In 1962 I was named Minor League Player of the Year. It was my second season in the bigs. |
In those days, your contract for the next year was based on your innings pitched. |
It's been great. I'd like to do this again 50 years from now when I get to 100. Wherever I am, dig me up. Bring me back here. A couple times around the warning track and take me back to the hole where you picked me up. |
Let's face it. Umpiring is not an easy or happy way to make a living. In the abuse they suffer, and the pay they get for it, you see an imbalance that can only be explained by their need to stay close to a game they can't resist. |
Of course I do, Howie. If you had a truck and you gave it to me, that would be a truck-you-lent. |
One time, I got pulled over at four AM. I was fined seventy-five dollars for being intoxicated and four-hundred for being with the Phillies. |
People don't know this but I helped the Cardinals win the pennant. I came down with hepatitis. The trainer injected me with it. |
Sporting goods companies pay me not to endorse their products. |
Sure, women sportswriters look when they're in the clubhouse. Read their stories. How else do you explain a capital letter in the middle of a word? |
That's not a bad rap on players today. Everything in the game has changed. |
The highlight of my career? In '67 with St. Louis, I walked with the bases loaded to drive in the winning run in an inter-squad game in spring training. |
The MRI scan looked like I had swallowed a cantaloupe. It was an abdominal aortic aneurysm. I was shocked because, except for the back pain, I felt good. |
The night has been splendid. I can think of no place else I would rather be as a player, as a broadcaster, or as a citizen than right here in Milwaukee. |
The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and then pick it up. |
We noticed he missed a few games. Turns out he had heart surgery. |