Baseball dinner party

[Snapolit1]

If you could invite 3 players to dinner, past and present, and the only criteria was to have as crazy fun time as possible, who would it be?

I’m going with

Ruth

Paige

Pete Rose

[Casey2296]

For a fun party

Rube Waddell

Bob Uecker

Bill "Spaceman" Lee

Honorable mention

Yogi Berra

Al "Mad Hungarian" Hrabosky

Doc Ellis

And Max Patkin as the host.

[Mark17]

Waddell is a great centerpiece. I'd want to surround him with contemporaries, so they could share stories about other players they all knew.

I'll start with Wagner. He was a great storyteller and loved a good laugh. He and Rube were teammates with Louisville at the beginning of Rube's ML career, so they knew each other and certainly would've respected each others' talents. Plus, both liked to play with kids, so putting up with me would've been in their character.

The third guy I'd add would be Hans Lobert. He and Wagner were friends (Wagner lent Lobert his nickname) and from reading and hearing The Glory of their Times, Lobert was a lively, fun loving fellow.

My host would be Larry Ritter. I'd just sit there, tip a few, and listen.

Waddell
Wagner
Lobert
Ritter
Me

[Flintboy]

My brother Jimmy who played on the 14 and over select team in Toledo Ohio. My 2nd cousin removed Philip who made the T Ball team at age 5 and my friend Billy from high school who was the 2nd string shortstop.

[todeen]

Joey Votto (he's an odd duck, but I like a lot of his interests)
Satchel Paige (in pictures and a few stories he seems like a real interesting character)
Lou Brock (he made me feel like a million $$$ when I met him)

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[Carter08]

Ruth
Eucker
Doc Gooden

[Metsfan0507]

Focusing on the "crazy" in "crazy fun time", Lenny dykstra has to be included. I'd probably just include other 86 Mets to rile him up: doc gooden and Keith hernandez

[orioles70]

Ty Cobb

Leo Durocher

Satchell Paige

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[Republicaninmass]

Roomful of "aficionados " and they spell Uecker wrong....twice.

He'd be happy to join

[commishbob]

Originally Posted by orioles70

Ty Cobb

Leo Durocher

Satchell Paige

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I had an answer but I don't think I could top this one.



I actually had an experience similar to to this fantasy baseball dinner party. A friend and I used our college newspaper press credentials to attend the Winter Meetings in Houston in December of 1973. We blew off classes and spent the entire weeks hanging out at the hotel.

We spent the evenings in the press room and listening to the baseball personalities chatting it up with the real writers. One night Sparky Anderson came in and spent a few hors drinking coffee and telling stories. I remember asking him about an injury to Davey Concepcion that had cut his season short. Sparky had to know I was an interloper in that room but he answered me as if I was with the Sporting News.

The highlight was a luncheon at which I had nabbed a seat at Earl Weaver's table. I brought up an Oriole-Yankee game from 1970 that had been the best regular season game I had ever seen. Earl picked up the game story from me and went on and on about that game. Amazing day indeed.

Sorry for diverting from the original topic. I'm enjoying the responses.

[todeen]

Originally Posted by commishbob

I had an answer but I don't think I could top this one.







I actually had an experience similar to to this fantasy baseball dinner party. A friend and I used our college newspaper press credentials to attend the Winter Meetings in Houston in December of 1973. We blew off classes and spent the entire weeks hanging out at the hotel.



We spent the evenings in the press room and listening to the baseball personalities chatting it up with the real writers. One night Sparky Anderson came in and spent a few hors drinking coffee and telling stories. I remember asking him about an injury to Davey Concepcion that had cut his season short. Sparky had to know I was an interloper in that room but he answered me as if I was with the Sporting News.



The highlight was a luncheon at which I had nabbed a seat at Earl Weaver's table. I brought up an Oriole-Yankee game from 1970 that had been the best regular season game I had ever seen. Earl picked up the game story from me and went on and on about that game. Amazing day indeed.



Sorry for diverting from the original topic. I'm enjoying the responses.

