Saturday, March 31, 2012

Quote of the Day (Birdie Tebbetts, With a Thought for the New Baseball Season)


"If patience is a virtue, we will be a very virtuous club."--Birdie Tebbetts, Cleveland Indians manager, when asked how long he intended to stick with his large crop of rookies, quoted in “They Said It,” Sports Illustrated, May 27, 1963

Birdie Tebbetts was nothing if not a realist and a prophet, since the Indians concluded that season with a 79-83 record, landing them in sixth place, 25 ½ games behind the pennant-winning New York Yankees.

The Indians skipper was a baseball lifer given to speaking his mind. Few scouting reports could ever top this one he submitted once: “Major league stuff and a great arm. Screwy in the head. Eliminate head and I recommend him. Get good surgeon.''

His words also had a way of being borne out again over time, as during his playing days, when he dismissed his 1950 Boston Red Sox teammates as ''moronic malcontents'' and ''juvenile delinquents.'' After his experience with Josh Beckett's ugly little clubhouse clique last year, poor Terry Francona couldn’t agree more, I bet.

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