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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 > 31 > Entry
Just call him Babe Bruce
Javier Valentin was seated in his new locker location, close to a hallway that leads to the field, when Jay Bruce walked by.
“There he goes, Babe Bruce,” said Valentin with a broad smile.
Hey, Javy. Good one.
Some folks want to dub Bruce “Batman.” Well, hey, wasn’t Batman’s real identity Bruce Wayne?
And why is Valentin occupying a different locker? He is now perched where Scott Hatteberg dressed before he was designated for assignment.
“Who else has been in this locker since Great American opened?” asked Valentin.
Let’s see: Barry Larkin, Joe Randa, Rich Aurilia, Jeff Conine, Hatteberg.
“And you know what they all had in common? Hits. Lots of hits,” said Valentin.
When it was pointed out that they all are gone, too, Valentin smiled and said, “Yeah, that too.”
Walked into Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox’s office this morning and he said, “Does Jay Bruce ever make a damn out?” Then he laughed.
“I see an energized team over there from the first time we played (a three-game Braves sweep in Atlanta in early-May). “Sometimes young kids can energize a team. Happens all the time.
“Bruce makes contact, looks like he can run, patrols center field pretty good,” said Cox. “With Joey Votto and Edinson Volquez this team is going in the right direction.”
So here we are awaiting the 3:55 start of this afternoon’s game and left fielder Adam Dunn dreads it. The sun peeks over the grandstand right into the left fielder’s eyes.
“It’s a great day, but I know Dunn doesn’t love it,” said manager Dusty Baker. “It’s a bad time, man. I can remember Ron Cey in the 1977 getting hit in the head by Goose Gossage, right around this time of day in the World Series.
“I was on deck when Cey got hit and they asked me if I was nervous,” said Baker. “Told ‘em, ‘Not at all because the changes of him hitting two of us back-to-back ain’t real good.
“On the west coast, almost every playoff and World Series game was played at 5 o’clock,” Baker added.”You couldn’t see. It’s a bad time, a time when there are a lot of car accidents. I used to be scared to death in left field in Yankee Stadium with the sun right above the roof.”
The phone rang is Dusty’s office and when the call was completed, he said, “That’s my old dentist from California. He’s originally from Fort Thomas, Ky., But he is in his 70’s and he is retired now. Man, he’s a trip. When there was full moon he would climb on his roof and play the accordian, wearing his bow tie. He’ll be at tonight’s game, but I don’t know if he’ll bring his accordian. If he does, you’ll hear him.”
Josh Fogg was Saturday’s starter for the Reds, hoping to bring his best stuff with him.
True story: The Reds had a big ol’ country boy pitcher in 1981 named Scott Brown, from DeQuincy, Louisiana. As Pete Rose used to say, “He could throw a baseball through a car wash and not get it wet.”
But he had no breaking ball at all. Didn’t even know what a curveball was. He saw one of the Reds pitchers throwing it one day. So he asked equipment manager Bernie Stowe how he should go about being able to throw that pitch.
“Go to a sporting goods store and ask them for a box of curve balls,” said Stowe. The guy did it. He honest-to-god did it. Amazingly, he made the team and pitched briefly and was doggone good - 1-0 in 10 appearances with one walk and seven strikeouts in 13 innings.
Then he disappeared. That was his major-league career. Perhaps he went on a scavenger hunt to find a box of curve balls.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment | Categories: Jay Bruce
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By Mike
June 2, 2008 8:29 AM | Link to this
I agree with Jimmy1time… and more and more people say the same..the BEST broadcast team is Thom and Brantley. Sorry Marty..but step aside..Thom changes his approach when working with daddy..but is outstanding with Brantley. As far as Welch goes…he may be tired..But Grande is already in bed!.George does the games like he just read a text book on how to do it. Best idea..put Thom and Brantley on TV a leave it alone.
By MAC
June 1, 2008 2:06 AM | Link to this
Scott Brown sounds like the typical young Red’s pitcher. This organization has been trying to find the next Don Gullett for years and look what’s it gotten them…not much. Soto: great changeup, Browning: screwball, Rio: great slider, Harrang & Bronson: nice curve balls, 2 young guys: again great changeups. Of course it takes more than one pitch to be succussful ML pitcher, but all too often over the years the Reds have looked for big strong guys like Brown who throw hard (90-100)over the top and hope to teach them the rest; it hasn’t worked too well and guys from the recent past like Williamson, Armstrong, Tomko and now Bailey continue to prove it. It has produced several very good relievers, but this philosophy has left the organization very short of SP for quite some time. I’d suggest the Reds keep Soto on the pay role and draft pitchers who can actually pitch instead of just throw hard?
By Aaron B.
May 31, 2008 8:29 PM | Link to this
Hal, that might be one of the greatest — if not the greatest — baseball anecdotes I have ever heard. Someone has to do some follow up research on this and let us know what happened to the lug.
By Matthew Deitner
May 31, 2008 3:56 PM | Link to this
another encouraging event i saw in the box score last night - attandance was finally up. that’s one thing that needs to happen before the Reds really get the home field advantage.
By Jimmy1Time
May 31, 2008 3:33 PM | Link to this
NO NICKNAMES please! Just let the kid play. Hal your the best. I still say you should write a screen play about your baseball years. Keep telling stories man. I also hope the Cowboy and Thom show is back on tonight. Even Marty thinks Welsh is a tool. ASk him about his Tech talkshow. TIRED MAN, TIRED! Keep him in the stands with the kids were he belongs.
By Jimmy1Time
May 31, 2008 3:33 PM | Link to this
NO NICKNAMES please! Just let the kid play. Hal your the best. I still say you should write a screen play about your baseball years. Keep telling stories man. I also hope the Cowboy and Thom show is back on tonight. Even Marty thinks Welsh is a tool. ASk him about his Tech talkshow. TIRED MAN, TIRED! Keep him in the stands with the kids were he belongs.