With Bucky and Marcus. Really good guys to play for.
On his third day of Yankees Camp, Roy Berger tells us about his coach, Bill Virdon, some of his favorite past coaches, and his amazing afternoon catch. Previously, Berger debated attending the camp in light of his mother’s hip surgery. He also questioned his physical capabilities and mused over his favorite things about Yankees Camp.
One of the special moments of the camp experience is when you find out which ex-major leaguer will be coaching you for the week. The more you do this, the more you realize that who you play for really doesn’t make that big of a difference. Campers and coaches are primarily here to enjoy the experience.
I have to admit that finding out 1960s star center fielder Bill Virdon would be captain of my ship was really exciting during my first camp with the Pirates in 2010. Virdon managed the Pirates and Yankees, and now he was managing me.
Over the course of the next camps, team leadership was important, but you quickly learn it becomes part of the week. The Yankees assign teams; the Pirates play an evaluation game where the pro staff watches and then drafts you to respective teams.
Through my six previous camps, I have played for Mr. Virdon, Jerry Reuss, Frank Tanana, Darrell Evans, Homer Bush, Oscar Gamble, Mike LaValliere, Don Robinson, Jim Leyritz, Fritz Peterson, Rennie Stennett, and Omar Moreno. These are all familiar names to true baseball buffs. Most of them I wouldn’t mind playing for again.
I’ll admit, I did get excited on Monday when I saw the team roster sheet and found out that Bucky Dent would be my manager. Through my two previous Yankee camps I’ve gotten to like Bucky from afar. He’s also a guy who I hated to play against, thus I knew I would love to play on his team. I feel the same way about Steve Blass of the Pirates.
Of course, Dent forever will be etched into Yankees lore with his home run over the Green Monster in Boston to lead the Yankees to a 5-4 win over the hated Red Sox on October 2, 1978 in a one-game playoff. Moments after Dent’s blast off Mike Torrez landed just shy of the Citgo sign, Dent became known around provincial New England as ‘Bucky Bleeping Dent’ or Bucky Fu*ki*g Dent’ or just Bucky Fucking Dent. Call him what you want, but we love the guy and the memory!
The Yankees went on to win the World Series that year in six games over the Dodgers, who they also beat the year before, in Bucky’s first year at shortstop in pinstripes. Very few remember, however, that Dent took the momentum from the winning shot in Boston and was voted the 1978 World Series MVP with a .417 batting average.
Bucky, soon to be 63, retired in 1984 with a lifetime .247 batting average and a very smooth glove. Ironically he will always be remembered for the 1978 home run which wasn’t a strong suit of his (hitting ‘only’ 40 career dingers in over 4500 times at-bat). He told me yesterday that not a day goes by when someone doesn’t mention the Boston blast to him.
Bucky and Bill Virdon have some things in common other than getting to laugh at me for a week. They both managed the Yankees—Virdon in 1974-75 and Dent for parts of the 1989 and 1990 seasons. They were both fired by George Steinbrenner too. Bucky was given notice of his termination in Boston of all places, the site of his greatest triumph. That’s almost inhumane.
Dent stops by breakfast to give us some encouragement. We responded by scoring 22 runs.
Dent said he had four general managers in six months so he didn’t make long term plans to manage the Yankees. After he left New York he coached for six more years—four with the Cardinals and a couple in Texas.
Bucky and his wife Marianne live in Boynton Beach, Florida and have four kids. Their son Cody plays in the Washington Nationals organization.
When Bucky’s not coaching schlubs like me at camp, you might find him on the corporate speaking stump or on Facebook with over 2800 “friends.” He really is one of the good guys that makes weeks like this so special.
Marcus Thames, on the other hand, will be remembered for his big bat during his 10-year career which started as a Yankee in 2002 and ended in Dodger blue in 2011. He hit 115 home runs in only 1800 at-bats for an average of a home run every 16 times at the plate, which is phenomenal. He spent over half his career with the Tigers and was in the 2006 World Series. He retired with a lifetime batting average of .246 and had over 300 RBI.
He grew up near Starkville, Mississippi and was offered a football scholarship to Mississippi State as a safety, but they wouldn’t let him play baseball, a game he fell in love with as a senior in high school. He gave up the scholarship and went to junior college to play baseball and what turned into a major league career. He’s still a Mississippi State fan, a season ticket holder who is ecstatic over this football season. He also hit me up for Alabama-Mississippi State tickets next weekend.
At 37 years old, Slick is just about the youngest one in camp. You won’t find a nicer guy who gets to the park early to help campers who want some extra hitting. He is still working for the Yankees, and this past season was the batting coach for the Double A Thunder in Trenton, New Jersey. In fact, his name has been bandied about by the media for the vacant hitting coach job in the Bronx.
At breakfast this morning, Dent stopped by our table and wanted to make sure we were ready to go for the three games on the slate today. We told him we were, though most of us couldn’t bend and get back up. We didn’t lie, however, as we went out and pounded the Oscar ‘Run Like A Deer’ Gamble and Shane Spencer team by a 22-1 score in a game that seemed like it took three days to play.
After a healthy lunch of burgers and hot dogs and tortillas on an 83 degree day (I am still convinced the camp dietician is a Red Sox fan!), we went back out to play the Pinstripes coached by two of the most likeable ex-Yankees, Roy White and Homer Bush. We were still a bit full of ourselves as we fell behind 5-0 in the first before rallying for a 6-5 win in one of the better camp guys I’ve been a part of to run our winning streak to three.
I had a good day today. I went 4-7 with a couple of RBIs, but was fortunate with the glove and saw my share of line drives, pop-ups, ground balls and throws in the dirt, all which found a home in my Rawlings. I’ve really gotten to enjoy defense as the most special part of the game.
After a two-hour afternoon break (this time burgers and chicken wings), we all played a three inning ‘exhibition game’ under the lights on Steinbrenner Field. What sounded like a good idea on paper became something very hard for our legs to accept, but it turned out to be a special and fun experience in a game where the score didn’t matter.
My day got started right. During the first inning of our first game this morning, I had a rocket hit over my head that somehow I ‘leaped’ and snagged. Oscar Gamble stopped me on the way off the field and said, “I thought white men couldn’t jump.”
They can’t. Or, at least this one can’t. But when you are 6’3” you can reach real high, close your eyes and hope you find something flying through the air. I did.
By Roy Berger for PeterGreenberg.com
