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Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
So, Poz is thrilled by getting an email from Duane Kuiper…Meh, I once got a wink from Emile Griffith.
Sigh. I left San Francisco without going up to my hero Duane Kuiper. I’m a wimp, OK? I always was a wimp. That’s one of the reasons why I got into this crazy journalism racket in the first place—to give me a REASON to talk to people. I left San Francisco Monday morning, flew all day, landed in New York. I went to my hotel room, and checked my email.
You know what’s coming, right? Yeah. There was an email from Duane Kuiper. It read like so (I don’t think he’d mind me printing it):
“Joe…You spent 9 days following Barry Bonds and not one time did you try to look me up. I have heard thru the grapevine that you were a Duane Kuiper fan growing up as a kid, if that story is really true…I would have loved to have met you. If you are headed to L.A. or San Diego please bother me, there’s a short list of kids who idolized me. I’d like to meet them all. Duane Kuiper”
What can I say, folks? My career is made. My time as a sportswriter has not been in vain. Duane Kuiper emailed me. It’s like being 10 again ...
Repoz
Posted: August 01, 2007 at 07:12 PM | 109 comment(s)
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Well said.
I once met Kaif at the airport, and he was a very personable chap.
You managed to get within 10 ft of Tendulkar?! wow!
Even when I was following the team around England in '99, we never managed to meet him. Ran into all the bowlers though
I know a Will Clark. He likes baseball and has plenty of free time. He might find subbing for a childhood idol kind of creepy, but like I said he's got some free time.
No disrespect to Joe. P, who I like a lot, but getting a few e-mails from Bill James over the years has been really amazing.
That is awesome! Duane Kuiper just bought himself a spot on my roster in any historical fantasy league if I need a no-hit utility player. Seems like a pretty cool guy.
I can totally relate to Posanski here. I met Andre Dawson once, when I was stalking GMs at the winter meetings a few years back (to no avail of course), just ran into him and Tony Perez in a common area. Asked to shake his hand (he obliged) and said I didn't care about a job at that moment (he was working for the Marlins), just that he was my favorite player and it was an honor to meet him.
Was easily one of the top 10 moments of my life, and my life isn't too bad. Cool to see that a veteran writer gets those chills too.
As John said, getting to meet Bill James was right up there as well.
I once met Kaif at the airport, and he was a very personable chap.
You managed to get within 10 ft of Tendulkar?! wow!
Even when I was following the team around England in '99, we never managed to meet him. Ran into all the bowlers though
Back when I still lived in India, I went to a school in Delhi that was near where the Indian team was training. On the last day of school, my parents took me to the Indian camp, and we got to watch people in action - got a couple of lower-level autographs and talk to the team manager. Then Tendulkar walked in, and a number of people gathered round him, including me, but he said hi but he had to go somewhere. This must have been 1994 or whereabouts. Absolutely thrilling experience - I was elated for days.
I didn't know I was even going to the concert or that they happened to be in the town I was in that weekend, and found out I was going to the concert the night before, and that the tickets were front row that day. Everyone should get to meet their heroes at least once!
Those are some of the best sexual euphemisms I've heard today.
"Hello?"
"Is this the brush with greatness thread?"
Four years ago, I coached Carl Hiaasen's kid in pee wee soccer, and went to a couple of parties at his home before he moved upstate a few years ago.
Anyone read "Skinny Dip"? Well, Carl's wife and I went to the same gym (Carl might have as well, but I never saw him there). There was another regular there who absolutely had to be the inspiration for "Tool", the bumbling henchman from the afore mentioned book. I never got the chance to ask him or his wife if that was indeed the case, but I'm convinced it was.
I sent a fan email to Alex Gordon's #1 Fan and he replied. That reply is now stuck to my fridge with a magnet.
And I met Mr. "Keeler" last week. So that makes, me, like Duane Kuiper's fourth cousin or something.
Then there was the time I lucked into breakfast with former sumo Grand Champion Chiyonofuji. Basically, in baseball terms that'd be like having breakfast with Willie Mays.
Then there was the time I accidently ran into Robert B. Parker outside the men's room. I was about 18, I think, and my mom and I (both Spenser fans) went to a book signing. We arrived really early, before anyone else was there. My mom had to use the restroom and I was waiting down the hall. Suddenly the men's room door opens, and out comes Robert B. Parker. I stammered something stupid about being there to hear him speak and get my book signed, and he very kindly said, "Is that so? Let's take care of that right now," and signed my book.
I tried to use all my powers of psychic energy to convince him to come over and talk to me, and it almost worked. He stopped 20 feet past me and came back...but it was only because he apparently forgot he was meeting someone at the Second Cup I was sitting infront of. It was still quite thrilling for me...Finkleman is one of my greatest heroes...although I think it would ruin my opinion of him if he were nice and actually talked to me.
