European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 15, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday. April 15.19bb the stars and stripes pao.923 commentary Abc s Garagiola writes it like it is when Vou talk of the great combinations in baseball you lend to think of Ruih Anil a clog tinker in tvrs to Chance. Spahn Antl Sain and . Kiffa and Drysdale. Manlic and Marls. How about Scully and Garagiola 1 in Aboul a Keystone combination in the Abc broadcast Booth a murderers Row on he microphone what s More important to a pc Nail contender or a world series Winner a ind Clove or a Golden Throat Mays and Mantle were fun to Walch Garagiola and Scully arc l in 10 hear. Vin Scully is a Noel Joe Garagiola was a Catcher. Joe illustrates the difference in their approach with an anecdote about the Lime Vin Scully de scribed a Bull As dropping like a poached egg Garagiola put in thai the Batter was Able to poach thai egg because the grounds caper had made the Groundsell and the grass High around Home plate. The Charm of Joe Garagiola is he sees major league Bacall As merely the billion Dollar Extension of the game he used 1o play with Yogi Curra on inc Rock strewn Fields of t k ii ill in is. Louisa a Kul. The game still has a lot of Little boy in it Tor Joe. He sees the drama. He also sees the comedy. He has written a new Book it s anybody s Ball  like Joe. It s irreverent but informative cynical but sympathetic. Joe knows thai baseball s hold on America is not All hits runs and errors. It s flakes head cases prac tical jokers humorists the last circus. Who was it. Jacques Bansun who said who would understand America must first understand baseball Joe understands America. And jew under stands baseball. In his Book Joe lets you in on it. The Modem ballplayer now you find As Many tailors Al Spring training As you do Palm Trees. Now they take special filling instructions. Some want the punt leg to the ankle some want Iii the knee. Some Tike to Wear heavy fleece lined jackets to Lake infield practice others Wear cloth jackets Light jackets under their shirts inc wardrobe goes on and on. The locker or a major leaguer looks like he chose the right door on a game  the Rabbit Ball Milwaukee Pii cling coach Chuck Hartenstein said we Don t have to buy new bails any More we just put pm in a bag Anil Lei pm multiply " Yogi Berra Yogi was already a Star when lie sat talking with teammate Charlie Keller in the Yankee clubhouse and Yogi wondered if Keller remembered the first Lime they met. I sure do Keller said. I  seeing you walk through that door in your Navy uniform Yogi nodded. I la bet you did t think i was a ballplayer at which Point clubhouse Man Pulc so achy said did t even think you were a Sailor " pitchers Ellis Clary once scouted a Pitcher so bad that he said when he came in the game the ground Crew dragged the warning track " scouts the two scouts Russ Sehon of the Yan Kees and Carl Blando of Ilic royals were scouting a High a drool pitching Prospect when Blando Lold scion they did t ret 1 on the radar gun. There Are truck Drivers who can throw 90 Miles an hour but can t pitch Blando said. You got the names of those truck Drivers Sehon asked. Religion in the clubhouse Pat Kelly fryc a Vinging outfielder with the Baltimore orioles a very Friendly sincere Type married a minister s daughter and Chapel was very important to him. In this particular game Kelly was batting Wilh the bases loaded and he swung at a pitch that could Only have been called bait four and forced in a run. Instead he i  out. The Nam Day As he was leaving Chapel service he ran into his manager. With typical Kelly enthusiasm he said Earl i feel great. I be just left Chapel and once again i be Learned to walk with the 1 Ord Earl Weaver just looked at him. Too bad you did t Leam to walk with the bases loaded he snapped the crowded air we had six in the broadcast Booth for the 19bq world series Between inc Phila Delphia Phillies and Kansas City royals. Tony Kubick and 1 did play by play Bryant Gumbel did the pc game show. Tom Seavor Analysed pitching strategy former Umpire Ron Luciano commented on  Calls and Merle Harmon interviewed people in the stands three More Guys and we could have played an old timers  slump Tor Dave win Fackt. The word slump does t even exist. He Calls it a statistically accept Able variation regardless of the statistics Rocky colavito was never in a slump. To not in a slump he d say i m just nol Hilting " size another thing people like to argue about is the me of the Playan especially whal tic Little Guy is capable of. Whitney Herzog has his own Way of Mea Suring a player s never Lillic if he can run " the Power of negative thinking Hilly Martin once said my Luck is so bad. If Mickey Mantle and i bought a cemetery people would Stop dying. If Yogi were a partner they d strike Oil inc first shovel Ful of  baseball its own self sorry Fra pfc it s not High mass it s not a seminar it s