WEBVTT

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interview for the A. S. U. Retirees Association Living History video

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project and today is thursday november
the ninth of 2000 and six and I'm

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pam Stephenson doing the interview.
Manny Garcia is our videographer and

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we're doing the interview here at the
visitor information center. But it

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is you here at the corner of a
railroad and Apache boulevard

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yourself and give us your full name.
My name is bobby brooks winkles and

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I'm from Swift in Arkansas and I came
here to A. S. U. In 1958 in

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september And I left in January of
1972 and went to the California Angels

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. I like to go back and start with a
little bit of history about your

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early life. Is it bobby Orr is robert?
No in Arkansas. When I was born

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they didn't know about robert. So the
name is bobby B O B B Y.

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Was born on March the 11th 1930 in
Tuckerman Arkansas that was the town of

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approximately 800 people. And when I
was nine years old we moved to swift

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in Arkansas where I actually was
raised and went to high school. I was

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raised on a 18 and 80 acre farm about
2.5 miles from Swift Whose

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population was 526

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And we, there were 10 of us, six
Children and my mother and father and my

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grandmother and my grandfather, we all
lived in a three-bedroom house that

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had no electricity and no indoor
plumbing. So we didn't exactly come from

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the elite. What did your family do for
a living. We lived on an 80 acre

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farm, we raised hay for the cattle and
we raised corn for the Hogs and we

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also raised cotton and that was the
three staples that we farmed. We did

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not own the land, we had furnished the
equipment to make the crops and we

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got 3/4 of what was sold if a bale
bale of cotton sold for apart, we got

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3/4 of the money and the owner of the
land got 1/4. When I was 12 I

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started driving a tractor and uh Uh
sitting on a tractor 12 hours a day.

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Uh my grandfather was a great farmer,
but he didn't like to work and so he

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went to town, only had two stores in
the town and he'd go there and shoot

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the bull with all the old farmers and
then he'd come home at night and

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tell me it's time to come in. And uh
so that's what I did. I missed the

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six weeks of school when it was
planning time every year because I drove

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the tractor and my dad worked on the
railroad. So he was not there either

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very much. And what about your
brother? I'm the oldest and I have a

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brother four years younger and when I
graduated and went to college he

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took over the tractor, but what was
that town like swift turn Uh in our

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town of 526.

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Uh the city limit signs were on the
same post and uh when we had a parade

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there was no one to watch. So there
really wasn't a lot that took place in

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that town except saturday night, we
got to go to town and go to a movie.

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They had a western movie every
saturday night and that was our

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entertainment. You went to school
there. What was school like School was

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small. We had 19 in my graduating
class. We did not have enough people uh

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to put on a football field or a
baseball field. So basketball was the only

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sport that we had in high school. And
were you a good student? I know this

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will not believe by my former players
that I was the valedictorian of my

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class. Yes with 19 people and 12 of
them mentally retarded. I had a good

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chance

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an advantage. What was your favorite
subject? My favorite subject was math.

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In a school of that, that type of
population. All you did was add and

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subtract. Multiply and divide. There
was no algebra or geometry or

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anything boy growing up. What did you
want to be when you were growing up

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? I always wanted to be in baseball.
And the reason being is that my

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seventh grade teacher was a gentleman
by the name of George kell. George

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Kell is now in the baseball hall of
fame. He played some 16 to 18 years in

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the major leagues and he was my
teacher and his father was a barber in

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town and he ran a summer team where we
got to play on sunday And then

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after the crops were laid by which
meant we were not gonna plow him

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anymore. We played Thursday and Sunday
and his his brother, Skeeter Kell

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and I when we were 15 we're playing
against guys, 30 35 years old because

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it was a town team and not a school
team. Did you travel around to other

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towns? Yes, we had towns like
Pocahontas, just little old town's Black

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rock and we, I mean they were all
little bitty towns but we'd always pay a

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picture and uh well the rest of us
would just fill in but the farmers

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would take up maybe 50 or 100 bucks
for some kid that was live somewhere

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else in Jackson County which is where
I was raised and we all did fart

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together 100 bucks and we try to win
the game. I played third base because

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George kell played third base. You
know, I never was that great. I enjoyed

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playing. And Skeeter kelly who was
George's younger brother, he and I were

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the best friends and we got to spend a
lot of time together. We played

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basketball together.

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Well I didn't really know, I just knew
that I wanted to, I went to a

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yankee tryout camp one time and
Pocahontas, Arkansas

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And I played pretty good in that. I
could always throw decent, they

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offered me a contract $3500 out of
high school. I was there for a week at

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a school that they had in Branson
Missouri after seeing me play in

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Pocahontas that one day and they took
us in there and we played for a week

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and my father looked at me and he said
uh when I got the contract from Mr

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McPhail who was the scouting director
at that time we got the contract at

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our house and my dad who was a very
tough man uh he took the contract and

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looked at it and toward all the pieces
and I started to kind of cry and he

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said to me, I said dad why why are you
doing that? And he said son, I

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followed a mule all my life and you're
a good student and you're going to

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college and that was the end of that.
Well it sounds like your family

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didn't have a lot of money. Why did
your father think you couldn't go to

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college? Well because I was fortunate
enough the Yankees had had an end

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with Illinois, wesleyan university
which is a good academic school in

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bloomington Illinois. And they called
up, they called back and said we

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didn't have a phone but they got ahold
of somebody in town and said that I

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could get a scholarship there if I
would work some well I didn't have

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anyplace else to go. So I went I
grabbed on, my dad was a brakeman on the

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train and he put me on a train and
swift in Arkansas and we had to change

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trains in ST louis, I got lost in ST
louis depot and I never made that

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train and I finally arrived eight
hours later than I was supposed to

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because they had a group that was
going to meet me from the sigma chi

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fraternity, I went there without a
sport coat and are a suit and news

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newspaperman by, by the name of Brick
Young took a liking to me and he

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gave me $200 and said go buy some
clothes for Pete's sake and I did, so

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what was college like college was
good, it taught me to grow up and gave

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me some class which I certainly didn't
have when I went, I was just a

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country boy from Arkansas and uh I had
a great coach, a guy named Jack

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Hornberger was one of the greatest men
I've ever known and he kind of took

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me under his wing, I did okay grade
wise in college, so he never had to

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worry about me and that's what he told
my advisor, he says I don't want

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you calling me about this boy because
he won't have any problems and you

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just give him whatever classes he's
supposed to take.

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Well I majored in physical education
because that's what I want to do and

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I minored in philosophy in english
playing baseball and basketball. So the

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college, you said it was a scholarship
through the Yankees, The Yankees uh

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in those days we're talking about
1948, there wasn't a lot of rules about

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scholarships and so forth, especially
in a small school like Illinois

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Wesleyan was 1000 students. And so
they made arrangements to fred young

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the sportswriter that he would take
care of some of my expenses. And I

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worked five jobs while I was in
college and I played basketball and

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baseball. I worked in a a hamburger
joint with for a lady that was very

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nice. I loaded seven up bottles on a
truck on a seven up truck at night. I

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was the night watchman until 10:00 at
night for bike candy company. They

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made, remember the old bar whiz best
nickel candy there is. So that was a

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great place to study because I never
got any calls or anything. So and

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then in the fraternity house, the
sigma chi fraternity house, I served the

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meals and washed the dishes. Is there
any commitment to the Yankees after

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you graduate? No,

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well they had signed a player that was
the best basketball player in the

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conference and a catcher for Illinois
Wesleyan and Mr Young who was a

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pretty influential guy, was quite
upset and so when he told them that and

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they had knew that I wasn't gonna
sign, they sent me up there to replace a

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six to guy that was the best
basketball player in the conference, that's

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not the most comfortable feeling in
the world. So when did you graduate

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from college? I graduated in 1952. Uh
my last year there, I needed eight

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credits to graduate my 8th semester.
What were your plans after college?

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My plans after college were to play
professional baseball. And fortunately

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I got I had a chance to do that.

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I was a junior Eleanor Westland and I
was the captain of the baseball team.

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In my senior year. I was going to be
captain of the basketball team

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because my junior year, I led the team
in scoring. I made all conference

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in honorable mention little all
american and basketball. I left everything

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up to coach Hornberger, that was he
was my guardian. So he says to me,

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there's a couple of teams that have
been asking about you at the end of my

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junior year and he said one of them is
the white sox and then Detroit and

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the Yankees have asked and he said
It's gonna be okay and if you go work

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out with those teams and I said I'll
go but you have to go with me. So we

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went to Chicago 1st and I worked out
with them and they had a hard

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throwing wild guy that they, that paul
Richards said, well we better find

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out what this kid can do Because I
think I hit 470 in college or something.

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But it's just a small, you know
conference, it wasn't anything important.

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And so this guy named with luke red
yellow and he hit me right in the

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back and I jumped up and grabbed a bat
and got back into the box ready to

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hit again. And I guess that impressed
paul Richards that maybe I had some

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toughness. And so we went up to talk
to frank lane, the general manager,

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my coach and I and my coach says to
him now frank bobby is my captain in

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both baseball and basketball. We're
not just gonna sign for anything, It's

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gonna take at least $10,000 to sign
this boy after his junior year

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franklin got up and left the room. I
thought oh boy coach, you really

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messed this one up. He came back with
a contract and my coach fainted in

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his chair Because he he was my senior
year. I coached the freshman team in

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basketball said thanks coach, I'm
10,000. I don't even know what to do

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with it. So I bought us some kind of
an insurance policy at that Comes to

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in 20 years. I didn't know what to do
with the money. Like I've never had

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any after I met my wife Elliott when I
was in the army. I did buy a car

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with the rest so I could marry her.
Did you play? I played in the minor

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league six years, got as high as
double triple a two years. One of

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charleston and the american
association and the other one in Indianapolis.

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But the white Sox had nellie Fox
playing second base who is in the Hall

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of Fame and Louis a priest. So playing
shortstop who was in the fall of

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fame and they had bobby who couldn't
carry either of their uh even their

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gloves around for them. So I knew it
was I had gone to University of

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Colorado and got my master's degree
while I was playing baseball. So I

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knew that it was time for me to call
it quits. And so I did. And Uh

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nothing but baseball ever since 19
since 1951. Although uncle Sam he did

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buy up my contract for a couple of
years. I tried to turn it down but He

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wouldn't, he wouldn't accept I was
drafted in the Army for two years. So

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uh that's two years I missed in the
middle of my baseball career. The

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draft board lets you know when you get
out of college you're gonna be

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called within 10 days. So you know
what's coming? They did in those days.

