ANOTHER GREAT SEASON

We have all been waiting all winter for spring training to start. Now that it is in full swing, I for one could care less.

I've never been a big fan of pre-season anything, and that baseball. I don't pay attention to the Eagles pre-season and I don't watch their pre-season games. I generally don't watch Phillies spring training games either, I just don't care to watch guys who will never make the big club nor do I care about the preparation the regulars go through to get ready for the season. Once the season starts I'll be there.

My attitude about pre-season games may have come about because of how much I hated pre-season football practice when I was playing. I thought two-a-days were a remnant of the Spanish Inquisition. I played for the typical high school coaches who acted as if they were born assholes and used ridiculous expressions like "Katy-bar-the-door" incessantly. I also never understood why they made us run a mile after each practice. I was a lineman - I was not trying to be a cross country runner, so I never understood the point. I thought these guys were sadists, especially when they wouldn't allow us any water during practice. "Water is for faggots," one of the coaches used to say when it was 90 and humid. He was usually drinking water when he said that.

My college coaches were no different except they allowed us a cup of water halfway through practice. Back then, they didn't know that the lack of water could kill you - they were concerned about toughening us up. In any event, I never did get into pre-season anything.

Spring training press conferences are stupid and filled with platitudes and cliches. Every once in a while one of the players does distinguish themselves with a comment so stupid and vacuous that it makes me shake my head and hope that the guy has a season where he hits .237 with 42 RBI's and a torn muscle in his brain. Jason Werth made the cut the other day with his comments of how, if the Phillies would have played their cards right, they could have had him and Cliff Lee and all the lost prosptect. Duh. Werth sounded as if he had replaced the saliva in his mouth with sour grape juice.

We all remember how fucked up it was when Ruben traded Lee away after acquiring Halliday. We all bitched and moaned, but at least the guy made it alright with the acquisition of Oswalt and then Lee. He may be pissed off that he is now playing for a team not yet ready for prime time - where he will have to be the "man". No Howard to protect him in front and no Ibanez or Ruiz to protect his back. Let's see how he handles that situation before we listen to any of his bellyaching. The next time Werth wants to say something, he should first take a deep breath and count to 126 million.

Since I've had the Wayback Machine reconditioned and souped-up, going back to earlier days of glory is both a pleasure and quick. The 8-track works beautifully and the AM radio is tuned to my favorite Top 40 station. This is the year of the pitcher for us Phillies fans, so lets climb aboard and visit the days of Eisenhower, hula hoops, and coonskin caps and take a look at one of our HOF hurlers - Robin Evans Roberts.

Robbie was everyone's favorite Phillie, even topping Whitey for our affections. He was a class act through and through and did a lot of work in the community like attending Cub Scout banquets, which is where I met him. It was a thrill that has stayed with me till this day. After his playing days ended, he became a stockbroker for the firm Benning & Scattergood. I met him again at an investment seminar, back when I played with other people's money until it disappeared, and he was as gracious as he could be.

Robbie finished his career with a record of 286-245 with an ERA of 3.41. He was elected to the HOF despite having given up a record 505 HR's. He appeared in 676 games, starting 609, completing 305 of them. Robbie, like Carlton after him, didn't know when it was time to quit and bounced from Balto to Houston to the Yanks and finally to the Cubs. It was sad to see.

From 1950 through the 1955 season, he won 20 or more games in each of those six seasons. From 1948 (when he broke into the bigs) through the end of the '55 season, he had a record of 161-102. For the rest of his career, he came in at a rather ordinary 125-143. Now let's remember that the Phillies of the late 50's and early 60's were about as bad as a team could get. They were their generation's version of the current Pirates, so his record was helped by guys named Futility, Choker, and Can't-Hit-For-Shit.

His great season was 1952 when he finished with a record of 28-7. His record that year against the NY Giants was 3-3 and 2-2 against the Cubs. He was 23-2 against the other 5 teams in the NL, and that includes the pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers. That amazes me.

In that year of 1952 the greatest city in the world was treated to another outstanding pitching performance with the AL MVP going to Bobby Shantz of the A's. Shantz was a little guy, but he could pitch, and was such a good hitter that the A's used him as a pinch hitter on days when he wasn't pitching. My dad was an A's fan and the first Phillies game I saw wasn't until the A's left for KC after the '54 season. Roberts used to do a post-game show for kids once a week and I still remember Shantz as his guest on one of the shows.

That's enough for now, so let's climb back into the Wayback Machine and head on back to today. By the way, the Wayback has been customized to look like a 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser Convertible, so we dazzle time with tons of chrome, wide white-wall tires fitted with spinner hub caps and a beautiful 3 color interior. It's been fitted with glass packs so she makes all the deep throated muffler noise the galactic cops will allow. Til next time - see ya.