Posted on 06/14/2005 5:14:20 AM PDT by Valin
Thank you for posting this article about my favorite player of all time. Rick Monday was the first baseball player ever drafted (by the Kansas City Athletics, 1967 or so). Lasorda still wanted Monday on the team, and in the off-season, the Dodgers traded Bill Buckner (a .300 hitting first baseman who was being supplanted by Steve Garvey, a .330 hitting first baseman with some power) for Rick Monday, who played center field. While Monday, the only lefty (Reggie Smith was a switch hitter) in the Dodger starting eight was demoted from the #1 to the #7 slot in the Dodgers more potent lineup, he proved at times to be invaluable at times. His career was hurt by a back injury he received from running full-speed into a brick wall. Eventually, with the help of a good chiropractor, he came back stronger than ever in '78 (?), and had the best numbers in the league going into the all-star break, and was the top vote getter. An Achilles' tenden injury ended that season. Monday would ultimately be a hero for the Dodgers in '81, propelling the Dodgers to a key win over the Expos in the playoffs on there way to a championship over the hated Yankees in the strike-shortend season. (though in all truth, the Reds, and not the Dodgers, should have had that playoff spot.)
Those were THE DAYS for baseball! I am sorry that the Major League Baseball I grew up with is gone (interleague play, expanded palyoffs, too many teams, etc.). But my personal baseball hero, Rick Monday, will live on in my memory forever.
A wonderful story about Old Glory and the baseball player that saved her from being burned.
Do you remember? I don't because I wasn't old enough!
However, it's a wonderful story!!
Thanks for posting it Valin!!
Canteen Ping!
Thanks for the pic! BTTT.
I'm a die-hard White Sox fan, but Mr. Monday made me proud of the Cubs that day.
Baseball was completely packed with stars at that time. In my opinion, it was the glory days of the game. Rick Monday is one of my heros for this act.
BTTT!!!!!!
Bump!
And thus, the tale of the Chicago Cubs.
Rick Monday was a great player. I was 7 when the Dodgers won the series in 1981, and therefore too young to remember the flag incident first hand, but it was a great story told to me by my father.
The only good thing about interleague play is that I get to cruise down to Kansas City on Thursday to see my beloved Dodgers. I AM PUMPED!
Saw that one too. I didn't post it because it's a painting.
I remember when Monday did this. I also remember baseball the way it used to be.
When I was a kid, dad was stationed at the Pentagon - and we used to go watch the Washington Senators play ball. Those were the days when you could stand on top of the dugout and hand your glove, or your notebook, or your program down, and walk to the other end of the dugout and get it back, covered in autographs.
And now, here I am, forty-one years old, rambling on about the "old days," and realizing that yes - there are a lot of things that were much better back then.
Ping
Shameless bump back at you!
Notice how Google refused to acknowledge Flag Day?
That's a good one. Thanks.
Would the photo win a Pulitzer Prize today? In 1976, the 60's generation weren't running all of these organizations.
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