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So they called my dad called called
somebody up there and said bob is

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going to be drafted 10 days later. And
so the white Sox sent me out for 10

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days and I went from there into the
army And where did you go? In the army

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? I went, I ended up with most of the
time. I am not a guy that talks

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about being in the war anything
because I wasn't, I was an entertainer for

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the troops uh in basketball and
baseball. I made both of those teams in

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the in the at fort ord in camp roberts
in California. And with my dear

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wife Ellie who's 50 corn would be 54
years in February one day I was in a

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train station in a ball in in Wichita
Kansas And it was four pretty nice

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looking girls that came in there and
sat down and in those young days I

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was I was pretty outgoing too and I
was smoking a cigar and I went up and

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sat down with them and I kind of liked
the looks of Ellie better than the

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others. So I, most of my conversation
was with her the next time that we

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went back to Wichita she and her
father who's a Lutheran minister where

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and his family. Our family was sitting
in the first row in Wichita when we

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were playing Wichita with colorado
springs my first year out. So she asked

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me for my autograph and I said I will
give it to you for your address. So

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we wrote a little bit and she was from
Kansas and I got drafted and sent

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to fort sill Oklahoma and they didn't
have room for a ballplayer there. So

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they told me I could go to camp
roberts and play. And so they shipped me

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to there and I've been corresponding
back and forth with Ellie. She was

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teaching school in Pasadena California
at a Lutheran school grade school.

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So I called her, we got together six
months later we got married and she's

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been putting up with me ever since. I
feel like you had a lot going on.

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You say you had time to get a master's
degree too. I got a master's degree

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by in two semesters and I wrote a
thesis on baseball and that's what got

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me at Arizona State University which
has been The best 13 years of my life.

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And I have met the greatest people
there that I've ever met in my life

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including the guy that played for me

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Run through a little bit again. You
got out of college in 1952 when you

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were in the army 54 through 54 and
then I came back and played minor

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league baseball for five more years
and then I found out that I wasn't

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good enough so I didn't keep beating a
dead horse. I just quit and I got a

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chance through my advisor at the
University of colorado to interview for

00:17:25.029 --> 00:17:33.029
the A. S you job and mr smith. The
athletic director was Globe Miami and

00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:39.907
he went to a pay phone because he and
dr Bartell mom, my advisor were at

00:17:39.940 --> 00:17:44.766
Iowa preflight together so I had a
pretty good end there and he

00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:48.736
recommended me dr Bartell MMA and mr
smith called me and five minutes

00:17:48.769 --> 00:17:54.107
later I was the coach. I've never seen
him and he had never seen me.

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Things don't happen like that. That's
about as lucky as it gets. What what

00:17:58.579 --> 00:18:03.127
made you want to come to Arizona. Well
actually because it was closer to

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uh to Indianapolis and Chico state.

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See there were two jobs open that the
professor thought dr Bartell my

00:18:12.170 --> 00:18:16.347
thought I could get one was at Arizona
State where they only had a club

00:18:16.380 --> 00:18:23.046
program john Jacobs who came here
today uh played on that team and they

00:18:23.079 --> 00:18:27.826
played junior colleges and they played
the air force bases and they always

00:18:27.859 --> 00:18:31.367
played Arizona, I would like to go
where they were just going to start a

00:18:31.400 --> 00:18:36.957
program, a full time program and try
to do some good. And so mr smith

00:18:36.990 --> 00:18:40.066
called me five minutes later I was on
my way here when the season was over

00:18:40.099 --> 00:18:46.996
, he said to me, his final words to me
were I said Well what does this pay

00:18:47.029 --> 00:18:51.816
Mr. Smith? He said I'll give you
$6,000 a year but you can't take a summer

00:18:51.849 --> 00:18:57.687
job, you've got to be on the campus.
And so I said well last year I went

00:18:57.720 --> 00:19:01.717
to Venezuela and played winter ball
and with what I made playing here I

00:19:01.750 --> 00:19:07.847
made over $8,000. He said to me very
plainly bobby. I'm going to the siba

00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:14.256
que The trout might be Buyten I'll
give you 60, I need to know something

00:19:14.289 --> 00:19:19.316
right now. I said I'll be there.
That's how I got here. I went to, I got

00:19:19.349 --> 00:19:24.006
here a roundabout way though, We drove
up route 66 and I ended up in

00:19:24.039 --> 00:19:29.336
Flagstaff at Arizona State College and
thought I was in Tempe. So I got

00:19:29.369 --> 00:19:33.357
off and it was football, it was
football time. And I went to the football

00:19:33.390 --> 00:19:37.566
coach there and I said, hey coach, I'm
looking for Mr Clyde smith, I'm

00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:43.457
your new baseball coach. And he said,
well son, you're about 100 miles too

00:19:43.490 --> 00:19:47.556
far north. So Ellie and I got in the
car with our first daughter who was

00:19:47.589 --> 00:19:53.397
two months old and we headed down for
Tempe, That was 1958 September

00:19:53.430 --> 00:19:56.756
baseball season in the minor leaguers
is in the minor leagues is over the

00:19:56.789 --> 00:20:02.107
Labour Day. And we jumped in the car
and headed for here.

00:20:02.140 --> 00:20:07.236
Well I thought it was a wonderful
place, it was. I expected to get a high

00:20:07.269 --> 00:20:12.756
school job, my first job and this
opportunity came along and the biggest

00:20:12.789 --> 00:20:19.197
break of my life other than when Ellie
said, I do, but uh it is such a

00:20:19.230 --> 00:20:23.887
wonderful place. And uh and once we
got recruited, you see we couldn't get

00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:29.806
a, we couldn't get an in state kid
when I started, we couldn't get one

00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:36.066
because the university of Arizona was
a powerhouse and we were nil. And so

00:20:36.099 --> 00:20:41.897
we just kept plugging away and we
finally got a couple of Arizona kids and

00:20:41.930 --> 00:20:47.306
when we did they didn't get any more
of the good ones very often. So

00:20:47.339 --> 00:20:52.316
that's how it worked out 1958.

00:20:52.349 --> 00:20:57.907
Yes it was, it became a university the
first year that we were here

00:20:57.940 --> 00:21:02.157
programs like here. Well I came to mr
smith when I first got here and said

00:21:02.190 --> 00:21:07.107
Mr smith uh we would like to have fall
ball and I have not found the

00:21:07.140 --> 00:21:11.336
baseball field and he said bobby, he
talked rather slow. He was just a

00:21:11.369 --> 00:21:17.986
nice pennsylvania man. And he said
bobby we don't have a baseball field a

00:21:18.019 --> 00:21:22.506
you're gonna build it. That was news
to me. So I jumped on the phone and

00:21:22.539 --> 00:21:27.756
called Indianapolis beautiful triple A
field in Indianapolis. And I got I

00:21:27.789 --> 00:21:34.107
talked to the owner and I asked him to
send me the diagram the plans for

00:21:34.140 --> 00:21:40.506
the field. He did bob swab, bless his
heart. He got his what little crew

00:21:40.539 --> 00:21:45.726
he had was not more than three people.
and from September 10th about when

00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:53.759
we got here On Jan on February the 5th
they we had a baseball field and we

00:21:54.000 --> 00:22:00.986
build it right next to Apache, it was
the where the tennis courts were

00:22:01.019 --> 00:22:05.377
later built right next to the old
Hayden hall and it was right back up to

00:22:05.410 --> 00:22:09.826
that and we had a little dressing room
I don't think it was as big as this

00:22:09.859 --> 00:22:13.207
room for our baseball team, but it was
right there where they could just

00:22:13.240 --> 00:22:16.766
walk out and go right on the field.

00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:21.736
Yes. Good field was the base was the
football field at that time and the

00:22:21.769 --> 00:22:28.006
track was around the inside. That's
correct. That sports area of campus.

00:22:28.039 --> 00:22:31.637
Yes. Because the gym wasn't very far
away either. I mean all the three of

00:22:31.670 --> 00:22:35.917
them were right there together. The
football field, basketball, the track

00:22:35.950 --> 00:22:41.397
and the baseball. We're all within 100
yards of each other. How does he

00:22:41.430 --> 00:22:45.586
expect you to? But without a field
they didn't, they just saved it as a

00:22:45.619 --> 00:22:51.506
nice surprise for me when I got here.
So so we just got together and we

00:22:51.539 --> 00:22:57.246
had those old concrete dugouts and and
we had a field that was part of the

00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:03.796
physical education field. And every in
the spring when we started to play

00:23:03.829 --> 00:23:09.217
our players who none of them had a
job. It got paid except at the dog

00:23:09.250 --> 00:23:15.417
track because I had two scholarships
when I came here and they would put

00:23:15.450 --> 00:23:19.607
up the tarp, we'd put up these poles
in and bob's swabs group would put

00:23:19.640 --> 00:23:23.457
the concrete and with the holes in
them and we put the holes in there and

00:23:23.490 --> 00:23:30.006
my players, our players, Arizona
State's players would put the fence up

00:23:30.039 --> 00:23:34.717
and then we would take it down when
the season was over. That's how we

00:23:34.750 --> 00:23:39.687
started. I mean they could work at the
dog track. Well they had they had

00:23:39.720 --> 00:23:43.847
to have a way to make some money and I
had to make more money than 6000 a

00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:49.597
year with one child and another one on
the way. And uh, so I became the

00:23:49.630 --> 00:23:53.506
head lead out at the dog track at
night five nights a week plus being the

00:23:53.539 --> 00:23:58.806
coach and teaching 12 hours a week
because when I came coaches didn't have

00:23:58.839 --> 00:24:02.887
the privilege of not teaching. So I
talked 12 hours in physical education

00:24:02.920 --> 00:24:08.677
, first aid, the easy ones, you know
that Arkansas Boy could teach. That's

00:24:08.710 --> 00:24:11.006
what I did

00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:15.236
and what did you do with the, I was
ahead lead out. I had this big helmet

00:24:15.269 --> 00:24:22.746
on fancy and with tassels hanging down
and I lead the guys around the

00:24:22.779 --> 00:24:29.157
track with the dogs. And then when we
got in front of where the odds table

00:24:29.190 --> 00:24:35.526
is and everything, I had to make sure
that the halter around the the horse

00:24:35.559 --> 00:24:41.076
, the dog's waste was not too tight
and everything. So I joined and my

00:24:41.109 --> 00:24:45.347
ball player would pull him on and I
had six or eight guys that were lead

00:24:45.380 --> 00:24:50.476
outs there, they took care of the Of
of the dogs, putting them in the

00:24:50.509 --> 00:24:56.036
little running cages and everything.
And then I I watched them around like

00:24:56.069 --> 00:25:01.607
I was a big dog making $10 a night and
bad. You know,

00:25:01.640 --> 00:25:05.867
that doesn't sound like a very
dignified job. The head coaches. Well at

00:25:05.900 --> 00:25:09.306
that time I wasn't a very dignified
coach either. Let me tell you, the

00:25:09.339 --> 00:25:15.536
program wasn't too dignified. What was
your first team like 1959?

