Hardwood Legends

Red Boucher, manager and owner of the Alaska Goldpanners and former mayor of Fairbanks, believed baseball was about much more than physical skills.

“I don’t teach the boys who come to Fairbanks how to throw a curve or field a bunt. I try to work on the psychological side of their game.

Young pitchers today are overly concerned with the techniques of baseball. They’re too concerned with the game from a physical standpoint. They forget it’s an emotional game too.

You have to concentrate. To be successful, you must think you are successful.”

Boucher saw that quality in a young Tom Seaver.

He said many players could throw harder than Seaver, but Seaver had something special: an incredible will to win and the ability to concentrate under pressure.

When Seaver arrived in Fairbanks, he was picked up at the airport by Boucher’s wife, given his uniform, driven straight to the ballpark and put into a live game as a relief pitcher.

He was introduced to catcher Bud Holowell on the mound.

Seaver then retired the side in order.

Only after returning to the dugout did he finish introducing himself to his new teammates.

After the summer season in Alaska, Boucher’s All-Star team travelled to Wichita, Kansas, for the National Baseball Congress Championship Tournament.

Seaver was one of 16 players selected for the roster. Boucher even chose the young Seaver over future MLB pitcher Ken Holtzman for the final roster spot.

Also on that team were two future stars: Don Sutton and Graig Nettles.

The rest, as they say, became baseball history.

Boucher believed Seaver’s greatest weapon wasn’t simply his fastball.

It was his mind, his concentration and his tremendous will to win.

Vin Scully once shared a funny and memorable story about Don Zimmer.

One year, Scully was given permission to wear a Dodgers uniform and quietly sit in the Dodgers dugout during a game against the Chicago Cubs, who were managed by Zimmer.

Scully slipped into the dugout just after the national anthem. He kept his cap low, folded his arms and stayed completely still, hoping nobody would notice him.

But after one half-inning, Cubs first-base coach John Vuckovich ran past the Dodgers dugout, shouted, “Vinny!” and threw him a baseball.

Scully caught it and saw a message written on the ball:

“If a fight breaks out, I want you.”

It was signed, “Zimmer.”

Scully looked toward the Cubs dugout and saw the players laughing. They had known all along that he was secretly sitting in the Dodgers dugout.

Scully later described Zimmer as a wonderful man and said it was an honor and a privilege to have known him.

Zimmer had his own simple philosophy about baseball and life:

“It’s been a great ride for me, a great life. Everything I have I owe to baseball. Baseball owes me nothing. Ain’t nobody got to give me nothing. I’d be embarrassed if I had a day somewhere. I don’t want no day. I want to live my life the way I wanna live it.”

Two baseball men, two unforgettable personalities, and one story that perfectly captured Don Zimmer’s sense of humor.

Who was the second baseman
on your first favorite
Major League team?

Would you rather hit a walk-off home run or throw a World Series-winning pitch?

Who has the best windup ever?

"I broke my leg running into a wall. Which basically ended my career.
I was a shortstop who was asked to play center field for the Angels, and Dick Green, a second-baseman for the A’s, hit a home run that I thought I could catch regardless of the fact that it was over the fence.
I ran as fast as I could into the wall, and the wall didn’t go down.
It was the exact same break as Joe Theismann’s.
The only difference is that in 1973, medicine was a little different, and I came out of the cast with a leg that had a 20-degree bend one way, and an 18-degree bend the other."
Bobby Valentine.
Drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers with the No. 5 pick in the 1968 Amateur Draft.
"I've never criticized my players in public, and I'll never do it again."
Bobby Valentine.
Legend!!!!

"As long as I could pitch a little, no one cared that I was getting drunk."
Don Newcombe was one of the first public figures to talk about addiction.....
Before Betty Ford, before other prominent people.
First pitcher to win Rookie of the Year, the Most Valuable Player and the Cy Young Award during his career.
First black pitcher to start a World Series game.
First pitcher to win the National League MVP AND a Cy Young in the same season in 1956.
Don Newcombe outside his home after learning he had been named the winner of the Cy Young.
Don Newcombe, Alcoholic.
Newk was also there for Maury Wills when his life was crumbling, and for Lou Johnson, the heart of the 1965-1966 team who came to the Dodgers for help, and for Bob Welsh, who was having blackouts at 23 years old. Newk just said:
"We’ve been waiting for you."
LEGEND!!!!

"I was blocked for playing with the Dodgers by Gil Hodges for seven years ;
Two in single-A, two in double-A and three in triple-A.
They had so many players that I never got a chance.
They kept us around for a long time, going up and down, up and down, but they never gave me much of a shot.
They never changed that infield for seven years."
Jim Gentile.
The Orioles paid $50,000 and two players for Jim Gentile, but he was only sent to Baltimore on a trial basis for 30 days.
"If they didn’t like me after thirty days, they could send me back and get back half their money."
Mickey Mantle and Jim Gentile.
Mantle 1961 Season:
317/ 54/ 128.
Gentile 1961 Season:
306/ 41/ 141- and a .423 on-base percentage, a .646 slugging average, and an outstanding 187 OPS+, all career highs.
3rd Place AL MVP.
It was in Jim Gentile`s contract with the Orioles that if he led the American League in RBI, he would get a $5,000 bonus.
Nearly half a century passed until it was discovered that Roger Maris was erroneously given an extra RBI in a July 5 game.
This reduced Maris from 142 RBI in 1961 to 141.
In 2010, Jim Gentile received his $5,000 bonus from the Orioles.
Mickey Mantle and Jim Gentile.

Who is the greatest baseball player of all time?

Fixed his broken nose with pair of pliers.
Could drink beer through his nose.
Cut a tattoo out with a razor.
Stitched his own cut with fishing line.
Won a bet by eating six lit ci******es. Opened beers with his forearms....
And his eye socket.
"I would say 40 to 60 percent of the stories are true.
Some I’ve seen, I don’t know how they were made up."
Hit a 3rd deck home run into the left field grandstands at old Yankee Stadium, a section reached previously by only two individuals;
Jimmie Foxx and Frank Howard.
"I remember it like it was yesterday.
As I was going around second base, I looked up to where the ball landed and thought to myself that I’d probably never hit another ball like that again.
And I never did.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime swing.
Later they told me it was one of the three longest home runs ever hit in Yankee Stadium….
The ‘House that Ruth built.’
"Super Joe" Charboneau.
Legend!!
After winning the American League ROY award in 1980, his career quickly flamed out amidst injuries, specifically a back and pelvis ailment that never properly healed.
"Making it to the big leagues was the highlight for me.
Baseball was good back then.
It was relatively a job.
You played for the love of the game and you didn't make a lot of money.
There were fewer teams and better pitching.
It was harder to make it.
It was a pure game.
You could still borrow money all the time.
I was the one doing the borrowing.
We were that intimate.
That close.
I can't imagine guys doing that now.
That's how we hung out.
We were making $125 bucks a game.
It puts things in perspective.
I used to borrow money from Len Barker;
20 bucks all the time.
I saw him recently and Len said that he claimed me on his income tax return."
Joe Charboneau has two brief scenes in the film, "The Natural".
The most notable is him lined up with his Knights teammates before a game for the National Anthem.