𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐎'𝐍𝐞𝐢𝐥

"Our game can change back. Eventually, another George Brett will surface. He’ll hit .360. He’ll homer 40 times. He’ll drive in 160 runs. He’ll strike out 75 times. He’ll walk a hundred times. His on-base percentage will be .420. Our game is fluid. Hitters will begin to beat the defensive shifts, and the pendulum will swing back. The game evolves. It’s just a matter of time. There are things about some professional athletes that I cannot stand, the pretense, the egos, the pomposity, the greed." Ted Simmons. Retired with more RBI than Johnny Bench, more runs scored than Gary Carter, more hits than Carlton Fisk, higher batting average than Yogi Berra. Drove in more RBI than all catchers except Yogi Berra. Ted Simmons rebelled against baseball’s reserve clause, refused to sign a $25,000 contract, feeling he deserved bigger raise. An anti-war activist, heavily criticized the Nixon administration, and wore his hair so long that he was nicknamed “Simba.” Legend!!!

Jim Palmer threw five innings in a spring training game, then began his outfield running program, back when pitchers would run laps on the warning track while the game continued. With a young Mike Flanagan in the Orioles’ dugout, Earl Weaver called Flanagan over. “See that guy?” Weaver told Flanagan, pointing at Jim Palmer. “Just do what he does and you’ll never have a problem playing in the big leagues.” Earl Weaver’s Ten Laws of Baseball. 1. No one’s going to give a damn in July if you lost a game in March. 2. If you don’t make any promises to your players, you won’t have to break them. 3. The easiest way around the bases is with one swing of the bat. 4. Your most precious possessions on offense are your 27 outs. 5. If you play for one run, that’s all you’ll get. 6. Don’t play for one run unless you know that run will win a ballgame. 7. It’s easier to find four good starters than five. 8. The best place for a rookie pitcher is long relief. 9. The key step for an infielder is the first one—left or right—but before the ball is hit. 10. The job of arguing with the umpires belongs to the manager, because it won’t hurt the team if he gets kicked out of the game.

"When our far-off courtship began, one that would depend more on trust and patience than actual presence. Letters, telepathic wishes, and occasional phone calls at a time when long-distance calling was prohibitively expensive. On tour in some obscure town spying a phone booth, I would pocket everyone’s change, stop our tour bus by the side of a road, and call, even for a few minutes, just to hear his voice..." "Bread of Angels" Patti Smith, wife of Fred 'Sonic' Smith. "Right now, right now, it’s time to Kick Out The Jams, Mother-F*ckers!” Wayne Kramer. MC5 singer Rob Tyner’s strong batting stance while playing baseball in Ann Arbor, 1970, in the company of MC5 guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith and The Rationals' leader Scott Morgan next to him in the hat on the far left. Smith and Morgan would later form Sonic's "Rendezvous Band" Bob Seger pitched. Photo by former Bob Seger roadie Tom Wechsler. Go easy.