i'm meeting mickey morandini tomorrow

You have some simple pleasures.

I guess I confused his birthplace with where he went to school. And no, I am not saying he was born in Indiana, Pa. But it was nearby.

I found an article about Morandino, as Harry Caray would call him, at the Times of Northwest Indiana site. It includes this:

"Morandini's devotion to family was on firm display during his two Cubs seasons.

The former Peg Ohm is a native of Valparaiso. The couple had settled in Valpo early in his eight-year tenure as a Phillies second baseman. But as a Cub, he had the chance to stay at home the entire season with his young sons for a price -- a 120-mile round trip to Wrigley Field for each daytime home game.

Morandini would stay overnight in Chicago when a day game followed a night game.

"He'd drive double the time -- two hours -- before doing that (being away from his sons)," Peg said. "The drive was good for him. Going there, it was an hour of peace and quiet to think about what he would do that day. Going home, it was another hour to think about the game he had played. Surprisingly, traffic was not bad. It worked out great."

Except the wrapup of his Cubs career.

"I'm way past that," he said of the '99 contract squabble and inglorious end to his Wrigley Field tenure. "I'm a free spirit -- what comes, comes and what goes, goes. I've got three healthy, beautiful children and a healthy wife.""

First, I have a tough time believing traffic was light for that trip.

Also, way to go into those details. We get to the end and have "contract squabble" thrown in with no further explanation. Great reporting!

 

Were you somewhere near Barstow, too?  ;D

As for Torre, one of the funniest lines in Ball Four is when someone compared a ballplayer's girlfriend with a "female Joe Torre with tits" or something to that effect. That is a harsh, harsh, funny diss.

 

Oooo Ragu
I knew you was cool.

And my money's on you in a bike race.  You got intensity!

 

Sandy Koufax
Lebron James
Tiger Woods
Big Ernie McCracken

Four people born on Dec. 30, four people mounted at the summit of their professions.

 

Hey, that's my bosses birthday too! That reminds me .... have you seen "The Devil Wears Prada"? 

 

Mounted by whom?

 

Sure. But compared to Canadians all New Yorkers seem like they're being fed caffeine intravenously.

 

Jim's

 

Same birthday as me....Pat Riley, Bobby Orr, Spike Lee. Now there's a holy trinity.

 

No wonder he quoted the wife. Mickey doesn't say much.

Ask him if he's been back to Leechburg lately. That is where he's from, and on that point DyePack actually is correct. It's not far from Indiana, Pa. (Though I agree it was pretty entertaining that he tried to show off being clever there and he was flat out wrong.)