00:25:15.569 --> 00:25:21.387
The first team was the freshmen
couldn't play when I was a coach, so we

00:25:21.420 --> 00:25:25.736
had to recruit at least six freshmen
That we got no use out of until they

00:25:25.769 --> 00:25:32.786
were sophomores, the 50-19-1-27 and
lost 18 playing all colleges. So we

00:25:32.819 --> 00:25:36.657
were pretty proud of that And Mr Smith
was pretty proud of it because he

00:25:36.690 --> 00:25:42.766
gave me a $300 raise for the next
year. Yeah, for the year, not not a

00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:47.036
month or anything, but that the teams
got a little better and everybody,

00:25:47.069 --> 00:25:51.236
everybody accepted my philosophy,
which was a tough disciplinary

00:25:51.269 --> 00:25:55.746
philosophy. If you didn't want to
accept it, you could go back and be a

00:25:55.779 --> 00:26:00.976
student and you can keep your
scholarship if you want to quit, you

00:26:01.009 --> 00:26:05.476
couldn't take the grind then you,
that's what you did. But we didn't have

00:26:05.509 --> 00:26:11.397
many guys that that didn't because I
believe that discipline leads to self

00:26:11.430 --> 00:26:18.597
discipline and self discipline can
lead you to your best ability

00:26:18.630 --> 00:26:23.246
colleges. What colleges? Well, we
started Mr smith, our athletic director

00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:27.746
was was just a wonderful guy. He was a
little stingy with the money, but

00:26:27.779 --> 00:26:32.127
he was a nice, beautiful guy. I'm
telling you one of the best people I've

00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:37.617
ever known and we started bringing in
Wisconsin on in uh in that easter

00:26:37.650 --> 00:26:41.516
vacation, we'd bring in a couple of
teams. Wyoming would come in Wisconsin

00:26:41.549 --> 00:26:45.026
and we would arrange it where
everybody was playing each other for eight

00:26:45.059 --> 00:26:50.387
days. And then we got, got the
California schools interested and we did

00:26:50.420 --> 00:26:55.566
give everybody um room and board when
they came. That's what they got.

00:26:55.599 --> 00:26:58.457
They got no travel money or anything
but they got room and board at

00:26:58.490 --> 00:27:03.276
Arizona State. So Mr smith was a great
help even though we didn't have a

00:27:03.309 --> 00:27:08.236
lot to begin with. We did end up
having a considerable amount of help

00:27:08.269 --> 00:27:13.407
financially. We never played on the
road. We played all our games at home

00:27:13.440 --> 00:27:18.197
because I felt that students should go
to class. You mentioned playing all

00:27:18.230 --> 00:27:21.546
your games at home. Now that doesn't
seem very fair to the other teams

00:27:21.579 --> 00:27:24.397
because you'd have the home field
advantage. How could you do that?

00:27:24.430 --> 00:27:28.316
Because we didn't have the money to
fly anywhere. That's that's why we did

00:27:28.349 --> 00:27:32.147
it. And those teams, we paid them to
come out here and they love to come

00:27:32.180 --> 00:27:35.427
here. That was the good thing about it
because they were coming from snow

00:27:35.460 --> 00:27:41.107
and sleet And we gave him 10 days
vacation and a baseball game every day.

00:27:41.140 --> 00:27:45.776
And in California the weekends they
like to get away to, we didn't, we

00:27:45.809 --> 00:27:50.336
did travel occasionally, we had to
play go play conference games and those

00:27:50.369 --> 00:27:54.417
type of things. And we went over to
the marine station with sc and a few

00:27:54.450 --> 00:27:59.597
teams to play over there. But but we
did not make any long trips like to

00:27:59.630 --> 00:28:04.347
play florida state or go to Hawaii
none of that kind of money was

00:28:04.380 --> 00:28:07.407
available in our day

00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:10.857
places you can go on the bus or
something. We went on the bus. As a matter

00:28:10.890 --> 00:28:15.316
of fact we have gone places on the old
Bluebird bus. We didn't even have a

00:28:15.349 --> 00:28:20.276
greyhound or anything. So it was kind
of tough when we first started. But

00:28:20.309 --> 00:28:24.296
the guys saw Took it good naturedly.
Well I don't know if they took it

00:28:24.329 --> 00:28:28.316
good naturedly or not but they all put
up with me and and we bonded

00:28:28.349 --> 00:28:36.349
together and we played good from the
very 1959 on we played good

00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:45.197
and in today's baseball we're talking
about 2006 they go on trips and they

00:28:45.230 --> 00:28:50.357
they miss school and you know when I
coached, I told the kids and some of

00:28:50.390 --> 00:28:54.736
them are here was there's not gonna be
any study halls for baseball

00:28:54.769 --> 00:28:59.816
players. You're gonna get your own
grades or I'm we're gonna have to say

00:28:59.849 --> 00:29:04.006
so long because I like to play golf
and I'm not gonna sit around at night

00:29:04.039 --> 00:29:08.887
and babysit a bunch of athletes and
that's the way it was. So most of them

00:29:08.920 --> 00:29:13.197
were students first and then baseball
on the side had three rules that

00:29:13.230 --> 00:29:17.657
they should should know, I had several
rules but three for sure. When you

00:29:17.690 --> 00:29:23.917
come to this school, you're here to be
a student first, you're here to be

00:29:23.950 --> 00:29:29.437
an athlete second and you're here to
be a person of character because if

00:29:29.470 --> 00:29:34.407
you get in trouble, the first call
goes to your parents

00:29:34.440 --> 00:29:39.437
and believe me, anybody in Tempe after
awhile would have called me instead

00:29:39.470 --> 00:29:43.336
of putting them in jail because they
had that kind of reputation that

00:29:43.369 --> 00:29:49.887
there wasn't gonna be many of them get
in trouble. But you know, I don't I

00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:56.536
don't know of of any player that I
had. Now I had some c we had a rule in

00:29:56.569 --> 00:30:02.826
drinking at our school. If you get
caught drinking by me, You are 30 days

00:30:02.859 --> 00:30:09.707
, no play. If you get smoking, it's 10
days. Well I knew they smoked, but

00:30:09.740 --> 00:30:13.697
and I knew that they had beers, hell I
knew all of that. But I just want

00:30:13.730 --> 00:30:17.377
them to be aware enough,

00:30:17.410 --> 00:30:20.076
but they better not get in trouble
because they're gonna have to pay for

00:30:20.109 --> 00:30:25.016
it. It's not gonna be like some
coaches say, well, I'm gonna, like we

00:30:25.049 --> 00:30:29.617
talked about, well, I think that I
will suspend him for the beginning of

00:30:29.650 --> 00:30:33.637
the game. And if the team gets behind,
he gets to run and play right quick

00:30:33.670 --> 00:30:39.306
because the coach doesn't want to
lose. But but uh we we had we had our

00:30:39.339 --> 00:30:45.137
rules and the guys lived by them
occasionally. They were pretty cagey, you

00:30:45.170 --> 00:30:50.486
know, frank kush and myself and ned
baldi baldi didn't drink because he's

00:30:50.519 --> 00:30:55.877
diabetic. We all had a beer. We went
to frank's friendly tavern right down

00:30:55.910 --> 00:31:00.917
here right by and we told, I told the
players, boys you better not go to

00:31:00.950 --> 00:31:04.707
frank's friendly tavern to drink
because I'll be there and you'll be in

00:31:04.740 --> 00:31:09.217
trouble. So it wasn't uh, I used to
scare him once in a while by saying,

00:31:09.250 --> 00:31:13.597
okay, I'm gonna come in and the after
you take a shower, I'm checking all

00:31:13.630 --> 00:31:18.026
hands. I want to see if there's any
nicotine on any fingers. But I never

00:31:18.059 --> 00:31:21.457
did. I wouldn't do something like that
because those fingers get pretty

00:31:21.490 --> 00:31:27.187
yellow, you know, and you as well, you
have trouble with me. No, I'd say

00:31:27.220 --> 00:31:30.167
not. I had very little, they had
trouble with me, but I didn't have a lot

00:31:30.200 --> 00:31:34.246
of trouble with them. What kind of
trouble did they have with you? Well,

00:31:34.279 --> 00:31:38.427
just following other regimen that it
took to win three national

00:31:38.460 --> 00:31:44.457
championships in five years. I hear
that you had a ruler, had your players

00:31:44.490 --> 00:31:49.647
run everywhere. Well, I can't brag too
much about that. But there's one

00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:54.937
thing that I always felt about a
person in baseball, it's not a sport

00:31:54.970 --> 00:32:01.996
where the athletes are in more than
half good shape. My feeling was that

00:32:02.029 --> 00:32:07.316
when this team played another team, if
we were close in the seventh inning

00:32:07.349 --> 00:32:13.407
, we could beat them because we would
be in better shape than they were.

00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:18.197
And my players never understood that
because I never told him. But that is

00:32:18.230 --> 00:32:24.506
why we ran as much as we did If we
struck out, we ran back to the dugout.

00:32:24.539 --> 00:32:28.357
If we made an out at first we sprinted
back to the dugout. That's the way

00:32:28.390 --> 00:32:31.427
we played and you know what? We've got
other teams are trying to play our

00:32:31.460 --> 00:32:36.546
way and we kicked him around. You said
when you started off you couldn't

00:32:36.579 --> 00:32:41.917
get Arizona players. No and we
couldn't beat Arizona. You know, I mean it

00:32:41.950 --> 00:32:47.836
was tough, they were good and we were
a little bit more amateurish than

00:32:47.869 --> 00:32:52.627
they were because we were a little
short on scholarships and as I said

00:32:52.660 --> 00:32:58.197
that did not stay forever. We got as
much help as Arizona later on 20 full

00:32:58.230 --> 00:33:04.976
scholarships and then they never went
to Omaha since. But that's the way

00:33:05.009 --> 00:33:08.496
we were. We played to win and we
played to be gentlemen, we didn't argue

00:33:08.529 --> 00:33:13.306
with umpires, No player ever looked at
an umpire. I mean that was and I

00:33:13.339 --> 00:33:16.976
got thrown out once in 13 years. That
was because we're getting beat 12 to

00:33:17.009 --> 00:33:20.377
nothing and I didn't want to stay and
see the slaughter. So I got kicked

00:33:20.410 --> 00:33:26.756
out. How did you grow the program from
1959?

