Vin is the man

I will admit to you that -- as a youngster -- I was a bit of a announcing heretic. Vin Scully drove me crazy. I couldn't stand him. There was always something, I don't know...too perfect about his calls.

I have come around on him though. The man is in the hall of fame and has been the voice of the Dodgers for 60 years...make that 60 Freaking Years...for a reason.

Here are the last 15 minutes of the game between the Dodgers and Cardinals from last night. It's Scully's radio call synched up with the TBS video.

Transcribing from just before the two minute mark.

Line drive to left...Coming up in hurry to grab it..and drop it is Holliday. Loney goes into second base...Oh, what a big break...(cheers)...(cheers)...(cheers)...Matt Holliday had the game over...and somehow...missed the ball with his glove. It hit him right in the groin...hopefully, he's wearing a cup...and it landed in front of him...You talk about a PAINful ERRor for Matt Holiday.

That is some Hall of Fame announcing right there.

That is much better than a call by another young announcer I knew.

Storytime:

One time at UW-Platteville, this young announcer...not me...tried to describe a catcher taking a foul ball off a rather sensitve area. He went with: And there is a bit of a delay as the catcher takes some time to recover from taking a foul ball off his Groinicalogical area.

I don't believe he stayed in sports broadcasting.

Remembering the day when the batboy was ejected

That's the title of this article in The Hawkeye.

The July 16, 1961, edition of The Hawk Eye probably is not hanging on Bill Dowell's wall. A framed copy is not gracing the top of his desk, or mounted above his fireplace.

A photocopy was hidden in the drawer of the third-base concession stand at Community Field -- until a nosy reporter found it and dredged up the past.

"Burlington Bee batboy Billy Dowell was ejected in the 11th inning Saturday night at Community Field," the article began.

It continued, "The youth got the thumb from umpire (Louis) Casciano for allegedly throwing equipment."

Forty-eight years later, Dowell and Ron Brand -- who played for the Bees in 1961 -- have a different recollection.

The two met for the first time since 1961 when Brand -- now a scout for the New York Yankees -- was at Community Field July 6. They got together and discussed what happened that day.

Read on to get the whole story, but there is this little slice of life from the Three-I League:

After Dowell left the field, the Community Field crowd was almost treated to what Brand called "a bad sight."

"I went in the clubhouse and Harding Peterson [the manager of the Bees who had already been tossed from the game], he's in there in his skivvies," Dowell said. "He asked me what the heck happened. I said, 'He kicked me out, too.' Hardy jumped up and he's headed out the door. Ronnie had to grab him before he ran outside in his underwear."

The Three-I League wanted to teach Dowell a lesson.

"They wanted to fine me $500 and I didn't quite make that much money in a season, so that got my attention," said Dowell, now a district court judge.

Just go read it.

Minor League baseball at its best

If you weren't at the game yesterday, you didn't just miss a Rattlers victory over the LumberKings. You also missed one of the things about minor league baseball that sets it apart from other sporting events.

VIP suite #2 was not sold so Chris Dennis and Steve Braun were sitting in there watching the game. Early in the game a few kids recognized the pair and asked from some autographs.

Dennis left the suite for a bit and for about the last hour of the game:

...a stream of fans formed a long line in front of the window of the suite in which [Braun] was watching the game.

Braun signed for everyone.

He was busy yesterday

The Prodigal Beat Writer had a busy day yesterday.

First this...

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers’ depleted roster is now down two more names thanks to a pair of ankle injuries.

According to Rattlers manager Jeff Isom, infielder Steve Braun fractured an ankle and outfielder Chris Dennis sprained his in Saturday’s 2-1, 14-inning Midwest League win over the Peoria Chiefs at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute.

Although both players are still officially listed on the club’s roster, Isom said he expects Braun to be out for the year and Dennis to be placed on the disabled list shortly.

