I actually played backyard basketball against Charles Oakley and blocked 1 of his shots and he got pissed off and started paying rough house basketball for the rest of the game.My Buddy had a nice basketball court in his backyard and his next door neighbor worked on Oakley's Porshe and had his little boys shot hoops and than we had a 3 on 3 game and was against that big oaf Oakley and swatted his shit away.My buddy had his dad out there shooting video of this but that was about 15 yrs ago when this happened and my buddy said it got lost in a flood that had in the house so there goes my proof but that was my claim to fame.Gravy
Five years pro ball before most of you were born. As high as Triple A and high level winter ball. .292 lifetime BA.
Some of the pitchers I faced along the way:
"The Catfish", Jim Palmer. Jerry Koosman [2 for 3] Chuck Dobson, Chuck Estrada, "Blue Moon" Odom, Danny Frisella [ Mets...life cut short by dune buggy accident. Toughest for me to hit. 3 K's in three AB. All swinging high heat. Never had a clue. This guy would have had a career. Threw hard, ball really jumped, smart and very good stuff.]
Billy Pleis [ 2 for 4, double and went Yard], Paul Lindblad, Dick Drago, Gary Peters, Claude "Skip" Lockwood, Jim Rooker, Rob Gardner, Dave Boswell, Gerry Arrigo, John Hiller.
There were a quite a few other fringe type "cup of coffee guys". But the one's I mentioned, I definetly remember. Funny thing is facing these guys was no harder than some real young wild 94 MPH throwers under the usual abysmal lights of those days in the bushes. Some of these guys had no clue if they'd split the plate or your skull with their next pitch; so common back then in the bushes when we had no ear flaps on the helmets. I was a guess hitter most of the time with less than 2 strikes on me. Every now and then, I would mentally lock into swinging at the next pitch looking for heat in a certain spot. If heat came where you were expecting it... often that was just the ticket. And this sometimes worked very well against the "Flame Throwers" who were usually throwing heat maybe 80% or even more. But man it could make you look like an a-hole too.
I was never as well acquainted with the skrike zone as I would have liked. Always a problem for me. So the guys I mentioned were always around the plate. That actually helped me. Don't have the stats to prove it, but I think I hit as well against the guys I mentioned as I did against the young, wild, "raw throwers" with real good velocity that were just out of school. I was a good fast ball hitter, but only when when I could see it.
Can't wait for bases!!
Some of the pitchers I faced along the way:
"The Catfish", Jim Palmer. Jerry Koosman [2 for 3] Chuck Dobson, Chuck Estrada, "Blue Moon" Odom, Danny Frisella [ Mets...life cut short by dune buggy accident. Toughest for me to hit. 3 K's in three AB. All swinging high heat. Never had a clue. This guy would have had a career. Threw hard, ball really jumped, smart and very good stuff.]
Billy Pleis [ 2 for 4, double and went Yard], Paul Lindblad, Dick Drago, Gary Peters, Claude "Skip" Lockwood, Jim Rooker, Rob Gardner, Dave Boswell, Gerry Arrigo, John Hiller.
There were a quite a few other fringe type "cup of coffee guys". But the one's I mentioned, I definetly remember. Funny thing is facing these guys was no harder than some real young wild 94 MPH throwers under the usual abysmal lights of those days in the bushes. Some of these guys had no clue if they'd split the plate or your skull with their next pitch; so common back then in the bushes when we had no ear flaps on the helmets. I was a guess hitter most of the time with less than 2 strikes on me. Every now and then, I would mentally lock into swinging at the next pitch looking for heat in a certain spot. If heat came where you were expecting it... often that was just the ticket. And this sometimes worked very well against the "Flame Throwers" who were usually throwing heat maybe 80% or even more. But man it could make you look like an a-hole too.
I was never as well acquainted with the skrike zone as I would have liked. Always a problem for me. So the guys I mentioned were always around the plate. That actually helped me. Don't have the stats to prove it, but I think I hit as well against the guys I mentioned as I did against the young, wild, "raw throwers" with real good velocity that were just out of school. I was a good fast ball hitter, but only when when I could see it.
Can't wait for bases!!
Forgot to mention hitting against Tug McGraw in winter ball [RIP]. Both of our clubs were in based the Tampa-St. Pete area. I ran into him at a watering hole and we conversed for a while as best as we could trying make sense out of what we were saying under the circumstances of that evening.
Tug was simply classic.
Tug was simply classic.