00:33:26.789 --> 00:33:31.986
Well, I was lucky I had played
professional baseball six years a scout. I

00:33:32.019 --> 00:33:36.816
hope that Mr smith's not listening to
me up there. A scout never had to

00:33:36.849 --> 00:33:43.387
play to see our game. Every scout got
in free. The scouts sent us ball

00:33:43.420 --> 00:33:47.736
players. Most, every guy in this room
was sent to me by a scout or his

00:33:47.769 --> 00:33:52.707
college or his high school coach and
most of the players I had, we did not

00:33:52.740 --> 00:33:57.917
have a recruiting budget. We never had
a student that was strictly a

00:33:57.950 --> 00:34:04.836
baseball player visit this campus in
13 years. So them to come here. We

00:34:04.869 --> 00:34:08.847
just wrote him a letter and we started
winning a little more and a little

00:34:08.880 --> 00:34:15.396
more. Probably the first big player we
got was rick monday.

00:34:15.429 --> 00:34:19.407
And the Dodgers had offered him 25,000

00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:25.436
and his mother Had said he was going
to college, kind of like my dad, but

00:34:25.469 --> 00:34:30.307
it's a difference in 25,003,

00:34:30.340 --> 00:34:34.296
I went to see him. I went to see
several of these players, Jeff Pentland,

00:34:34.329 --> 00:34:38.456
guys like that, I went to see their
families, but I went to see Monday's

00:34:38.489 --> 00:34:43.537
family and it was quite a thing. We
sat in a little, his father had left

00:34:43.570 --> 00:34:47.307
him when they were two years old and
his mother had done NElda was her

00:34:47.340 --> 00:34:51.296
name. She had done a wonderful job of
phrasing rick and the scouts had

00:34:51.329 --> 00:34:56.467
told me that this young man is worth
getting, he's worth going to see. So

00:34:56.500 --> 00:35:01.026
I went to a little apartment in santa
Monica, small living room and to bed

00:35:01.059 --> 00:35:05.467
, little bitty bedrooms and we sat at
the kitchen table and when I talked

00:35:05.500 --> 00:35:11.546
to that lady NElda, I, well the way I
recruited, I figured out who was

00:35:11.579 --> 00:35:15.546
going to make the decision in the
family. And if it was the kid's mother,

00:35:15.579 --> 00:35:19.697
I talked to the mother and if it was
his father, I talked to the father.

00:35:19.730 --> 00:35:24.256
If it was the kid, I looked at the
child and the kids. So I'm talking and

00:35:24.289 --> 00:35:28.436
it's pretty obvious that she's gonna
make up rick's mind. And I was

00:35:28.469 --> 00:35:31.927
talking along there and she talked
kind of slow like I do. And I said, you

00:35:31.960 --> 00:35:35.896
know, mrs monday, you don't talk as
fast as most Californians. Where are

00:35:35.929 --> 00:35:39.006
you from?

00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:43.006
And she said were from Arkansas.

00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:46.827
I said, so am I? She said, where do we
sign? That was the end of the

00:35:46.860 --> 00:35:54.077
recruiting. That was it. And that's a
true story. I had advantage over

00:35:54.110 --> 00:36:01.767
Rodney sc Yes, I did. And what year
was that? He was in 1960 for? He was a

00:36:01.800 --> 00:36:06.456
freshman and he was from Batesville
Arkansas until he was two years old

00:36:06.489 --> 00:36:11.387
and I was from Switzerland, which was
38 miles apart. We had a lot of, a

00:36:11.420 --> 00:36:15.586
lot of great players when he came, I'm
not saying that, but he was the guy

00:36:15.619 --> 00:36:22.276
on the west coast that was a big guy
that everybody wanted. And so he just

00:36:22.309 --> 00:36:27.736
kind of started it up and after that
we got all good players. I cannot I

00:36:27.769 --> 00:36:35.197
cannot say that my coaching won any
national championships busy because I

00:36:35.230 --> 00:36:40.197
think coaches get too much credit when
they win, when the team wins a

00:36:40.230 --> 00:36:46.677
coach's job in my opinion is to
prepare the player And once the games

00:36:46.710 --> 00:36:51.546
start, it's the players games. These
guys will tell you that that played

00:36:51.579 --> 00:36:59.416
for me. I never coached 3rd base, I
never coached 1st base, I never told

00:36:59.449 --> 00:37:04.356
the catcher one pitch to throw in 13
years and now they take up 30 minutes

00:37:04.389 --> 00:37:07.387
or 40 minutes of the game of the
catcher looking over there. What am I

00:37:07.420 --> 00:37:11.626
supposed to thrown out coach? I mean
coaches actually called pitches now

00:37:11.659 --> 00:37:15.916
all during the game. Well I'm figuring
if you're a coach and you can't

00:37:15.949 --> 00:37:22.307
teach a catcher what his pictures,
best pitcher pitches, then you've got a

00:37:22.340 --> 00:37:26.977
dumb catcher and you're not too smart
a coach. And that's the way I feel

00:37:27.010 --> 00:37:33.717
about it. And when the guy, if he ever
threw a bat or anything boy had to

00:37:33.750 --> 00:37:39.157
run a lot. No, we just did that. I
didn't yell at God, I didn't really

00:37:39.190 --> 00:37:43.977
yell at guys, seldom did I ever yell.
But the players later told me that

00:37:44.010 --> 00:37:48.787
when I started talking in a lower
tone, they knew they were in trouble

00:37:48.820 --> 00:37:53.356
because when I was yelling, I was
having fun with them. But I, I can't

00:37:53.389 --> 00:37:58.316
emphasize the character of the players
that played at this school and what

00:37:58.349 --> 00:38:03.267
they've done for the school baseball
guys. I mean because they are still

00:38:03.300 --> 00:38:07.077
loyal to this school and a lot of them
live in this valley, tell me about

00:38:07.110 --> 00:38:14.586
that first championship team. It was
unbelievable. We played and we won,

00:38:14.619 --> 00:38:21.367
we beat Arizona's and then we had to
play to Utah and colorado. Uh, we we

00:38:21.400 --> 00:38:28.086
played Utah had to beat them. Uh, we
had to beat Arizona in a playoff game.

00:38:28.119 --> 00:38:33.577
And jim Armstrong who was in this room
today, Started the season. Oh for

00:38:33.610 --> 00:38:38.646
38. He was my shortstop. And of
sportswriters were telling me about this

00:38:38.679 --> 00:38:43.077
kid. Armstrong and all that and this
and that or it was something that

00:38:43.110 --> 00:38:47.066
about that many. And I said, I don't
want you to worry this guy because he

00:38:47.099 --> 00:38:53.416
can catch it and he can throw it and
someday he'll be able to hit it. It's

00:38:53.449 --> 00:38:56.796
just that I wasn't smart enough
teacher to get him to do it right away.

00:38:56.829 --> 00:39:00.776
You know? And we played the Arizona
into play. We played Arizona in the

00:39:00.809 --> 00:39:06.447
playoff game and you hit that shot to
center field. He won the game in the

00:39:06.480 --> 00:39:14.480
15th inning. Was that it? Oh that was
Jacqueline. Okay, edit that out.

00:39:14.480 --> 00:39:19.166
Whoever's doing the editing. Oh,
blooper. He had a blooper. We went and

00:39:19.199 --> 00:39:24.387
go to Omaha and win. Really hit hard.

00:39:24.420 --> 00:39:31.247
Did Jacqueline come OK. 15 innings and
then we beat Utah two out of three

00:39:31.280 --> 00:39:36.686
I guess up there. But you know what?
I've got the wrong here, don't I?

00:39:36.719 --> 00:39:41.686
There? You're all right here.

00:39:41.719 --> 00:39:47.986
Five 65. Yeah. We had

00:39:48.019 --> 00:39:56.019
monday and Bando and we had Jan
Kleinman Louis Lagunas. And did we have

00:39:58.659 --> 00:40:04.776
Jacqueline that year. pressure?

00:40:04.809 --> 00:40:08.276
Well, I mean it's shortstop.

00:40:08.309 --> 00:40:12.666
Well I just said that army but okay,
we better get on pam. I know we're

00:40:12.699 --> 00:40:18.956
wasting a lot of time. I'll tell you
about that team. We went there and we

00:40:18.989 --> 00:40:25.046
knew we were a good team and our
pitching was not, we didn't have an

00:40:25.079 --> 00:40:32.157
overpowering pitcher except the guy
named john Pavlik and uh a little guy

00:40:32.190 --> 00:40:39.057
named Jim Merrick pitched that last
game against Ohio State in oh maha and

00:40:39.090 --> 00:40:43.206
he was about my size and didn't throw
very hard but he had a wonderful

00:40:43.239 --> 00:40:46.896
curve ball and great control. They
pitched the guy that played in the big

00:40:46.929 --> 00:40:50.916
leagues in the final game, Monday, hit
a home run in the 7th inning to put

00:40:50.949 --> 00:40:55.657
us ahead 2-1. And a guy named
Nurenberg came in to pitch the last inning

00:40:55.690 --> 00:41:00.376
in two thirds or the last two innings
and shut them out and we went 2-1.

00:41:00.409 --> 00:41:06.816
And we're all agog community. I will
say this about the community. There

00:41:06.849 --> 00:41:10.776
were 8000 people showed up at the
airport

00:41:10.809 --> 00:41:12.997
when

00:41:13.030 --> 00:41:18.327
Mr Goldwater ran for president. There
were 4000 showed up at the airport.

00:41:18.360 --> 00:41:22.586
So what do you think that people
thought about that team? They're pretty

00:41:22.619 --> 00:41:27.677
they were pretty proud of that team.
Yes, they were support did you get

00:41:27.710 --> 00:41:32.526
for your, just your ordinary games
here.

00:41:32.559 --> 00:41:36.706
Yes, they didn't charge for baseball
games when I came and we started

00:41:36.739 --> 00:41:42.356
charging a dollar a game. And of
course the faculty, they could just walk

00:41:42.389 --> 00:41:46.617
over and the students could just walk
over the little stands, only held

00:41:46.650 --> 00:41:48.977
about 2500.

00:41:49.010 --> 00:41:56.227
And actually my our teams during my
term, I never got to play in Packard

00:41:56.260 --> 00:42:01.856
Stadium. We played over there forever.
And just to give you a little

00:42:01.889 --> 00:42:08.847
background in the 7th inning. Our
pictures we had drags made about four ft

00:42:08.880 --> 00:42:13.577
wide. I guess our pictures drug the
infield in the seventh and the 5th and

00:42:13.610 --> 00:42:18.577
7th or seventh inning. And they were
out there dragging the infield and uh

00:42:18.610 --> 00:42:24.267
, they didn't get paid for it. They
just did it because we asked them to.

