Rocky Bridges was a treat for the media, with his one liners. After a two year home run drought, he hit one to win a Fourth of July game. Afterwards, he had this to say...“I’m still behind Babe Ruth’s record, but I’ve been sick. It wasn’t very dramatic. No little boy in the hospital asked me to hit one. I didn’t promise it to my kid for his birthday and my wife will be too shocked to appreciate it. I hit it for me.” As his career was winding down, he had this reflection...”I’m in the twilight of a mediocre career…I’ve had more numbers on my back than a bingo board.” Jim Bouton said that Bridges looked more like a baseball player than any player ever did. I think it had a lot to do with that huge chaw in his cheek that you always see in pictures of him. When I played baseball in high school, I used to mix Bazooka Joe bubble gum with Red Man chew, and ended up looking something like that, I suppose. It created a ton of spit, though. I couldn’t keep up with my own spit requirements, and eventually had to switch to just a small pinch of Kodiak. But the Kodiak just didn’t look quite as cool as that Rocky Bridges cheek bulge. One last Bridges quote, after making the 1958 All-Star team, but not playing. “I sat on the bench with Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Yogi Berra. I gave ‘em instruction in how to sit.” Haha...class act, Rocky. God Bless ya’!
