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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 36th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > May > 14 > Entry
150,000 pennies for your thoughts
You’ve heard of Three Coins in a Fountain, right? How about 150,000 pennies in a locker?
That’s what Josh Fogg found in his locker when he came to work in the Cincinnati Reds clubhouse Wednesday. There were 60 boxes of pennies, $25 worth to a box, stacked in his locker — top to bottom like cereal boxes in Kroger’s.
Fogg immediately looked at Ken Griffey Jr. and said, “That’s good, Griff. That’s funny. Kick me while I’m down.”
Griffey had told Fogg he was going to pay off the $1,500 he owed him in pennies, but Fogg didn’t believe it.
“I’m a man of my word,” said Griffey. “And when you owe a man $1,500, you pay him. And I’d like to thank the lovely people at National City Bank for helping me with this joke. There isn’t a whole lot you can do with pennies. Just think, each box weighs 16 pounds, so the man has 60 bowling balls in his locker.”
Fogg was mystified and mesmerized and finally said, “I’m going to take them out to the bullpen and count them. I have a lot of time on my hands out there. I’m sure these were delivered by Brinks truck and Griffey had his paycheck in there, too.”
THE MRI on Jeff Keppinger was as expected. His kneecap is fractured. Estimation of healing time is four to six weeks. And for those who asked about shortstop Alex Gonzalez and his broken knee, he still can’t run and is a long, long way from playing fitness.
Paul Janish, called up from Louisville arrived at the ballpark at noon and wasn’t in Wednesday’s lineup. Jerry Hairston Jr. was at shortstop.
“We’ll ease him in,” said manager Dusty Baker. “Hairston is playing well and hitting. Janish will be used in double switches and for defense and he will start some games. I’ve talked to (Louisville manager) Rick Sweet about his hitting and we’ll get him in there when we think he has the best chance to succeed.”
Said Janish, “I’m fired up and antsy. Didn’t get much sleep last night. But I’m ready to go.”
MARLINS FIRST base coach Andy Fox has a quaint hobby. Before every game, he uses a stop watch to record the length of the national anthem and records them in a log.
Well, the Reds set a Fox record Tuesday when anthem singer Brandi Kegley took 2:32 to sing it — two seconds longer than Fox’s recorded record. Her rendition was excellent and wasn’t given any personal interpretations — as so many anthem singers do — but she stretched out each note and attained the record.
SPEAKING OF oddities, the Marlins and Reds are the only teams in baseball (we think) with cheerleaders. Florida’s are the Mermaids. The Reds are the, er, Reds Cheerleaders.
BRANDON PHILLIPS must not be mad at me any more. Before Tuesday’s game he said, “Excuse me, Hal,” as he ran past me in the tunnel. And later he answered my question about shaving off his Mohawk-style haircut.
WORD OUT OF Seattle is that the Mariners have no concern over the $8 million they’d have to pay Ken Griffey Jr. the rest of this season if the acquired him now and the $16 million option for next year with a $4 million buyout.
When you want something — really, really want something — money is not much of a deterrent, is it?
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment | Categories: Brandon Phillips, Ken Griffey Jr.