00:42:24.300 --> 00:42:28.407
But back then there weren't other
teams pro teams competing for the

00:42:28.440 --> 00:42:32.146
audience and things that you know,
they had a triple A team here. The

00:42:32.179 --> 00:42:36.186
Giants had a triple A team which was a
very good team. But we can't, we

00:42:36.219 --> 00:42:42.727
drew we drew more as time went on and
we had eight or 9000 when we play

00:42:42.760 --> 00:42:48.177
Arizona. I don't think the rivalry is
as tough as it is now as it was when

00:42:48.210 --> 00:42:51.347
we coached here, we played in Tucson
one time they let the tires out of

00:42:51.380 --> 00:42:56.566
our bus and they beat us and we sat
there on the bus. Had a guy named Jeff

00:42:56.599 --> 00:43:00.217
Pentland pitched a great game but we
got beat one another and then we'll

00:43:00.250 --> 00:43:03.956
go out to get on the bus and we're all
a little distraught and the fire

00:43:03.989 --> 00:43:07.876
and the air is out of the tires. Some
guy snuck in where the bus was and

00:43:07.909 --> 00:43:11.617
we're sitting there with flat out flat
tires on them. But we waited till

00:43:11.650 --> 00:43:15.296
we got help and came home about two in
the morning or whatever it was,

00:43:15.329 --> 00:43:18.276
there was nothing we could do. That's
the way we got home that the rivalry

00:43:18.309 --> 00:43:24.477
with the Arizona was the greatest, it
was the greatest and I know the team

00:43:24.510 --> 00:43:28.467
that won was delighted and the other
one was very downtrodden, you know.

00:43:28.500 --> 00:43:36.500
But 1st 19 and 19, we tied them three
games apiece. But the committee

00:43:37.780 --> 00:43:41.727
knowing that they were, that the great
team and we were the up and coming

00:43:41.760 --> 00:43:48.767
team picked them over us to play in
the playoffs. and so when 64 on They

00:43:48.800 --> 00:43:52.267
didn't go again through 71

00:43:52.300 --> 00:43:57.066
frank Sanson was actually, he was a
gruff old guy, but our fans called him

00:43:57.099 --> 00:44:01.267
the money. That wasn't very nice, but
things weren't very nice between

00:44:01.300 --> 00:44:05.186
fans in those days are football
players would be beaten on top of their

00:44:05.219 --> 00:44:09.197
dugout and we'd go there and they'd be
yelling at us. It was just made

00:44:09.230 --> 00:44:15.376
that way. I mean it was just a
rivalry, it was a doggy dog and it's not

00:44:15.409 --> 00:44:20.287
that way anymore. But and we finally
finally got, I finally got together

00:44:20.320 --> 00:44:24.646
with frank since it is, that was the
coach for, He was an old timer when I

00:44:24.679 --> 00:44:29.017
was just a kid. I was only 28 when I
got here. So he said Frank, we got to

00:44:29.050 --> 00:44:34.126
cut this out. We got get more people
to be a little more civilized and

00:44:34.159 --> 00:44:37.537
what we're doing here and we did and
then it kind of settled down and it

00:44:37.570 --> 00:44:41.847
was pretty nice. Do you want to talk
anymore about some of your other um,

00:44:41.880 --> 00:44:45.456
well every championship team had to,
you have to be a good team or you

00:44:45.489 --> 00:44:51.186
can't go play the best eight teams in
the country. And, and when uh, I'd

00:44:51.219 --> 00:44:56.267
have to say almost all of my teams
were pretty much alike. They were

00:44:56.300 --> 00:45:02.106
gentlemen when we went there, they
were gentlemen when we won and they

00:45:02.139 --> 00:45:06.847
were gentlemen when we lost. And I
remember the first trip we made in 1965

00:45:06.880 --> 00:45:08.947
,

00:45:08.980 --> 00:45:13.006
we stayed at the Old Blackstone Hotel
in Omaha. Aw. And the head of

00:45:13.039 --> 00:45:16.197
security came to me when we're playing
the final game And he said if you

00:45:16.230 --> 00:45:21.336
guys win tonight, how many extra men
you want me to put on? And I said

00:45:21.369 --> 00:45:27.106
zero, I don't want to see any extra
guy going around the hallways because

00:45:27.139 --> 00:45:32.557
there will be no trouble. And there
was no trouble

00:45:32.590 --> 00:45:36.606
any year. We were there, there was not
any trouble. And you were also

00:45:36.639 --> 00:45:43.126
named coach of the year. Yes. Uh
that's a nice honor to have. I mean, you

00:45:43.159 --> 00:45:46.327
know, without a doubt it's a nice
honor. And I had a lot of guys make all

00:45:46.360 --> 00:45:49.847
american and only got a lot of guys
that didn't that could have made all

00:45:49.880 --> 00:45:54.557
american but they can't let everybody
from the same team make all american.

00:45:54.590 --> 00:45:59.807
You know that just doesn't work that
way. But I I know that my players

00:45:59.840 --> 00:46:05.916
are the reason that I'm sitting here
today. It means to be in those days

00:46:05.949 --> 00:46:10.486
you got 1000 bucks which to take your
family. I think that year they had

00:46:10.519 --> 00:46:16.097
they we went to Bermuda so that was a
nice deal. Uh Adirondack bad company

00:46:16.130 --> 00:46:20.526
gave that award. Otherwise it's just
you go to a banquet and you get to be

00:46:20.559 --> 00:46:24.876
better known throughout the country
and it happened to me about 11 times

00:46:24.909 --> 00:46:28.677
throughout the country. Ohio State has
they have their big banquet and

00:46:28.710 --> 00:46:33.227
they elect sometimes there were others
but they're nice. But you don't you

00:46:33.260 --> 00:46:37.586
don't want to ever forget who you are.
What are the challenges that you

00:46:37.619 --> 00:46:41.947
had to overcome to make the program
work? You had to get a schedule number

00:46:41.980 --> 00:46:45.907
one so that the N. C. Double A.
Recognized it. In my case, I never had to

00:46:45.940 --> 00:46:50.236
get a guy into school. He got himself
into school. It's just a gradual

00:46:50.269 --> 00:46:55.606
growth just like becoming a a man from
being a boy or a woman from being a

00:46:55.639 --> 00:47:01.316
girl. That's what it's like And that's
what we did. We grew and we grew

00:47:01.349 --> 00:47:06.467
and every even numbered year after
1965 we lost seven or eight of our

00:47:06.500 --> 00:47:12.697
players that were juniors sophomores.
So the following year we would do

00:47:12.730 --> 00:47:16.177
the best to build up. And in the odd
year we would have sophomores again

00:47:16.210 --> 00:47:22.807
to play. But freshman could not play.
That's a big thing with with with

00:47:22.840 --> 00:47:26.867
the scholarship money. Well in
baseball was one of the only sports that

00:47:26.900 --> 00:47:31.646
had to compete with the pros weren't
they mean football and basket? I

00:47:31.679 --> 00:47:36.146
don't know in that time if basketball
and baseball players could sign

00:47:36.179 --> 00:47:41.796
before they graduated or not. But our
guys could sign as sophomores at the

00:47:41.829 --> 00:47:45.137
end of their sophomore year when I
first came. And then the N. C. Double A.

00:47:45.170 --> 00:47:48.367
Got together with professional
baseball and they made it at the end of

00:47:48.400 --> 00:47:52.986
your junior year. But it's still at
the end of your junior year. So they

00:47:53.019 --> 00:47:57.836
still the coaches now get them three
years where we got them for two. What

00:47:57.869 --> 00:48:04.427
about the financial Herbie? I remember
when we went to, Oh Maha not maybe

00:48:04.460 --> 00:48:08.747
the first time but the second time Mr
Smith gave us a raise. He said you

00:48:08.780 --> 00:48:13.927
can give the guys $10 a day to eat on.
And my budget for one year. Our

00:48:13.960 --> 00:48:19.557
budget for one year. I was $32,000.
Never paid an assistant. I didn't have

00:48:19.590 --> 00:48:24.046
an assistant for 13 years. It was just
the ball players and myself we had

00:48:24.079 --> 00:48:28.497
a freshman coach and always you know
he was important because he had to

00:48:28.530 --> 00:48:31.736
coach the freshman team and that it
was all his, I didn't interfere in

00:48:31.769 --> 00:48:35.206
what he did. I just told him the way
we wanted to play. I never asked for

00:48:35.239 --> 00:48:40.356
more as a salary. So That's where we
were, whatever Mr Smith gave us one

00:48:40.389 --> 00:48:44.456
year, he'd say, Okay, Bobby, I'm gonna
give you 15 full scholarships this

00:48:44.489 --> 00:48:48.046
year. I mean you know that's you're
gonna that's gonna be your total use

00:48:48.079 --> 00:48:52.706
them how you want. And we'd recruit
maybe six freshmen and nine other guys

00:48:52.739 --> 00:48:56.026
or whatever we could.

00:48:56.059 --> 00:49:01.086
I was located with dr fred Bryant and
Rudy Leveque. There were three of us

00:49:01.119 --> 00:49:06.086
in one room. I was a baseball coach
and they were professors, that was it.

00:49:06.119 --> 00:49:11.456
It was in the old gym and there was
three of us in one room I think kush

00:49:11.489 --> 00:49:16.497
was the only guy important enough to
have his own office and deservedly.

00:49:16.530 --> 00:49:23.936
So what kind of relationship did you
have with frank kush frank kush,

00:49:23.969 --> 00:49:30.827
baldy Castillo ned walk and myself
were actually like brothers. We became

00:49:30.860 --> 00:49:35.787
brothers. I mean we helped each other
out anytime we could. Football

00:49:35.820 --> 00:49:40.767
players, played baseball, basketball
players, played baseball. Baseball

00:49:40.800 --> 00:49:44.997
guys ran track. It was that way. It
was a small school when we first

00:49:45.030 --> 00:49:48.606
started. I don't think that there's
probably another school in the country

00:49:48.639 --> 00:49:53.887
that has the camaraderie between four
sports that we had. It's just

00:49:53.920 --> 00:49:57.137
because we helped each other. I went
to their practices. I'm out on the

00:49:57.170 --> 00:50:02.316
football field trying to kick a
football with a partner and and they're

00:50:02.349 --> 00:50:07.486
coming to baseball practices and
watching practice and we it was and they

00:50:07.519 --> 00:50:11.026
are the athletes, all the football
players came to our games and we went

00:50:11.059 --> 00:50:16.166
to theirs and basketball, we went all
all those games. And I mean it was

00:50:16.199 --> 00:50:21.566
just it was a wonderful family is what
it was. It's all part of the

00:50:21.599 --> 00:50:26.057
athletic department. I taught more
than the other guys because I was the

00:50:26.090 --> 00:50:31.037
low man on the totem pole. Then later.
It's funny. Well, what winning does

00:50:31.070 --> 00:50:38.927
for athletics After 65? That that
means I talked about six years Mr smith

00:50:38.960 --> 00:50:44.267
came up to me and said bobby. I think
if you taught the baseball coach,

00:50:44.300 --> 00:50:48.727
you've got a lot of other things to
do, you might drop those other classes.

