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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 > June > 23 > Entry
To Toronto, with trepidation
Didn’t sleep at all last night in New York. Too worried about travel today.
I’m not one who covets unfamiliarity and I haven’t had to go through customs since Montreal moved its franchise to Washington and back then I could see. And you didn’t need a passport to enter Canada, just your birth certificate and driver’s license.
I lost sleep for nothing. It was a breeze, other than waiting 30 minutes in line to clear customs and the agent was a friendly fellow who said, “Ah, ha. The Real McCoy. Did you know up here we have a saying that if something is genuine and authentic, we call it the real McCoy.”
And he wanted to tell me about the McCoy-Hatfield feud and I didn’t tell him I’m a direct descendant of Ole Ran’l McCoy. I humored him, other than to say, “I’m a baseball writer and my blog is called The Real McCoy.”
Once in Montreal the customs line I was in was dragging, so I jumped to another line. The agent in the new line apparently didn’t want additional customers so when I got to his window he sent me to a detaining room, where I sat for an hour.
When I was asked why I was in the room, I told the agent about my line-jumping episode and he said, “You must have had Claude. He doesn’t like line-jumpers. Now get out of here.”
So it is an off day and we’re at the Westin Harbor Castle. While the St. Lawrence River/Seaway is about 100 feet outside my window, the only thing about this place that resembles a castle is the musty smell in my room.
Had lunch at a place called Slopsky’s - best western omelette I ever had. And they had a cigar humidor with Cubans. I purchased one for the walk back. The cigar cost more than the meal and didn’t last as long.
When I went into the place, it was 70 and sunny. When I came out, it was raining and thundering and it was 50. Welcome to Canada, huh?
Last time I was in Toronto was for the 1993 World Series, when Joe Carter hit the game-winning walk-off home run off Philadelphia’s Mitch Williams. My good friend, Columbus Dispatch columnist Bob Hunter, was seated in the left field auxiliary pressbox and nearly caught the ball.
Mitch Williams was a nutty lefthanded relief pitcher who reminded me of one of his Philadelphia lefthanded predecessors, Tug McGraw. When Tug signed a $100,000 contract he was asked what he would do with the money and he said, “I’m going to spend $50,000 on wine, women and song and I’m going to waste the rest.”
I once caught a ball in the World Series. New York’s Derek Jeter fouled one into the press box during the 1996 World Series and I caught. Still have the ball on a shelf in my home office. I know, I know. I told you that last week, but I’m damn proud of that catch.
It beat the time I caught a foul ball in the press box in Dodger Stadium and my 1976 World Series ring flew off my finger and into the stands. I looked over the railing and people were passing the ring down the aisle gazing at it. A nice man gave it back to me and I gave him $10.
Can’t wait for batting practice tomorrow to see if Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi approaches Adam Dunn to apologize for ripping him on a radio show. I hope Dunn does what Ron Oester once did to former Reds GM Jim Bowden and turns his back if Ricciardi sticks out his hand.
The Oester incident: Bowden told Oester he had the managerial job in 2001 and made a money offer. Oester said he’d like a day to think about it and Bowden said OK. Then, that day, Bowden gave the job to Bob Boone without calling Oester. Boone said he’d take the job and didn’t care about the money.
So when Oester appeared with members of the 1990 World Series champions not long after that, when Bowden walked up and down the players lined up on the first-base line, Oester turned his back when Bowden reached him.
Classic.
What gets me is that Ricciardi is criticizing Dunn on a radio show when his team is in last place in the AL East when many picked them to compete. Ricciardi told Reds GM Walt Jocketty that he flew off the handle on the radio show because he was under stress and knew he had to fire his manager and coaches in the next couple of days.
Rumor up here is that Ricciardi is next.
The Reds face A.J. Burnett and Roy Halladay, but not Shaun Marcum, doggone it. Marcum is 5-4 with a 2.65 ERA and I was hoping to see him pitch because his grandfather lives in Dayton.
Oh, well - it’s on to what I hate most in baseball — roofs and artificial turf.
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By ламинат
August 13, 2008 3:48 PM | Link to this
fyf Een plaatje zegt alles, toch ? dje Het volledige rapport is hier te vinden. Lees natuurlijk n de blogposting. f b Thanks for interesting post! kee ламинированный парке 6b
By Jim
June 25, 2008 12:09 AM | Link to this
REdS coachings show no pride in there job hitting or pitching fielding or winning or losing Baker is no judge of talent (Patterson)Release DUNN,Patterson,Griffey,Arroyo,Harang, Fogg,Bailey, how much worse could itbe we are in last place now.
By Jim
June 25, 2008 12:09 AM | Link to this
REdS coachings show no pride in there job hitting or pitching fielding or winning or losing Baker is no judge of talent (Patterson)Release DUNN,Patterson,Griffey,Arroyo,Harang, Fogg,Bailey, how much worse could itbe we are in last place now.
By Jim
June 25, 2008 12:08 AM | Link to this
REdS coachings show no pride in there job hitting or pitching fielding or winning or losing Baker is no judge of talent (Patterson)Release DUNN,Patterson,Griffey,Arroyo,Harang, Fogg,Bailey, how much worse could itbe we are in last place now.
By Loyal fan
June 24, 2008 10:05 PM | Link to this
After watching tonight’s game against the Blue Jays, it has to be one of the worst exibitions of baseball I’ve seen in a long time.
