Mark Newman - Diamonds from the Dugout: 115 Baseball Legends Remember Their Greatest Hits

115 Baseball Legends Remember

Their Greatest Hits

By Mark Newman,

Foreword by Brooks Robinson

Diamonds from the Dugout:
115 Baseball Legends Remember Their Greatest Hits

Copyright 2017 by Mark Newman,
Foreword by Brooks Robinson

Published by Blue River Press
Indianapolis, Indiana
www.brpressbooks.com

Distributed by Cardinal Publishers Group
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317-352-8202 fax
www.cardinalpub.com

All rights reserved under International and
Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a database or other
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including
mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-68157-047-1

Cover Design: Glen Edelstein, Hudson Valley Book Design
Book Design: Dave Reed
Cover Photo: Jeff CurryUSA TODAY Sports
Editor: Dani McCormick

Printed in the United States of America

Youre going to find a lot of my friends in the pages of this book, and that is one of the best things to happen in a life spent in or around the wonderful game of baseball.

In addition to growing a large family of my own, I have been fortunate to make a lot of wonderful friends along the way. Being the president of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association for many years has kept me in touch with many of them. As I look through their stories that you will see here, I have been eager to see what hits they chose. Some of their hits brought back memories for me as well, and I know that each of them will be nostalgic as well as motivational when you turn the pages.

My longtime teammate Jim Palmer talks about his own first hit, which just happened to come in his first of 268 Major League wins for our Orioles on May 16, 1965. Id like to tell you I was on the field to see that one, but I had to miss close to a few weeks around that time thanks to a Hank Aguirre fastball. That happened during a game at home against Detroit on May 8, 1965, the year after I received the American League Most Valuable Player Award. I had singled off Aguirre in each of my first two at-bats that day, and when I came up against him in the bottom of the fifth, Bob Johnson had just hit a solo homer off of him. Aguirre proceeded to hit me and John Orsino in back-to-back at-bats, and it broke my thumb. I managed to finish that game, played the first game of a doubleheader the next day, and then pinch-hit and scored the winning run in the 12th inning of the nightcap. I didnt like to be out of the lineup, but I had no choice, so I guess when I came back, the best pitcher in Orioles history was in the books with a home run.

That 1965 season, the Yankees finally faded back into the pack, and the Twins won the pennant. But the next year was ours, the first World Series title for the Orioles. And during that summer of 66, I was honored to be named MVP of an All-Star Game for the first time. We were at the brand-new Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis, right next to the Arch. It was 105 degrees and humid, a tough day, but I grew up in Arkansas with summer heat. I had three hits, including a triple off Sandy Koufax in the second inning, scoring the games first run. Ron Santo drove in Willie Mays with a single in the fourth for the National League, and it stayed a 1-1 game for a long time. I led off the top of the 10th with a single off Gaylord Perry, got to second, but was stranded there when Jim Fregosi struck out. Now were in the bottom of the 10th, and here comes Maury Wills, who had replaced Willie Stargell in the lineup on a double-switch in the eighth. Well, Maury sent us all home, I got my MVP award despite being on the losing team, and you can read just how much that walk-off hit meant to him in this book. Our paths would just happen to cross again later that October, when we swept the Dodgers.

I remember another big game that was a 1-1 tie before the home team won in the 10th. That was in 1969, Game 4 of the World Series against the Mets. We were hoping for a win to make it a 2-2 series split and make sure we could take the series back to Baltimore. Tom Seaver was working on a shutout in the ninth, but Frank Robinson and Boog Powell both singled to put Orioles on the corners. That brought me up, and I drove one to right-center. Ron Swoboda somehow made a diving catch that might have saved the series for them, because even though it tied the game as a sacrifice fly, Seaver then got out of the inning and the Mets won to take a 3-1 series lead. I had seen enough of Swoboda at that point, I guess, but when you read what he has to say in this book, you will see why he wasnt quite done in that World Series.

Fortunately, we won a second championship the following year, and I guess that 1970 World Series is what cemented my reputation at third base among sportswriters and fans. I have always been humbled by and thankful for any such praise, especially from peers. After a few more seasons, I shared my life story in an autobiography titled, Third Base Is My Home. In that book, I talked a lot about how important it always was to me that I became more than just a good fielder. In that same 1970 World Series, in fact, I was 9-for-21 (.429) with a pair of homers and six RBIs. We had a great all-around team with maybe the best starting rotation ever, one that produced four 20-game winners the following year. The Orioles were in the World Series three consecutive years, 1969-71, and I was proud of our run and my own contributions.

I have been fortunate to play with and against some of the best hitters in the business. I am glad to see Frank Robinson sharing his favorite hit here as well. I played in a different league than Pete Rose for our entire careers, but I saw enough of his bat in all those All-Star Games. I guess you could say third base is pretty well-represented in these pages. Theres Mike Schmidt, George Brett, Wade Boggs, Chipper Jones, David Wright, Aaron Boone, and Evan Longoria. And dont forget my friend Tony Perez, because even though he spent most of his career as a first baseman for the Big Red Machine, he was my counterpart at third base during that 1970 World Series.

Cal Ripken Jr., meanwhile, was a shortstop and a third baseman, and it has always been an honor to call him a friend and a fellow lifetime-Oriole alum. Maybe the greatest moment of all of our baseball lives was when he took the field at Camden Yards that night in 1995 to break Lou Gehrigs record of 2,130 consecutive games played. Cal started with Baltimore four years after I retired, and then spent 21 seasons with the Orioles. Over that time, he had 3,184 hits in the regular season. Youll see that the hit he selected had a lot to do with his father, and that relationship with his dad was just another of the many things we have in common.

I can proudly say that my father had a large role in me becoming a Major Leaguer, teaching me many of the kinds of lessons that are abundant here. Go back to the very beginning, when he cut off an old broomstick just short enough so I could swing it like a bat. I hit a rubber baseball back to him at first, but then I graduated to rocks. There were thousands of them behind our house, and I made those woods my own field. He gave me my desire to do the best I could every day, and he let me know the importance of moving past todays game and being ready once the next national anthem is played. I learned from him to correct my mistakes but not dwell on them. One of the lessons I learned involved the hit I shared here, and I appreciate having the chance to answer. The hit I chose was not discussed in previous books, including that autobiography, but it is important today to relay what I learned in those times.