00:50:48.760 --> 00:50:54.827
So I dropped the nine hours a week and
did baseball.

00:50:54.860 --> 00:50:58.816
So winning does a lot of things for
you, including helps your recruiting.

00:50:58.849 --> 00:51:06.336
Believe me, you get a raise too. I
came here making 60 213 years later I

00:51:06.369 --> 00:51:10.026
left making 17,300.

00:51:10.059 --> 00:51:15.747
So I'd say for 13 years I averaged
12,000 a year And raised three girls or

00:51:15.780 --> 00:51:21.117
raised two girls and lost one and
Ellie and I live just as good as anybody

00:51:21.150 --> 00:51:23.327
else,

00:51:23.360 --> 00:51:27.706
but none of the big salaries you hear
about today? Well, no, I mean the

00:51:27.739 --> 00:51:32.626
baseball coaches today make more in
one year than I made in seven and 13.

00:51:32.659 --> 00:51:35.787
But that was, that's a sign of the
times, I'm good for them. I'm glad

00:51:35.820 --> 00:51:39.247
they do, you know?

00:51:39.280 --> 00:51:45.227
Yes, I found that out all the players
had to listen to were me. They

00:51:45.260 --> 00:51:49.376
didn't have to listen to five
assistant coaches and say, which one do I

00:51:49.409 --> 00:51:53.017
listen? Which one, which one am I
gonna do? All I gotta do is just listen

00:51:53.050 --> 00:51:58.376
to this Arkansas, the guy that's the
worst guy I've ever seen. And but you

00:51:58.409 --> 00:52:03.276
know, after they got out and found out
that they all got good jobs and

00:52:03.309 --> 00:52:06.517
they had some self discipline and they
weren't afraid to work. You know,

00:52:06.550 --> 00:52:10.736
they all started liking me a little
better, not a lot maybe, but a little

00:52:10.769 --> 00:52:16.276
better university overall. How did you
see the universe? Well, it's

00:52:16.309 --> 00:52:19.497
certainly got bigger. What are we now,
the largest university in the

00:52:19.530 --> 00:52:24.356
United States of America. And then
when we came here it was 10,000

00:52:24.389 --> 00:52:29.436
students and it was a college. I felt
that the people, the professors and

00:52:29.469 --> 00:52:33.967
everybody at this school were so
friendly to baseball and the other sports

00:52:34.000 --> 00:52:37.787
and they were members of a family at
that time. I know it's a lot bigger

00:52:37.820 --> 00:52:42.477
now and baseball doesn't mix in much
with football and basketball, doesn't

00:52:42.510 --> 00:52:46.316
mix in with this sport or that sport.
It's kind of an individual thing,

00:52:46.349 --> 00:52:51.717
but in those times we were all just a
big family ROTC. We just coaches to

00:52:51.750 --> 00:52:55.606
have coffee with them. Then we'd have
coffee with Dean Thompson and this

00:52:55.639 --> 00:52:59.867
guy and we'd just go every morning and
have coffee. And it was just like a

00:52:59.900 --> 00:53:04.197
family, a lot of people that were here
during the 60s and there was a lot

00:53:04.230 --> 00:53:09.427
of Unrest and protests, especially
during the late 60s of the Vietnam War

00:53:09.460 --> 00:53:12.666
and things like that. Do you remember
much about those years? Did that

00:53:12.699 --> 00:53:17.367
have any impact? I don't remember a
lot about those years because it never

00:53:17.400 --> 00:53:21.546
happened in any way in our baseball
team. It didn't happen to any of our

00:53:21.579 --> 00:53:27.867
teams at Arizona state at that time. I
know frank kush Shut everybody off

00:53:27.900 --> 00:53:32.517
in a hurry and I know that his players
backed him and ned woke the same in

00:53:32.550 --> 00:53:37.376
Baltica. Still, there were no problems
at this school is that I remember

00:53:37.409 --> 00:53:43.477
in the 60s when the uprisings were
trying to happen rights movement that

00:53:43.510 --> 00:53:49.856
was going on where your teams, we
didn't have a lot of people for

00:53:49.889 --> 00:53:54.427
integration because a lot of them
signed out of high school or a lot of

00:53:54.460 --> 00:54:00.407
them play football and basketball. A
lot of the black guys. And but we had

00:54:00.440 --> 00:54:06.407
several, yes, we had several bad guys.
We had some people from the Mexico

00:54:06.440 --> 00:54:13.486
area down in that area and uh but we
didn't have a problem. They all knew

00:54:13.519 --> 00:54:16.577
I loved them because they could play
good, not what color they were or

00:54:16.610 --> 00:54:19.606
whatever.

00:54:19.639 --> 00:54:25.396
Reggie was a football came here on a
football scholarship and Reggie was a

00:54:25.429 --> 00:54:32.146
wonderful player and Reggie was a
great kid with me And there are some who

00:54:32.179 --> 00:54:37.177
say he changed a little bit after he
left here and I'm not to get involved

00:54:37.210 --> 00:54:43.166
in that. He was a great, very much of
a gentleman. He played baseball and

00:54:43.199 --> 00:54:47.827
football. He was all conference in
football as a sophomore and he was all

00:54:47.860 --> 00:54:53.586
american in baseball as a sophomore.
Wonderful. He got along with me. That

00:54:53.619 --> 00:54:58.606
was the important thing. It was
important if I got along with him or not.

00:54:58.639 --> 00:55:02.606
What about the university president?
President's wife was when they

00:55:02.639 --> 00:55:08.427
decided to go to Omaha. Aw, I got the
biggest kick out of Mrs Durham. Mrs

00:55:08.460 --> 00:55:14.066
Durham was up there yelling, shaking
her fist. She was going over the edge

00:55:14.099 --> 00:55:17.947
of the dugouts. President brought her
and I think she had to go back every

00:55:17.980 --> 00:55:23.486
year. We went back. Is it harder today
to go to Omaha than it was back?

00:55:23.519 --> 00:55:28.166
That's a very, very tough question.
And I'll tell you why it is so

00:55:28.199 --> 00:55:35.867
different In today's world, 64 teams
get a chance to go In our day. There

00:55:35.900 --> 00:55:41.267
were eight divisions And a playoff
with the two best teams in the division

00:55:41.300 --> 00:55:45.546
and that team went, so there would be
40 teams that didn't, it wouldn't

00:55:45.579 --> 00:55:51.256
have a chance to go that have a chance
to go now. Uh And yet you have to

00:55:51.289 --> 00:55:57.427
play more games now to go uh, than we
did. We had to play two series to go

00:55:57.460 --> 00:56:00.727
, one in the conference and one in the
other independent when we were in

00:56:00.760 --> 00:56:06.106
the wax. So I don't know which is
tougher to go. I do know that when we

00:56:06.139 --> 00:56:11.117
went, we played every day in Omaha, aw
until you got down to the end and

00:56:11.150 --> 00:56:16.327
you might get a day off. But Today you
get a lot of time off and two or

00:56:16.360 --> 00:56:20.706
three pictures can hack it today. But
That was a little tough when you're

00:56:20.739 --> 00:56:25.276
playing five or 6 days in a row. Well
what made you decide to leave the

00:56:25.309 --> 00:56:27.796
issue?

00:56:27.829 --> 00:56:35.336
Well, I was 42 years old and to be
truthful with you and I don't, I'm not

00:56:35.369 --> 00:56:41.006
fond of talking about myself, but I
felt that if I stayed here

00:56:41.039 --> 00:56:45.367
Until I was 65 years old that we were
just gonna win a lot more national

00:56:45.400 --> 00:56:51.927
championships and that The challenge
would someday burn me out long before

00:56:51.960 --> 00:56:57.387
I got to be 65. I mean, not the
challenge but the just the going over and

00:56:57.420 --> 00:57:01.807
over of it year after year that I
would get burned out And because I knew

00:57:01.840 --> 00:57:05.157
we were gonna win. I mean, I didn't
know we were gonna win in Omaha. Aw,

00:57:05.190 --> 00:57:08.887
but I knew we were gonna have a chance
to go every year because the

00:57:08.920 --> 00:57:12.367
players came here and our players
recruited other players and told us

00:57:12.400 --> 00:57:16.586
about other guys that could play. And
when you get that happening to you

00:57:16.619 --> 00:57:21.097
and you've got the climate that we
have, you're gonna win if you can coach.

00:57:21.130 --> 00:57:29.130
So the angels, gene autry had a guy
that owned channel 12

00:57:29.329 --> 00:57:36.597
and he was uh Mr Autry's buddy. And Mr
Autry got a call from him one day

00:57:36.630 --> 00:57:40.026
and said, we've got a young guy named
winkles over here, you ought to hire

00:57:40.059 --> 00:57:45.376
him. So Mr Autry sent a guy to talk to
me and and he said, we'd like for

00:57:45.409 --> 00:57:48.956
you to manage our triple A club. And I
said, I'm sorry, I've got several

00:57:48.989 --> 00:57:52.407
players here that'll be Triple A
players. Yeah, I'd be making a lateral

00:57:52.440 --> 00:57:57.336
movement and they said, well, would
you coach first base? I said I would

00:57:57.369 --> 00:58:02.887
give that a try. And so I went over
the Angels and I coached first base

00:58:02.920 --> 00:58:10.177
1972. and in 1973 I became the manager
74, I became the fiery or was I the

00:58:10.210 --> 00:58:16.066
fire? I was a fiery. And uh, then I
went to Oakland and managed another

00:58:16.099 --> 00:58:20.077
couple of years and I quit at that
position because I couldn't take a guy

00:58:20.110 --> 00:58:24.796
named Mr charlie Finley Calling Me
three or 4 times a day and tell me what

00:58:24.829 --> 00:58:32.829
a lousy person I was. And so I spent
21 years up there And I came out with

00:58:32.940 --> 00:58:36.686
a little bit better pension that I
would have gotten if I had stayed at

00:58:36.719 --> 00:58:41.517
Arizona State. So and but I did go, I
did take a cut to go manage in the

00:58:41.550 --> 00:58:48.066
big leagues. I was making 17,300 here
And I was doing some clinics in the

00:58:48.099 --> 00:58:52.827
summer for a Goodyear Tire Company and
they were paying me 18,000 for the

00:58:52.860 --> 00:58:56.037
three months. So I was doing okay when
I was here, I'm not complaining

00:58:56.070 --> 00:59:01.477
about that, but I had to do it on the
outside, But I went there for 20,000

00:59:01.510 --> 00:59:08.986
to coach in the Big Leagues First base
and then I managed for 28,000

00:59:09.019 --> 00:59:14.307
and that wasn't much either. But it it
it's been a great life, mainly

00:59:14.340 --> 00:59:18.356
because of Ellie is that's the main
life and the guys that played for me

00:59:18.389 --> 00:59:25.197
and I got along good with the big
league players. I really did. You missed

00:59:25.230 --> 00:59:28.617
it from the day I left, but it was
something that I had made up my mind to

00:59:28.650 --> 00:59:36.650
do that I wanted, I didn't want to
screw stale in my sport. Why didn't it

00:59:36.760 --> 00:59:42.146
work out with the Angels because we
didn't win. And they decided that the

00:59:42.179 --> 00:59:47.026
great experiment was over. I was the
great experiment in baseball. I was

00:59:47.059 --> 00:59:51.847
the first guy to ever go from college
to manage in the big leagues. And

00:59:51.880 --> 00:59:56.686
the actual fact is I screwed it up so
bad. There hasn't been another one.

