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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 > May > 13 > Entry
Stories from the clubhouse
It wasn’t Ken Griffey Sr. being a Little League dad. He didn’t rush to Cincinnati from Orlando on Tuesday because he heard his kid wasn’t playing.
In fact, Senior didn’t know it when he walked through the clubhouse door and said, “I’m here to straighten out my kid. He has a lot on his head.”
Indeed he does. There is the death of his best friend, Frank King, dead from cancer at 38. There is the constant talk of a possible trade to Seattle. And there was the dropped fly ball Monday that let in two runs — and a nearly dropped deep drive on the next play that popped out of his glove. Griffey stabbed that one barehanded and said, “That catch was from my days as a Moeller High School wide receiver.
“If I had dropped that one I would have thrown my glove into the stands and played barehanded,” he added. “On the one I dropped, I was just trying to protect myself. I saw (second baseman) Brandon Phillips go down to the ground to get out of my way and I flinched. I thought I was going to have to jump over him.”
Griffey was not in Tuesday’s lineup, but manager Dusty Baker said it had nothing to do with the fly-ball difficulties. It was planned.
“He’s played almost every game,” said Baker. “He played the doubleheader Saturday in New York, then played the day game afterward on Sunday and played Monday night.”
Said Griffey, “I was supposed to have one of the doubleheader games off, but when we lost the first one I stayed in. Dusty told me I’d get tonight off.”
Of the drop and near-drop, Baker said, “He’s human. Plus he took his eye off it when he saw Phillips coming at him. That only happened because of Brandon’s range. Most second basemen wouldn’t ever have been out there. I’d rather have too many in the area than too few.”
Speaking of Phillips, he is completely bald. No hair. The Mohawk he sported in spring training and the first month-and-a-half of the season is gone.
“Got tired of getting haircuts,” he said. “Not used to that.”
And there was a cool reunion during batting practice between former Reds pitchers who pitched together on the 1994 team and hadn’t seen each other since.
Steve Foster is now bullpen coach for the Florida Marlins and he was walking on the field when a voice yelled, “Hey, Steve. It’s me. Kevin Jarvis.”
Jarvis, after 12 years in the majors with 10 different teams, is now a scout with the Diamondbacks.
“Steve got hurt in 1994, but I’ll never forget how he helped me by talking to me, and after he left the Reds he sent me e-mails and letters of encouragement telling me how proud he was of me.”
Of his career, Jarvis said, “Somebody told me only 10 players pitched for 10 or more different teams and I was one of them. That’s pretty neat. And I pitched a year in Japan. My last game was for the Red Sox against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium and it doesn’t get much better than that.”
Foster has a book out entitled “Lesson from Little League and Life” and he proudly presented me with a signed copy.
Foster was an up-and-coming pitcher until — true story — he hurt his arm throwing at milk bottles on the Johnny Carson TV show.
And Foster was involved in one of my all-time favorite baseball stories. He had never been out of the country when he went to Montreal with the Reds. At Canadian customs he was asked, “Do you have anything to declare?” Flustered with the question, Foster said with conviction, “Yes sire, I’m proud to be an American.” The agent was not pleased with that answer.
Foster’s father, who helped with the book, is a former newspaper editor and Foster himself lives by the principles of the word of God.
Good people.
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“Yes, sir, I’m proud to be an American.” Primo. Hal, I love your snippets of baseball history. You need to save this stuff and write a book.