Badman’s Territory: the Mound

The subject was intimidation, and Joe Morgan, a two-time National League Most Valuable Player, described in a column in the Oakland Tribune how it was in the days of Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale.

Morgan said he had a teammate at Houston, Aaron Pointer, who stood in the batter’s box against Gibson and put one hand up to call time while he dug himself a hole with his spikes.

“Are you ready?” Gibson finally asked.

“Yeah,” Pointer said.

Morgan: “The next pitch from Gibson hit him in the ribs. The messages were don’t dig in and don’t waste my time.

“And don’t show me up. Our catcher, John Bateman, hit a line drive down the left-field line off Drysdale in a game against L.A. It barely went foul. Bateman kicked the dirt. Drysdale stared at him as Bateman walked back to the plate. The next pitch? Right in the ribs.

“If you hit a home run, you didn’t drop your bat and stand there watching the ball go over the fence. And you ran around the bases. You didn’t trot. If Reggie Jackson tried to pull this act back then, he wouldn’t have hit 500 homers. His career would have ended far short of 500.”

Trivia Time: When Dusty Rhodes of the New York Giants went 3 for 3 as a pinch-hitter against the Cleveland Indians in the 1954 World Series, whom did he bat for each time? Hint: It was a future Hall of Famer. (Answer below.)

It-had-to-happen Dept.: As Gary Pettis stepped in to lead off Thursday night’s game at Detroit, Angel announcer Joe Torre said of Tiger pitcher Jack Morris: “He’s going to come right at you. He’s not going to put you on. He has a tremendous walk-to-strikeout ratio.”

Pettis walked.

Said Jim Kelly, when asked how his new teammates accepted him after he signed an $8-million contract with the Buffalo Bills: “Some of them were asking me for loans.”

As of Friday, the St. Louis Cardinals had hit 40 home runs this season. On the same date 25 years ago, Roger Maris hit his 50th home run, en route to his record of 61. He hit it at old Wrigley Field against Ken McBride of the Angels. However, the Angels beat the Yankees, 4-3.

Ron Kittle, on being traded from the Chicago White Sox to the New York Yankees: “At least they have better-looking uniforms. The White Sox’s uniforms were great if you like softball.”

Wrote Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post, after the Navy cleared Napoleon McCallum to play for the Raiders: “By 1991, will McCallum be eligible for a Navy pension and an NFL pension?”

Add McCallum: Said Navy Coach Gary Tranquill, of Mike Smith, who will replace McCallum at tailback: “Smith is much quicker than Napoleon. Mike has got great acceleration and excellent vision. He has the capability of making people flat-out miss. Napoleon didn’t have that. Nap would kind of bump into people and fall forward for more yards.”

Trivia Answer: Left fielder Monte Irvin.

Note: The Giants won the first game, 5-2, on Rhodes’ three-run homer off Bob Lemon in the 10th inning. It came two innings after Willie Mays robbed Vic Wertz with his historic catch. The irony was that Rhodes’ homer went 260 feet and Wertz’s out went 460 feet. It was 257 feet down the right-field line at the Polo Grounds.

Quotebook

Spike Owen of the Boston Red Sox, after scoring six runs to tie a major league record in Thursday night’s 24-5 rout of the Cleveland Indians: “My feet hurt.”

Surprise--Angel George Hendrick might not talk to the media but he’s all smiles while presenting a youngster with a baseball in the ninth inning at Detroit Thursday.