tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11386152.post5711209061227192556..comments2023-10-26T04:19:16.153-04:00Comments on Mets Guy in Michigan: Place No. 82: Joe DiMaggio's boat; and 82A: Scott Kamieniecki's apartmentMets Guy in Michiganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048899230969074579noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11386152.post-83678578004540161652010-03-24T10:31:29.955-04:002010-03-24T10:31:29.955-04:00Dave, for the record, I'm still showin' yo...Dave, for the record, I'm still showin' you -- and everyone else including Kamieniecki in the yard -- the fork.<br /><br />And you still AIN'T TOUCHIN' IT!!<br /><br />OK, now my brush with major-league greatness -- on the minor-league level.<br /><br />While in college, I was home for summer when one day my mom came home and asked if I knew Johnny Oates.<br /><br />Of course, backup catcher deluxe, played with Hank Aaron, awesome 70s porn-star stache. His 73 card of him legging out a hit is a beaut. Who wouldn't?<br /><br />"Well, he moved in five doors down and your brother is playing with his son."<br /><br />Boing!<br /><br />Fortunately for me, scenario 1 happened. Oates was in town to manage the Clippers. Although I was more than a decade from realizing my first Baseball Room, I did have a nice collection of cards -- including a full run of Oates, including the rookie with Don Baylor. Anyway, he signed the lot and I got to know him pretty well in the few weeks that he and his family lived there before moving to a condo. But in that time I got seats behind home plate to a couple games (granted, it was the Paw Sox, but still ...) and stories of what it was like to play with Hank Aaron and other cool things that any baseball-loving male would want to know.<br /><br />Oates was a great guy -- and continued to be. I saw him again when he was coaching the Cubs in 1987, and I was taking a sports journalism class at Northwestern. Oates made it a point to tell me: Anyone you want to talk to, you just let me know, and I'll take care of it. How cool is that?<br /><br />And Oates continued to remember me the few times I saw him again after that -- when Dave and I went to Baltimore on our great East Coast Excursion in 1991 (Oates by now was the O's manager) and later in spring training in Florida in 1998 when he was managing the Rangers -- to the only postseason berths that franchise has ever known, I might point out.<br /><br />Naturally I was bummed when brain cancer took him all too early six years ago. He was one of the good ones.<br /><br />YKWAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11386152.post-45639055629059449602010-03-23T00:23:33.920-04:002010-03-23T00:23:33.920-04:00Neat story about almost meeting Scott Kamieniekci....Neat story about almost meeting Scott Kamieniekci.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com