SoCal Pinstriper
02-19-05, 04:50 PM
Hall Of Fame baseball writer, Ross Newhan, interviews Buzzie Bavasi in today's LA Times.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-bavasi19feb19,1,3234547.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-mlb-dodger
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Some highlights:
"Who else played golf with Babe Ruth, had dinner with Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale and worked for people of the stature of Larry MacPhail, Walter O'Malley, Gene Autry and Ray Kroc?" Bavasi said. "There are 20 guys on every team now who make more in a year than I did in 30 or 40, but no one had more fun."
Or when Koufax and Drysdale staged their dual holdout before the 1966 season, with Koufax — "he was the best I ever saw and at today's salaries you'd have to make him a partner in the club," Bavasi said — ultimately receiving $125,000 and Drysdale $110,000.
"I gave Don $10,000 more than I intended at the last minute, and when we won the pennant in '66," Bavasi said, "Walter O'Malley walked in and said, 'Congratulations on the pennant, but I hope you know that you gave Drysdale your raise.' "
And on Walter O'Malley:
"We used to release guys hitting .250. Now they get $5 million and a multiyear contract. Walter O'Malley would have a heart attack considering he was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If there was no money involved he was Jekyll. If there was 15 cents he was Hyde."
On the Angels being renamed, The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
"I'll tell you this, if Walter O'Malley had known he could make some money by renaming the club we would have been the New York Dodgers of Brooklyn.
It is a long column for a newspaper, but a very entertaining read. I almost hope that they do a book.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-bavasi19feb19,1,3234547.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-mlb-dodger
login:john3334
password:xd3332
Some highlights:
"Who else played golf with Babe Ruth, had dinner with Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale and worked for people of the stature of Larry MacPhail, Walter O'Malley, Gene Autry and Ray Kroc?" Bavasi said. "There are 20 guys on every team now who make more in a year than I did in 30 or 40, but no one had more fun."
Or when Koufax and Drysdale staged their dual holdout before the 1966 season, with Koufax — "he was the best I ever saw and at today's salaries you'd have to make him a partner in the club," Bavasi said — ultimately receiving $125,000 and Drysdale $110,000.
"I gave Don $10,000 more than I intended at the last minute, and when we won the pennant in '66," Bavasi said, "Walter O'Malley walked in and said, 'Congratulations on the pennant, but I hope you know that you gave Drysdale your raise.' "
And on Walter O'Malley:
"We used to release guys hitting .250. Now they get $5 million and a multiyear contract. Walter O'Malley would have a heart attack considering he was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If there was no money involved he was Jekyll. If there was 15 cents he was Hyde."
On the Angels being renamed, The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
"I'll tell you this, if Walter O'Malley had known he could make some money by renaming the club we would have been the New York Dodgers of Brooklyn.
It is a long column for a newspaper, but a very entertaining read. I almost hope that they do a book.