Thus concludes my brush with greatness
Unless it counts that I played pee wee baseball with Women's Hockey Superstar Cherri Piper...
Oh what's that you say? It doesn't count?
Right-o
Was he looking for a place called Lee Ho Fook's?
Steve Waugh & the Master Spinner for me - I loved those guys
Old Andy actually lived near me. When I was like 12 or so, I had to sell candy bars for my little league team as a fundraiser. I intentionally went into Andy's neighborhood to sell the candy. I knocked on the door and lo and behold, Mrs. Andy Van Slyke answered the door. I forgot to check the darn schedule! The Pirates were out of town. Damnit.
Funny, because looking back, as much as I worshipped Andy, Mrs. Van Slyke might have been the better choice as she was easier on the eyes.
By the way, she bought 3 candy bars. All carmel for those interested.
I served Doug Gilmour lunch, which was a huge thrill for a Leafs fan. Nice guy, even shorter than me.
And I delivered room service to Mark McKinney one time.
I think that's the full list of my heroes that I've met. No ballplayers, but that's Canada for you.
On the flip side, I've met Ann Coulter.
I once ran into Morley Safer in midtown Manhattan. Literally ran into him. Totally my fault. He was very cool about it.
Sam Sheppard watched me parallel park once. I did not come within two feet of his Corvette, which was a bit dinged up anyway. Putz.
Mickey Mantle once bought me a Natural Light. Actually, he bought a round for the whole bar. Signed an autograph for the manager and was on his way to the next place in about 45 seconds.
I once had a lengthy and animated discussion about punctuated equilibrium with Stephen Jay Gould. It's not my fault that everyone else in the class was too dumbstruck to speak on the day that he guest lectured. He was kind enough to pretend that I was making good points.
But the winner has to be the time that Elmo and Zoe shook my hand while I was buying my kids tickets to Sesame Street Live.
I saw Willie Mosconi play pool in Atlantic City outside of Caesar Palace. That was extremely cool.
Bobby Nystrom used to do some work at my company years ago, so I would see him every now and then. I also saw him again at a Christmas party in 1990 with Ed Westphall and a bunch of us guys chatted with them for a while. They were even rating some of the girls at the party. :-)
I shook hands with Richard Ravetch as he was campaigning for mayor of NYC in 1989.
I have seen quite a few baseball players at games for autographs. I have one HOF autograph (Ralph Kiner) that Igot after a game.
My brother once told Donald Sutherland where the bathroom was.
Me? Best I can do is I had dinner with Sean Forman a couple nights ago. ah well . .. .
Hey, that's cool! I wish I had been in St. Louis to see him and thank him for B-R.com in person.
Still, the evening did give me an idea for my next THT column that should go up next week. . . .
Met and shook hands with Muhammad Ali, who gave me his autograph without me asking him for it. I was the first person to notice him on the street and went up and greeted him. As you would expect, he quickly draws a crowd. A bunch of other guys starting hounding him for autographs and he signed for them (I didn't ask because I knew it was difficult for him to sign because of the Parkinson's). And, my God, I'd just shook Muhammad Ali's hand. I could have died right then and been happy. Right before he stepped inside the theater we were standing outside, he waved for me to come to him. I was so dumbstruck by this I didn't move -Whaaaaa? you mean me? - and a man with him grabbed my arm and led me to Ali's side. He leaned over and asked my name and signed a Nation of Islam pamphlet for me. Then went into the building. He was my childhood hero and my favorite athlete of all-time. That's my Kuiper moment.
Shook hands with George W. Bush in the summer of 2000. He came to our small college town on a weekday afternoon, so my wife and I went out there just for something to do. Turns out we were right on the rope line and came over after his stump speech. I proceeded to vote for Gore and Kerry.
Met Dr. Drew Pinsky and dined at the same table as him. Apparently I wound up on the local news when they covered his visit to our school. They tell me it went something like this: "Dr. Drew Pinsky was in town to help students with their sexual problems (camera cuts to me)." My political theory professor had a field day with that one.
Talked to Kent Mercker for about 15 minutes before a Triple-A game in Louisville in 1990. He was really cool and answered all my questions. I remember asking if he thought he get called up soon and he said "Hopefully sometime in the next five years." I think he knew he was ready for The Show. Also said he would welcome a trade to the Red Sox if it meant he got the call.
I drank beer with Andy Gill of the Gang of Four.
I got to go through Detlef Schrempf's record collection.
