The Southpaw

Tommy Lasorda Off the Cuff: An Audio/Video Collage

Tommy Lasorda, the former Dodgers manager and a columnist for 108 Magazine, is noted for being a baseball ambassador, a true asset to the game, even after his "official" retirement. But sometimes his passion for baseball (or, perhaps more accurately, for winning) overcame his internal censor, and after a ballgame he would let loose with a stream of profanities during his mini press conference with reporters.

I've been to a few of these informal exchanges: they take place almost immediately after the end of each game, in the manager's office. Relatively small enclaves of reporters, equipped with pens and notepads and often tape recorders, surround the manager, who's sitting at his desk. Usually he's still in his uniform, and after a long day of work, like the rest of us, he just wants to get the hell home. But first he's got to give the media guys something.

It usually starts with the the TV folks. They've been perched in the office since the eighth inning, taking up the first "row," so they can get their short clip in time to be slotted into the 11 p.m. or midnight local newscast. After a question or two, they're gone. Those are usually softball questions with easy answers, and that's all they need.

Then the radio guys move in. They want something better, smarter. Something that can add real substance to a 2-minute audio report. And the manager knows the routine, and tries to provide it. They've also got an ASAP deadline, and get out of there as soon as possible.

Which leaves the print reporters. The majority are local beat reporters, a few cover the opposing team, there's a "neutral" but local AP scribe, and maybe a feature writer or two. And that's when things get a little looser. The manager knows that the video and radio guys are good PR and he tries to help them by giving them something that's not too tough to edit. But newspapers generally don't print profanities, so if he's inclined toward that type of language, especially when upset, angry, or tired, he feels free to use it. He knows most of the reporters surrounding him, talks with them frequently, and is around them for hours a day, every day. The level of familiarity must provide a certain comfort.

I'm generalizing, of course; some managers are more buttoned down than others. Some say as little is as necessary to satisfy the press. Some may use profanity on occasion -- say, one f-bomb per sentence, one polysyllabic sex-act descriptor per paragraph. Others may be the meanest SOBs in the world, but don't curse, either for religious reasons or because corporal punishment was the penalty for cursing when they were children.

Lasorda was one of the best at integrating profanity into all kinds of responses to reporters' questions, which ranged from the simple (and therefore ridiculous), to the smart (and therefore ridiculous), to the complex (and therefore ridiculous).

Some of those old reporters' audiotapes have survived. This collage includes one of my favorite audio clips, about Kurt Bevacqua, whose name provides some great hard consonants to complement full-blown fescennine belittlement. Lasorda also has some interesting things to say about Steve Garvey. The video is well done, with appropriately synchronized still shots underscoring Lasorda's sentiments.

It's also NSFW, unless you're wearing headphones. Lots of cussing.

Leo Durocher's Sitcom Career: The Beverly Hillbillies and The Munsters

In the first half of the 1960s, Leo Durocher must have been very bored. Returning to baseball after five years as an announcer, he was no longer a manager -- instead, The Lip was a coach who had to answer to Dodgers' manager Walter Alston.

So Durocher, who always dug show biz, put in some guest appearances. In April 1963, he played himself on "The Beverly Hillbillies," then the top-rated show on TV. He thinks he's found a pitching prospect in Jethroe (Max Baer Jr., son of the former heavyweight champ). Los Angeles Times columnist Sid Ziff was impressed with Durocher's abilities.

"During the shooting, which I watched for over an hour, Durocher didn't blow a line," wrote Ziff in the Feb. 15, 1963 edition, almost two months before the episode ("The Clampetts and the Dodgers") aired. "He was perfectly at home. And he has a big part. It's not one of those walk-in things to take advantage of a sports name. There are lots of typical Hillbilly lines."

You can watch the complete episode below.

Durocher enjoyed acting so much that he later agreed to make an appearance in "The Munsters." Check it out after the jump.

Casey Stengel's All-Time All-Stars

In 1961, Casey Stengel wrote an "as told to" article for the Saturday Evening Post, and it includes two highlights: his All-Time All-Stars (from 1912, when he played his first major league game, to 1960), and his All-Star Yankee Squad (from 1949-60).

Here you go:

Stengel's All-Time National League All-Star Squad (1912-1960)

First Base
Bill Terry
Johnny Mize

Second Base
Rogers Hornsby
Jackie Robinson

Shortstop
Hans Wagner
Ernie Banks
Glenn Wrighht

Third Base
Frank Frisch
Pie Traynor

Left Field
Stan Musial
Zach Wheat

Center Field
Willie Mays
Edd Roush
Duke Snider

Right Field
Paul Waner

Catcher
Gabby Hartnett
Roy Campanella
Ernie Lombardi

Pitcher
Grover Alexander
Christy Mathewson
Carl Hubbell
Dizzy Dean
Warren Spahn
Ed Reulbach
Dazzy Vance

AL and Yankee Squads after the jump

Early Ejection = Terrific Tirade: Earl Weaver Gives to Ump, But Takes Plenty in Return

A classic, hilarious Earl Weaver argument. The year, I believe, is 1982. The Orioles are hosting the Tigers. One out in the top of the first. An ump (is it Ron Luciano?) calls a balk on O's starter Mike Flanagan. Earl Weaver is out of the dugout in a heartbeat, and carries on an argument for three minutes -- about 2:45 after he's been ejected.

