The POJO Dojo - March 10, 2006

[POJO_Risin]

Check it out here (http://www.fantasyoutlaws.com/blog/2006/03/baseball-has-lost-good-one-remembering.asp#links)

The story is virtually true. I can't remember everything from 16 years ago...but as you'll be able to tell...it was a moderately vivid memory...as it should have been.

I have all the shit here...and will post some shots of it when I get a chance...

cheers to Kirby...one of the true great people...and players...

and thanks to The Fantasy Outlaws (www.fantasyoutlaws.com) for sponsoring THE POJO Dojo!

[DlocRoth]

Great fucking story, man.

I got a ball from Puck in '88, hangin by the dugout. He just flipped it to me. I didn't ask for it or anything. Just a 13 year old kid with a glove.

That team was nice. Puckett, Bruno, Gaetti and Hrbie....Mount Crushmore!!....loosest locker room ever.

I haven't really chimed in on this story much cuz I didn't really want to talk about it. But I damn near cried when I heard. When I was little, the Twins sucked big time. Then this core of guys comes up together from the minors....

Good memories...nothing like layin back in the summer listenin to baseball on the radio.

[POJO_Risin]

I've met tons of baseball players here and there...mostly at signings and baseball related things...

this was by far the biggest baseball star that I ever met outside of one of those...

and to end up getting a bat, and two hats out of the deal...look like a fucking god to my friends...

and meet Hrbek and Puckett...and watch them fucking around...

I could have met Bonds...lmfao...

and he'd have probably drilled me in the fucking face...

[DlocRoth]

Shit.....hey, you came up on that one.

Woulda been a dream come true for this kid.

You don't deserve it. ROFL

[Romeo Delight]

That should be in SI!

[Va Beach VH Fan]

That really is a great story....

You know I've never lived actually in Pittsburgh, so that kind of luck would have been even more remote for me...

I did live close to D.C. for a few years, but I'd rather slit my throat than go seeking for Joe Theismann.....

Let me tell you just how remote a possibility it was...

Other than the annual sports banquet in "downtown" Meadville, in which my Dad and I did meet some celebrities in the '70's, like Yogi Berra (I swear my Dad had a raging hardon when he met Yogi), the extent of meeting celebrities in my family was when we ran into Frank Sinatra JUNIOR in a elevator in some Cleveland suburb hotel in the early '70's....

The aforementioned sexual arousal was on my Mother that time, by the way.... ;)

I've met, played softball, and drank beer with several retired baseball players when I was stationed in Italy on a USO tour, like Craig Nettles, Jim Sundberg, John Montefusco, Darrell Evans, George Foster, Bert Campaneris, Jay Howell, and Tommy Davis...

I almost went yard on the Count, but the bastard was pitching around me..... ;)

I was playing left field during one game when George Foster absolutely LAUNCHED a shot over my head and went WELL over the fence... I didn't even move.... ;)

The best part of those USO trips was one night when the players had to stay the night in town, and there were was a carnival in the park where we played... So me and my buddy (an Army guy who just so happened to work for the Armed Forces Network) ended up with George Foster, Campy Campaneris, and Tommy Davis, standing around for about two hours, drinking beer, looking at the women, and shooting the shit about baseball....

The highlights: (This was in '97 I believe, after Frank Thomas signed about a 85 million dollar contract) I asked George Foster what kind of contact he would get nowadays if he'd just hit 52 homers like he did in '77... He said, "it'd be for more than 85 million, I tell ya that"...

I talked a lot with Tommy Davis (Campy was pretty quiet)... I asked him about Clemente, he said he was the best outfielder he ever saw, and that includes Willie Mays....

My buddy talked with Tommy about Pete Rose.... Funny as shit, Tommy says something along the lines of "that guy was the biggest cocksucker around"....

LOL, that's the extent of my celebrity experiences....

[POJO_Risin]

There used to be a seafood place...not sure if it's still there or not...but anyways...used to be a seafood place right on the wharf next to the old stadium, and we'd hang out there before and after games, and you'd be surprised who'd walk in.

I'm not sure if the players roll over to the flats after the games now...my guess is they do, but only to the exclusive places...

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Bro, it's been so long since I've really spent any time in Cleveland, I'd get lost in a heartbeat...

The last time I was there was the 4th of July in '94, when the Jake opened, when I took my Dad and son to a Tribe game....

[twonabomber]

Originally posted by POJO_Risin
There used to be a seafood place...not sure if it's still there or not...

Captain Frank's, and no it's not there any longer. they tore the building down quite a while ago. now it's Voinovich Park. there's a skatepark there, the Gravity Games were held there the last couple years, and there's talk of putting the old Euclid Beach carousel in a pavilion on the grounds.



I'm not sure if the players roll over to the flats after the games now...my guess is they do, but only to the exclusive places...

the Flats are dead. the new hangout is the Warehouse District, up the hill from the Flats. Jeff Garcia and his Playmate girlfriend hung out there all the time.