Mark Tomasik

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

Red Smith on good advice from sports editor Stanley Woodward: "He sent me a wire during spring training, "Will you stop Godding up those ballplayers?' I didn't realize I'd been doing it. Not only has the athlete been blown up larger than life; so have politicians and celebrities"

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

6-foot-6 Steve Hamilton played in NCAA Basketball Tournament (Morehead State), NBA Finals (Lakers) and World Series (Yankees). On only averaging 4 points in NBA, he said, "If you're coming down the court, saw me on the right and Elgin Baylor on the left, who would you pass to?"

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

Jerry West, in his 1970 book "Mr. Clutch," on professional sports teams qualifying for the playoffs as wild cards: "It isn't a big-league operation if the fourth-place team can win the championship."

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

Fun facts to know and tell: Ted Simmons received more career intentional walks (188) than Reggie Jackson (164), Mark McGwire (150), Mickey Mantle (148), Johnny Bench (135) and Lou Gehrig (114).

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

When Houston got a big-league franchise prior to the 1962 season, they set up spring training at Geronimo Park in Apache Junction, Ariz. Pitcher Turk Farrell groused, “There are only 2 bars in town - one’s so bad that even I won’t go there, and the other one is full of coaches.”

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

In last visit to Cincinnati in 1996, Ozzie Smith, with Barry Larkin looking on, got a cut-glass trophy from Reds owner Marge Schott. Then she removed his cap, took out a hat with a likeness of her St. Bernard and put it on his head. After photos got shot, Marge took back the hat.

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

Bob Gibson to Roger Angell, 1980, on brushbacks: "I don't like batters taking that big cut, with their hats falling off and their buttons popping like that. It doesn't show any respect for the pitcher. That batter's not doing any thinking up there, so I'm going to make him think"

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

Columnist Red Smith on Denny McLain (left, with Dizzy Dean) being suspended by Major League Baseball in 1970 for waving a gun in a restaurant: "Firearms have always had an irresistible attraction for immature males with half-formed minds."

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

Bob Starr (left), with fellow Cardinals broadcasters Jack Buck, Jay Randolph, Mike Shannon, to Jackson (TN) Sun, 1978: "Most people place an athlete too high on a pedestal. They shouldn't let respect be confused with idolizing because they could be very disappointed."

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

The Sporting News, 1988: Cleveland Indians hitting coach Charlie Manuel on advice he got from Harmon Killebrew when they were Twins teammates: "Harmon told me never to chew gum at the plate. He said it makes your eyeballs bounce up and down."

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

The Sporting News, July 1986: Cardinals pitcher John Tudor: "This team has a bad attitude. We want to blame everybody but ourselves for losing. We don't have to look any farther than the numbers on our backs to find what the problem is."

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

Ted Simmons, 1981, to Roger Angell on sliders: "The better slider comes when he grabs the ball where the seams are close together. Red laces on the ball make a red spot because the ball is spiraling so hard. Red dot sliders are the hard ones to hit _ like J.R. Richard's."

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

Ted Simmons, 1981, to Roger Angell on sliders: "If a pitcher holds the ball with his forefinger and middle finger between the wide part of the seams, you see a white spot when it's pitched. White ones tend to hang. You can read a white one about 3 feet out of the pitcher's hand."

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

Lou Brock to Roger Angell, 1979: "Ever notice the games that go on when a base stealer bats? The catcher will stand up tall and try to stare down at you. Johnny Bench always tried that. I wouldn't look at him until he'd gone into his crouch. Then I'd turn and stare down at him."

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

George Pipgras to author Donald Honig on posing for photo with Grover Cleveland Alexander at 1928 World Series: "I put out my hand for him to shake. He reached for it and, I swear, missed by a foot, he was so drunk. He just waved his hand around in the air until we made contact."

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

Columnist Dick Young, The Sporting News, 1975, on why he liked Princeton basketball coach Pete Carril: "He isn't overly protective of his players, treats them like adults and opens the clubhouse so they can learn to handle themselves with the press."

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

Dal Maxvill, Cardinals Magazine, 2015, on Ted Simmons: "A character but a very bright guy. He was the only player who tried to get me to go antique shopping with him or to join a book club. He analyzed everything, what the writer was trying to do and how he was trying to do it."

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

Larry Csonka, in his memoir, on how at age 5 he told his grandmother he was scared of the dark because he feared the boogeyman: "She moved closer to me until we were standing almost nose to nose. Then she leaned over, and whispered in my ear, 'Larry, you are the boogeyman.' "

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

Bob Gibson in his 1994 book Stranger to the Game: “The rancor between the pitcher and the hitter, which characterized the game in my time, has been legislated out in favor of a kinder, gentler game in which there is more cheap offense for the paying customer.”

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

Tim McCarver in 1998 book: "The most difficult play for the center fielder is the ball hit right at him. When Curt Flood played center, he judged the distance by the bill of his cap. if the ball was above the bill, he broke back. If it was below the bill, he broke in."

[Mark Tomasik @retrosimba]

In October 1962, Branch Rickey, 80, returned to the Cardinals as a consultant. One of his jobs was to evaluate talent in the Cardinals system. He filed reports on several players, including outfielder Mike Shannon.