You're my new hero.

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[scotgreb]

Hard to improve on the many great suggestions, I recall from audio interviews in The Glory of Their Times, Hans Lobert having some great stories -- Waddell, as well. Scott

[Fred]

Mickey Mantle
Whitey Ford
Billy Martin

Of course it would have to be a night out on the town in Manhattan.

[whitehse]

I had worked in MLB during the 80's as a very low level flunky but I didnt care, I was getting a paycheck from a MLB team and had access to tickets and events one normally doesn't have access to. Why am I saying this? Well these kind of fantasy dinner invitations that started this thread do happen if you are in the right place at the right time.

In 1988 I had tickets to the All Star game in Cincinnati and better yet, the team's traveling secretary was able to secure for our group a large suite in the official All Star hotel where everyone who was anyone was staying. Being a bunch of young guys in our 20's, we arrived three days early with the express purpose of partying and eventually enjoying the game. As we hung out in the hotel bar, a who's who of baseball notables would walk in and out and at that time, they were very agreeable to conversation as long as you were buying. Being a lover of baseball history, I was in heaven as I could recognize some of the older guys flowing through and would engage them in conversation until they had enough of me.

After a few days I realized a much older gentleman would always hang out in the corner of the bar and was usually by himself but everyone seemed to know him and would take a moment to say hello. We sent the man a drink and he acknowledged us with a raised glass and I finally asked someone who would know, who the old man was. My acquaintance looked at me, smiled and said I probably need to go talk to this man as he was the scout that discovered Roberto Clemente and so many others. After picking my jaw off the floor, i walked over to the old man's table, introduced myself and asked if I could chat with him awhile.

I sat and talked with this man much of the evening as he told stories of Clemente and Musial. He talked about his time with Branch Rickey as Rickey hired him to be a scout for the Cardinals and quickly brought him to the Dodgers when Rickey went to Brooklyn. He talked about scouting Jackie Robinson and much of the Negro Leagues before the integration and so much more. That evening was literally like having baseball history come alive for me.

My new friend would eventually say he was getting tired and needed to get to bed so I knew our conversation had finally come to an end. I shook his hand, he thanked me for the other drinks I bought him. As we parted I asked his name and he told me his name was Howie Haak. I never saw the man again but that meeting that last at least three hours has been forever burned in my memory. I just wish I would have recorded that conversation.

Mr. Haak had expensive taste as I remember those drinks being pretty pricing but I suspect he saw an easy mark who would buy him expensive drinks in exchange for some old baseball stories. In the end, he was right as I was an easy mark but to me it was worth every penny.

[RUKen]

Arlie Latham

Germany Schaefer

Nick Altrock

Alternatively:

Luther "Dummy" Taylor + any two of his early Giants teammates who could translate their conversation to him in sign language and be his straight men

[Yoda]

Cap Anson

Jackie Robinson

Jimmie Piersall

[MikeGarcia]

..Dizzy Dean and
Billy Martin at
Toots Shorr's place.


..
..

[chalupacollects]

Yogi Berra
Casey Stengel
and the Savannah Bananas...

[todeen]

Originally Posted by whitehse

I had worked in MLB during the 80's as a very low level flunky but I didnt care, I was getting a paycheck from a MLB team and had access to tickets and events one normally doesn't have access to. Why am I saying this? Well these kind of fantasy dinner invitations that started this thread do happen if you are in the right place at the right time.



In 1988 I had tickets to the All Star game in Cincinnati and better yet, the team's traveling secretary was able to secure for our group a large suite in the official All Star hotel where everyone who was anyone was staying. Being a bunch of young guys in our 20's, we arrived three days early with the express purpose of partying and eventually enjoying the game. As we hung out in the hotel bar, a who's who of baseball notables would walk in and out and at that time, they were very agreeable to conversation as long as you were buying. Being a lover of baseball history, I was in heaven as I could recognize some of the older guys flowing through and would engage them in conversation until they had enough of me.