This was caught with a handheld camera, and the audio is terrific, although the level of conversation isn't very sophisticated:

Earl: "You ain't no good!"
Ump: "You're no good either!"

Earl: "In five or 10 years who's going to be in the Hall of Fame?"
Ump: "For f****** up the World Series?"

etc. Immensely enjoyable.

A Rau Deal? Lasorda Doesn't Think So

The sitch: Game 4 of the 1977 World Series. Yankees are up, two games to one. Doug Rau, who's pitched well (14-8, 3.43) for the Dodgers all season but who has a sore left shoulder and has tossed only one inning in the last three weeks, is on the mound for L.A. Ron Guidry, who's in his first full season for the Yankees, is practically money in the bank (16-7, 2.82).

Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda has decided to start Rau, despite the obvious risks, in order to give staff ace Don Sutton a extra day of rest.

Bad decision. Rau makes it through the first inning without a problem, but in the top of the second Reggie Jackson doubles and Lou Piniella singles Jackson home. Then Chris Chambliss doubles, sending Piniella to third. Down a run, two men in scoring position, nobody out. Lasorda decides Rau's done enough for the day.

He goes out to the mound, and finds out that Rau doesn't agree. A heated discussion ensues. And we get to hear it, because Lasorda has allowed himself to be miked for the game. So he tones down his language. But not much. So if you have sensitive ears, click elsewhere.

Rick Rhoden, who has also had a fine season as a Dodgers starter, gets the call. He goes seven innings, retiring 17 of 19 batters and giving up only two hits and one earned run (Piniella and Chambliss both scored in the second, but those runs belonged to Rau).

If you want to delve more deeply into this incident, read Jeff Angus' fascinating post about it over at Management by Baseball.

Sparky Anderson's #$%^%#@! Postgame %^&$#@! Media $%##@%^ Analysis

Would any writer at this post-game press conference in Detroit suspect that Sparky Anderson's Hall of Fame bio would say he was "known for his jovial disposition"? It's certainly not in evidence here as Anderson lets the press have it with barnyard epithets and more. NSFW, and definitely not safe for children. Enjoy.

A Very Mellow Billy Martin

1981 was Billy Martin's second year managing the Oakland A's. And he was unusually ... content. Free of George Steinbrenner. Free to make deals (though the A's GM still signed off on them). And he had a pretty good ballclub, too.

So it probably wasn't too hard to coax him into doing this commercial urging fans to come out to the ballpark, beginning with the home opener against the Mariners on April 17. A commercial touting a different kind of baseball -- Billy Ball.

By the time the home opener rolled around, the A's would already be 8-0 and would run their early-season record to 20-3. In the strike-shortened split season they'd win their division by beating the Royals in a three-game playoff before losing to the Yankees in the ALCS.

I doubt Martin remained as laid back as he appears in this spot, which is a lot of fun to watch.

Earl Weaver and an ump argue for 3 minutes -- see (and hear!) it all

Watching on TV you can often tell the players and managers are cursing when they're arguing ... but you just catch a word or two. This is a great clip of O's manager Earl Weaver arguing during a 1982 game. Weaver's persistent and profane, but the ump is equally capable of dropping f-bombs. At one point Weaver tries to one-up the ump by boasting that he's going to be in the Hall of Fame. Strange.

Lee Elia rants against Cubs fans ... but defends his players

On Friday, April 29, 1983, the Cubs lost to the Dodgers. Their record dropped to 5-14 with the loss. After the game, Chicago manager Lee Elia, talking to reporters, let loose on Cubs fans, exploding with anger. His rant went on for three minutes, but the beginning of it has become the part that's remembered:

We’ve got these so-called fucking fans, who come out here every day and say they’re Cub fans, and they’re supposed to be behind you, but they’re ripping everything you do ... The motherfuckers don’t even work. That’s why they’re out at the fucking game. They ought to go out and get a fucking job and find out what it’s like to earn a fucking living. Eighty-five percent of the world’s working. The other fifteen come out here.

And he was just getting started.

But what's left out of most accounts of the incident, or cut out of most recordings, was Elia's passionate defense of his players. That came after he ripped the fans, and besides backing his players, who he said were busting their butts every day, he took responsibility for the team's performance, saying (this is a paraphrase), "If you're going to blame anybody, blame me!"

