PMB Pals,
There are 63 days till Christmas.
During the Pirate's glorious '71 season, I recall vividly either listening to or watching every Pirate game. Dad, my brother and I would go fishing down under the Rankin Bridge in Braddock, or under the Hi-level Bridge near Duck Hollow. Dad had an old Ford station wagon that was, I want to say it was a Fairlane that was blue and white and rusted all over. It even had built in air conditioning on the floorboards. You get get the picture, it was his work wagon. It was good for fishing.
Anyway, we went down to Braddock and it was a Sunday. You could practically pull your car right up to the river's edge. Surprisingly, this was a good and popular spot and on this day, it was almost empty. An old fellow was there. He was typical of the time. He was even wearing a flannel shirt and it was close to 90 degrees. Then again, he had a transistor in his pocket and the good old ear bud dangling. Dad asked him if he minded we turn the game on car radio. The old man looked at the car and said.' How about I just put my transistor down here and get rid of the earphone, you'll run down your battery in that old jalopy.' Dad agreed and the man declared the 'Gunner' is talking. He put down his transistor and even on full volume, you could hardly hear it. However, we endured.
Dad and the man had a nice conversation about the Pirates and baseball. Even shared a few of each other's beers. The old man was a serious and experienced river fisher. He knew how to catch anything he wanted. He kept some old catfish and a huge carp and let quite a few smaller fish go. He even explained his 'doeball' recipe with segmented worms. It worked good on th bottom.
The Pirates were playing the Braves. Bob Prince was in discord because Steve Barber plunked Pagan and the next inning Moose nailed Felix Milan. Prince said, 'The cat is whining like a baby'. I had to have the old man explain that Millan's nickname is 'The Cat' and he was complaining Moose might have, 'Heck you know he did', said the old man because Pagan was out of the game now. In fact, Alley was at third because Hebner was in the military and Prince pointed out that Alley was not 100%.THe benches did not clear, however Moose was ejected and then Murtaugh was ejected. Prince said, 'Mudcat Jim Grant, C'mon bring in Mudcat Jim Grant'. Sure enough, they did. Prince rambled on about Mudcat and said he was like one of three black pitchers to win 20 games in ML history and Prince just loved to say 'Mudcat'!
Well the old man had to get going and Dad turned on the car radio. We listened as MUDCAT got beat up by the Braves. Prince reinterated the glorious days of Jim Grant and I recall him saying that Mudcat is a veteran and the one pitcher we had who would not get riled in a heated game. The last thing we heard when the car battery went dead was Prince explaining ' Maybe if Mudcat did not have mutton chops he'd pitch like he used to.' That is exactly what he said. Dad, who was buzzed was a bit more furious about the dead battery. Luckily, the Gas station across the Rankin Bridge in my home town of Whitaker is owned by one of my Dad's best friends. So we walked a half mile and rode back in the wrecker, had the battery charged and home we went. We never saw the old man again.
About a year before my father passed away, we were talking about the fishing trips we 'd take when we were kids. Dad certainly was not very lucid his last few years. However, he recalled the time the battery went dead. We laughed, and he said'That Mudcat still owes me a tow.'
Here is a neat poem written by Mudcat:
www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_mud.shtml
BEAT 'EM BUCS
Edited Oct-24 by beisbol2010
Edited Oct-24 by beisbol2010
Edited Oct-24 by beisbol2010
Edited Oct-24 by beisbol2010
Edited Oct-24 by beisbol2010
