HOW TO GO
What: Cincinnati Reds’ Opening Day Parade
When: Noon, April 6
Where: Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Cincinnati
Cost: No admission cost
More Info: www.findlaymarketparade.com
Norm Charlton, former left-handed reliever and member of the infamous “Nasty Boys” trio during the Cincinnati Reds world championship season of 1990, hasn’t donned a Reds uniform since 2000, yet he has still traveled to the Queen City several times in recent years, as recently as last season.
“We threw out the first pitch at a game last year and we’ve done some card and memorabilia signings,” he said from his Texas home. “Rob (Dibble) and I used to do it a lot, but Randy (Myers) was often hard to get, so there weren’t a lot of ‘Nasty Boys’ signatures. So we started doing more and giving the money to charity.”
As most diehard Reds fans know, Charlton, Dibble, and Myers officially earned the “Nasty Boys” moniker after a regular-season series in Houston when Astros slugger, Glenn Davis, got plunked three times in a single game. The trio will be serving as Grand Marshals at the Reds’ Opening Day Parade Monday, April 6.
“Intimidation was part of our game,” Charlton said. “We didn’t actually hit that many batters, but we knocked down a lot of guys, which is harder to find in the stats. The ‘Nasty Boys’ thing played into our reputations well and we played it up, had T-shirts made. It was good for us, because on days when we didn’t have our best stuff, when (manager) Lou (Piniella) was putting us in 3-4 days in a row, it helped to have the ‘nasty’ persona in our backpack, because hitters were never sure how crazy we were, what we were willing to do.”
Not surprisingly, the Reds’ 1990 world championship season looms large for Charlton out of the 13 seasons he pitched in the major leagues.
“Everything about that season was a surprise,” he said. “Spring training was cut short because we were locked out. We had a new manager in Lou Piniella, a new closer in Randy. We knew we had a good team, and we just got off to a really good start and we gelled really well together. It was wire to wire, and then we were supposed to get our tails kicked by Oakland, and we swept them. When we were approached to grand marshal the parade, we absolutely agreed. It’s pretty neat that it’s the 25th anniversary, and we were the last (Reds) team to win a championship. The parade has always been a big deal in Cincinnati and probably always will be.”
Charlton said he believes the game of baseball is better today than it was 25 years ago, even as he acknowledges that his ‘nastiness’ would probably be less tolerated. He is unapologetic about his old-school style of play, even though he sympathizes with detractors.
“If you’re paying a guy $25 million per year, you don’t want me taking him out in April,” he said. “I understand that. But if you’re going to roll up to second base and knock Ron Oester on his tail, we weren’t going to put up with that. It was just the way we played the game. Was it smart? No. Would I do it again? Probably.”
Charlton’s last major league baseball job was as the bullpen coach for the Seattle Mariners in 2008. When his contract wasn’t renewed, he decided to quit the game completely.
“People in Seattle blamed the coaching, but several players just had bad years,” Charlton said. “We had a new general manager and I don’t blame him for bringing in his own people, but I got tired of dealing with things that didn’t make much sense.”
Charlton returned to his native Texas, got his pilot’s license, and he has been a hunting and fishing guide ever since. He still follows baseball, though not as closely.
“I follow Cincinnati, Seattle, and the Astros, just because they’re close by,” he said. “But there are a lot of mornings when my alarm goes off at 4:30 a.m. So I might watch a few innings, but then it’s off to bed.”
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