Reply #43: When I was a kid [View All]

[Oeditpus Rex]

it was Koufax and Drysdale, then Claude Osteen. But something about Koufax just mesmerized me. Maybe it was that powerful, leg-driven overhand delivery or the fact that he typically struck out nine or 10 guys.

But, yeah — Drysdale was a mean mofo, especially coming in sidearm. Willie Mays wrote, "Drysdale, who's a good friend of mine, like to kill me a couple of times, and he knows it." There were some great head-hunting expeditions between Drysdale and Marichal, or Perry. (I wish umpires weren't so pissy about that now. You throw at a guy, his pitcher should get a shot at one of your guys. That's baseball.)

I've always preferred home-grown ballplayers, and TJ was an import, coming from the White Sox. I got some good photos of him, though, in 1985 when the A's got him and he was rehabbing with Modesto.