I own Tom Newberry's old sofa, love seat, and recliner set. Admittedly, it's not as cool as Jon Voight's car, but still. At least I bought it from him personally, and thus verified it was the real Tom Newberry.
We had an employee party and some of the guys invited Matt Geiger along. He joined in the festivities of jumping off the balcony. This of course being late summer right before he started the season with a knee injury. For a guy who was making something like 8 million a year he was with some ugly chicks.
A few years back we had the catering gig for a lot of the concerts and I ended up catering a Bryan Adams concert. One of the waitresses we brought along was infatuated with celebrities and she and Bryan Adams ended up flirting for awhile before the concert started. God she was so horny on the ride back home that if my girlfriend was into threesomes it would have been a slamdunk, alas she was not.
Good addition. I also met him and had him sign my copy of the Dr. Drew and Adam book when he spoke at my school. He was up there with LeCroy and Stossel for me.
As for random brushes, I grabbed Paul Hornung's golf clubs when they eluded his grasp going around the luggage carousel at Laguardia. He offered his thanks, but sadly no tip on that Sunday's Bears-Packers game.
This one was awesome, and definetly improves my opinion of Todd Jones.
Oh, and I studied with Lucinda Williams' dad, so had some brushes with that ridden hard and put away wet musical artist.
Who hasn't? Our sluttiest president, no doubt.
Back in about 1983, one of my friends interviewed Bryan Adams for a music magazine we both wrote for, and he tried to pick her up. She wasn't impressed by his zits...
At the All-Star Cafe in New York I got off an elevator as Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada were getting on.
Derek Bell came into the store where I worked and complained that the Astros uniforms were ugly. Unfortunately that was about an hour before I got to work.
And I once punched Mickey Mantle in the mouth after I plunked Joe Pepitone which started a brawl. Oh wait.
By the time we got there those zits were big giant pock marks.
I got to meet a lot of my favorite musicians (and make a lot more new favorites) through presenting concerts, but my favorite story was ...
seeing Cecil Taylor and Elvin Jones at the Vanguard. And as they're winding their way offstage through the crowd (we're giving them a standing ovation natch), Elvin sees me, comes over and gives me a big hug and says "I haven't seen you in a long time man."
I'd never met Elvin in my life. :-)
I think he was surprised I knew who he was.
Then again, he could have been someone on this site...enough of a baseball fan to know who he was, and enough of a joker to play along.
Played hockey with "Digger" and Dan Quinn as a kid. Gilmour was a tightly wound, hyper-competitive, yappy kid. Haven't seen him since I was 12. His brother was a hell of an athlete--way better than Doug.
Chatted with Cito Gaston--amazing guy. Stood around the batting cage with Joe Carter and Cito--wanted to talk to Joe and choked. Choked again later that day when George Armstrong was in the press area (my No. 1 sports hero--bar none.) Got to know Travis Fryman when he was in the minors. Had beers with Dirk Graham (won the Selke trophy in 1991) when I worked as a bouncer. I've met a lot of guys since I started writing about baseball. I'm amazed that I've never lost that awe of some (baseball) players.
Other than Armstrong, I've never been awed by NHLers. In the part of Canada where I grew up you can't swing a dead cat without hitting somebody who is or has played in the NHL.
Best Regards
John
Also checked out an experimental theater DVD to Haley Joel Osment at my school's library. He's a year behind me and by all accounts a total pothead.
OK, wiseguy...(since I've told the dancing with Madonna & stabbing with OJ stories many times)
Pissed next to Andre the Giant (the answer is yes)
Got leveled by a right from mejor dickbag Bill Graham at a Dylan concert.
Sat in a convention suite where General Westmoreland farted...and he blamed someone else!
I cold-cocked Richard Benjamin as a belidged Paula Prentiss cursed me out.
A drunk Bill Haley showed up at my door...looking for my insane Elvis wannabee neighbor.
Played stickball with mass murderer/serial killer/mob hitman Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski
Asked by John Tesh "What does it take to be a punk?" (the Michael Kay-headed doofer was going to ask out the lead singer of the Waitresess)
Random encounter -- Sam Sheppard at a restaurant around the corner from where the Big Fish crew was headquartered. Come to think of it, my garage appears in the baseball (or was it football?) sequence in that movie, as my backyard is adjacent to the junior high field where it was filmed.
Otherwise ... mostly favorite musicians, like all 4 Buzzcocks, most of the Mekons & Wire, etc. I also took Jello Biafra's knee upside my head when he stage-dived during the Dead Kennedys' first ever show in Phoenix back in 8/82.
Jesse Jackson, but that was in my incarnation as a newspaper reporter, so it doesn't really count. Same with Bill Clinton, as that was in my incarnation as an Arkansan born & bred.
