Junto Boys

MY DAY AT THE BALLPARK

As a quasi member of the media, I was able to interview Major League baseball players yesterday, and not just any ballplayers, but my beloved Yankees. Okay, it was a split squad spring training game, so most of the team was back in Tampa, but I did get to speak with Bernie Williams, Willie Randolph and John Flaherty. Most of the guys are experts as turning down the media. Randolph had to "work his boys" (throw batting practice). Bernie was on his way to the training room. Julio Franco was looking for his son. Bobby Cox had to run and meet someone. Braves coach, Glenn Hubbard just plain said no and then got up and plopped himself down on the other side of the dugout. And I really wanted to ask him if he ever grows that thick beard in the off-season.

Terry Pendleton did speak to me on camera and shared stories about the early 1990s when the Braves got good again and he won the MVP. I wanted so much to ask him about the time he got angry and left the field when a Braves hurler refused to retaliate after a beaning. Though I certainly understood Pendleton’s POV, I was afraid that he might take the question as being argumentative and I didn’t want to spoil the only interview that was going well.

John Flaherty was also a good guy. He smiled when I said that we miss him in Tampa, but wished him luck with a winning team. He told me that it just didn’t work out in Tampa the way he thought it would. He thought he was going to play for a contender there, and they certainly spent the money so who can blame him. Since so many good managers are catchers, I asked if he ever wanted to helm a Ballclub. He said that he has kids and is looking forward to a time when he no longer has to travel.

I approached rookie Bryce Terveen, a young Braves catcher in his first Spring Training. He was surprised that I would ask to talk to him and he was honest about how nervous he was to be in the BIGS even if for only one month. He said that the team had a big spread of food, including Chick-fil-A nuggets compared to a piece of meat and two pieces of bread he experienced in the minors. His family has yet to see him play, but his fiancée is expected soon.

The best interview of the day turned out to be 85 year-old Walter Victor, the Braves team photographer for the past 37 years. It was interesting that he had 5 photographs in the Hall of Fame, and that Eddie Mathews was a rummy, but I was really in awe when he described landing on D-Day. He had buddies die as they all did, and when I asked him about the French, he said that they were just as nasty in ’44 as they are now. He said the Germans were nicer after being defeated than the French were while being liberated. So nothing really changes. I had thought the French had short memories, but they probably remember just fine.