to Keith Hernandez, I cannot help but think of him spitting on Newman.

Okay, granted - Keith Hernandez is not that obscure of a player.

Plus, it was Roger McDowell that launched the magic loogie, no?

[Ytown Tribe fan]

It's not really a story, but I saved Angel Salazar from slipping on the scum on the walkways of old Cleveland Muni Stadium during a Royals road trip in '86.

I don't know how the major news outlets missed it.

[WiredTiger]

I still remember that cult hero Jim Walewander liked the "Dead Milkmen".

[BravesWin!]

Only foul ball a member of my party has ever caught was during a Braves-Expos Doubleheader in front of about 2400 fans at Fulton County Stadium....Jim Presley hit a fly into our section, and my dad jumped over about 4 rows to get the Bill White signed official National League Baseball....whenever I here the name Jim Presley, I think right back to that moment....

andrew

[sweaver]

Bruce Ruffin gave my then-6-year-old daughter a ball, and signed it for her. That was cool.

[RedSeat]

Collecting baseball cards as a kid, I seemed to get a Dick Drago card in every other pack. I'd be excited to see a Red Sox player and then would quickly realize it was another Drago. If I ever hear his name, I think of that stack of 20+ cards.

[KCBOOMER]

I have two favorite obscure memories.

The first is when Roy Acuff climbed into the broadcast booth with Dizzy Dean and they proceeded to sing "The Wabash Cannonball" while the game was going on.

The other was when a friend and I of equally rotund physiques tried to sit in the set of Ebbets Field bleachers seats on display at Cooperstown.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Boomer -- it was nice seeing George catch that foul ball during the World Series, wasn't it? He looks like he could still strap on spikes and play right now.

[KCBOOMER]

Brett is in better shape now than he was the ten years of his career.

[satchel]

Originally posted by Max Power
Scooter came back with:

What do I know? All those guys look alike to me.

:eek:

On the topic ... hm ... Rick Cerone wasn't such an obscure player, but he did hit a grand slam on my birthday in 1979. My dad had taken me Yankee Stadium for my birthday.

(Another year - maybe the year before, I was pretty young - there was a rain delay and a lot of folks left. We were sitting down the line in left field and went all the way to the front row when play resumed. Between innings I called out "Looooouuuuu!" to Lou Piniella and he turned around and waved at me; I guess he could tell it was a little kid's voice.)

[OaktownTribeFan]

I went with a buddy of mine to a game at Candlestick in '84. After we were seated, I got up and walked by the Giants dugout, and on the field Duane Kuiper was throwing the ball around with another player. I stared at him for a few seconds, and he said, "you want me to sign your glove?" I hadn't even thought of that, but I tossed it to him, and he signed it. What a nice guy!

Maybe he's not so obscure either, but he was known in his time as a guy who hit just 1 homer in his career, and that one went all of about 320 feet.

[hmrsf]

I had this patient who was such a lovely man. He owned season tickets to the Sox. On Friday he would leave on the dryer tickets for me if no one in his business was using them. I took my daughter and my step son to a game. (his first professional game).

My step son went to get some concessions ( he was not into baseball) John Valentine (my daughter's minor league hero) hit a grand slam! My daughter told my stepson not to worry........he would hit another one next inning!!!

My patient convinced me to ask my husband to buy season tickets. I asked my husband and he said we weren't in that status......never said anything and kept hoping there would be tickets on the dryer.

I almost went to the '99 Cy young Cy old playoff game (Clemens vs. Martinez). My patient promised me the tickets. My patients wife gave them to a son who drove up from Georgia to go to the game. My patient did not speak to his wife until Christmas morning over that. I was disappointed but I understood. My husband and I became season ticket holders ever since.......I will always be grateful to the patient who left tickets on the dryer and the playoff game I missed.:bounce:

[Jim Rice]

When I was 16 years old I had a job at an ice cream store in a mall. Since we were only about two doors down from the movie theaters, which stayed open much later, we would sometimes have people stop by who were waiting for their late movie to start, sometimes long after we had shut the chain-link gate and started cleaning up for the night. Unless they got there before we actually started cleaning anything, we invariably turned them away. Otherwise we would have been there all night.

One night I was alone closing the store. The gate was closed, the garbage was sitting by the entrance waiting for me to carry it out when I left, and I was mopping the floor. Two couples strolled by and tried to come in. No "Are you still open?" or anything, just walked past the garbage bags, the chain link gate and onto my freshly mopped floor.

"I'm sorry," I said, "we're closed."

One guy answered, "Can't we just get a quick scoop?" When I looked at him, I finally realized that he was Greg Pryor, utility infielder for the Royals at the time.

"Sorry, the register is already shut down," I replied, which was true.

Prior gave me a dirty look, muttered something like "Stupid kid" under his breath and left.

He left the Royals a couple of years later I have no idea where he is now, but sometimes I still run across his mug on a baseball card or in an old program and I remember what I jerk he was.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

I read this in one of the old Abstracts, I believe, and it qualifies as an obscure story. Does anyone remember where it first appeared?

Basically, James wrote that he saw an article in SI about (then-player) Gardenhire leaving his cat with relatives in Lawrence, Kansas while he went off with the team (to Spring training, I think).

What struck James wasn't that Ron would do this, but that SI would REPORT it. He concluded that he would be driving very carefully about town lest some harm should come to the cat, and "SI would report that a local baseball writer ran over Ron Gardenhire's cat".

[LeGrandOrange]

I haven't really gotten a hell of a lot of obscurity about baseballers, although I do know that my sister's one time...she'll kill me if I call him a boyfriend--so be it...boyfriend is a distant relative of John Marzano, the former Mariners catcher person. :) (Shares his last name too)
I'm personally proud to have had Marzano wave in my direction when he was getting ready to warm up a pitcher in Kingdome, but that's just me...

[gyb13]

Originally posted by RedSeat
Collecting baseball cards as a kid, I seemed to get a Dick Drago card in every other pack. I'd be excited to see a Red Sox player and then would quickly realize it was another Drago. If I ever hear his name, I think of that stack of 20+ cards. funny, i have the same type of memory, although it was with Kevin Maas, Jamie Quirk, and Jerry Browne