A Tip of the Hat to the Return of Crash Davis, Willie Mays Hayes, Roy Hobbs, Sidd Finch and Friends
There isn’t all that much that’s fun in newspapers these days, not with life as we knew it in America being transformed by the COVID-19 coronavirus.
In the middle of all the shutdowns and self-isolating, it was refreshing to see that someone at the Daily Journal published in Tupelo, MS, used April 1 to publish perhaps the greatest list of sports transactions ever.
To wit:
APRIL 1 TRANSACTIONS
Major League
CLEVELAND INDIANS – Signed C Jake Taylor, RP Ricky Vaughn, 3B Roger Dorn, OF Willie Mays Hayes, OF Pedro Cerrano, SP Eddie Harris to one-year contracts. Named Lou Brown manager.
DETROIT TIGERS –SP Billy Chapel announced his retirement.
NEW YORK KNIGHTS – Signed OF Roy Hobbs.
NEW YORK METS – Signed 2B Chico Escuela, SP Sidd Finch.
TAMPA BAY RAYS – Called up SP Ebby Calvin LaLoosh from Triple-A Durham (IL)
WASHINGTON SENATORS – Signed CF Joe Hardy.
Minor leagues
VISALIA RAWHIDE – Named Lawrence “Crash” Davis manager.
And buried further down:
COLLEGES
FABER – Fired men’s basketball head coach Norman Dale.
Sure, we could quibble that Dorn and Harris were holdovers in Cleveland, but that would be just churlish.
This list includes most of the key members of the Cleveland Indians from the movie “Major League,” Robby Hobbs from “The Natural,” Billy Chapel of the Tigers from “For Love of the Game,”, Sidd Finch from George Plimpton’s 1985 Sports Illustrated mock gem of a New York Mets signing, Nuke LaLoosh and Crash Davis from “Bull Durham” and Joe Hardy from the musical “Damn Yankees.”
Although the writer could have ended there, the list extended into other sports, most notably the firing of Norman Dale, who would go on to coach Hickory High to the Indiana High School Basketball Title in the movie “Hoosiers.”
It’s a nice bit of work, and I just wanted to say thanks.