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--- Domeboys wrote:

1/16: Albert Pujols (33), Ron Villone (43), Dizzy Dean (died 1974), Showboat Fisher (died 1994).

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Dizzy Dean is my favorite out of this group....followed by Showboat Fisher. I would have thought "Showboat" would have fit Dean better than Fisher. "Showboat Dean.....kind of has a ring to it. I think I'm thinking the same thing everyone else is at this moment...what did Fisher do to get this nickname bestowed upon him? JMo? BicycleMike?

I could have just put George Fisher down, but I have been spicing these posts with a few old-timers' nicknames in hopes of getting Pugs to initiate some discussion. I have to admit that I was disappointed that Parisian Bob passed last week without comment, but Showboat did the trick!

Here is the link to Fisher's bio and the explanation in his own words. As with a lot of these earlier players, there is a colorful story to tell.

Domeboys wrote: 1/16: Albert Pujols (33) . . .

ahem

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--- blingboy wrote:

Domeboys wrote: 1/16: Albert Pujols (33) . . .

ahem

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That's "Anaheim" not "Ahem", Bling....the traitor. Missed the "Parisian Bob" one somehow, DomeBoys. Could have had a field day with that one. While reading over Showboat's Bio, it brought back old memories to come across the name of Beloit's old team, the Fairbanks Morse Fairies....what a name! Anyway, my father's old security company provided uniformed guards for Fairbanks Morse for over 40 years. I worked there as a guard over this one summer vacation when I was only 17. You could do that back in those days. A few times each 8 hour shift you'd have to go out on a marathon tour to check on things. You would walk thru building after building and most were these creepy old facilities that scared the daylights out of you at night while you were the only person in there. At this one especially scary old building, I seldom went inside to check on things but said I did on my security reports. Then there was another old building at Fairbanks that had been closed down for years, so when nobody was around at night I'd spend a good 5 minutes firing rocks through it's ancient windows. Then there was this huge manufacturing dwelling that had loads of workers toiling away even on the overnight shifts. I loved that place because with all of the people hanging about there was nothing to get scared about PLUS in this one work area there was a curling bar with two 25lb. weights attached, so on each tour I did 3 sets of curls. The workers didn't mind and more importantly they never told on me.

1/17: Jeff Tabaka (49), Mark Littell (60), Darrell Porter (died 2002), Ray Cunningham (died 2005).

Interesting that Porter comes up today given our current discussion on the Hall of Fame thread. When Ray Cunningham passed away, he was 100 years old - the oldest living Cardinal at the time.

1/18: Brian Falkenborg (35), Curt Flood (died 2007).

1/19: Orlando Palmeiro (44).

1/20: John Rodriguez (35), David Eckstein (38), Carl Taylor (69).

Carl Taylor's greatest game is the one that put me over the top as a serious Cardinal fan in 1970.

It was a game in July, I think (I'm too lazy to look up the exact date but the rest of the details are etched in my mind).

The Cards were playing San Diego at home, and went into the bottom of the 9th trailing 11-7.  I was listening to the game on my mother's radio upstairs in the bedroom and she was yelling at me to go to bed because it was late.  I kept saying I wanted to hear the end of the game (even though we were losing, which gives you an idea I was getting pretty serious about baseball even then). 

The Cards put on a rally - I remember Richie Allen being a part of it with either a walk or a hit - and then Taylor came up as a pinch-hitter and hit a grand slam that won the game.

From that night on, I was totally imprinted.

Taylor's is one of the autographs on that pic I need to email to Brian.  I'll get it done today.  Another of the autographs, BTW, is that of Moe Drabowsky, who ironically was the guy who 13 years earlier had given up Musial's 3000th hit.

1/21: Alan Benes (41), Tom Urbani (45), Jose Uribe (54), Blix Donnelly (died 1976).

No explanation is required...

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--- Domeboys wrote:

No explanation is required...



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The specs and tie are dead giveaways....has to be none other than JModene getting poised to attend another thrilling session of Sunday school. I bet when JMo was in kindergarten, and it was time for all of the kiddies to gather their blankies, drink their milk and listen to a story, it was not the teacher regaling the group front and center, but rather a certain studious bespectacled young lad clad in red.

I think I know all of the identities of those Redbirds who were kind enough to make JMo's day....back in the day....except the fifth one:

1. Gibby
2. Joe Torre
3. Simba
4. Jose Cardenal
5. ????
6. Ted Sizemore
7. Chuck Taylor
8. Dick Scofield
9. Mo Drabowski
10. Jim Beauchamp

pugsleyaddams wrote:

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--- Domeboys wrote:

No explanation is required...



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The specs and tie are dead giveaways....has to be none other than JModene getting poised to attend another thrilling session of Sunday school. I bet when JMo was in kindergarten, and it was time for all of the kiddies to gather their blankies, drink their milk and listen to a story, it was not the teacher regaling the group front and center, but rather a certain studious bespectacled young lad clad in red.

I think I know all of the identities of those Redbirds who were kind enough to make JMo's day....back in the day....except the fifth one:

1. Gibby
2. Joe Torre
3. Simba
4. Jose Cardenal
5. ????
6. Ted Sizemore
7. Chuck Taylor
8. Dick Scofield
9. Mo Drabowski
10. Jim Beauchamp

#5 is Frank Linzy, a relief pitcher we had gotten from the Giants for Jerry Johnson.