After a few days I realized a much older gentleman would always hang out in the corner of the bar and was usually by himself but everyone seemed to know him and would take a moment to say hello. We sent the man a drink and he acknowledged us with a raised glass and I finally asked someone who would know, who the old man was. My acquaintance looked at me, smiled and said I probably need to go talk to this man as he was the scout that discovered Roberto Clemente and so many others. After picking my jaw off the floor, i walked over to the old man's table, introduced myself and asked if I could chat with him awhile.



I sat and talked with this man much of the evening as he told stories of Clemente and Musial. He talked about his time with Branch Rickey as Rickey hired him to be a scout for the Cardinals and quickly brought him to the Dodgers when Rickey went to Brooklyn. He talked about scouting Jackie Robinson and much of the Negro Leagues before the integration and so much more. That evening was literally like having baseball history come alive for me.



My new friend would eventually say he was getting tired and needed to get to bed so I knew our conversation had finally come to an end. I shook his hand, he thanked me for the other drinks I bought him. As we parted I asked his name and he told me his name was Howie Haak. I never saw the man again but that meeting that last at least three hours has been forever burned in my memory. I just wish I would have recorded that conversation.



Mr. Haak had expensive taste as I remember those drinks being pretty pricing but I suspect he saw an easy mark who would buy him expensive drinks in exchange for some old baseball stories. In the end, he was right as I was an easy mark but to me it was worth every penny.

wonderful story! thanks for sharing. a kid I played ball with got a job selling tickets for the Spokane Indians MiLB. After about four years they invited him to the winter meetings. When Texas went to the WS he received a WS ring. I have been jealous of him forever. But I thought going to the winter meetings would have been fantastic.

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[FrankWakefield]

Dizzy Dean

Mickey Mantle

Leo Durocher



Initially, I thought this was about who I'd want to listen to for an evening and my mind IMMEDIATELY went to John McGraw. Then I realized that it's about hearing great baseball tales. I understand the Mantle/Ford/Martin pick, but one of them is enough, Mantle for me. Initially, it might seem that Durocher and Dean would overlap greatly. They would when it's about the Gashouse Gang teams. But Dean played later with the Cubs, made it to the World Series with them in 1938, against the Yankees. Durocher adds the beginnings of the Say Hey kid from Alabama... golly, he managed the Dodgers, the Giants, they Cubs, coached forever, got suspended for a year, got thrown 100 games as a manager, and probably a few as a player and coach. Those three guys would know some stuff.

There may be some modern players who'd know about modern stuff. There may be some old T206 era players who knew stuff from Pre WW I. Mantle, Dean, and Durocher would be an awesome bunch.

[todeen]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

Dizzy Dean



Mickey Mantle



Leo Durocher







Initially, I thought this was about who I'd want to listen to for an evening and my mind IMMEDIATELY went to John McGraw. Then I realized that it's about hearing great baseball tales. I understand the Mantle/Ford/Martin pick, but one of them is enough, Mantle for me. Initially, it might seem that Durocher and Dean would overlap greatly. They would when it's about the Gashouse Gang teams. But Dean played later with the Cubs, made it to the World Series with them in 1938, against the Yankees. Durocher adds the beginnings of the Say Hey kid from Alabama... golly, he managed the Dodgers, the Giants, they Cubs, coached forever, got suspended for a year, got thrown 100 games as a manager, and probably a few as a player and coach. Those three guys would know some stuff.



There may be some modern players who'd know about modern stuff. There may be some old T206 era players who knew stuff from Pre WW I. Mantle, Dean, and Durocher would be an awesome bunch.

the OP requirement was "to have the most crazy fun time as possible." so if your idea of a crazy fun time is listening to stories, sure, go that route. But the guys who picked Lenny Dykstra, Pete Rose, or some other wild child's obviously have a different idea of crazy fun times.

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[FrankWakefield]

For some, what is fun changes as they get older and older. I could laugh all night and wake up hangover free the next day. That sounds fun to me.