Comments
By Mithenfonee
June 1, 2008 9:47 PM | Link to this
good blogBy donb51
May 16, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this
The law of averages says that sooner or later, a Dunn homer and associated one RBI will matter. This time it did because the Bullpen couldn’t hold on to a 6 Run lead in the ninth. And of course, Dunn’s homer is far more important, and expensive, than the other 5 Runs scored. As for the guy from Pittsburg, we don’t have the Griffey that hits .300 (well he did once for the Reds in 2005, he hit .301). For the Reds, he is averaging .267. The Burg guy must be thinking of the Seattle Griffey.By Robert in the Burgh
May 16, 2008 10:53 AM | Link to this
As a lifelong Pirate fan, I sure hope the Reds trade Griffey. I mean why would you want a guy that hits .300, hits for power and is a great teammate, great in the community, keeps his name out of the police blotter and still, even after all he has been thru, takes joy inplaying a kids game and holds Cincy so dear to hisheart. I would think you guys would embrace a guy like that after a winter of Chris Henry’s, Chad Johnsons and police blotter after police blotter. We cant afford him, but we’d love to have him…remember, it’s never iffy if its Griffey!By Ryan
May 15, 2008 6:38 PM | Link to this
Haha, that’s hilarious about the national anthem. I was at that game, and thought the national anthem took a ridiculously long time to complete. Now I know I’m not the only one who thought so, or know so for that matter!By Mike Cahill
May 15, 2008 8:26 AM | Link to this
The Reds won 7-6 in extras. Which runs were meaningless? I know I shouldn’t say this but I have a good feeling about this team right now. I think Mr. Bruce will soon join us along with Homer and I think the young guys are going to play a lot of good baseball.By HuberTucky
May 15, 2008 1:31 AM | Link to this
I was an absolute baseball freak as a boy and loved watching my favorite player, Willie Mays, excel in every aspect of the game. What a sheer pleasure and joy it was to watch him. I used to get that same feeling watching Junior when he was with Seattle, but got a queasy feeling when he came to the Reds. Something just not right about that one. These days watching Griffey is as sad as watching Willie play for the Mets WAY after his time was up. What’s next for Jr, a greeter at a Vegas casino? He’s done and needs to go rest his weary, tapped-out body on that yacht and watch the guys play who still have a passion for the game. His game — overBy Jeff
May 14, 2008 11:20 PM | Link to this
I think the Rays have cheerleaders. They at least had them during Spring Training when I made it down there. And believe it or not, they were worse than the Reds…By got milk
May 14, 2008 9:15 PM | Link to this
another meaningless HR for Dunn …By Deaner
May 14, 2008 8:43 PM | Link to this
Great story Hal!By Jim M.
May 14, 2008 6:22 PM | Link to this
I personally don’t want to see Jr traded.. I always wanted him to come here, its not his fault he got hurt OR that the Reds front office refused to bring players in to make this team a winner like they had told him before he signed here (he deferred alot of money so they could afford to do so)..He doesn’t act like Chad Johnson, he plays, he doesn’t cheat and he is a great father to his kids. I was at the game last night and when the kids of that fire fighter that died were introduced, Jr was the first there by them to hug each child. He gave them his devoted attention and I know that warmed my heart as much as those kids. He also spent time with the kids introduced that were picked for their volunteer service awards. After the pictures taken with him and Javy Valentin and Josh Fogg he was in a circle with them alone passing each individual award out and spent time talking to them. You could see the smiles on all the kids faces.. He is a class act and I would rather the Reds kept him and traded Dunn to make room for Bruce..Speaking of Adam, He was in the dugout sitting and not conversing with anybody when i looked in the dugout during part of the game..He looked like he was either ready to be traded or down because he was batting 7th.. Who knows… anyway i wanted to post my 2 cents on my thoughts on Griffey!By econprof
May 14, 2008 6:11 PM | Link to this
I have great respect for Jr as a player and as a man, but at this stage of his career the Reds should jump at the chance to unload his salary. Saving 8 mil this year and a 4 mil option could buy at lot of talent next winter. If the Mariners are picking up the salary, however, it is hard to believe that the Reds will get much in return (perhaps an A or AA level player).By PressBox Cigars
May 14, 2008 6:03 PM | Link to this
Wow, times must be tough in Griffey’s house. Not only am I suprised that he owed someone money, its the fact that he had to break into his kids piggy banks to pay Josh Fogg. I hope JR’s kids are charging his dad some interest.By Coach
May 14, 2008 6:02 PM | Link to this
I have some serious questions about not putting Janish into the lineup immediately. It looks as if Rusty Dusty is being stubborn again, about “His” ex-players! If this guy is hitting nearly 300, and can “really pick it”—why wait? Use Hairston as you have been using him—mostly in the outfield. Is this entire Reds administration afraid of their own shadow? Bruce should be here —and they know it!