And the pic is standard-issue school photo.  Back in those days, kiddies, we used to dress up for our photo.

And yes, in Kindergarden, I did read stories to the class - but it was to the third-grade class.  When I wasn't doing that, during nap time they would have me sit in the principal's office where I could read books about dinosaurs and stuff (I remember one of them; the Golden Little Book about dinosaurs).  Reason for that was because I was too hyper to take a nap.

Oh - and I didn't start wearing glasses until I was 7.  Stopped wearing them (except for the reading glasses) after I got Lasik in 2001.

Jmodene1 wrote: Carl Taylor's greatest game is the one that put me over the top as a serious Cardinal fan in 1970.

It was a game in July, I think (I'm too lazy to look up the exact date but the rest of the details are etched in my mind).

The Cards were playing San Diego at home, and went into the bottom of the 9th trailing 11-7.  I was listening to the game on my mother's radio upstairs in the bedroom and she was yelling at me to go to bed because it was late.  I kept saying I wanted to hear the end of the game (even though we were losing, which gives you an idea I was getting pretty serious about baseball even then). 

The Cards put on a rally - I remember Richie Allen being a part of it with either a walk or a hit - and then Taylor came up as a pinch-hitter and hit a grand slam that won the game.

From that night on, I was totally imprinted.

Taylor's is one of the autographs on that pic I need to email to Brian.  I'll get it done today.  Another of the autographs, BTW, is that of Moe Drabowsky, who ironically was the guy who 13 years earlier had given up Musial's 3000th hit.

That game was in August and I remember it specifically because something that happened a few days later was one of those early Cardinal moments for me like this was for you.  My family had season tickets then, and I was getting to use one for a few games.  First, there was a game in a double header when Steve Carlton got hit around something aweful. Then Nelson Briles, one of my favorites, got killed in the game where Taylor hit the walk off salami.  Then a game or two later, Bob Gibson pitched a 14 inning complete game.  The thing that absolutely floored me, was that in the bottom of the 14th, when Maxvill led off with a single and Gibby was due up, Red let him go up there and hit!  I can just imagine that there was nothing in the world that was going to get Bob Gibson out of that game. No wonder hitters feared him.

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--- Jmodene1 wrote:

Oh - and I didn't start wearing glasses until I was 7.  Stopped wearing them (except for the reading glasses) after I got Lasik in 2001.

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I'd consider bringing those glasses back out, JMo. If one examines JMo's autographed photo closely, you can see that some players actually blew a kiss JMo's way as evidenced by those little X's after their signatures. Dick Schofield. Chuck Taylor, Jose Cardenal, Jimmy Beauchamp, Frank Linzy.....heck all of those Cardinals except for the really good players added on a smacker for young JMo. I got a ton of autographs when I was a kid and not a one of them blew a kiss at me. Matter of fact when I went to Daytona Beach for Spring break one year, I got an autographed poster from Playboy Bunny, Barbie Benton, and there were no X's following her signature. Oh, and no way in heck that signature #5 is Frank Linzy, JMo. Better solve that mystery because that last name is not "Linzy".

1/22: Johnny Bucha (died 1996).

Oh, it's Linzy all right - I had gotten his autograph the previous September at the Mercury dealer where my dad had bought his car.  A bunch of Cardinal players appeared there one Sunday afternoon after the game, including Torre, Briles, Maxvill, Javier, Reuss, Linzy, and coach Dick Sisler.  I still have a few pics from that event.

pugsleyaddams wrote:

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--- Jmodene1 wrote:

Oh - and I didn't start wearing glasses until I was 7.  Stopped wearing them (except for the reading glasses) after I got Lasik in 2001.

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I'd consider bringing those glasses back out, JMo. If one examines JMo's autographed photo closely, you can see that some players actually blew a kiss JMo's way as evidenced by those little X's after their signatures. Dick Schofield. Chuck Taylor, Jose Cardenal, Jimmy Beauchamp, Frank Linzy.....heck all of those Cardinals except for the really good players added on a smacker for young JMo. I got a ton of autographs when I was a kid and not a one of them blew a kiss at me. Matter of fact when I went to Daytona Beach for Spring break one year, I got an autographed poster from Playboy Bunny, Barbie Benton, and there were no X's following her signature. Oh, and no way in heck that signature #5 is Frank Linzy, JMo. Better solve that mystery because that last name is not "Linzy".

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--- Jmodene1 wrote:

Oh, it's Linzy all right - I had gotten his autograph the previous September at the Mercury dealer where my dad had bought his car.  A bunch of Cardinal players appeared there one Sunday afternoon after the game, including Torre, Briles, Maxvill, Javier, Reuss, Linzy, and coach Dick Sisler.  I still have a few pics from that event.


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Too bad Nate Colbert wasn't at that event huh BicycleMike? If he had, JMo's Dad would have driven away from that dealership with a couple dandy used cars instead of that new Mercury.

What amuses/amazes me is that sort of thing couldn't happen today; a half dozen players from a major league team, including an all-star third baseman and a former 19-game winner, showing up at a car dealership to sign autographs for free for a couple of hours in the service area.

I remember the day well, though, not just because of the pictures but because a lady asked my mother if she was Joe Torre's wife, and also because that was the day my mother decided that Nellie Briles was her favorite Cardinal.  Naturally, he got traded three months later for one of *my* all-time favorites, Matty Alou.