Header - Baseball by the Letters

Month: October 2010

Harry Kalas Wrote Of Richie Ashburn: “As Good A Friend As A Man Could Have”

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A Worthwhile Book!

There’s nothing wrong with vanilla ice cream. FoxSports is serving it for the NLCS broadcast. I tried ESPN radio, too.

I yearn for something more distinctive: a broadcaster who thrives on baseball. I’ve been thinking about Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn. I never heard the pair together. But I heard Harry The K recall his long-time broadcast cohort. Before accepting the Hall of Fame’s Ford Frick Award in 2002, Kalas talked about his Phillies memories.

I sent a note of congratulations that year, asking him to keep talking about Ashburn. Kalas replied:

“Thanks for your kind letter. The Cooperstown weekend is something I will never forget.

Richie was as good a friend as a man could have. Not a game goes by that something will happen on the field that reminds me of ‘His Whitness’ and it’s always with a smile on my face and warmth in my heart.

My best wishes,
Harry Kalas”

Not to slight Giants fans…but Phillies followers might want to follow this Harry Kalas Facebook page.

Harry Kalas Wrote Of Richie Ashburn: "As Good A Friend As A Man Could Have"

by
A Worthwhile Book!

There’s nothing wrong with vanilla ice cream. FoxSports is serving it for the NLCS broadcast. I tried ESPN radio, too.

I yearn for something more distinctive: a broadcaster who thrives on baseball. I’ve been thinking about Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn. I never heard the pair together. But I heard Harry The K recall his long-time broadcast cohort. Before accepting the Hall of Fame’s Ford Frick Award in 2002, Kalas talked about his Phillies memories.

I sent a note of congratulations that year, asking him to keep talking about Ashburn. Kalas replied:

“Thanks for your kind letter. The Cooperstown weekend is something I will never forget.

Richie was as good a friend as a man could have. Not a game goes by that something will happen on the field that reminds me of ‘His Whitness’ and it’s always with a smile on my face and warmth in my heart.

My best wishes,
Harry Kalas”

Not to slight Giants fans…but Phillies followers might want to follow this Harry Kalas Facebook page.

Don Wert Savors 1968 Tiger Glory

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Don Wert took six months to reply. As I faced my own birthday this week, I can’t help but worry about delays. I hope a retiree has been enjoying the summer or wintering somewhere warmer. However, I know that time can catch up to all players.

Who didn’t overshadow Wert in the 1960s? The capable third baseman played on Al Kaline’s team. Worse still, Brooks Robinson and Clete Boyer grabbed most headlines as the league’s top glove men.

What did becoming a 1968 All-Star mean to Wert?

“Excellence recognized.”

How could he keep defensive pace with Robinson and Boyer?

“I was quick to react and got a good jump on the balls.”

Lastly, I had to ask about the feeling of whacking the pennant-clinching hit in 1968. RELIEF seemed to be Wert’s primary emotion. He wrote:

“Glad that Kaline scored the run.”

SABR and researcher John Milner captured Wert’s career and personality with this ultimate bio.

On NOT Learning Hitting From Ted Williams

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Topps Refused to make Rich Rich.
Read the Sig!

 I loved hearing from former catcher Rich Billings. Some retired players can’t get beyond stats. Billings remembers the FEELINGS of trying to be a major leaguer.

He has some good days to savor, including his first career homer off John Hiller and the World Champion Tigers on Sept. 22, 1968. In Cleveland, July 5, 1971, his 3-for-5 day featured a grand slam! Thanks, http://www.retrosheet.org/.

The first question I had was in trying to please manager Ted Williams, once seen as the world’s greatest hitter. Billings wrote:

“Ted Williams was a very intense individual who seemed to have ‘several’ personalities, all at different times. He was the most dynamic personality I was ever around.

He became very frustrated at teaching hitting to us, simply because we didn’t have his God-given talent to carry out his instructions.”

Billings followed Williams and the Senators from Washington to Texas. How was the transition?

“At first, we were very sad to leave D.C. We knew Texas was football country, but after a year or two, the fans really accepted us.”

No one may have felt the Texas heat more than a catcher like Billings.

“The heat didn’t seem to be much of a factor, except on days that were a double-header or it got over 100 degrees.


When you’re young, I guess the heat is a non-issue. Now, I hate July and August here in Texas.”

Yes, you guessed the state where Billings lives. Once a Ranger, always a Ranger?

Boston Bill Monbouquette’s Career Confession

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Same Great Sig, Same Humor!

Beloved Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill Monbouquette has faced challenges bigger than any hitter of late. Diagnosed with leukemia, he underwent a bone marrow transplant. He’s endured, maintaining a healthy sense of humor.

I looked at his career stats, namely his 78 complete games and 18 shutouts. I noted he was an “inning eater.” How did he carry such a workload? Before answering, Monbouquette agreed with me. I felt like Agatha Christie, getting the butler to say that he did it.

“Yes, I was an inning eater.

“I threw every day. Wanted that stiffness out of my body.”

He learned about pitching through one of the world’s greatest hitters: Ted Williams.

“Loved talking to Ted about baseball. ‘Pitch ahead. Make the hitter hit your pitch.'”

How popular was the hurler? Check out the song he inspired!