Madison graduation 2012
Warren County CC graduation
New Miami graduation 2012
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 > 2009 > October > 18
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Is Price right for the Reds?
So you can put away your “Hire Dave Duncan” signs. The Cincinnati Reds hired former Arizona Diamondbacks coach Bryan Price as their pitching coach, shuffling aside Class AAA Louisville pitching coach Ted Power and special assistant to the general manager/minor-league pitching instructor Mario Soto.
I’m not certain Soto even wanted the job - he told me during spring training he wasn’t interested in a full-time job. But by snubbing Power the Reds could lose him. If another organization comes calling - and they will - Power probably is gone.
And who is Price?
He is 47 and never pitched in the majors. He was 31-29 during six minor-league seasons, pitching only 11 games as high as Class AAA in the Angeles and Mariners organization.
But he does have two Major League Coach of the Year awards - Baseball Weekly’s Coach of the Year in 2001 when he was pitching coach for the Mariners and Baseball America’s Coach of the Year in 2007 when he was pitching coach for the Diamondbacks.
Me? I would have preferred Power or Soto or even the return of former Reds pitching coach Don Gullett, but my general manager’s card expired years ago.
FOR SOME of you who asked, my favorite National League cities to visit:
If you want rain, go to Pittsburgh any time the Cincinnati Reds are in town and there will be enough precipitation to ruin three pairs of Cole-Haans.
If you want people, go to New York City and wander around Times Square, where on any day and at any time there will be enough people to populate a third-world country and enough nationalities for a U.N. meeting on 42nd street.
If you want heat, go to Houston, the air-conditioning capital of the world. When you emerge from an air conditioned car and into the Houston humidity, your glasses immediately fog over and your shirt turns into a soggy rag.
Those are just a few of the things embedded in my mind after traveling for 37 years with the Cincinnati Reds. If I had all the time back I spent in the nation’s airports I could add ten years to my life.
So, after much thought based on a liftetime away from home while spending time in mostly National League cities, here are my five favorite places:
SAN DIEGO — In 37 years, I saw it rain in San Diego one time and it was at a game. When they rolled out the tarpaulin to cover the field it came apart in shreds because it hadn’t been used and it had rotted away.
San Diego weather? Sub-tropical perfect. It used to be fun ducking south of the border for a Tijuana visit and a bullfight (just once — too gruesome, no matter what Ernest Hemingway writes).
Or you can visit posh La Jolla for exquisite dining at night (don’t miss Donovan’s Steakhouse) after spending the day on a fantastic beach.
And when the nags are running at Del Mar, it is one of the best horse racing emporiums in the country. When Lou Piniella managed the Reds, I once had to drag him out of the place in time for batting practice because, as he said, “I’m hot,” after hitting four winners in the first five races.
The new Petco Park is one of my favorite ballparks with all the nuances in the outfield, including the old warehouse down the left field line that houses some choice seats.
SAN FRANCISCO — A culinary delight. If you’re there a week, you can eat in a different restaurant every night and have unforgettable meals. One of my favorites is the Cathay House in Chinatown, and it’s worth it to walk through Chinatown after a meal.
The trip across the Golden Gate bridge is breathtaking and worth it to cross it to get to Sausalito and a seafood meal at Scoma’s. As you dine on the world’s best sea scallops, you look out the windows across the bay at the skyline of San Francisco.
And if you’re lucky, as I was one night, Sharon Stone might be dining at a table next to you.
Then drive the hills of Sausalito where famous artists and writers have multi-million dollar houses on stilts propped against the hills, just waiting for an earthquake.
The ballpark, AT&T Park, is my favorite, mostly because of the view of San Francisco Bay beyond the right field wall and the smell of garlic fries cooking right next to the press box.
CHICAGO — The city has everything New York has, without the hassles. I always stayed on the Magnificent Mile of Michigan Avenue and mostly window-shopped because the prices in those stores are far beyond my means. A guy can dream.
There is nothing better than Chicago-style pizza and there isn’t a better steakhouse in existence than The Saloon behind the John Hancock Tower. The first time I wandered into the place, strictly by accident, Joe Nuxhall and George Clooney were seated at the bar. With Nuxy there, I knew I was in a good place to eat (and drink).
The Lodge, a musty bar just off Rush Street that has peanut shells on the floor, is a baseball writers hangout and the Old-Style is always ice cold.
And, of course, there is Wrigley Field, baseball’s real Field of Dreams (and Nightmares for Cubs fans).
DENVER — Where else can you get buffalo meat loaf and buffalo chili? Do not order the prairie oysters. Trust me. Coors Field is in LoDo (lower downtown) and there are enough bars and restaurants within two blocks of the park to satisfy Dean Martin.
And where else can you look beyond center field and see the majesty of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains in the middle of summer. Just a half an hour away and two miles up are Central City and Blackhawk, old silver mining towns that are now casino towns, a mini-Vegas.
I once left a casino at midnight after it had snowed four inches and crept down the two-lane road with numerous switchbacks. At the bottom of the mountain in Denver it was 72 degrees.
Coors Field is a favorite, too. Where else do they have to keep the baseballs in humidors to compensate for the thin mile-high air and where else is there a micro brewery in the right field corner?
ST. LOUIS ¬— Yeah, I know. Downtown is deserted at night and they turn the traffic lights to flashing yellow and flashing red at sundown.
But the town has my favorite Italian restaurant, Charlie Gitto’s. My last trip there I ate lunch three straight days at Gitto’s and ate the same thing, sausage linguine.
There is a new casino downtown, right across the street from the domed football stadium and several other casinos up and down the Mississippi. I expect them some day to turn the Gateway Arch into a casino.
My favorite hotel, the St. Louis Westin, is directly across the street from Busch Stadium and it’s a place where you feel as if you are in your own bedroom rather than a hotel room.
Busch Stadium? You can have it. Nothing special, except that Albert Pujols plays there.
Permalink | Comments (21) | Post your comment |
Tweet
