Do you know what a GD pain-in-the-ass it is to play 22 effin’ games on the Road? Well, the illustrious Members of our 1990 squad sure as hell do! And so do I…and so does General! During the summer of 1990 we probably logged over 1000 miles. I thought we were in Heaven when we got to play about three games at Stengel Field in 1991….but that changed as well. By the time we were done………Stengel Field was MINE (or “ours” I should say). Shit, for four years we had to fight for everything we got, including a GD Home Field!
Still, it never mattered. Even Hank said in a comment he made that winning on the road was even a “bigger” treat for him (and I couldn’t agree more). I wonder how it must have felt for those sorry-ass teams we played that summer that thought they were gonna have just a “day-in-the-country” when Verdugo rolled into town, only to have their hearts ripped out. And we didn’t mind stomping on those hearts we had ripped out either…….hamming-it-up while our opponents watched us dogpile……on THEIR field!
Plenty of what we accomplished that summer was directly attributable to our ability to make a sale. We used to talk about that with all of the Teams we had….but that 1990 squad had something “inbred” in them. I don’t know what it was, but if I had to give that Team a nickname….it would have to be “The Traveling Salesmen.”
It really didn’t matter what was happening during the game…we were always selling. Turner behind the plate framing pitches. Guys sliding hard into the bag would never look at the umpire as if to say “Am I safe?” Hell no! These guys would slide in and even if they were out by ten feet would pop-up and start celebrating (like they were safe) as well as the rest of the dugout. Even the umpires would chuckle a little bit at the shit we tried to sell. Turner trying to frame pitches that almost HIT THE BATTER or pitches he picked out of the dirt would always (at the very least) get a smile out of the blues. By the end of the game the umps had to admit that even though they hated us…THEY LIKED US too.
It was entertaining to watch. Any time we took a pitch in a three-ball count our hitter would start hustling down to first….just to kind of “help-out” The ump. Our guys made some of the greatest facial expressions I’ve ever seen when we got called out on strikes. The old “Are you sure Blue?” look. The “I can’t believe it” look. The “you gotta be kidding me” look. The “you annoy the shit out of me” look. The “not today” look. We had them all. And the umps would often tell me “These guys are a REAL BUNCH of characters.” And I would usually respond with “So you gonna start giving us those corners now?” Now he was getting it from me! It never stopped!
Maybe that first season we should have shown up in plaid sportcoats and briefcases. That would have probably been a more appropriate “uniform” for this group I like to call “The Traveling Salesmen.”
It goes without saying that we also used what I like to call DIRECT SELLING tactics where we wouldn’t be shy about getting up in somebody’s GRILL which usually led to one of us (including myself) getting launched from the game. Yeah, it didn’t take long for everyone to figure out we had come to play!
I used to like to try and position my body (in the third base coaching box) between the home plate umpires line-of-sight and any ball hit toward the foul-line in left field that I knew was going to land in foul territory. If I did it just right the blue wouldn’t be able to see where it landed and would have to rely on my “reaction” to make his call. Of course I always “reacted” like it was a fair ball!!! I’d just point towards right field when it landed and start windmilling the runners around!! I had plenty of umps tell me “Hey two-nine you gotta get out of my line-of-sight on that play”……..They’d say “I can’t see when you stand there”……….I’m thinking to myself “Yeah, no shit….that’s EXACTLY why I’m standing there!”
I would have put these guys up against anybody…at anything! A little black-top pick-up basketball game? You’re ON! A little six-on-six tackle football? LET’S GO! Cards? You’re ON! Monoply? You’re ON! Frisbee GOLF? RIGHT NOW BITCH! You see….with this Team…it just HAPPENED TO BE Baseball we were playing that day when our opponents ran into us for the first time. It wouldn’t have mattered what kind of doggone game we were playing that day against anybody….these guys would have found a way to win. That’s why the 1990 Team was so much fun.
Great salesmen! Professional cheaters! These guys just didn’t care. I’m surprised all of them didn’t go on to be actors. Constantly talking, battling, cheating, hustling, ragging, diving, lying, stealing, robbing, looting, pillaging, plundering……….WHATEVER IT TOOK! And when they were done….THEY’D RUB IT IN!
Yes-sir-ree…..these dudes knew how to “make-a-sale”………and more often than not, we closed the deal(s)!!!!!
As a coach, when you have a Team like that, you have a tendency to FORGET what a GD pain-in-the-ass it is to play all of those games on the road. About midway through the season I didn’t bitch about all of the traveling anymore. I knew we’d reach our destination. I knew we’d play hard. I knew we’d leave a lasting impression on whoever we ran into that day, win or lose. I knew somehow, someway, we were all gonna “Make the sale”……………
Nope……all the miles and all of the traveling no longer bothered me……….I just sat back, and ENJOYED THE RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!
verdugo288 