00:59:56.719 --> 01:00:03.367
How did you? Just by being a bad
manager I guess. I mean I had I had, I

01:00:03.400 --> 01:00:09.566
had some problems and I had some
problems with Pictures are not problems

01:00:09.599 --> 01:00:14.447
but how to use 12 pictures instead of
the four or five. So like these guys

01:00:14.480 --> 01:00:19.396
that we had here and then I expected
the veterans to do the same thing the

01:00:19.429 --> 01:00:23.066
rookies did and believe me, they don't
want to do that. We're like running

01:00:23.099 --> 01:00:26.677
, getting in shape and doing that.
They want to do that on their own. They

01:00:26.710 --> 01:00:30.186
don't want you to tell him running.
And I think the worst thing in the

01:00:30.219 --> 01:00:35.506
game of baseball today. I started it
in the big leagues is stretching. I

01:00:35.539 --> 01:00:39.827
think more injuries are caused because
of stretching than any other reason.

01:00:39.860 --> 01:00:44.287
I think if you went out and ran
10-100s before you went out to play you

01:00:44.320 --> 01:00:47.447
would find out you would not have the
injuries that they have in baseball

01:00:47.480 --> 01:00:52.856
today. So when you left the Angels,
why did you go to Oakland? I went to

01:00:52.889 --> 01:00:59.776
open because I got fired. So And so
then I went to Oakland 10 days later.

01:00:59.809 --> 01:01:04.186
So I wasn't out of a job very long and
but I didn't manage Oakland either

01:01:04.219 --> 01:01:08.057
. I went there as a third base coach.
We won the world Series that year.

01:01:08.090 --> 01:01:12.017
So I got a world series ring out of
being fired. We beat the Dodgers in

01:01:12.050 --> 01:01:17.936
1970 for four games to one and I had
two of my own college players on the

01:01:17.969 --> 01:01:24.736
team Bando and and monday. What was
that? It was great because if I told

01:01:24.769 --> 01:01:28.637
them to do something, they did it and
it made it nice for and they were

01:01:28.670 --> 01:01:34.236
both leaders on the club Reggie and
uh, and sal and so it made it nice

01:01:34.269 --> 01:01:39.117
when I, He said, Why don't we try this
or do this even as a coach? They

01:01:39.150 --> 01:01:44.526
didn't have, I didn't have them when I
managed there in 77, But I had them

01:01:44.559 --> 01:01:48.927
when I coached and they were nice to
visit with and to talk things out

01:01:48.960 --> 01:01:53.827
with. And it was a nice relationship.
Did you learn more about the

01:01:53.860 --> 01:02:00.247
difference of coaching in the pros?
Yes, the mistake that I made and

01:02:00.280 --> 01:02:04.526
there's no doubt about it in in my own
mind was that I became a manager

01:02:04.559 --> 01:02:09.597
too quick. See I didn't want to become
a manager, but if they fire, if you

01:02:09.630 --> 01:02:14.097
, if you get fired as a coach and
you've only one year out of coaching at

01:02:14.130 --> 01:02:19.977
Arizona State, you might not get
another coaching job. Well, I wanted to

01:02:20.010 --> 01:02:23.947
stay in the big leagues 10 years
because that's when, when you become

01:02:23.980 --> 01:02:27.046
fully vested for the pension plan and
their pension plan is a little bit

01:02:27.079 --> 01:02:33.677
better than the college pension plan
was when I was coaching. And so I had

01:02:33.710 --> 01:02:37.006
to take the managing job after my
first year because they fired a guy

01:02:37.039 --> 01:02:41.506
named Del Rice and then they came to
me and said, do you think you can

01:02:41.539 --> 01:02:44.776
manage in the big leagues? Well what
am I going to say? No I don't think I

01:02:44.809 --> 01:02:50.407
can quite do that you know you gotta
say yes I can. And I think if I were

01:02:50.440 --> 01:02:53.267
to coach three or four more years I
might have managed a long time in the

01:02:53.300 --> 01:02:59.756
big leagues to have learned more about
it. But faith sometimes is against

01:02:59.789 --> 01:03:05.836
you as well as for you texas had all
young players and they fired their

01:03:05.869 --> 01:03:12.307
manager Ted Williams and they wanted
to hire me as a coach. I have the

01:03:12.340 --> 01:03:17.037
articles from the Dallas papers that I
had the job but nobody in the

01:03:17.070 --> 01:03:22.367
Angels organization ever told me I had
it. And so the Angels when they

01:03:22.400 --> 01:03:26.807
found out that I had the job although
I hadn't been talked to. But uh a

01:03:26.840 --> 01:03:30.936
guy named randy Galloway out of that
he knows what's going on. The sports

01:03:30.969 --> 01:03:35.296
writer. He's like Dean he knows
everything that's going on. And so he

01:03:35.329 --> 01:03:38.887
already had written the article that
Mr Short had said bobby winkles is

01:03:38.920 --> 01:03:42.617
going to be our manager because they
had those young players like Smalley

01:03:42.650 --> 01:03:47.206
and Billy the third baseman and you
know I mean good players which I could

01:03:47.239 --> 01:03:51.436
have fitted in with very well. But I
didn't know that my brother sent me

01:03:51.469 --> 01:03:56.106
the papers after I took the other job
my brother was against me. He lived

01:03:56.139 --> 01:04:00.867
in Dallas And so I didn't get that job
and and I took the other one too

01:04:00.900 --> 01:04:07.407
early. But I had to do it out of fear
because I feared if I left I already

01:04:07.440 --> 01:04:11.436
had U. C. L. A. Had already said if
he's gonna get fired we're gonna hire

01:04:11.469 --> 01:04:16.376
him. And I didn't want to do that. I
didn't want to go back to college. No

01:04:16.409 --> 01:04:21.217
I wanted to finish what I had started
And 21 years later years later I

01:04:21.250 --> 01:04:26.956
left the Big Leagues with a variety of
jobs. I was a broadcaster for five

01:04:26.989 --> 01:04:30.816
years for the Montreal expos. I ran
the minor league system for the white

01:04:30.849 --> 01:04:35.557
sox for four years. Any other years. I
coached never made much money. I

01:04:35.590 --> 01:04:39.066
have the most money. I have one year I
made 90,000 in the big leagues

01:04:39.099 --> 01:04:45.356
because I had the owner right where I
wanted him. He he he needed me badly

01:04:45.389 --> 01:04:52.157
And I was making 65 and I told him I'd
come back for 95 for 90 and he told

01:04:52.190 --> 01:04:56.356
general manager, give him what he
wants. I could ask for more and I didn't

01:04:56.389 --> 01:04:59.287
But that's a fact that's the most I've
ever made. I coast in the big

01:04:59.320 --> 01:05:04.256
leagues for 20 years like eight years
for 20,000 a year for eight years.

01:05:04.289 --> 01:05:07.597
So I would I never looked at the money
because Ellie never bugged me about

01:05:07.630 --> 01:05:13.057
money. She gets the credit card one
day a week.

01:05:13.090 --> 01:05:19.447
Just joking hon. Mhm I think I know
who runs yeah I know who runs our

01:05:19.480 --> 01:05:24.057
family and it's not me and I don't
want to,

01:05:24.090 --> 01:05:27.637
what advice do you have for for young
people today that are trying to

01:05:27.670 --> 01:05:32.077
decide what they want to do with their
lives. I don't think that's in

01:05:32.110 --> 01:05:37.166
today's world. I don't think that's an
easy job and I and the one thing

01:05:37.199 --> 01:05:41.307
that I would always say to young
people is if you don't enjoy what you're

01:05:41.340 --> 01:05:46.537
doing, change jobs. I mean I see
people driving along the freeway and

01:05:46.570 --> 01:05:50.006
everywhere and their heads are down
and they're frowning and their lips

01:05:50.039 --> 01:05:54.856
are down and I had never happened to
me because I love baseball all my

01:05:54.889 --> 01:05:59.477
life and I watched these guys that and
I really feel that if they had just

01:05:59.510 --> 01:06:03.796
had some coach and said, okay 1st 20
guys that show up, get on the bus,

01:06:03.829 --> 01:06:09.617
we're gonna make a trip over for a
three game series. My guys knew that if

01:06:09.650 --> 01:06:14.396
we're going to leave at 7 20 we left
at 7 20 that they learned some self

01:06:14.429 --> 01:06:19.026
discipline frank kush would do the
same thing. I love frank kush and ned

01:06:19.059 --> 01:06:25.177
walking baldi just like being my
brother and I still see them and we still

01:06:25.210 --> 01:06:29.427
talk and I know this is not the place
for this necessarily but frank and I

01:06:29.460 --> 01:06:37.197
have talked and we kind of believe
that one of the reasons that team teams

01:06:37.230 --> 01:06:42.396
don't play better is that sometimes
the hedge coach does not get involved

01:06:42.429 --> 01:06:49.197
enough when I coached it was these
guys and me Now you've got four or 5

01:06:49.230 --> 01:06:53.456
coaches and the players sent, who do I
listen to? What do I do? What the

01:06:53.489 --> 01:06:57.776
infield coach says? Do I do what the
main coach says? And the coach, I, I

01:06:57.809 --> 01:07:02.727
don't think that the head coach gets
involved enough is all I'm saying

01:07:02.760 --> 01:07:06.477
into running the program. And if you
ask Frank 1st, she'll tell you the

01:07:06.510 --> 01:07:12.106
same thing. Do you think that the
coaching has changed a lot? It has

01:07:12.139 --> 01:07:17.646
because of the help. I mean everybody
frank kush as far as I know had

01:07:17.679 --> 01:07:23.436
Chuck Fairbanks and Dictum Bureau and
he might have had four coaches. How

01:07:23.469 --> 01:07:27.247
many coaches you think we're running
out there today,

01:07:27.280 --> 01:07:31.847
anybody know, I mean, I'd like to know
myself, but I'll bet you it might

