If you could sit down and chat with one baseball player, past or present, who would it be?
fsjeter
Posts: 1,390
For me, it would be Jackie Robinson. I was playing golf about six months ago and met a men that went to UCLA and played with Jackie Robinson. Unfortunately, his name escapes me but it was an interesting discussion to say the least. 
Scott
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If we were drinking, Babe Ruth.
If he had to stay and answer my questions and not beat me up, Barry Bonds.
To talk baseball, Ted Williams or Bob Feller
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After watching Ken Burn's documentary Buck O'Neil would be way up on the list too. And Casey Stengel, if I wanted to be totally confused by the time I left.
Edited to say Fidel Castro tried out for the Cincinnati Reds, so he'd count. I"m sure he'd have some good inside info to share that you don't hear often.
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<< <i>Billy Martin >>
good pick..
<< <i>Orlando Cepeda, Dock Ellis, and Bill Lee.. >>
Why not add Steve Howe and Dale Berra?
Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's
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Growing up a Mets fan he was always the most entertaining guest on the post game show "Kiner's Korner". Being left handed I always tried to emulate him.
A chat would be cool.
RayBShotz
alright already, so it's two
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<< <i>
Why not add Steve Howe and Dale Berra? >>
steve is welcome to come, even Gooden & Strawberry.. hell, even Pete Rose Jr. can bring his GHB..
i didnt know about Dale Berra though.. heh.. i just googled it.. he can come too..
Incredible on the field and off, I'd want to know how he felt going to the war while many did not...if he ever thought about what his career numbers would have been had he not lost those years to the war.
It would have to be with the condition his son isn't there, though, or any of those hangers on are around.
Bosox1976
<< <i>Judge Mountain Landis (I know he wasn't a player). His decision to integrate baseball, despite near unanimous anti-integration sentiment among owners and players is nothing short of remarkable. He was said to be eloquent, thoughtful, brilliant, and tough as nails. >>
Baseball couldnt be integrated until Landis was out of office. That one goes to Happy Chandler..............
Bosox1976
or
Hank Aaron....the pressure and eyes of all of the Nation on him and having to deal with the 'challenges' of the day.
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Amen to that.
I would have to say Hank Aaron, or Ernie Harwell if it could just be a baseball personality. The stories that man could tell span a long long time.
rbd
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not the usual baseball player
A relative of mine--Charlie Deal ( pro 1912-1921). His claim to fame was scoring the winning and only run of the game,in the 9th with 2 outs, in Game 2 of the 1914 World Series when the outfielder blew an easy pop-up and misplayed it. I still have his shoes and glove. The glove is signed by H. Horan,H. Gowdy,and J.Evers and pitcher D. Rudolph. In a letter he wrote after the game, he couldn't believe they held Philly's best hitters 6 for 42 during the 4 game sweep by Boston. It would have been a blast growing up during that time period and be able to talk baseball with him. Charlie also got to face Babe Ruth in the 1918 World Series. Man!! how sweet is that?!!
just found a photo on ebay of him--Charlie Deal
I am with you cubfan...Lou Gehrig. After he found out he was dying. To know what was going through his mind and how he delt with it.
Ed
If you haven't read Bill Lee's "The Little Red (Sox) Book", I bet you'd appreciate one of the chapters involving Moe Berg. The book is hilarious, mostly filled with Lee telling "what if..." stories about Red Sox history, with much Yankee bashing strewn throughout. Anyways, one of the stories involves Moe Berg, Ted Williams, FDR, and a complex plot to kill Adolph Hitler one day at Fenway. A great read for any baseball fan, even Yankee ones.
<< <i>If you haven't read Bill Lee's "The Little Red (Sox) Book", I bet you'd appreciate one of the chapters involving Moe Berg. The book is hilarious, mostly filled with Lee telling "what if..." stories about Red Sox history, with much Yankee bashing strewn throughout. Anyways, one of the stories involves Moe Berg, Ted Williams, FDR, and a complex plot to kill Adolph Hitler one day at Fenway. A great read for any baseball fan, even Yankee ones. >>
I'll have to pick that book up! I think Bill Lee would be my second choice.
