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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > May > 28 > Entry
Of debuts and opening days
What a debut Jay Bruce made — probably the most glossy and glittery debut on a stage since stripper Sally Rand’s first ostrich-feathered fan dance at the New York Paramount in 1932.
OK, so exotic dancer isn’t politically correct these days.
That was some dance by Bruce, though — three hits, two walks, two RBIs, two runs scored.
SPEAKING OF debuts, I’m reminded of another former No. 1 draft pick and his debut. It was left-handed pitcher C.J. Nitkowski, drafted No. 1 by the Reds in 1994. General manager Jim Bowden couldn’t wait for his arrival and called him up in June 1995.
I can remember sitting in Bowden’s box and C.J. made his first major-league start — also against the Pirates — on June 6. With every out, Bowden was jumping out his chair and high-fiving everybody, knocking over a bowl of pretzels on one out, as if Sandy Koufax was reborn.
Nitkowski pitched six innings, gave up no runs and three hits, walking three and striking out one. Was a star born? Uh, no.
Nitkowski eventually pitched for Cincinnati, Detroit, Houston, the New York Mets, Texas, the New York Yankees, Atlanta and Washington. His career record? 18-32. That’s a little more than two victories per team.
Nitkowski’s one claim to fame was that he was one of the first baseball players to have his own web-site, one he wrote himself, in the infancy of the internet.
And it is interesting that he finished his career at Washington, where Bowden is now the GM and gathers ex-Reds like numismatics collect Indian Head nickels — or is that Native American head nickels these days?
Bowden’s latest venture, after he signed and released Bret Boone (brother Aaron Boone still plays for the Nationals, along with Dmitri Young) is the signing of Pokey Reese.
Pokey Reese? He hasn’t played in a major-league game since 2004 with the Boston Red Sox. He was in camp with the Florida Marlins in the spring of 2006, but mysteriously disappeared and the Marlins released him in March.
It took two years, but Bowden found him. He is now playing at Triple-A Columbus.
MY FAVORITE story about Reese, the Reds’ No. 1 draft pick in 1991, does not concern his debut, but it was an Opening Day and Reese was playing shortstop.
He made four errors, three in one inning.
In those days, owner Marge Schott emptied the Cincinnati Zoo and brought the animals to old Riverfront Stadium for a pregame parade, including elephants. And, of course, the pachyderms did what most animals do in public. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go.
After his four-error game, Reese said, “Instead of playing shortstop, I should have been walking behind those elephants with a trash bag. Except I would have missed.”
I laugh every time I hear WLW’s Bill Cunningham play the sound bite from Reds owner Bob Castellini saying, “We’re not gonna lose any more.” Cunningham plays it over and over.
The sound bite comes from a question I asked Castellini the day he fired Wayne Krivsky and it irritated him. I asked about stability because of the steady stream of short-term managers and general managers since 2003 — managers Bob Boone, Dave Miley, Jerry Narron, Pete Mackanin, Dusty Baker and general managers Jim Bowden, Brad Kullman, Leland Maddox, Dan O’Brien, Krivsky and Walt Jocketty.
That’s when Castellini snapped at me at the press conference and said, “We’re not gonna lose any more.” He apologized to me in a corner later, but not publicly.
That’s OK, though. I understand. He is frustrated with the losing. He is a nice man and a great businessman. He is still learning the baseball gig, though.
After Castellini’s quote, I said kiddingly to Jocketty, “The owner says you’re not going to lose any more. That’s a lot of pressure, right?”
Jocketty, a man who smiles easily and has been through the baseball wars and understands the complexities of winning and losing, smiled at that and said, “The first thing I have to do is calm down the owner.”
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment | Categories: Jay Bruce
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By Bob
May 28, 2008 10:23 PM | Link to this
Where in Patterson’s career stats is there any indication of him working out his kinks. His career OBP is under .300 and a lifetime BA of .256. Dusty is expecting him to improve. They should dock Baker’s salary for 3.5M.
By rob
May 28, 2008 8:34 PM | Link to this
Never heard that Reese story before. My favorite was when he said he knew Bowden was lying when his lips were moving.
By Old Buckeye
May 28, 2008 1:55 PM | Link to this
Hal; I grew up listening to Waite Hoyt and reading Ritter Collet. I have enjoyed your down to earth writing since you broke in. I was surprised to see you take Castellini’s statement literally when you knew full well what he meant. He is tired of losing and I for one, am glad he is. Someone has to show some leadership. I don’t think there is any in the clubhouse. Paul Brunswick Cary NC
By Old Buckeye
May 28, 2008 1:55 PM | Link to this
Hal; I grew up listening to Waite Hoyt and reading Ritter Collet. I have enjoyed your down to earth writing since you broke in. I was surprised to see you take Castellini’s statement literally when you knew full well what he meant. He is tired of losing and I for one, am glad he is. Someone has to show some leadership. I don’t think there is any in the clubhouse. Paul Brunswick Cary NC
By Old Buckeye
May 28, 2008 1:55 PM | Link to this
Hal; I grew up listening to Waite Hoyt and reading Ritter Collet. I have enjoyed your down to earth writing since you broke in. I was surprised to see you take Castellini’s statement literally when you knew full well what he meant. He is tired of losing and I for one, am glad he is. Someone has to show some leadership. I don’t think there is any in the clubhouse. Paul Brunswick Cary NC
By Old Buckeye
May 28, 2008 1:55 PM | Link to this
Hal; I grew up listening to Waite Hoyt and reading Ritter Collet. I have enjoyed your down to earth writing since you broke in. I was surprised to see you take Castellini’s statement literally when you knew full well what he meant. He is tired of losing and I for one, am glad he is. Someone has to show some leadership. I don’t think there is any in the clubhouse. Paul Brunswick Cary NC