Hot Stove Top Guests

Hot Stove: over the years there have been 75 special guests, but not Johnny Carson, Mickey Mantle, David Letterman, or Jerry Seinfeld. Johnny Tallant’s top guests:

Honorable mention: Glenn Sutko scout, Milt Hill scout, Roger McDowell, Roy Hartsfield, Tom Pachorick, Chris Carpenter, Will Startup (UGA), Jim Powell told Uecker stories.

10. Kris Crawford: Delta stewardess went to games in all MLB cities one summer. Jerry looked her up in the phone book and invited her to Hot Stove. She didn’t know much about baseball.

9. Chris Rowley: first West Pointer to play in the majors.

8. Dan Tucker attended last game of the 60 World Series, when Bill Mazeroski homered.

7. Hugh Buchanan Braves scout

6. Marvin Hudson umpire

5. Phil Schaeffer

4. Pete Van Weiren

3. Buck Godfrey SW Dekalb & the first all-black Little League team to go to Williamsport.

2. Jim Bagwell played at UGA w/ Charlie Trippi in 47-50.

1. Phil Niekro

Notes: Andruw & Blauser’s sons play at Wesleyan. Buford’s Dylan Lasko is the top righthander in the draft. Tom Curran was a ballboy for the 1955 Redskins. Jerry has been to 16 games so far this spring: 11 high school and 5 college. Mitch Harris (Mandi’s husband) may come speak next year.

MLB Network picked the top ten knuckleballers. Phil Niekro was first. Jerry Davis needs to umpire 43 games to get to 5000. Joe West passed the mark last year. Umpires are needed in Forsyth County. Johnny’s granddaughter kicker one PAT for the JV. She should be the varsity backup this fall.

ACE PARKER [SABR Bio] is the only person whose first professional, regular season at-bat resulted in a major league home run. On 30-Apr-1937 Parker homered off Wes Ferrell when he was put in as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 9th. Parker had become a major leaguer a week earlier, on 24-Apr-1937 as a pinch runner in the top of the 9th. Three batters later he spoiled Bobo Newsom’s shutout. Parker skipped the minors, but after two major league seasons had a lifetime average below what would later be known as the “Mendoza Line”. Batted .179 in 94 games over 2 seasons for PHA. The George-Brett-coined “Mendoza Line” is .200 and pokes fun at the career batting average of Mario Mendoza who hit above .200 in four seasons out of nine in the majors. Parker later played for the NFL’s Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees.

PADDY DRISCOLL [SABR Bio] the one-time Los Angeles Angel played in his first major league game while still not under contract with a major league team. Driscoll’s 12-Jun-1917 debut created a bit of controversy.  League President John Tener informed Charles Weeghman, CHC president, that the use of Driscoll violated the 22-man roster rule.  The Cubs’ defense was that they believed the roster limitation applied only to players under contract.  Driscoll was being auditioned without any formal agreement, not uncommon in those days. Had the conference of his college not had a rule restricting it, he would have played three varsity sports at his academically rigorous university, so he dropped basketball. Northwestern University was part of the Big 9 Conference. They stipulated a student could participate in two varsity sports, but not three. In the U.S. Navy Driscoll played on a team with future Hall of Fame pitcher Red Faber as a teammate. George Halas was also a teammate on that Navy squad.

Communication tips, from Jeff Henderson of Catalyst.  

1. Smile more. Next time you’re on Zoom check out the faces. Somber. Sad. Bored. You’ll stand out by simply smiling more both as a presenter and attendee. This will make a big difference.
2. Chat. You take on a more personable approach when you pause, interact and have a dialogue. It will also create more engagement. The more personable, the more memorable.
3. Aim for a 20-25 minutes at the most. Shorter is usually better.
4. The better you prepare, the better you present. Never, ever disrespect the person you’re talking to by being unprepared. They can tell if you’re prepared — in-person on the phone, or online. And don't be late – that’s also disrespectful. 

When you point your finger at someone, you have three fingers pointing back at yourself (or is it four fingers pointing back? Or three fingers and a thumb?). Be careful what you ask for, you just might get an answer you didn’t want to be reminded of. Don’t blame others for your mistakes. Or as Jesus said “Let he who has no sin cast the first stone.”