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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > March > 09 > Entry
Dusty dusts ‘em off
For Dusty Baker, it is all new and all good.
As manager of the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs, spring training was in Arizona, where it will be in 2010 for the Cincinnati Reds.
The only time Baker was in Florida was when he was a player in the early 1970s with the Atlanta Braves.
As he stood on the Progress Energy Park Field Sunday before a game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Baker looked around and said, “You know the only time I was ever here was when I was a kid trying to make the Atlanta Braves in 1972.”
Both the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals trained here at the time, when the place was known as Al Lang Field. There was an exhibition game between the Cardinals and the Mets and Mr. Nasty, Bob Gibson, was pitching for the Cardinals.
The Mets had a young up-and-comer named Jon Milner and, as he so often did, Gibson’s first pitch was right between Milner’s shoulder blades.
“We were in town to play the Cardinals the next day,” said Baker. “Gibson and Hank Aaron were good friends and were having dinner that night. Hank asked me to go along and I sat there with my mouth shut.
“Well, Hank asked Gibson, ‘Why did you hit that kid today?’” said Baker. “And Gibson said, ‘Because I heard he was a good hitter and I wanted to get him in line.’ I sat there quietly and thought to himself, ‘Oh, Lord, I hope he doesn’t know my name.’”
That’s one of the perks of covering the Reds these days, the privilege of listening to Baker’s stories of days past that include so many Hall of Fame names.
That doesn’t mean Baker lives in the past. Far from it. He just uses the past to help him live in the present and the future.
A good example is his judgement of young players. He takes notice whether they are No. 1 picks or they are No. 63 picks. Late last week, Baker wandered onto the back fields of the City of Sarasota Sports Complex to watch the minor-leaguers, about 150 of them.
“It was weird, man,” he said. “I’d look over at shortstop and there’d be 18 shortstops. I’d look at third base and there would 22 of them. Man, that’s tough when you’re trying to get to know players.”
He pays attention to everybody and told a story about when he was with the Giants and walked among the minor leaguers.
“I couldn’t even see this kid who was in the batting cages, but I could hear, ‘Pow, pow, pow,’ as he hit the ball,” said Baker. “I asked somebody from the front office, ‘Who is that kid?’ The guys said, ‘Oh, he is just a 63rd round pick. A filler.’”
Baker said he thought to himself, “That’s not the right attitude.” So he approached the kid and asked, “Son, what’s your name?”
The kid looked up and said, “Marvin L. Benard, sir. And you know what my initials stand for? MLB (Major League Baseball) because I was born to play baseball.”
Not only did Marvin L. Benard go by “MLB,” the 63rd-round pick made it to the majors with the Giants.
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Comments
By Gary Maloy Jr.
March 10, 2008 5:25 PM | Link to this
Vero Beach. Good call, got milk.
By Y-City Jim
March 9, 2008 11:11 PM | Link to this
Dodgertown was probably its own country. :D
By got milk
March 9, 2008 9:16 PM | Link to this
Umm - wouldn’t have Dusty been in Florida for spring training when he played for the Dodgers?
By Ted Lawson
March 9, 2008 3:58 PM | Link to this
Mr. Maloy is exactly right Hal. A good beat writer know his baseball and you have no equal in the busness.
By Gary Maloy Jr.
March 9, 2008 2:51 PM | Link to this
I’d love to hear the follow up to the Bob Gibson story, Hal. How did Johnnie Baker’s 1st AB against Gibson go? Did he get the same treatment? Stories like that are what real baseball fans appreciate. Don’t stop serving them up!