It's understandable why Elia was peeved at Cubs fans. Back then, Wrigley Field wasn't a shrine -- it was just an old ballpark. And the fact was that Chicago's attendance was dismal: that Friday they drew 9,391, which was spectacular compared to the previous day's attendance of 3,383. On Opening Day, which the Cubs played at home with Ferguson Jenkins pitching, only 4,802 showed up. Pretty pathetic.

According to Jim Ksicinski and Tom Flaherty, who write about Elia in Jocks and Socks, Elia was normally a mild-mannered man, and took some pride when they played him a tape of his tirade.

The Cubs didn't improve much after Elia's outburst, finishing fifth place in the NL East with a 71-91 record. Elia didn't make it to the end of the season. He was replaced by Charlie Fox after 123 games. After leading the Cubs to two fifth-place finishes in 1982 and 1983, he took over the Phillies helm in 1987 and 1988, bringing them home in fourth and sixth place. 

Lee Elia rant (mp3 file)

Earl Weaver's managing philosophy ... in a profanity-laced tirade

Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver had a relatively simple managerial philosophy -- hold the other team with pitching and defense, and blast a couple of big homers to win it. He still argued over the details -- which is why he holds the A.L. record for ejections, with 98. But his managing style certainly didn't hurt the O's, who won four A.L. flags under him.

Weaver spoke about his philosophy in a brief discussion on "Manager's Corner" -- an exchange which almost certainly never made it to air. If you don't mind a little language, so to speak, you might find this brief interview amusing.

Earl Weaver: Manager's Corner (mp3)

Top 10 Joe Schultz Quotes

Middle of winter, icy rain coming down, and as usual Ball Four provides me with some baseball comfort -- and lots of laughs. It's remarkable, when you think about how businesslike today's game is, to consider just how loose and informal Pilots manager Joe Schultz was with his players in 1969, which, to me at least, wasn't all that long ago.

While perusing Ball Four this year, I decided to focus particularly on Schultz's wit and wisdom, and after gathering some quotes, ranked them. You may disagree with my ranking. But I hope you'll laugh.

The 10 list follows after the jump.

Buck O'Neil, Leo Durocher, Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson

A belated farewell to Buck O'Neil, via the New York Times:

Buck O’Neil, Negro Leagues Pioneer, Is Dead at 94
By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
October 7, 2006

Buck O’Neil, a star first baseman and manager in the Negro leagues and a pioneering scout and coach in the major leagues who devoted the final decade of his life to chronicling the lost world of black baseball, died last night in Kansas City, Mo. He was 94.

Full obit

---

Which led me to three other obits of the greats, courtesy the NYT:

Oct. 25, 1972
Jackie Robinson, First Black in Major Leagues, Dies
Dodger Star, in Hall of Fame, Began in '47
By DAVE ANDERSON

Jackie Robinson, who made history in 1947 by becoming the first black baseball player in the major leagues, suffered a heart attack in his home in Stamford, Conn., yesterday morning and died at Stamford Hospital at 7:10 A.M.  He was 53 years old.
Full obit

---
 

Syd Thrift, RIP

As I've written earlier, one of the more ambitious pieces I wrote for ESPN.com was a profile of Leo Mazzone. One of the many baseball men I had the pleasure of speak to was Syd Thrift, who, I discovered from my research, had released Mazzone as a pitcher early in 1976 and then offered him a job managing Corpus Christi in the Class A Lone Star League. It was Mazzone's first job as a manager or coach (he did pitch five games for Corpus Christi in 1976, but only because thought it would help the team win the championship, which it did).

My interview with Thrift, in June 2005, was one I wished had gone on for hours. He'd spent more than a half-century in baseball, and if hadn't done it all, he'd come pretty damn close.

Thrift died Monday night. He was 77.

Because much of my interview ended up on the cutting room floor, including some interesting bits, in honor of Syd, I thought I'd post a lengthier excerpt. I hope you'll find it interesting.

A man's life, file by file

Yesterday I was going through some clips that I had downloaded a few months ago ... all of them  with names like "ProQuest_90614334.pdf." All of them old New York Times and L.A. Times articles that related either to Johnny Sain or Jim Bouton. This wasn't an idle exercise -- I have to rename the files so they're useful for future research.

Many of the articles are about key points in Sain's career, and they're often terribly brief and offer little or no information beyond the facts. No analysis. No quotes.

Jim and Johnny

Ball Four is, by far, my favorite baseball book, and even that may be praise too faint: it's one of my favorite books. And I read an awful lot.

I first read Ball Four not long after it came out; probably around 1972 or 1973, when I was 11 or 12 years old. I wasn't an especially advanced or "cool" kid about matters carnal, and I don't recall being surprised or disenchanted when reading about the drunken escapades of famous ballplayers. Mickey Mantle wasn't my hero, but even if he was, he didn't seem diminished by what Jim Bouton wrote about him.

The man who I thought was the true exemplar of so much that seemed stupid and silly about baseball was