I went to High School with Rickey. I never watched him play baseball however I did watch him play football. Let just say he was a man among boys. Such an amazing talent. Around High School he had a swagger about him that was the result of his confidence. Some people misunderstood Rickey’s confidence for arrogance. He was not arrogant, rather he was generous, always smiling and everyone felt like they were Rickey’s friend. Rickey, congratulations on a great Hall of Fame career. GOAT!
Jon is so right. I grew up in Philadelphia in the 1950s and 60s and the voice of baseball to me still sounds like the late, great Byrum "By" Saam. When announcing a game to myself, that's the voice I emulate. By's reputation country-wide may not have been large, but his sound was, to me, the sound of Spring & Summer.
The instinct of recognizing the pitcher's first gesture that lets Rickey KNOW he aint about to try and pick him off he's pitching to the plate. That plus his speed was NO CONTEST.
Hahaha wasted no time taking credit for mitçh hanging that slider.. He was probably right! He doesnt get the credit for spooking pitchers. WAR doesnt reflect that
Ricky was not only an all-star, but he was perhaps the best ever. The interviewer did a great job of keeping the great Rickey engaged in the interview.
Yup! He was amazing. They knew he was goona steal - he knew they knew he was gonna steal - everyone at home watching knew he was gonna steal and then... he still stole a base - made the game so exciting
What’s so interesting, to me, at least, is that Al Michaels’ family moved from Brooklyn to L.A. the same year as the Dodgers, so he heard Vin Scully calling Dodger games his whole childhood.
Analytics show it's not a particularly valuable stat. It actually can be negative expected value if your success rate is under 74%. If Rickey played in the modern era he wouldn't steal nearly as many bases as he wouldn't have the green light to run at will. Kinda a shame, as the "rabbits" who terrorized batteries in the early to mid '80s were a thrill, even if the overall value wasn't that high.
Doug Harvey was sooo over rated. He was an absolute abomination during the latter stages of a career that should have been over long before it ended. Angel Hernandez type stuff.
Monte got to see firsthand what Milo Hamilton got to experience a decade later and that was the arrogant egotism of Caray that IMO made him absolutely insufferable.
The best was when the Dodgers were up here playing the Giants and Vin joined Jon in the booth. Jon started calling the game as Vin and Vin did the same impersonating Jon. Best announced inning ever
Back then that was part of the job, even if you didn’t smoke still had to do a commercial, Mel Alan would do the Ballantine beer commercial on television right from the booth he poured a beer in a glass talk about how great Ballantine beer tasted and then start drinking the beer during the game and he would get drunk and start slurring his words
ESPN made the wrong move. I think the announcers now are terrible. They dont even talk about the game. Especially the woman, nothing personal, I love women announcers, but she is worse than the other two announcers. Joe Morgan and Jon Miller, they have nothing on you.
