CELEBRATING THE GOOD TIMES, INDEED!

Having just finished watching The Sopranos finale once again on OnDemand, I trudged up to my own war room to post on the NPL Blog, wondering what to write about. When I saw Dave's headline on the website about celebrating the good times, not 15 minutes after hearing A.J. "Fredo Wannabe" Soprano saying the same thing (not that we should use A.J. as a role model), well, let's just say that inspiration came upon me.

First off, a salute to Harv for his back-to-back weekly wins which has put him in fifth place and smack in the middle of the money chase. While Harv resides in fifth place, he is a significant 125 points ahead of sixth place Piffy. Also, it should be noted that only 62 points separate the Owls, Kids, and Lockhorns in the 2-3-4 spots.

Whilst on vacation, the Train was able to maintain his first place lead over John's Rock Cats. It has been a tenuous lead, some days 70+ points, others, such as this morning, only 39. No one is being measured for NPL Pennant rings just yet, that is for sure. I can only hope that my boy, Jim Leyland, doesn't burn out the magical arms of Verlander and Bonderman in the last half of the season.

At this point, I will not provide the in depth analysis as does our esteemed Kommish, and there is no new episode of the Sopranos to rehash, and who wants to discuss the wretched Pirates, so let's just reach into the treasure chest filled with good memories and....

CELEBRATE ONE OF THE GOOD TIMES

Dave's mention of being at the Forbes Field the day they dropped the final curtain at that hallowed yard, prompted me to come up with an "I was there" of my own.

The year is 1966, and the Pirates are in a three way pennant race with the Koufax-Drysdale-Wills Dodgers and the Mays-McCovey-Marichal Giants. As August rolls to a close, the newspapers are talking about an impending milestone: Roberto Clemente will soon be recording his 2,000th major league hit. On the morning of September 2, with the Great One sitting on 1,999, my dad announces that he has scored tickets from his office for that night's game, and he and I are going to Oakland to catch the Bucs take on the Cubs. The pitching matchup was also a good one: Ferguson Jenkins "and his Orchestra" vs Big Bob Veale. Not only might we see Clemente's get his historic hit, we might also get to see a strawberry thrown through a locomotive!

Our seats at Forbes were field boxes on the third base line looking directly into the short right field porch of Forbes Field. Clemente was 0-for-1, when he came to bat in the fifth inning with two runners on base, the Bucs leading 1-0.

I can't tell you what the count was, but Clemente soon unloaded on a Jenkins pitch and sent the ol' horsehide covered sphere into the upper deck in right field, and we could follow that ball all the way. What a way to get a milestone hit! Funny the things that you remember, but I recall distinctly the guys in the Pirate bullpen running out into the field in right and waiving to the fans in the upper deck to bring the ball down to the field.

As I said, this was a very special memory of a milestone hit in Clemente's career, but it is never mentioned or remembered. It was not noted in the David Mariness biography of Clemente that was published last year. I suppose the fact that Roberto went on to get 3,000 hits, and the fact that that hit was the last one before his tragic death, has obscured the 2,000th hit.

Clemente won the MVP that season (.317, 29 HR, 119 RBI). Had the NPL existed back then, some lucky owner would have tallied 628 points by having Roberto on his squad. Alas, the Pirates were eliminated from the pennant race on the next to last day of the season in a double header loss to the Giants (I was also at that game with my Dad. It was cold and rainy, a memorable day, but not necessarily a happy one.) To this day, though, the '66 team remains one of my all-time favorite Pirates squads. Stargell, Alou and Clemente in the outfield. Clendenon, Maz, Alley, and Bailey in the infield. Pagliaroni behind the dish. Mota, Pagan, Lynch, and May on the bench. And how's this for a starting staff:

Bob Veale 16-12 (in the days before he became a mentor to Big O)
Vernon Law 12-8
Woody Fryman 12-9
Steve Blass 11-7
Tommie Sisk 10-5

All five of those guys were products of the Pirates farm system, just like the five starters from today's 2007 team (so how come this team stinks?).

Roy face, Pete Mikkelson, and Al McBean were the stalwarts of the bullpen.

What a team! Good times, indeed.

Oh, as for that September 2 game, the Pirates beat the Cubs that night by a score of 7-2. Veale won to boost his record to 14-9. He went 6.1 innings and had 6 K's - a 21 point game! Jenkins was the loser and his record fell to 2-7 that night. Better days were in store for Fergie in the years ahead. Clemente had the only round-tripper that night, but extra base hits were recorded by Bob Bailey, a triple, and a double was hit by reliever Don Cardwell, of all people. Cardwell recorded a save that night by pitching 2.2 innings in relief of Veale. No "set-up specialists" in 1966.

Only 13,677 were at the game that night. No give-aways or fireworks in 1966, either.

Six Hall-of-Famers played in that game that night: Clemente, Stargell, and Maz for the Bucs, and Jenkins, Ernie Banks, and Billy Williams for the Cubs. Pretty cool!

Oh, and one final note of special interest to John Frissora. The starting left fielder for the Cubs that night (1-for-4 with 2 RBI) was a young player by the name of John Boccabella. As Mel Allen would say - How about that!!

Hope you enjoyed "remembering the good times" with me. Kommish Dave will be back in the Web master's seat next Thursday.