Steve Barber's Brash

Steve Barber was the guest speaker at our brotherhood meeting at Greenspring Valley Synagogue in Northwest Baltimore. The year was 1962 and I was 13 years old. I remember how odd it was to see him don a yarmulka instead of an Orioles cap. It was a nice gesture of respect (he was clearly not Jewish) and immediately made me feel he was now much closer to us. During the Q and A session with his audience, Barber lived up to his reputation of being "brash" (Sport magazine did a big feature article back then on him, entitled : "Barber's Brash"). He said "If Milt Pappas continues the way he is going, he will soon end up with a sore arm." Ironic that Steve developed just that. I got to ask Steve a question in front of the group: "Why is it that the Orioles play so well against the mighty Yankees and end up losing to crummy teams like Kansas City? Do you try harder against the Yanks?" "Nah, the money's the same.", was his answer. Well, Barber's brash.... After his talk and the Q and A session, Barber signed some autographs, including one on the full page head shot of him I had torn out of that Sport magazine article. Then, two friends of mine came up to me and explained that we were in a predicament: It was pouring outside and we would get really drenched walking the 20 minutes home. That dreary prospect gave me the gumption to describe our plight to #13. "Sure, I'll give you a ride." said our hero. To add to the thrill, Barber had a brand new Pontiac Grand Prix, which was my favorite car on the road. I had never before been in one. Steve was very friendly during that brief ride home. He created a nice impression. After he dropped us off and drove off down the road, one of my buddies said: "Oh, my gosh! I left my tefillin (Jewish prayer phylacteries) in the back seat of his car!" My other friend and I stood there in stunned silence. Then the first buddy winked and said: "Just kidding!" But the thought that Steve Barber, the first Oriole (and one of the first pitchers ever, I think, to be clocked throwing a baseball over 100 mph) was driving down the road with Michael Hummel's tefillin, really cracked us up! RIP Steve Barber.

Memories of Mickey Mantle

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• The Mick had been in a big slump and was not in the starting lineup that afternoon at Yankee stadium back in the '60s. Around the seventh or eighth inning I started hearing a strange noise; first it was a faint rumbling sound then it gradually grew louder and louder. When it started reaching a deafening roar, I finally realized what it was. The entire stadium was going berserk; their hero, their god, Mickey Mantle had come out of the dugout to the on deck circle. Never in my life have I ever seen a sports crowd give an ovation like that. And he hadn't done anything; he just appeared out of the dugout. The fact that he eventually fouled out didn't matter, either. The love was there.

  
  
•  The hardest hit ball I ever saw was a Mantle home run against the Orioles in Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. Batting right handed, he pulverized the ball deep into the left center field stands. In spite of being an ardent Orioles fan, even I had to applaud the awesomeness of the feat.

  
  
•  Maybe the most courageous thing Mantle ever did was appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, his face tragically misshapen by alcoholism, with the headline: " 'I Was Killing Myself' - My Life As An Alcoholic, by Mickey Mantle". If you haven't read it, it is a MUST read.http://www.amazon.com/Sports-Illustrated.../dp/B0042I7GHQ

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Sports Illustrated - April 18, 1994 (Volume 80, Number 15)

  Here is a copy of: Sports Illustrated; Volume 80,...

  AMAZON.COM
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