By Thomas Best
Last week, in keeping with my baseball theme, I read two delightfully funny stories from a small book I have called “Tales from the Diamond.” I shared stories about all-time greats Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays. This week, let’s check out two stories from the Ken Griffey, Jr. and Nolan Ryan.
Griffey’s story is the type of account you hear about pranks played on rookies during spring training. In 1989, Griffey had the type of spring training performance that rookies pray for when hoping to make the opening day major league roster. Although he grew up around major league locker rooms given his father’s play with the Big Red Machine of the 1970s, Griffey fell victim to an old prank. On one of the last days of spring training, when it was time to let rookies know whether they had made “the show” or were being sent back down to the minors, Seattle Mariners’ manager, Jim Lefebvre, called the “can’t miss” rookie into his office. Lefevre sadly told Griffey that despite the tremendous spring training he had just exhibited, the Mariners had decided to trade him to the Atlanta Braves for then star “Dale Murphy.” Griffey said he was stunned. Had the Mariners given up on him? Or was he so good that the Mariners were able to get two-time National League MVP, Dale Murphy, for Griffey the rookie? Lefebvre left the stunned rookie standing and thinking. Just then, Lefebvre calmly looked at the stunned rookie and said, “Do you know what day this is?” As answers like “rookie cut-day” entered Griffey’s mind, he said no. Just then, the rest of the Mariners coaching staff burst in shouting: “It’s April 1st—April Fool’s Day!” Of course, Griffey had really made the Mariner’s opening day roster.
My final story is about the Hall of Fame pitcher, Nolan Ryan. Ryan was known for his blazing fastball, dogged determination, and seven no-hitters. However, many casual fans are not aware of the length of his career. Coming up as flame-throwing right-hander with the New York Mets, he early-on struggled with his control. Even thinking of quitting baseball at one-point, Ryan found the mechanical form that turned him into one of the game’s best pitchers. Interestingly, in his first no-hitter on May 15, 1973, he struck out Sandy Alomar. Many years later on May 1, 1991, he struck out Roberto Alomar during his seventh and last no-hitter. The coincidence? Roberto was, of course, Sandy’s son. In fact, Nolan Ryan struck out five other father-son player combinations over his career. Baseball is full of such richly fascinating stories.