01:07:31.880 --> 01:07:34.046
be double

01:07:34.079 --> 01:07:37.686
because frank had that whistle in his
mouth when he was out there and

01:07:37.719 --> 01:07:40.227
there was one thing for sure. If you
watched frank because his teams train

01:07:40.260 --> 01:07:45.517
, nobody was gonna touch the
quarterback. He had that whistle. And if

01:07:45.550 --> 01:07:48.776
somebody got close to the quarterback,
the whistle blew and everybody

01:07:48.809 --> 01:07:52.416
became a statue because you know,
without the quarterback and without

01:07:52.449 --> 01:07:56.646
pitching, you don't win in baseball
and you don't win in football, the

01:07:56.679 --> 01:08:01.517
salaries today in baseball has changed
the game. I think so as far as the

01:08:01.550 --> 01:08:04.557
major leagues are concerned, you know,
there are no salaries in college

01:08:04.590 --> 01:08:09.316
ball, but in the big leagues, When a
utility player is making $2.5 million

01:08:09.349 --> 01:08:15.287
dollars a year. That's a little
outlandish. But what kills the old timers

01:08:15.320 --> 01:08:19.517
like me is that the owners keep
complaining about losing money and keep

01:08:19.550 --> 01:08:24.357
giving them all the money. I mean, how
can you complain about losing when

01:08:24.390 --> 01:08:28.916
you're giving it to them? It would be
like a coach, his teams going out

01:08:28.949 --> 01:08:32.567
and losing and and he's sitting in the
dugout and never goes out. And they

01:08:32.600 --> 01:08:35.227
said, why is your team losing? He
said, I don't know, there's just bad

01:08:35.260 --> 01:08:40.937
players I guess, but it's because he's
not teaching them anything. Well,

01:08:40.970 --> 01:08:44.847
the owners aren't teaching the players
anything by saying we're not gonna

01:08:44.880 --> 01:08:51.706
play if we can't have a salary cap And
they don't have one. Does that

01:08:51.739 --> 01:08:58.237
affect the college players too and
towards no, it doesn't. College players

01:08:58.270 --> 01:09:02.527
are altogether different. I think 11
mistake I think that the big leagues

01:09:02.560 --> 01:09:07.227
makes is they don't hire enough
college players Because when a guy spends

01:09:07.260 --> 01:09:11.107
three years in a decent program, you
know, a lot more about him than you

01:09:11.140 --> 01:09:15.586
do when he's 18 years old of whether
or not he's gonna earn that $800,000

01:09:15.619 --> 01:09:20.937
you gave him or not. And uh Jeff
Pentland is a major league coach. He was

01:09:20.970 --> 01:09:25.256
a picture for me and he's now a major
league hitting coach and has been

01:09:25.289 --> 01:09:29.996
for years, he's going on 10 years,
he's gonna be fully vested before long

01:09:30.029 --> 01:09:36.737
and he, I had him pitching shows you
how smart a coach I was.

01:09:36.770 --> 01:09:39.437
He could hit though.

01:09:39.470 --> 01:09:45.326
We do have some outstanding players
that are here that were outstanding

01:09:45.359 --> 01:09:49.496
people and they pretty, if you wanted
to ask them anything about the

01:09:49.529 --> 01:09:54.006
program, it would be fine with me. I
mean they do have a tendency to rip

01:09:54.039 --> 01:09:59.296
me up a little bit, but I can't take
it. I'm a big boy. Do you think coach

01:09:59.329 --> 01:10:04.217
is now in the colleges? Do they coach
with that same this finger and it

01:10:04.250 --> 01:10:07.546
was your fault you're getting, I'm
suing you, you know, I mean everybody's

01:10:07.579 --> 01:10:11.887
so happy. So it's tough to, it's
tougher to coach today. And it was when I

01:10:11.920 --> 01:10:17.137
coached because there's just so many
more things you have to do. You've

01:10:17.170 --> 01:10:21.137
got to raise money. We didn't have to
do that. I just taught and coached

01:10:21.170 --> 01:10:24.616
and The kids and I got together, I
taught a class, they all took

01:10:24.649 --> 01:10:27.876
baseball's.

01:10:27.909 --> 01:10:32.727
Well, number one is Ellie in 1953,

01:10:32.760 --> 01:10:37.647
uh she's the greatest person I've ever
known and I've known a lot of

01:10:37.680 --> 01:10:44.777
important people. She had polio when
she was 14. She was a concert pianist

01:10:44.810 --> 01:10:49.977
at age 14. She sang solo in a church
choir, her father's a Lutheran

01:10:50.010 --> 01:10:54.927
minister, she was paralyzed, both arms
and both legs with polio for eight

01:10:54.960 --> 01:11:00.256
months. She got some of the strength
back in three but her left arm, she

01:11:00.289 --> 01:11:05.826
has not been able to use since she was
14 and she has stood by me and

01:11:05.859 --> 01:11:11.786
raised those kids when I'm out in
baseball. She drives, she sewed their

01:11:11.819 --> 01:11:17.746
clothes because that was the way you
did it and She is a magnificent

01:11:17.779 --> 01:11:24.967
person and still is at 75 and that's
the greatest thrill of my life those

01:11:25.000 --> 01:11:31.156
years. But baseball, everyone in Omaha
was a great thrill

01:11:31.189 --> 01:11:35.536
and I just can't say enough about the
guys that played for me. That's all

01:11:35.569 --> 01:11:39.427
. I would not distinguish one team
better than another. Even though the

01:11:39.460 --> 01:11:44.246
players of the 69 teams say we're the
best team, 67 team says we're the

01:11:44.279 --> 01:11:50.107
best team. 65 teams says we're the
first team and the best team. So what

01:11:50.140 --> 01:11:53.826
can I say? I just be silent

01:11:53.859 --> 01:11:58.427
particular thing that you're proudest
of that you accomplished here. Well

01:11:58.460 --> 01:12:06.460
, yes, I think that that baseball came
from nothing. Not necessarily it

01:12:06.920 --> 01:12:11.626
wasn't nothing and it wasn't not
anything but it was not a sport that the

01:12:11.659 --> 01:12:16.586
school played that they had a chance
to do anything. And I think that that

01:12:16.619 --> 01:12:22.496
accomplishment in 13 years and to
leave it and as good or better hands

01:12:22.529 --> 01:12:26.777
than when I came. I think that's I
mean to leave it as good or better

01:12:26.810 --> 01:12:32.777
players than when I was started. I
think that was an accomplishment.

01:12:32.810 --> 01:12:37.727
I don't know what else I've ever done.
It was that important. But baseball

01:12:37.760 --> 01:12:44.446
has been my life Arizona State was my
life and Major league baseball for

01:12:44.479 --> 01:12:49.956
21 years is my life. But that's not as
enjoyable as college players. I can

01:12:49.989 --> 01:12:55.626
tell you that, but it was the greatest
time of our lives I think for Ellie

01:12:55.659 --> 01:13:00.727
and I both, we've, you know, we've had
the latest Hall of Fame is the

01:13:00.760 --> 01:13:05.116
greatest honor I've ever had. As far
as coach of the year or anything. So

01:13:05.149 --> 01:13:10.097
down in lubbock texas, They started
with 320 coaches and five of us made

01:13:10.130 --> 01:13:15.256
it maybe. And that was it about having
the field that Patrick State. Well

01:13:15.289 --> 01:13:19.607
that was a great deal for for me to
the biggest thrill of that. I didn't

01:13:19.640 --> 01:13:24.536
feel, I never felt after I quit
coaching that a lot of these guys cared a

01:13:24.569 --> 01:13:29.427
lot for me because I was a mean that I
was a tough disciplinarian, but I

01:13:29.460 --> 01:13:32.756
will say this to all of them. I was a
fair guy whether you had a

01:13:32.789 --> 01:13:36.946
scholarship or you didn't, that didn't
make one difference. Having a

01:13:36.979 --> 01:13:41.887
scholarship in this school of making a
team if you couldn't make it, I ate

01:13:41.920 --> 01:13:48.567
the scholarship that's all. And so I
will say that with a 123 guys showed

01:13:48.600 --> 01:13:52.086
up for the name in that field from all
over the country. That that's the

01:13:52.119 --> 01:13:57.086
closest uh, that I ever came to
breaking up in the speech because I'm

01:13:57.119 --> 01:14:00.987
pretty good about not breaking up
unless I'm that one. I kind of had to

01:14:01.020 --> 01:14:06.446
turn my head a little bit and wait and
say hi to President core and a

01:14:06.479 --> 01:14:11.376
couple of guys and all the guys that
played for me got good jobs. I'll bet

01:14:11.409 --> 01:14:16.246
you that I don't have two guys that
are maybe 150 guys that went through

01:14:16.279 --> 01:14:22.946
this program that have kind of failed.
I bet you there's not Over two out

01:14:22.979 --> 01:14:28.487
of 150, I bet you all of them are
making a good living and most of them

01:14:28.520 --> 01:14:35.446
like what they do and uh, that to me
was my biggest accomplishment. I

01:14:35.479 --> 01:14:39.586
wasn't winning all the games and
everything. It was, it was what came out

01:14:39.619 --> 01:14:46.406
of, partly because of me.

01:14:46.439 --> 01:14:52.586
Ellie and I retired. Uh, we uh, go to
Ellie does not particularly like the

01:14:52.619 --> 01:14:58.086
heat, which means we go somewhere
right. And so we go to uh, Park City

01:14:58.119 --> 01:15:03.807
Utah for two months and I put away the
golf clubs and we fish every day

01:15:03.840 --> 01:15:07.496
and we just enjoy each other. And then
when we come back, she has a sister

01:15:07.529 --> 01:15:11.567
in san Diego Encinitas and I get them
together for a month because I take

01:15:11.600 --> 01:15:15.597
Ellie over there and I stay out of
their way and they do all their stuff

01:15:15.630 --> 01:15:19.876
together for a month. And that's what
I like to do. I'd like to play golf

01:15:19.909 --> 01:15:25.107
and we're in La Quinta, We went there
because

01:15:25.140 --> 01:15:29.527
I met a guy named chuck Fairbanks who
was a great football coach and he

01:15:29.560 --> 01:15:33.147
was a vice president after he got out
of coaching with a guy named Ernie

01:15:33.180 --> 01:15:37.796
Vossler, who was part owner of three
golf courses and three other ones and

01:15:37.829 --> 01:15:41.097
three more. And they said if I would
come there they would give me an

01:15:41.130 --> 01:15:48.406
honorary membership with no dues. And
I talk icon Deli into moving there,

01:15:48.439 --> 01:15:56.439
and that's how I got there.

01:16:14.239 --> 01:16:22.239
Yeah. And.

01:16:24.140 --> 01:16:27.906
Mhm.

01:16:27.939 --> 01:16:29.939
Okay.