Back when I was a kid I was one of Jim Sundberg’s Junior Rangers (this was in the mid 70s). For like $20 you got a shirt, 2 free outfield tickets to like 5 games, and admission to Junior Rangers day. For the latter, all the kids would go down to old Arlington Stadium at like noon for a 7PM game.
They’d take us down to the field and split into position groups where a player would run through some basic tips for about 15 minutes. After that they’d throw you two (and only two) pitches and you’d run the bases after your second pitch. That part took forever, so all of the parents had some time to kill waiting for their kid’s turn.
My Dad was milling around during that time as Toby Harrah, the third baseman (my position) left the field. Dad, who idolized Ted Williams, told me he’d always wanted to ask Toby a question. His recollection of the conversation:
”Toby, I loved Ted Williams as a kid and he was the first manager you ever had in the majors. What was that like?”
”Well sir, early in spring training my rookie year I faced Bob Gibson and he made me look like an idiot. I came back to the dugout and there’s Ted, and he said ‘Son, if I were you I’d just hit that slider into the gap and take the double. He’s pretty good’. And I was thinkin’ ‘No shit motherfucker; if I could do that my goddamn wife wouldn’t be workin’ at fuckin’ Piggly Wiggly. I hated Ted.’”
Toby Harrah was my Dad’s favorite Ranger until the day he (Dad) died….