By Y-City Jim
June 24, 2008 4:15 PM | Link to this
Corey Patterson Watch: Patterson, who we know will be starting every game in this series, has a career BA of .095 against tonight’s starter for Toronto, A.J. Burnett.
By bruiser
June 24, 2008 11:30 AM | Link to this
Hey Dbsbc—-it was Steve Foster
By dbsbc
June 24, 2008 8:24 AM | Link to this
I’m trying to think of the pitcher that was detained in Canada after he said something off the wall to the agents while passing through customs? He said something about wanting to delcare his freedom or some such thing? Who was it and what exactly did he say? Was it Scott Winchester maybe? Help
By dbsbc
June 24, 2008 8:23 AM | Link to this
I’m trying to think of the pitcher that was detained in Canada after he said something off the wall to the agents while passing through customs? He said something about wanting to delcare his freedom or some such thing? Who was it and what exactly did he say? Was it Scott Winchester maybe? Help
By Y-City Jim
June 24, 2008 7:53 AM | Link to this
I stayed at that Westin on Lake Ontario several years ago. It was an alright hotel though not worth the price we paid. Speaking of castles. the Casa Loma is an interesting tour when in Toronto.
By donb51
June 24, 2008 7:48 AM | Link to this
Hal, In another article your headline was, “Cueto’s effort wasted in last game of Yankees series” Can we then say that Dunn’s homers are a waste when we lose (over 50 percent of the time), or his walks are a waste when he is left on base (over 80% of the time)? In the game of baseball, just when is any effort truly a waste? Griffey got 600 while being on a losing team for seven, going on 8, consecutive years. But you have certainly praised that INDIVIDUAL effort.
By Tom in Brazil
June 24, 2008 2:54 AM | Link to this
$10…big spender!!
By bruiser
June 24, 2008 2:40 AM | Link to this
It’s interesting that one of the things you hate most in baseball is roofs when you being in a press box sit with one over your head every game! If you were in the stands and you could hear the rain pouring on the roof while the game played on, I don’t believe you’d hate them so much!!
By Ty
June 24, 2008 12:26 AM | Link to this
Hal, thank you for keeping up on your blog every day. I come home from work and read it every night. Keep up the good work. I read your wikipedia page too, you should check it out. Im glad you didnt retire after your stroke. There will never be another real McCoy. Go Reds!
By ohdave
June 23, 2008 10:41 PM | Link to this
The really sad thing about that Oester incident is that we never got a chance to see what kind of manager Ron Oester would have been. I think he’d have made a good one.
By HuberTucky
June 23, 2008 9:58 PM | Link to this
Hey looky here, Y-City Jim…Former Red’s GM Wayne Krivsky was hired by the Mets as a special assistant to Mets GM Omar Minaya. Hmmmmm, kinda like Jockety was hired by the Reds? Could be bye-bye general manager Omar Minaya. Remember, Minaya’s first big decision after the Mets hired him as GM in Sept. 2004 was to make Willie Randolph the manager. The GM talent pool seems not very deep.
By rusty
June 23, 2008 8:24 PM | Link to this
For those interested here is a story from ESPN about a 16 year old dominican pitcher that is available to sing with a MLB team July 2nd. Oakland was the frontrunner but this story says that the Reds and Rangers are now in the bidding war and it is a 3 team race to sign him come July 2nd. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3457855 baseball america has said that this kid would be a top 10 pick in the states if he were in the draft and that he is a once in a decade pitcher
By Pat
June 23, 2008 8:19 PM | Link to this
Ricciardi won’t last the month up there. And if Dunn has a decent series, it might happen while the Reds are in town. Bob Hunter has a great blog too. But, it’s not all reds stuff.
By Roger
June 23, 2008 8:16 PM | Link to this
Yesterday my Kentucky born-and raised nephew, and twenty years Cub fan called me with so Dunn wise-cracks. “Ricciardi should talk to Dunn during batting practice, if he has a bat in his hand, there is a pretty good chance Dunn will not hit him, since his recent aveage is so low; if Ricciardi has to run away from Dunn he should be OK since it is difficult for Dunn to catch much on the run”. I hope Dunn has his best games this season, love him, or hate him, his contract was approved by someone holding the purse strings, and he was no pig in a poke. As far the hired help goes he has made a pretty-good-hand.
By bigdoc
June 23, 2008 6:46 PM | Link to this
Great behind the scenes stuff… . Made me wonder if all players need passports, etc., to get through. I was sure wrong re: D Thompson, but, really, the kid got a bit lucky. I wish him years of luck and success. Go, Reds! Ship Bronson to the AL!
By Y-City Jim
June 23, 2008 6:17 PM | Link to this
I so hope Dunn gets into a zone starting tomorrow. A monster series from him and Ricciardi is fired as soon as the Reds leave town. Maybe the Jays will hire Wayne Krivsky. :D
By MRW
June 23, 2008 5:23 PM | Link to this
Great post Hal!
By Jack
June 23, 2008 5:07 PM | Link to this
Hal, great stories as always. In regards to “possible” moves (and yes, I realize more false rumors then true ones), what kind of prospect could we get for Bronson…would it be worth it? Also, have been reading that Freel could be in demand, why?
By John
June 23, 2008 4:47 PM | Link to this
Hal…glad you didn’t pull a Steve Foster going through Customs!
By mrich
June 23, 2008 4:23 PM | Link to this
Don’t you mean ‘Welcome to Canada, eh?’