Monday, April 09, 2007

Rich Donnelly Actually Likes Dem Apples

I can't believe I missed this from the New York Times last weekend. Murray Chass wrote about how there are no more 20-game winners (2006 was the only full-length season in baseball's history without one), and led off his article with this quote:

The question was about 20-game winners, and Rich Donnelly wanted to talk about apple fights.

"As kids we had apple fights," said Donnelly, the Los Angeles Dodgers' third-base coach. "I'll bet you there's no one in here who ever had an apple fight."

You know, I'll bet you there's no one in here who ever sent two guys home on the same play only to see them both tagged out at the plate during a post-season playoff game, either.

Growing up in Steubenville, Ohio, Donnelly had apple fights.

"You'd try to hit somebody, smash them in the head with a green apple," he related one day in spring training in Fort Myers, Fla. Because today's pitchers never had apple fights, he added, "their accuracy is awful."

Donnelly's accuracy on that, or many other close plays at home last year, wasn't all that sharp, either.

Methinks Donnelly may have gotten hit in the head at least once or twice.

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