Don Cherry - Don Cherrys Hockey Stories and Stuff

Contents

For Mom and Dad

W HEN I WAS ABOUT FIFTEEN OR SIXTEEN , every Saturday I would go fishin with the guys. It was automatic. It was the thing to do in Kingston. Wed fish in the morning and most of the afternoon, and play ball that night at the cricket field. Life was lovely.

Then one Saturday afternoon, I discovered the Baseball Game of the Week on TV with Dizzy Dean, the old St. Louis pitcher, and his partner Buddy Blattner. Then Pee Wee Reese took Buddys spot.

It was magic, and my days of fishin on Saturday were over. I never missed Dizzy. I remember he used to get criticized for the way he spoke and acted on TV. When Dizzy thought the game was over, hed start singing The Wabash Cannonball.

When Pee Wee Reese asked him one time if he ever tried to break up a double play, he said, Yeah, and the guy drilled me in the head with the throw to first, knocked me cold and they carried me off on a stretcher. They took X-rays of my head. They found nothin.

I know other guys have said that, but he really meant it. I tell ya, he used to kill me.

Somebody wrote a book on Dizzy, and it was Dizzy tellin stories of baseball in his own words. He said things like slud into third.

Some people did not appreciate his English, but I loved it. It was like Dizzy was sittin down with me, just tellin baseball stories.

And thats what Id like this book to bejust like we were sittin down, tellin stories in my own language. I know Ill be criticized, because for some reason people are not too thrilled with the way I speak.

In fact, CBC wanted to fire me my first month on Hockey Night in Canada. The brass told my boss, Ralph Mellanby, This guy is awful. Get him off the air. We owe it to the English-speaking children of Canada.

I stayed because Ralph, who had just won an Emmy or somethin for the Olympics, said, If he goes, I go.

But he also said, I have to admit, Canada is a land of two official languages and Cherry speaks neither. It kinda hurt my feelings.

So dont blame Random House or Al Strachan for the way the book is presented. I wanted the book to be like a couple of guys sittin down with a few pops tellin hockey stories.

I hope you enjoy it.

ALS NOTE: My job on this book was an easy one. Don told the stories. I transcribed them, collated them and checked a few facts.

Rather than have a glossary that forces you to flip to the back of the book to see who Don is talking about, we decided to use this method. Don will tell his story and then, if theres a need for it, Ill add some information in one of these notes. Mercifully, they will become fewer in number as the book progresses.

Ralph Mellanby was the executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada for more than two decades. During his broadcasting career, he won five Emmies and was involved in the telecast of no fewer than twelve Olympic Games. His son, Scott, played in the National Hockey League for twenty-one years. For more information about Ralph, read his book Walking with Legends: The Real Stories of Hockey Night in Canada.

To even go farther with a little storyit must have been in 1983, my first year on the CBC doing Coachs Corner. A producer sat me down the morning of a game, if you can believe it, between the Islanders and Edmonton, and he saidJohn Shannon was there, and Dave Hodge, for breakfast and I went down all bubbly and everythin and ready for the game.

So the producer said in front of these guys, Im really worried about the way you pronounce names.

Now, this is six months in! Id been doing it now for six months and all of a sudden, he tells me the day of the game in the Stanley Cup finals that I dont pronounce Gillies right when Im talkin about Clark Gillies! That really bothered me at the timebecause it was my first year, I guess.

I used to worry about things like that back then.

So I immediately went upstairs and called a good friend of mine, Gerry Patterson, and I said, Gerry, you know, Im a little worried. You know, he gives me this the day of the game.

So Gerry phones Ralph Mellanby and says, Dons a little worried, the way he pronounces names.

Ralph says, Aw, let him pronounce the names the way he wants. He says, Thats half his charm.

Well, you should have heard me pronounce the names that day! I tell ya, ya couldnt recognize anybody.

So this is the book and this is the way its going to be. Im going to mispronounce names and use my English. Any other way and it wouldnt be me.

ALS NOTE: In those days, Dave Hodge was with Don on Coachs Corner. Theres more on him later.

John Shannon was a producer. He had started as a runner, a fancy word for gopher, and had moved steadily up the ladder. He eventually became the executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada and was generally conceded to be the best hockey producer in the world. As a result, the International Olympic Committee consistently sought his services to produce Olympic hockey telecasts. Hes now the NHLs senior vice-president of broadcasting.

Gerry Patterson was Dons first and only agent and a good friend.

Every summer, when the free agents get signed, I get asked the same question. Do I resent the players getting the money that theyre getting now?

Ive got to admit, it has really gone nuts. Can you imagine? Mats Sundin scored 30 goals in the 200708 season and hes offered $20 million for two years by Vancouver! Hes offered $20 million and hes got to think about it?

Thats $10 million a year. Salaries only cover the regular season, so thats $10 million for 82 games. Thats $ 121,951.22 a game. If he plays 20 minutes, thats almost $6100 a minute!

Another guy, Brian Campbell. Good little defencemen. Eight years, $57 million. Good for him. Get it while you can.

I remember back in the sixties, you had six teams, and it was tough to get into the NHL and even get a paycheck, never mind $20 million. The owners said, Hey, its a privilege for you to play in the NHL. Heres your salary. Take it or leave it. They got away with it because they had a lot of guys sittin in the weeds waitin to take spots.

I figured it out. There were six American Hockey League teams. There were six Central Hockey League teams. Then there was the Western Hockey League. They had six. They were all pro leagues, so add them up and thats 18 teams in minor pro.

Add the NHL teams and theres 24 pro teams.

To get to the 30 teams that they have in the NHL now, theyd have to go way down to the minors and get six teams from an amateur league.

It makes you think, doesnt it?

The pay in the NHL then was brutal. Nobody complained or you were gone.

It was bad in the NHL. But think about how bad it was in the minors. I made $4500 my first year, and in the ninth year, they cut me to $4200 when I went to Three Rivers, Quebec.

My raise came when I went to Rochester. Jack Riley, the general manager, gave me $6000. I was as happy as a pig in mud, and I didnt find out until years later when I was coachin the Bruins that the only reason that Jack gave it to me was that all the rookies down from the Maple Leafs were earning $6000.

He didnt have the heart to give us confirmed minor-leaguers that had been in the league nine years less than the Leafs kids were getting.

But to go back to the question. Do I resent the salaries guy are getting now?