[Musashi]

I bet you could get an interesting evening of conversation from this group:

Jimmy Piersall
Jay Johnstone
Bill "Spaceman" Lee

[ejharrington]

I have to think about the other two, but Kevin Millar is definitely on the list.

[esd10]

Mathewson, jake daubert and probably joe kelley

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by Yoda

Cap Anson

Jackie Robinson

Jimmie Piersall

This made me laugh. Be sure to bring a first aid kit because Cap will be needing some medical attention.

[todeen]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

For some, what is fun changes as they get older and older. I could laugh all night and wake up hangover free the next day. That sounds fun to me.

I was never into partying, even in college. But intramural sports all day tournaments.... couldn't stay long enough. Watching Ken Burns documentaries? yes please.

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[switcher7]

Mickey Mantle
Casey Stengel
Phil Rizzuto

[michael3322]

Great thread topic.

Ruth
Paige
and
Berg

"On December 18, 1944, a 42-year-old man masquerading as a Swiss physics student settled his 6-foot-1 frame into a chair in a Zurich lecture hall. Instead of simply listening to the brilliant insights offered by the physicist at the podium, the man was trying to understand enough of the scientist’s native German to identify key words—words that could change, or perhaps even destroy, the world. All the while, he was hoping the gun tucked into his jacket pocket wouldn’t fall out, as it had during his trip across the Atlantic.

The audience member was no ordinary student. In fact, he wasn’t a student at all. He was a retired baseball player named Morris “Moe” Berg, and the American government wanted him to assassinate a man dubbed “the most dangerous possible German in the field” of physics: Werner Heisenberg, director of the Nazi nuclear program.

An average-at-best catcher who played well past his prime, Berg joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to the CIA, in 1943. Nicknamed the “brainiest man in baseball” due to his knack for languages and quick wit, he found himself behind enemy lines five years after he hung up his cleats for the last time. A polymath who loved the press but was reluctant to discuss his personal life, he was a man of contradictions who crossed paths with many of the leading figures of the day, from Babe Ruth to Franklin D. Roosevelt to J. Robert Oppenheimer."

Smithsonian Magazine

[bmattioli]

Mantle

Rose

Wade Boggs

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by bmattioli

Mantle

Rose

Wade Boggs

We are close.

Wade Boggs
Doc Ellis
Pete Rose

Those 3 cover 3 of the big vices.

[mrreality68]

I would do Joe Jackson, Billie Martin, and Pete Rose

[Leon]

Ruth
Mantle
Dock Ellis.

.

[Jason Carota]

Buck O'Neil

Ted Williams

Pedro Martinez

[LEHR]

For a casual dinner party I'm inviting:
*Cobb
*Ruth
*Wagner

If we're here to party I'm inviting:
*Rose
*Mantle
*Billy Martin

[Seven]

For the wildest time imaginable?

Ruth

Mantle

Cobb

[philliesfan]

Tough question. Maybe.....

Cap Anson
Jackie Robinson
Cal Ripken

I think it would be great conversation talking about the origins of the game and how everything got started with Cap, the barrier and how the game was played in Jackie's time and how the current game is played today with Cal.
Talking about the progression of the game with them would be fantastic.

[refz]

As much as I would love to hang out with Ruth, if I had my pick for one night out w/ the guys it be Mantle, Martin, and Ford.. oh what a night it be lol

[kmac32]

Elmer Miller
Babe Ruth
Lee Smith

[lumberjack]

Well, George Wright, as I would like to ask him how they pitched to Baby Anson;
Hugh Duffy, who was at Fenway when the Sox gave Jackie Robinson the brush off; and Ed Delahanty....I'd say, "Ed, what in the world were you thinking at Niagara Falls?"

[Bigdaddy]

Originally Posted by refz

As much as I would love to hang out with Ruth, if I had my pick for one night out w/ the guys it be Mantle, Martin, and Ford.. oh what a night it be lol

With at least a stop at Toots Shor's and then the Copacabana.

[Exhibitman]

Jim Bouton
Sparky Lyle
Whitey Herzog