“I’m assuming (Braun won't be back)” Isom said. “I don’t know that for a fact. There’s nothing he can do here for us. He’ll be on his way somewhere, some place. I don’t know where – Arizona or back home. There’s not much you can do when you have a fracture.”

Brett has an update that links to Adam McAlvy's blog with this report:

Dennis' agent, Josh Kusnick, who just told me that the player has a tendon injury and could miss 4-6 weeks.

Also, Brett has this with Harvey Keunn, Jr.

I loooove a good baseball story — particularly the talking kind, when one guy's doing all the yakking and I'm doing all the listening.

So you can imagine why I felt like I jacked one out of the yard on Sunday when I cornered Harvey Kuenn Jr., an area scout for the Milwaukee Brewers, and asked him to spin a yarn or two about that great Harvey's Wallbangers club managed by his late father.

For most of you my age and older, — you surely remember that group.

Rockin' Robin. Stormin' Gorman. Paulie. Vuke. Rollie. Gumby. Coooooop.

Those were just a few of the magical names that authored one of the more memorable summers ever seen in these parts as they helped usher the Milwaukee Brewers into the 1982 World Series, the franchise's only appearance.

Stories? What kind of stories?

Like that night following a Brewers triumph in the American League Championship Series. Some of the players made the quick spin from old Milwaukee County Stadium to Cesar's Inn, a shot-and-a-beer kind of tavern along National Avenue, to mingle with the crazed fans and even tend bar.

Or...

Then there was that night, again at Cesar's, when police had to shut down a 100-yard stretch of National Avenue after the Crew edged the California Angels in the fifth and decisive game of the American League Championship Series to earn a World Series berth — Milwaukee's first since the old Braves advanced in 1958.

Kuenn Jr. was working at the tiny bar at the time and said thousands showed up to celebrate, many of them cramming themselves inside the establishment even though its official limit was 65 people.

Go read it.

Cardinal Caravan Greatest Hits

Steve Batterson collects some stories from the Cardinal Caravan stop at Modern Woodmen Park.

The one-liners of the event come from The Mad Hungarian!

Temperatures hovered near 20 degrees, and snow covered the playing field at Modern Woodmen Park on Monday, but the Cubs-Cards rivalry never is out of season.

Or, as former St. Louis pitcher and Cardinals broadcaster Al Hrabosky put it, “I’ve got my World Series ring on because I know none of the Cub fans have ever seen one.”

Or, as he added, “When you talk about the Cubs, all you have to remember are the last two letters.”

Oh, to be a funny broadcaster.

Take off sign

There are many Rickey Henderson stories out there. 100% Injury Rate has a Top 25, but this one -- as told by former Brewer manager Tom Trebelhorn -- isn't on there.

Treb was on an XM Radio show with Dave Sims and Kevin Kennedy and Eric Degerman of the Tri-City Herald caught it for our enjoyment.

Trebelhorn was Rickey's first manager in baseball, which was in Boise in 1976. And here we go...

"We're in Boise, and I said, ‘Rickey, you're on your own to run. You're fast. I want you to be aggressive. I want you to be fearless. I want you to be really confident in what you are doing.' "

" 'OK, OK, OK,’ Rickey said to me,” Trebelhorn added.

"So he's not running,” Trebelhorn continued. “Finally I said, 'Rick, why aren't you running? And he said, 'Well, you know I really need the sign to go.' “

At this point, Kennedy begins to chuckle in the background.

"All right, I'll give you the sign,'" Trebelhorn said.

"So he gets on first base and I go through the whole signs," Trebelhorn said. "At the end, I take all the signs off -- and he steals second.

"So I said (to Henderson), 'All right. Watch. Look at me," Trebelhorn said. "I give him the same signs again, and I give him the 'take off' sign. I take EVERYTHING off. Nothing is on. He steals third."

Kennedy chuckles some more.

"I said, 'Rick, god dang it. Back to back pitches this is what I want you to do on your own, but I didn't give you the 'steal' sign," Trebelhorn said. "You don't even know the signs."

