I learned the game from Thurman. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Worked three years in Philly at Comcast covering the Phillies minor leagues and doing weekly TV spots. Whether Murcers presence in the lineup would have made a difference is up for debate since the Orioles won out to claim the title. The hard way. In the midsts of the downpour two younger doofs decide it would be cool to sit out in the bleachers, in the rain. Daniel Okrent describes Dempsey's efforts: Nine Innings: The Anatomy of a Baseball Game, SI Recognizes the Anniversary of Murray's 3,000th hit, Flashback Friday: Rick Dempsey's Rainy Days, Bird Bloggers Taking Shots from Cubbie Loyalists. He went to Spring Training with Baltimore in 1992 and didnt make the club, getting cut the last week of camp. Same deal -- it was a rainy day, and Babe Ruth called his shot. He signed with the Dodgers and played three seasons there as a backup (two of them dreadfully bad), then moved to Milwaukee to catch 61 games in 1991. Nfl Colts. I went and I got that baseball to throw it to the fans and I was in my socks slipping all over. Crazy things have happened during rain delays in the past (i.e.- Rick Dempsey), but this video might just put them all to shame. Follow Dave Ginsburg on Twitter@Ginzy3. The end, however, was near. He was mentioned again as a possible candidate for the Baltimore manager's job in 2010, after the firing of Dave Trembley. Dempsey went 3-for-6 with a walk in five games. [19] He is the uncle of former major league catcher Gregg Zaun. Thanks to the Tigers' Todd Jones, shown in the rain delay video above, this week's Flashback Friday could only be about one thing: Rick Dempsey's "Baseball Soliloquy in Pantomime." Daniel Okrent describes Dempsey's efforts: He was an intense man, who concentrated mightily on the game. So Rich Dauer came running in as I was drying off and said, "Demps, they want you to come back out there! The all-time greatest punch. The man who used to entertain the crowds at old Memorial Stadium with rain-delay impersonations of Babe Ruth pigeon-toeing around the bases, complete with ample gut padding and head-first slides . The lone bench player for New Bedford at the start of the game was infielder Dan Haugh, who, along with pitcher Aaron Messier, did their best Rick Dempsey rain-delay imitation. Dempsey's play-acting during rain delays are still among my favorite memories of those Orioles years. Dempsey is quick to admit that bettering himself in sports, not academics, was his main focus while attending Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino. [5] During his tenure with the Yankees, he served as a reserve catcher to Thurman Munson, and received tutoring from Yankees coach and former catching standout Jim Hegan. We were having a good time, but then it started to rain. In Baltimore it was hard to break the ice, Dempsey said. I put the pillow in it, which he wasn't too happy about because he didn't want to be fat. So, he left and 40 minutes later he came back and said you made the club. I forget the game, but it was a month or two ago and there was a lengthy rain delay. Santarone would pour a layer of vinegar over the mix and let it set for a few days, then drain it and do the same with oil. He appeared in only 60 games and hit .177. He came to my mothers house in 1967 in Simi Valley and I signed a contract. But Dempsey is also remembered as the man who turned rain delays. I said, "Well, that might be pretty cool, Sparky.". "No, really! Hes had that singular focus since he was a youngster growing up in California and starring in local Little and Pony Leagues. [1] Dempsey led American League catchers twice in fielding percentage, twice in baserunners caught stealing and once in assists. Rick Dempsey was born on the 13th of September, 1949. Advertisement If these rain-delay antics have a godfather, it is probably Rick Dempsey, the one-time Orioles catcher, who back in the early '80s brought out a comical home run trot around. He turned out to be the best GM I ever talked to. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Required fields are marked *. Thanks for sharing your memories, Enchanting Sunshine. Dempsey, who said he strives to be aggressive like Billy, smart like Earl and a motivator like Tommy, tries to be philosophical. That decision wasnt final, though. It's a danceoff! 3.4K views, 33 likes, 5 loves, 3 comments, 0 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Here's to the Night: Rick Dempsey has officially been dethroned as the king of the rain delay. 9. We had a day off in Minnesota and the Yankees were in the same hotel. From that point on, every time it got gray or cloudy everywhere we went, one of the team officials would call me up and say, "Can you do your pantomime of Babe Ruth?" A missed sign might cause a player $10, a stiff penalty for a minor leaguer on a $1,000-per-month salary. He had the best record in the league at throwing out base stealers, and had mastered the rest of a catchers defensive repertory as well. When we got back to Baltimore, I was dropped off at a hotel on I-695 and went to the desk to get my key. His teammates and members of the opposing team would stand in the dugouts and applaud with the fans, especially when Dempsey concluded his routine with a mammoth belly-flop slide into home plate on the infield tarp, his momentum carrying him for yards, a rooster tail of rainwater behind him. It wasnt all bad for Dempsey, though. Back in those days, even though they fined players for throwing balls into the grandstand, Sparky didn't care. People still come up to me nowadays and talk about it. But Sparky never did it. Twenty-two Flags over the Bronx Ride the Iron Horse, take a cruise on the Yankee Clipper and visit the Seraglio of the. In this conversation. I hit him, Dempsey says. Rick Dempsey rain delay entertainment. I ended up doing that routine three times. He was also named a first team NYPL all-star and lauded by the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues. Now, its too late for me to take a managing job. Cionel Prez contributed beyond our expectations in 2022. [8] In the 1979 World