Remember When

[Half Smoke]

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the Washington Senators and their slugger Harmon Killebrew

I loved that team so much - as bad as they were - I knew the stats of all of the bums on the squad

age 12 I took a bus down to DC Stadium (I lived pretty far away in the Maryland burbs) to see them play the Yankees in a night game - Killebrew was already gone by then

after the game me and my buddy waited outside by the Yankees bus trying to get Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris's autograph. no give - they just laughed at us and went straight into the bus

we were stranded and it was getting close to midnight - we got a ride home with the team's Organist who was a friend of my friend's father - we were lucky to get a ride home at all - got home very late - my parents freaked

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[Inner Dirt]

I remember the Senators that became the Texas Rangers. I was a baseball fan at a young age. I remember Koufax pitching and he retired when I was 5.
I lived in SoCal, went to sleep every night listening to Vin Scully and Dick Enberg call the Dodger and Angel games.

[Big K]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

I remember the Senators that became the Texas Rangers. I was a baseball fan at a young age. I remember Koufax pitching and he retired when I was 5.
I lived in SoCal, went to sleep every night listening to Vin Scully and Dick Enberg call the Dodger and Angel games.

I may be mistaken but I think the Senators became the Minnesota Twins.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by Big K

I may be mistaken but I think the Senators became the Minnesota Twins.

We are both correct, I only remember the team that became the Rangers. When I looked them up it appears a team left Washington in 1960 and became the Twins. They got another team that left in 1971 and went to Texas.

[Marshall Bennett]

Slugger Frank Howard was there too. What a monster of a man. Stood about 6'7" and around 250 lbs. I saw Frank later on in his career when he joined the Tigers. The Tigers were in town for an exhibition game against the Astros. Just as the game began, a woman dashed on to the field out of the stands, ran right up the Frank and jumped up wrapping herself around him. She was quickly escorted off. Frank couldn't stop laughing while his teammates on the field were all clapping and sounding off.

[Half Smoke]

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Killebrew was a monster and he's pretty much totally forgotten
you rarely hear a talking head mention him

he belted 573 career homers

the first 5 years of his career he rode the Senators bench - probably due to idiotic Management

he had only 11 homers total in his first 5 years

the first year he started and played a lot of games he got 42

it's very likely he would have joined the 700 club if the Senators didn't have him riding the bench for all of those years

what a shame




when the Senators left DC for Minnesota that was the saddest day of my life



https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...illeha01.shtml


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[Half Smoke]

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Jimmy Piersall played for the Senators for 2 years

he was bipolar - a movie and book were made about him called "Fear Strikes Out"

I saw him, more than once, lie down in center field while the game was being played

it's hard to believe that the Manager, Mickey Vernon put up with that s***

he didn't take him out - or bench him the next game - he just let him do his assinine thing


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[ElKabong]

Originally Posted by Half Smoke

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Jimmy Piersall played for the Senators for 2 years

he was bipolar - a movie and book were made about him called "Fear Strikes Out"

I saw him, more than once, lie down in center field while the game was being played

it's hard to believe that the Manager, Mickey Vernon put up with that s***

he didn't take him out - or bench him the next game - he just let him do his assinine thing


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I saw willie Davis do a similar stunt with the rangers in 1975. He felt he was thrown at in a game, the Mgr (think jt was billy Martin before he was fired.. if not it was frank lucchesi) disagreed and didn'torder retaliation. So for a half inning Davis sat down in center field in protest.

It was bizarre

[Half Smoke]

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the M & M boys - Maris & Mantle chasing Babe Ruth's home run record of 60

Maris did it with 61 Mantle ended up with 54

everyone was pulling for the Mick - Maris was not well liked

iirc as they got close - it was front page news every day


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[Half Smoke]

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r.i.p. Maury Wills - stolen base master who just passed - very exciting player


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YouTube

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[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by Half Smoke

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r.i.p. Maury Wills - stolen base master who just passed - very exciting player


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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBQ-bGJfXBI



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Led the NL in stolen bases 6 straight years. What shocks me is the age some of these guys are I enjoyed watching as a kid. Maury Wills passed away at 89. I am 61, to think all those Dodgers players I enjoyed watching as a kid are in their 80's and 90's, if they are still with us.

[FakeNameChanged]

Originally Posted by Marshall Bennett

Slugger Frank Howard was there too. What a monster of a man. Stood about 6'7" and around 250 lbs. I saw Frank later on in his career when he joined the Tigers. The Tigers were in town for an exhibition game against the Astros. Just as the game began, a woman dashed on to the field out of the stands, ran right up the Frank and jumped up wrapping herself around him. She was quickly escorted off. Frank couldn't stop laughing while his teammates on the field were all clapping and sounding off.

I remember George C Scott sitting in with the commentators at a Tigers game, and Howard hit a monster HR, Scott was screaming Hondo into the mike, loved it that he was an avid Tigers fan. That ball looked like a line drive and it appeared to wiffle as it sailed over the fence.

My introduction to Harmon Killibrew was when he beat my beloved Mickey Mantle in the old home run derby show. My buddy and I just looked at each other wondering how he did that. I became an instant fan and started collecting his baseball card.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by FakeNameChanged

I remember George C Scott sitting in with the commentators at a Tigers game, and Howard hit a monster HR, Scott was screaming Hondo into the mike, loved it that he was an avid Tigers fan. That ball looked like a line drive and it appeared to wiffle as it sailed over the fence.

My introduction to Harmon Killibrew was when he beat my beloved Mickey Mantle in the old home run derby show. My buddy and I just looked at each other wondering how he did that. I became an instant fan and started collecting his baseball card.

Harmon was a big name and feared hitter when I was a young baseball fan, wonder why he is forgotten by today's talking heads. I watched the re-runs of home run derby as it was slightly before my time. I looked it up, I can't believe it was only on for a year of 26 episodes. I did remember the producers of that show being know as notoriously cheap, with other shows they produced.

[Half Smoke]

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Don Nelson's (the Celts called him Nelly) crazy a** shot very late in the game to all but insure a game 7 victory for the Celts over the Lakers in L.A. for the Championship in 1969

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WHOA NELLY


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YouTube

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[Half Smoke]

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Willie Mays (say Hey) incredible catch in the World Series - as if that wasn't enough his throw back to the infield kept the runners from advancing



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YouTube

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no, I'm not old enough to have seen that live - just heard stories about it



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