<< <i>I would say Brett Favre and his wife too. I am a cancer survivor just like Deanna Favre, but of course a different kind. I would like to talk with both of them with my wife there too to discuss the hardships of cancer and the public eye looking at both of them every day of their lives. >>
Wow, although the thread is for baseball players, this is a great response. Congrats on your survival, and God bless.
Just a couple of thoughts on the posts thus far:
1. Mountain Landis was not for the integration of baseball. He was somewhat of a racist and didn't want to do anything drastic to change public perception back then. And he was a politician after all, so he could play the political game very well.
2. Ty Cobb - Interesting choice, but he wouldn't want to talk to any of you (don't worry, the guy was such a jackass, he wouldn't talk to me, either)
3. I already talked to two of my heros - Bob Feller and Harmon Killebrew.
4. I would have loved to have gotten into the conversation that Bobbie Night and Ted Williams had on a flight to Russia for a promotion. Very interesting conversation and I heard very few people could hear the engines due to the arguing LOL
5. As far as dead players go: Joe DiMaggio (would talk very little about baseball with him), Connie Mack, Cap Anson (ask him why he was such a racist pig that he made Cobb look like a hippie), Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth (why not)
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Unless I'm mistaken, Cobb, Landis and Cap Anson all lived and died quite a while ago. While there are rumors, and you're of course welcome to believe whatever you read and see on TV, I think it's a bit dramatic and unfair to use terms like "jackass" and "racist pig" to essentially reduce these men to nothing more.
Also a bit hypocritical considering there are many people (and I'm not talking just about his recent comments) who believe very strongly that one of your heros, Bob Feller (who is one of mine as well) was nothing more than an uneducated red neck country boy who never liked playing wit dem colored folk and mexicanos.
Of course, that's just a perception. To define his character and mark him with that tag, having not known him personally or lived in his time, would be arrogant of me.
After Ty Cobb's death, he travelled around with a portable cassette player and interviewed a group of turn of the century players. It is a great way to learn about the origin of the game we know.
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To that end, I had the most entertaining and unforgettable conversation of my life with a baseball player. It was, I want to say 6-7 years ago, I spent an afternoon with Ted Radcliffe. In his time, he was known as "double-duty" as he would often pitch/catch respective ends of double-headers. His experiences from rooming with Satchell Paige to the White House visits are genuinely hilarious. Such a unique character.
I could ask him any question (and did) and got a straight answer--and a colorful one. I chose to listen to both. Among the things I learned that day...
1. Satchell was a fantastic actor. He could be whoever he wanted you to see. He saw himself as an entertainer first and the greatest pitcher of his generation second. He was also neat and organized and at some point in his illustrious career broke each and every finger on Ted's left hand (Ted's fingers were nasty).
2. Bill Clinton wasn't the only president to enjoy female company that some would say was inappropriate.
3. Ted Williams and Gehrig were--"by far"--the toughest outs they faced among the white players. They were "as good or better than any of us--and that's sayin' somethin' for them"
4. Turkey Stearns was the best clutch hitter he ever saw. He called him a line-drive machine who hit everything hard--fill in the blanks here.
5. Josh Gibson was a moody guy that could hit with the likes of Ruth for sure...and drink with 'em too.
6. His favorite current player was the Miami kid (Chuck Carr). He played the game the way "we" played it. Fast, hard, life or death.
7. Players today he thought could go back in time and do well barnstorming..."none".
8. Favorite current Major League team... "Does Brooklyn still have a club?"
9. Jackie Robinson was the only guy who ever intimidated him.
10. The roughest part of not being allowed to play in the White Major Leagues: "Guys knew they were just as good--often better-- (he digressed into the MVP's of the 50's being mostly black--right after integration started) than the whites that played the same positions and got all the 'love' and they never got a chance to show the newspaper reading fans". He said, "baseball missed a lot of times they could make money on today--and back then, too".
The quotes are actually pretty close to right on. His language skills are a bit soft in spots, but his passion for the game's past is unrivaled.
It was clearly about friendship and a small, but glorious, fraternity of guys--ballplayers--who were in the thing together and played literally every game like it was their last. The alternatives were unthinkable to many of them. He said the only problem with today's players was motivation. "If the firing squad is linin' up if you don't make a good pitch--you make a good pitch."
Ted "DoubleDuty" Radcliffe- a National treasure? Maybe not. I'll say this, it WAS one hell of an afternoon.
dgf
Steve