Series, the Orioles won three of the first four games against the Pittsburgh Pirates and seemed to be on the verge of winning the championship, when the Pirates, led by Willie Stargell, rebounded to win the final three games. They put the tarp down at the end of batting practice, and by then it was raining pretty heavily. This is as much of an education for me as it is for them, he says. Elliott: After trading away Jonathan Quick, Kings make more deals ahead of trade deadline, After four decades, trainer Ed Moger gets his first Triple Crown starter, An exclusive look at details of Chip Kellys two-year contract extension from UCLA, His shoe game is pretty tight. Why Dodgers hope Miguel Rojas play matches his swag, Rats in the laundry? I loved everything about him, especially the way he would pick off every would be base-stealer. True story. I have searched far and wide across the great landscape of the Internet and have yet to find a trace of footage showing Dempsey sliding across a rain-soaked turf. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? Then I "hit" the long drive to straightaway center field and started to take the home-run trot. In '78, Dempsey took over behind the plate, and upped his hitting to non-embarrassing levels, at .259/.327/.356 with six homers. What made that tarp act even more special was that Sammy Stewart came out and pitched to me, as if he was Jim Palmer, who had given up those two home runs. Lets look at the 10 most comical moments in Orioles history: 1. With the worst record in professional baseball. You might get hurt." It is and it isnt. Spent eight years at MLB.com, more than half of that as the Mets beat writer. There, he would pantomime Babe Ruth hitting a home run, complete with called shot. No one liked you and most of the veterans were cold and didnt want to talk. Former MASN analyst Rick Dempsey, who had worked on the Orioles' pre- and postgame shows since 2007, admits the ballclub's decision to move on from him as part of the cuts at MASN "is. Houston Mitchell is an assistant sports editor, writer of the Dodgers Dugout newsletter and editor of all of the sports newsletters for the Los Angeles Times. I remember turning toward him and he was right in my face, Dempsey says. In a 24-year career, Dempsey played in 1,765 games, accumulating 1,093 hits in 4,692 at bats for a .233 career batting average along with 96 home runs and 471 runs batted in. Rick Dempsey Rain Delay Theater, Part ISept. Loved it! Which is why such a swing of emotions unfolded when Indians center fielder Brad Komminsk seemed to take a home run away from Ripken Jr. on this September night at Memorial Stadium, only to have his momentum carry him over the center-field wall. Which leads to this piece on Rick Dempsey's rain-delay entertainment: I wasnt sleeping too good, trying to think of ways to get us going. The ball was worth $6.5 million. 4. He possessed a cannon for an arm and was a magician who helped guide some of the games greatest pitching staffs to a pair of World Series titles, picking up a World Series MVP for himself along the way. But Dempsey is also remembered as the man who turned rain delays into interpretive theater. Rick Dempsey Found 137 people in Texas, Florida and 44 other states. Rick Dempsey was a catcher for 24 MLB seasons and MVP of the 1983 World Series in which the Orioles beat the Phillies. I sat there crying asking myself is this what its come to? Sports Baseball. The Comedic Stylings Of Rick Dempsey Published on 5/9/2007 by GC When Gary Thorne is the one embarrassed at your poor choice of words, something has gone horribly wrong. To Dempsey, baseball, and Bakersfields place in it, is not a humorous matter. Today. I went up the line a little and he knocked the living shit out of me. Good thing the man has such a great sense of humor. This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. Thats not really me.. Dempsey would point to the outfield seats, then hit an invisible pitch with an exaggerated swing. Included in this is the famous Rick Dempsey. This was Dempsey at the height of his rain delay powers, his one-man show at Fenway Park in 1977 when he pantomimed Babe Ruth, dashed around the tarp-covered diamond and ultimately plunged headfirst into home plate. Just e-mail your list of the 12 greatest L.A. Dodgers, ranked in order, to houston.mitchell@latimes.com. The mark Rick Dempsey left was to be forever tied in with rain delay theatrics as he basically invented the genre (go to the 4:42 mark ): If YouTube had existed at the time it would have. Dempsey joined the Air National Guard in 1969, which allowed him to continue playing for much of the summer and he played well back in the Midwest League, hitting .364 in 151 at-bats. You could tell he was in his element. One time in Toronto, one of the Blue Jays staffers called me and asked me to do it. We want Dempsey!" We had our share of arguments, too. When he retired as a player, he had three broadcasting offers. Yeah, a Rick Dempsey rain delay was a gas, and Wild Bill Hagy was more popular than the mayor, but when the Birds took the field, they never arrived via a fire-spewing UFO that descended from the . Dempsey may have gotten along with Martin and Martin with him but Martin was fired after the season and Dempsey found himself in the Double-A Southern League in each of the next two seasons. The decade wasnt always great, though. I wouldnt tell them that stuff. He managed at Bakersfield in the Class-A California League to a 10th-place finish in 1993 before guiding Albuquerque of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League to a title in 1994 and a fifth-place finish in 1995. Baltimore became the first visiting team to win Games 3, 4 and 5 since 1961, when the New York Yankees did so vs. the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field. Dempsey first performed his act during a rain delay at Fenway Park in 1977, well short of the YouTube and DVR generation. He hit .206 in 102 at-bats with nine RBIs. When I was a kid, This Week in Baseball hosted by Mel Allen would occasionally show how Rick Dempsey entertained fans during rain delays during baseball games.