Joe Morgan - Long Balls, No Strikes: What Baseball Must Do to Keep the Good Times Rolling

Also by Joe Morgan and Richard Lally
Baseball for Dummies

Copyright 1999 by Joe Morgan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Morgan, Joe, 1943

Long balls, no strikes : what baseball must do to keep the good times
rolling / by Joe Morgan. 1st ed.

1. BaseballUnited States. 2. Baseball playersSalaries,
etc.United States. 3. BaseballSocial aspectsUnited States.
4. BaseballUnited StatesFinance. I. Title.

GV863.A1 M64 1999

796.357640973dc21
99-33098

eISBN: 978-0-307-80628-4

v3.1

From Joe:

To my wonderful family, for their support when I was a player
and their love that keeps me motivated today

From Richard:

To Eve, for everything you are
and all that you will be

From Joe: The most important people in the world are my family and friends. I want to thank the worlds greatest parents, Ollie and Leonard, for always showing me the right way; my wonderful wife, Theresa, a great mother and a lovely lady (if James Brown is known as the hardest working man in show business, then Theresa is the James Brown of mothers); our daughters: Kid Kelly, who will change the world as we know it, and Angel Ashley, who will help make the world a better place; my daughters: Lisa, who is very caring just like her mother, and Angela, who is as focused as her dad; my granddaughter, Jasmine; and my fabulous brothers and sisters, Linda, Glenda, David, Jimmy, and Patricia.

People come and people go, but friends are forever. Ive been blessed with friends whom I know I can always count on, people like Mike Alesia, Tom Reich, Enos Cabell, Tim Busch, Joe Forrest, Jim Tracey, Hugh Tama, Bill Patterson, and Denny Polse. Their families are my family. I also want to express my thanks to Gloria Morgan (a special lady), Shirley Nelson, Jack Clark, and Corey Busch for making the trip to Cincinnati to see my number retired.

Ill always have a warm place in my heart for the other seven members of the Original Eight who made the first of twenty-four golfing trips with me to Hawaii: NBA great Bill Russell, former Raiders All-Pro Clem Daniels, Jim Hadnot, Ben Modisatte, Miles McAfee, Jim McCray, and George Elliott. Guys, thanks from The Pro. And I want to take a moment to celebrate the memories of absent friends: Swede Johnson of Denver, Colorado, a man who knew how to enjoy life to the fullest; Bob Connolly, my first friend in Cincinnati; Jim Hadnot, a great ABA basketball player from Oakland and an even finer man; Skip Korb, another Cincinnatian, who shared many great moments with me; and Louis Nippert, the owner of the Cincinnati Reds during the 1970s. I think of them often.

Thank you to my executive assistant, Lolita Aulston, who used to work for menow she runs the office! I always thought that Doc Holliday was the fastest gun in the West, but he pales in comparison to my collaborator, Richard Quick Draw Lally. Val Kilmer is my favorite cinematic Doc Holliday; Richard is my favorite writer. Now Ill let him thank all the other people who helped us with this book. Believe it or not, this is my fourth tome. However, from Baseball My Way to Joe Morgan, a Life in Baseball to Baseball for Dummies, Ive always had this book in the back of my mind.

From Richard: After doing two books with Joe Morgan, I have some idea how it feels to be Davey Concepcion. No one could ask for a better double-play partner. Hes the only person in North America who has seen Tombstone more often than I, which tells you hes a man with exquisite taste in westerns. I am proud to be his collaborator, prouder still to be his friend. Joes assistant, Lolita Aulston, provided her usual invaluable service as our liaison. Our editor, Peter Fornatale, was both eagle-eyed and passionate. Mark Reiter, our agent at IMG/Bach Literary, was always there with a soothing word when needed. Marks assistant, Michelle Yung, kept all of us organized. A special thanks to Steve Ross, Crowns estimable editorial director, who masterminded this project. I dont have a research staff, but whenever I needed to check a fact or get an opinion on some unmanageable copy, I was always able to turn to one of my Gang of Usual Suspects: Billy Altman, Bill Shannon, Bill Daughtry, John Collett, and Jordan Sprechman, as well as Monique Norrie of ESPN, who gave us duty beyond the call when she dubbed all of Joes 1998 broadcastswe truly had an All-Star cast lending their insights to this project. Bob Costas, Jon Miller, Frank Robinson, Marvin Miller, Tom Reich, Len Coleman, Don Fehr, David Cone, Dusty Baker, Pete Pascarelli, John Hart, Mike Veeck, Andrew Levy, Jerry Colangelo, and Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig could not have been more generous with their time.

I also want to thank those friends and relatives who have supported me with their affection and encouragement throughout my career. I love each and every one of them: my brothers Joseph and Sean, for whom I could never be a good enough writer to properly express my love; my father, Richard, who once suggested the most imaginative use of a piece of baseball equipment that Ive ever heard (after listening to a Pat Buchanan rant he said, Every time I hear this guy talk, I want to go outside and beat myself to death with a baseball bat); my late mother, Anne, who loved the Brooklyn Dodgers and taught me to cherish baseball; my future sister-in-law, Jamie, who has enough courage to become part of the wackiest family since the Barrymores; my aunt Kathy, who possesses that rare combination of sweetness and strength; the late Brother Leo Richard and his Clan of the Cave, including Dr. Patrick Murphy, Dr. Robert Englud, Gerald Bowden, Father Edward Doran, Brother James Norton, Brother Regis, Pat Collins, and Jim Mulveyno youngster detained by fear could ever find a nobler group of men to guide him through the darkness; my blood brother, Al Lombardo, who has always been at my side in the trenches whenever I needed him most, and his wife, Cathy; Joyce Altman, who, as always, has been patient enough to endure my talking baseball for endless hours on the phone with her husband, Billy; the Budny family: Alecks, Michaela, Paulina, and my best pal, Rasmus, also known as the incredible Mr. Mookie; the electrifying Maria Di Simone, my violet-eyed angel; Victor Kiam, who taught me to give everything my best effort, and his wife, Ellen; Richard Erlanger, the worlds most dangerous Red Sox fan, and his wife, Jessie, who loves him anyway; Charles Ludlow, a true bud; Alan Flusser, who transformed my life forever by introducing me to Buddhism, and his wife, Maralice; Karl Durr, my favorite field marshal, and his forever lovely bride, Margrid; W. Michael Gillespie, a wordsmith who travels incognito as a marketing genius; Ray DeStephens and Brother Dan ORiordan; Chris Dougherty; Barbara Bauer, my first mentor and muse; Robert Moss, who has always been generous with his guidance; James Spedaleri, a friend for life; President Daisaku Ikeda and the SGI (with congratulations to Orlando Cepeda, the first SGI member to make baseballs Hall of Fame); Ed and Vivian Neuwirth, Arthur Fitting, Todd Randolph, Jim Gerard, Delores Hughes, and my entire Abingdon Square District family; and Vesna and Joey, Jean and Mark, and the rest of my crew at Q Bistro in Forest Hills. Without their curried red snapper, seared tuna, and fine assortment of red wines to maintain my strength, I wouldnt have made it to deadline.