a  White Collar crime Roger Craig a former Pitcher and coach and now manager says a thief will do something different when he so into steal whether it s second base or from a Bank " his own immortality think about my two great memories of 1954. Wid Matthews wanted me to fill in Umi Harry Chili resumed and Chub Frency had to make a Tough decision Between me and Mickey Grasso. To put it in perspective Here arc the lifetime batting averages Chili .238 Grasso .226 Garagiola. .257. Those Are lifetime averages not area  on Public speaking the audience is always ticked off because uie speaker in t Bob  on his Public speaking she started out by telling me she was a former English teacher i thought to myself Here it comes the 30-Mmuic lecture on my grammar she said your elocution is terrible Joe. You always drop your in a s. You say  in Zintl the win. I wish you would try to change thai you re right Lold her Bui you know if 1 Start saying running kicking and throwing 1 Ain t Gonna be working " Joe will keep working. He s As much a part of the National pastime As the hit and run or the seventh inning stretch. What s a kill came Wilh Nui a Beer a hot dog and a Guy named Joe he can even Lull you what s the first logo in n ballplayer. It s nol the legs the Arm the eyes even the Refl pics. La Ilsc  o Brien a Lone Ranger at .600 Arlington Tunas a pee o Brien did t Lake part in the Texas rangers daily off season practices at Arlington stadium. Instead he Well through a daily ritual in his garage that he says is a reason for his blistering Start this season. Through Sci in games 0 Brien is i 11 ing .600 15 for 25 with two Home runs and five Multi hit games for the Best Start in rangers history. Good batting practice is the secret to Guod hitting o Brien says and he Hod batting practice every Day usually with Only a Bat no baseball. Whenever he fell like swinging the Bat o Brien would step into the Solitude of Hii garage position himself in an imaginary Batter s Boi Between iwo parked cars and wait for the Pilch. Sometime the motion pictures of his mind provided Boston red sox starter Roger Clemens or new York Yankees reliever Dave right ii to hit against. O Brien would tap the Cement Wilh a a Cavil Ihan Uniat Bat borrow pm from teammate Larry 1 army and dig in. He would visualise a High Coli fastball Over the mid dle Down and away High and Litcht. And he would picture the perfect swing to hit each pitch he might face right ii a couple of Minuit a. In itch to Clemens then return to the House. By spending As Little As 10 Minuen a Day in his garage o Brien trained himself mentally to ice the Ball better and become More comfortable in the Batter s bos. Sometimes i d go in there and bang out Ibert Hill in my first three swings and go Back into he House he Lold the Dallas times Herald. As Long As i fell Good thai a. That s ail thai needed to be  the process is similar to what Boieri Call Tunnel vision where their surrounding fade 10 Black and All they see is their opponent o Brien likens Shadow Rilling id seeing motion pictures in his mind. Tom Robson. A rangers coach and assistant Hilling instructor introduced o Brien to Shadow hitting when o Brien was playing class a Ball in aspic Villa n.c., in 1980. O Brien look almost eight years to in corporate in into his of season preparation. He sees a Pitcher he. Is familiar  Robson said. He sees their pitches Over and Over in his mind. When he sees in for real he knows How to hit  o Brien also lifted weights three Days a week and went swi Ming another three Days. His routine was resourceful consistent and relaxing he said. He did t feel the pressure to be in inc batting Cage underneath the stands every Day. Normally at the Start of a season o Brien feels uncomfortable with his stance and swing and Thal s Why usually he starts each season slowly he said. In 19b7, at this Lime he was hitting 143 3 for 21. Near the end of Spring training he fell into a 2-for 35 slump he attributes to a Lack of concentration Bui he broke oui of in by going i for 5 in a two game series at Oklahoma City just before the season started. How Long can he keep up his torrid Pace you never know o Brien said. You just hold on to the stroke for As Long As you can just hold your concentration As Well As you  it s easy to get careless in bailing practice when things arc going Well o Virien said. I think you can gel hitter passive and nol work As hard in baiting practice and i be failed in thai Way in the past. It s important to take Good Balling practice. I be had some games Hete i did l have Good by and still Well out and got a couple of hits bul generally if you re not swinging inc Ball Good in does t give you a lot of Confidence in the  he said. Once you get out of sync he said it can be difficult to gel the mechanics Linro up again. Ai Ben Hogan always said if you Don t bring your swing 10 the driving Range Don i look to find it  Pete Otmen b off id the Best Siut la Teutu history