Page 8 - Boca ViewPointe - January '24

Page 8, Viewpointe January 2024
Taking Time For A Guffaw

By William A. Gralnick else I got on two.” Source: The Incredible Mets Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, and Atlanta Braves from
“He (Satchel Paige) threw the ball as far from the bat 1962 to 1967. After retiring, Uecker started a broadcasting career
Boy o’ boy, there is no and as close to the plate as possible.” and has served as a play-by-play announcer for Milwaukee
end to depressing things to “He’s throwing grounders.” Brewers radio broadcasts since 1971. Probably his biggest career
write about and one has to “I couldn’t done it without my players.” highlight was hitting a home run against Hall of Famer Sandy
dig to find something smile- “I don’t know if he throws a spitball but he sure spits Koufax after which he quipped:
producing. I think I have on the ball.” • “I knew when my career was over. In 1965 my baseball
found such a thing. It comes, of all places, from baseball. Wait. “I don’t like them fellas who drive in two runs and let card came out with no picture.”
Don’t go ‘way. There is a lot of humor in sports, but baseball in three.” • “They broke it to me gently. The manager came up to
seems to have the corner on funny guys. Everyone knows Yogi “If anyone wants me tell them I’m being embalmed.” me before a game and told me they didn’t allow visitors in
Berra who said, “I didn’t say the things I said.” Everyone knows “It’s wonderful to meet so many friends that I didn’t the clubhouse.”
Casey Stengel famous for asking in desperation about his awful used to like.” • “The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops
NY Mets, “Can anyone here play this game?” And of course, Bob “I was such a dangerous hitter I even got intentional rolling and then pick it up.”
Euker who said, “When I came up to bat with the bases loaded I walks during batting practice.” • “I had a great ball and glove contract with a company who
noticed the other team had changed into their street clothes and “Look at him (Bobby Richardson) – he doesn’t drink, paid me a lot of money never to be seen using their stuff.”
were leaving the dugout.” he doesn’t smoke, he doesn’t chew, he doesn’t stay out late, • “People don’t know this, but I helped the Cardinals win
So, here, no charge, are some of their best, offered up to stop and he still can’t hit .250.” the pennant. I came down with hepatitis. The trainer injected
you from thinking and start you giggling. “Mr. that boy couldn’t hit the ground if he fell out of an me with it!”
airplane.” • Anybody with ability can play in the big leagues. To
Yogi Berra “Son, we’d like to keep you around this season but we’re last as long as I did with the skills I had, with the numbers I
Bio: going to try and win a pennant.” produced, was a triumph of the human spirit.”
Many images come to mind when one hears the name “There comes a time in every man’s life, and I’ve had • “In 1962 I was named Minor League Player of the Year.
Yogi Berra. One of the more obvious is that of a winner. Berra plenty of them.” It was my second season in the bigs.”
won three American League Most Valuable Player awards and “The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate • “If a guy hits .300 every year, what does he have to look
appeared in 14 World Series as a player and another five as a you away from the guys who are undecided.” forward to? I always tried to stay around .190, with three or
manager or a coach. He won 13 championship rings and holds “All of my stars drink whiskey, but I have found that ones four RBI. And I tried to get them all in September. That way
several Series records. Berra met with numerous roadblocks who drink milkshakes don’t win many ball games.” I always had something to talk about during the winter.”
on his journey to fame, but he overcame them with grit and “This club (1969 New York Mets) plays better baseball
dedication and went on to become one of the more beloved now. Some of them look fairly alert.” That’s what I got, folks. Hope you’re smiling.
figures in American sports history. (SABR) “We (the Mets) are a much improved ball club, now we
• “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” lose in extra innings!” Columnist and author Bill Gralnick was born and raised
• If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind “You have to have a catcher, otherwise you will have a in Brooklyn, NY. He is writing a three-part humorous memoir.
up someplace else. lot of passed balls.” The first is “The War of the Itchy Balls and Other Tales from
• When you come to a fork in the road, take it. Brooklyn.” Just published is the sequel, “George Washington
• A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore. You can observe Bob Ueker Didn’t Sleep Here.” Both are available on Amazon. You can
a lot by just watching. As a backup catcher, he played for the Milwaukee Braves, St. find his writing at https://www.williamgralnickauthor.com. 
• The future ain’t what it used to be.
• You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where
you are going, because you might not get there.
• You can observe a lot by watching.
• You should always go to other people’s funerals;
otherwise, they won’t come to yours.
• If people don’t want to come to the ballpark, how are
you going to stop them?
• It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.
• I wish I had an answer to that because I’m tired of
answering that question.
• I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them
walk to school like I did. Servicing PETS of Boca Raton
• I usually take a two-hour nap from one to four. for over 20 years
• Slump? I ain’t in no slump... I just ain’t hitting. “Caring is our Specialty”
• I knew the record would stand until it was broken.
• I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out Complete medical, Surgical and Dental
of the house. Facility SPA Bath & Grooming
• It gets late early out there.
• “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.”
• “You can observe a lot just by watching.”
• “We made too many wrong mistakes.”
• “You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not NOW ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS
hungry enough to eat six.”
• “It’s like deja vu all over again.”

Casey Stengel Boca Raton Concierge Medicine Doctor
Casey Stengel is best remembered for his managerial
accomplishments with the juggernaut New York Yankees of the
1950s and the bumbling, beloved New York Mets of the early Board Certified in
’60s, but decades earlier he was a hard-hitting outfielder who
compiled a .284 batting average over 14 seasons in the National Internal Medicine
League. Planting his right foot closer to the plate than his left, with Added Qualifications in
as if he were peering at the pitcher over his right shoulder, the
left-handed Stengel held his hands down at the end of the bat and Geriatrics (2002).
took a healthy swing. He hit more long balls than most Deadball
Era players, but it also made him more susceptible to change-ups Steven E. Reznick, MD, FACP
and curves. Perhaps the strongest aspect of his game was his
defense; he excelled at playing the sun field, and the long hours Voted a “Best Doctor”
he spent practicing caroms off the fences at Ebbets Field paid by his peers.
off when he led all NL outfielders in assists in 1917.
“Amazing strength, amazing power – he (Ron Swoboda)
can grind the dust out of the bat. He will be great, super even Call to request a complimentary meeting
wonderful. Now, if he can only learn to catch a fly ball.”
Source: The Incredible Mets with Dr. Reznick.
“Been in this game one-hundred years, but I see new
ways to lose ‘em I never knew existed before.”
“Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional 561.368.0191
baseball player. It’s staying up all night looking for a woman
that does him in.”
“Can’t anybody here play this game?” 7280 W. Palmetto Park Road | 205N
“Don’t cut my throat, I may want to do that later myself.” Boca Raton, FL 33433
“Good pitching will always stop good hitting and vice-versa.” www.bocaconciergedoc.com
“He’d (Yogi Berra) fall in a sewer and come up with a gold
watch.” Source: Baseball Digest (August 1972)
“He (Gil Hodges) fields better on one leg than anybody