"And (Henderson) said, 'Man, man, Treb, man. I know the signs. Rickey knows the signs. Rickey knows the signs."

"So I said, 'Well, what's the sign then?' " Trebelhorn said.

Henderson then tells Trebelhorn, "Man, it's the 'take off' sign. So I 'took off' to second, and I 'took off' to third!"

Quickly from Friday

Saw a lot of people Friday at Menasha for the boy's basketball game between Menasha and Neenah.

Among them, was Brett Christoperson of the Post-Crescent. He was working, too.

And what did those who happened to drop by the Menasha High School Fieldhouse learn in watching Neenah overwhelm the rival Bluejays 53-30?

"We showed them that we're ready to play," Rockets senior guard Brock Brixius said. "That we're a good team, and we're a contender for the FVA championship."

Consider that a warning shot, an apropos finale on the night since Neenah spent the better part of the contest trying to fire off as many as possible as it improved to 4-2 overall and 3-2 in league play.

Neenah had a three point lead at halftime. They outscored Menasha 8-0 in the first 91 seconds of the second half and never looked back.

Quick story from a pre-game talk with Neenah head coach Chas Pronschinske. He was playing for UW-Stevens Point when I was at UW-Platteville. My first words after I told him that was: Man, we hated you.

He laughed.

Thank, Clemente.

I'll be working with Ted Stefaniak on Tuesday for Sports 32. Wauwatosa West at Appleton East.

109 dies insquequo Oris Dies.

There should be more stories like this

I post this column by Bill Clark of the Columbia Tribune with the barest of threads to the Midwest League for two reasons:

1. The Jay Ward mentioned in the article was a manager of the Thunder Bay Whiskey Jacks when I was in the Northern League.
2. It's a pretty neat story

The background:

The brief news item on the sports page noted that former major league pitcher Randy Gumpert had died at age 90 in Wyomissing, Pa.

What a flood of memories were released by that name.

In the summer of 1956, Randy Gumpert was the manager and third base coach for the Kearney Yankees in the rookie Nebraska State League. Ol’ Clark was an umpire in the league.

The set-up:

Gumpert, Ward and Ol’ Clark came together to make baseball history one hot, late-summer night in Holdredge, Neb., the White Sox affiliate in the league.

On this night, Kearney was on a roll. Late in the game, Ward hit a grand slam home run. The inning continued until, with two out and a runner on first, the batter hit a long fly ball to deep center field.

The outfield fence in Holdredge was a 4-foot snow fence with more than a few missing slats. It was an umpire’s nightmare.

I moved to get a good look as the base umpire, and just at the last moment, the center fielder went between the ball and me. All I saw was the ball bounce. I had no idea whether the ball hit inside the fence and bounced or just cleared the fence, then bounced.

I ruled it a double and put runners on second and third. Out came Gumpert to let me know I was the only person in the park who didn’t know it was a home run. He had his say, then, shaking his head in disbelief, returned to the third base coach’s box.

The next batter walked, filling the bases, bringing up Jay Ward for the second time in the inning with the bases drunk.

Bingo!

His second grand slam of the inning! As I rounded the bases with Jay on his historic home run trot, I reached third base to see Randy glaring at me.

He shook Ward’s hand and said to me, "You still blew it."

The payoff:

Some 20 years later, I was covering the Midwest League and found Jay Ward managing the Twins’ club at Wisconsin Rapids.

I introduced myself and said, "Aren’t you the guy who made history with the Kearney Yankees by hitting two grand slam dingers in the same inning?"

He replied: "That’s right. But it would never have happened if the umpire hadn’t blown a call to set up the second one. It was one of the worst calls I ever saw, but I appreciated it. How did you know about that game?"

I grinned and said, "I was that umpire."

Awesome is a word that I use too much. But, this time it's appropriate: Awesome!