Harry Harrison, whose Make Room! Make Room! was filmed as Soylent Green, bought me a beer at an sf convention in Louisiana.
Of course, when I was a kid I spent a couple of hours with the poster child for undeserving Hall of Famers, Travis Jackson, but he was a relative.
Ummmm ... I went to a party once at Elleston Trevor's house (extremely prolific novelist undoubtedly best known for The Flight of the Phoenix & The Quiller Memorandum) outside Scottsdale. His wife was in my then-wife's (now the city manager of Bill Clinton's hometown, of course) grad-level English class at ASU.
Well, like, who hasn't?
Accidently met that Star Wars author, Zaun or something at a triple crown bookstore. Went there just to browse and it turns out he was there to do a book signing. The guy looked like a total dork. He was wearing the exact same outfit as he is wearing in his photo in his book right down to the stupid german looking emblem necklace.
"the Michael Kay-headed doofer was going to ask out the lead singer of the Waitresess"
At least he's got good taste in women.
"I danced and sang as an elf on stage with the other Kenny Rogers."
Which one is the other one? The cranky pitcher or the chicken pitchman?
One of our reporters in Little Rock was Toni Tennille's cousin.
Why on earth he ever disseminated that factoid, I haven't the vaguest idea.
Talked to Bo Ryan a few times
Met and shook Natalie Portman's hand
Talked to Roger Ebert for a couple of minutes
I saw Mick Foley on the street once, he was wearing a Twins jersey.
Met Jerry Zucker once
I forgot two of the best:
Mark Borchardt & Mike Schank from American Movie
My sister introduced me to Eve Plumb while I was decorating a Tournament of Roses parade float.
I also met Bill Simmons in college while visiting a high school friend at Holy Cross. The experience was unremarkable. (Likewise, I'm sure.)
Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
No, he didn't call us "huckleberries".
I saw Jeff Goldblum ice skating in Rockefeller Center once. He's not a very good skater; he spent the whole time leaning on a girlfriend type, who appeared to have talked him into the whole thing. We were zipping rings around him.
That might just have been a strategy, if he felt like being handsy.
I could buy the idea of him as a bad skater, though. He's REALLY tall, which could mean that he has a high center of gravity.
#80 made me think of this story: When I was in the Netherlands, I was talking to a girl in Amsterdam for a while, and eventually it comes up that I really like baseball.
"Oh, a friend of mine from college plays baseball - I think he got drafted by Philadelphia a few years ago."
Me - "Really, where did you go to school?"
"Southwest Missouri State"
Me - "Oh, what's his name, I'm really into baseball, maybe I've heard of him."
"Ryan Howard."
I proceed to tell her that he won the MVP last year, to which she replies, "oh, yeah, I think I heard something about that."
I went to high school with Joey "Pooch" Pantucci
Wait ... no ... never mind.
*sigh*
A few years ago (when I was going to KU) I had an email exchange with Bill James wherein I convinced him to get lunch with me at the Free State Brewery in Lawrence. He brought his son along and paid for the whole meal. I was starstruck the whole time, but he was very nice and the three of us ended up having a good conversation for the hour or however long it was.
I ran into J Mascis next to the merch table before a Dinosaur Jr concert last year. I asked him for an autograph and he obliged, but he looked stoned out of his mind. Mumbled something and walked backstage. (sidebar: during the show, he stormed off stage and refused to come back for ten minutes, because someone in the front row had knocked his mic stand into his face)
One time I met Darren Robinson from Phantom Planet at a coffee shop the afternoon of a gig across the street. When I told him I was just waiting for the venue to open so I could buy tickets, he asked if I wanted to be on the guest list. So three friends and I got in for free. Sweet.
Lastly, the last time Nada Surf (my favorite band in the world) played in Lawrence, it was still cold outside, so I had worn a jacket to the show. But when I got inside, I realized I should have left it in the car, so I went to return it. As I was walking by a side door, it opened and out walked four guys - the three members of Nada Surf and a journalist of some sort. I just stopped, said "Holy crap," and stared with my mouth open. Motionless. After several seconds of this, Matthew Caws walked over, stuck out his hand and said "Hi, I'm Matthew." All I could muster was "I know" until he asked me my name, and then snapped back to the real world and told him how excited I was to meet him and see the show. The end.
During my first fantasy season ever, back in '88, one of the owners was/had been Gennifer Flowers' supervisor when she had a state job. Not that anyone would've had any reason to know her name back then, of course.
And Marky Ramone (a/k/a Marc Bell) was also in the Voidoids & the Misfits & ...
Oops. That was an earlier thread.
Never mind.
My brother in law is the lead singer for No They Do
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