Header - Baseball by the Letters

Year: 2011

Twin Bobby Randall’s Autograph Insight

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This same expression
greeted collectors
at a KC hotel

“How do you not look like a stalker?”

Scour the blog comments here. One person brings up a good point. In-person collecting isn’t the same as through the mail.

I haven’t tried the “graphing” in person game for more than 20 years.
Why? Because I remember Bobby Randall.

I had gotten him at the Kansas City hotel where the Twins stayed in the late 1970s. I remember him pointing, snorting and shaking his head at us collectors in the lobby. He muttered something to a couple of teammates.

Fast forward to Iowa State University. The retired second sacker was the college’s baseball coach. I interviewed him for the ISU paper.
After I was done talking about his career, I confessed that I had coaxed him to sign in my youth.

“Did you like collecting autographs?” he asked with a grave expression.
I replied with enthusiasm. That’s when I asked the hardest question.

“Didn’t you like signing?”

Randall, a professed Christian, sighed and scowled. “It was always, ‘HERE. HERE. Sign this! And THIS and THIS!’ You could never look up.”

The ex-Twin’s face at Iowa State matched his frustrated glare in that KC hotel lobby.

Randall remains a great by-mail signer. Back then, he volunteered to go give a talk to summer day-camp kids when my counselor wife asked. He talked with every single camper, signing for each after individual chats.

Know that there’s going to be a Bobby Randall or two in every team you seek out for signatures. Before you get too zoned on getting as many autographs as possible, remember how the signer feels. Ask the hard questions:

How does it feel to sign autographs for a group of fans? How can collectors collect better?

The answer might help refine your collecting game plan, as it shapes our hobby’s future.

How Does A Rookie Catcher Handle Knuckleballers Phil Niekro & Hoyt Wilhelm? Very Carefully, Says Bob Didier!

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Didier: “He was out.”

As a Little Leaguer, I couldn’t have caught a knuckleball with a butterfly net.

That’s why I marvel at Bob Didier. He was named to the Topps All-Rookie team in 1969. That year, the Braves catcher broke in catcher two future Hall of Famers, knuckleballers Phil Niekro and Hoyt Wilhelm.

I wrote, asking Didier to describe those fluttering deliveries. He responded with a gem of a letter:

“Niekro was the starter and he threw his knuckelballs harder and it broker sharper. Wilhelm threw his knuckleball softer but would have 2 or 3 different breaks at different times.

I waited until the ball stopped roll and I picked them up.”

Didier’s 1973 Topps card is classic. The action shot is supreme. The 1972 Mets roster says #21 was Cleon Jones. Any details about the card?

“He was out.”

I asked about Didier’s father, super scout Mel Didier.

“He signed Ralph Garr, Cecil Upshaw, George Stone, Andre Dawson and Gary Carter, among others.

He taught me to respect the game.

My dad has (written) a book about his life in baseball, Podnuh, Let Me Tell You A Story — A Baseball Life.”

Didier shared a few tales with a Cape Cod League reporter in 2008. Read (and listen) here!

 

How Does A Rookie Catcher Handle Knuckleballers Phil Niekro & Hoyt Wilhelm? Very Carefully, Says Bob Didier!

by
Didier: “He was out.”

As a Little Leaguer, I couldn’t have caught a knuckleball with a butterfly net.

That’s why I marvel at Bob Didier. He was named to the Topps All-Rookie team in 1969. That year, the Braves catcher broke in catcher two future Hall of Famers, knuckleballers Phil Niekro and Hoyt Wilhelm.

I wrote, asking Didier to describe those fluttering deliveries. He responded with a gem of a letter:

“Niekro was the starter and he threw his knuckelballs harder and it broker sharper. Wilhelm threw his knuckleball softer but would have 2 or 3 different breaks at different times.

I waited until the ball stopped roll and I picked them up.”

Didier’s 1973 Topps card is classic. The action shot is supreme. The 1972 Mets roster says #21 was Cleon Jones. Any details about the card?

“He was out.”

I asked about Didier’s father, super scout Mel Didier.

“He signed Ralph Garr, Cecil Upshaw, George Stone, Andre Dawson and Gary Carter, among others.

He taught me to respect the game.

My dad has (written) a book about his life in baseball, Podnuh, Let Me Tell You A Story — A Baseball Life.”

Didier shared a few tales with a Cape Cod League reporter in 2008. Read (and listen) here!

 

What if Catcher Lance Parrish Never Was…

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Imagine the card without
the well-known Tiger!

a catcher?

Once, the Detroit Tigers believed Lance Parrish belonged at the hot corner.

The conversion wasn’t a huge shock, Parrish told in an insightful letter.

“The transition to catcher was not a big deal to me after rookie ball, as I had caught quite a bit since Little League. I was used to playing a lot of different positions, so to make the switch was OK with me. Les Moss, who was my double A and triple A manager in the minors, as well as instructional ball, probably played the biggest role in my development as a catcher. Bill Freehan also helped me out quite a bit.”

Parrish’s transformation wasn’t immediate. He led the league in passed balls in 1979. However, by 1983, he began a three-year reign as the junior circuit’s Gold Glove receiver.

He explained:

“I worked very hard at becoming the best catcher I could be. Although passed balls were my nemesis throughout my career, I worked very hard to refine my game. I will say that I thought a lot of the passed balls I was charged with were unjustified in my opinion. It seemed as if when a ball deflected off my glove no matter how far I had to reach for it, I was charged with a passed ball. (But that is my opinion.)


Nevertheless, I was still proud of my career fielding average and my ability to throw out would-be base stealers. Also felt like I worked well with the pitchers I handled.


Hope that works for you.


Best wishes,
Lance Parrish”

Tomorrow: enjoy a letter from catcher Bob Didier, who reveals how he handled two superstar knuckleballers in his rookie season.

Tiger Lance Parrish, Mel Allen’s ‘Big Wheel’

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The Parrish autograph
is bigger, better!

Catcher Lance “Big Wheel” Parrish was knighted.

In baseball history, players have gotten nicknames. Or, they’ve been saddled with nicknames.

Not Parrish. He was chosen. His name was bestowed by baseball royalty.

Nevertheless, I wanted both a definition and origin of his nickname. You see, my father was a factory worker for more than two decades. More than once, he came home and used the adjective “Big Wheel” when describing a pompous superior or adversary from the office side of the business. Usually, “Big Wheel” was a tepid substitute for a bluer, more unflattering phrase he wanted to apply in the direction of the offending person.

Therefore, knowing that Parrish was known as “Big Wheel,” I wanted to make sure his nickname was positive. Here’s the eight-time All-Star’s name story, straight from a most surprising hand-printed reply:

“The nickname ‘Big Wheel’ came about in the early ’80s. I was told our announcers did refer to me as ‘Big Wheel’ on occasion. I was dubbed ‘Big Wheel’ by the legendary Mel Allen on a This Week in Baseball segment that featured the Tigers.

Our team happened to be watching it in the clubhouse and the name stuck. He opened the segment by claiming that the wheels of the Motor City were turning and I guess I was hot at the time, so he referred to me as the Big Wheel.”

If you can dodge the website’s talking Mike Golic Tabasco banner ad, check out Parrish’s tribute to Sparky Anderson in The Sporting News.

Tomorrow: Former third baseman Parrish talks about his switch to catching, crediting the two men who helped him make the Gold Glove transition.