Hat tip to loyal OTMer tommy for pointing out a great feature in The Globe about Gene Conley, a two-sport athlete that played for the Celtics and Red Sox at one point in his life. Conley reflects on the past and puts his two cents in on some things. Here are the best parts:
"Josh Beckett - I don't buy the blisters," Conley says. "Get out there and suck it up. Earn your money."
He also would gladly trade Red Sox rookie phenom Jacoby Ellsbury to obtain pitcher Johan Santana from Minnesota.
"You get 3-4 good pitchers, you can win," he says. "You can put Joe Blow in the field and still win."
[...]
In the 1959 game in Los Angeles, he struck out Ted Williams on an overhand curveball.
"He missed it by this wide," says the righthander, holding his arms 2 feet apart. "I saw him 25 years later at a Jimmy Fund tournament. And I said to him, 'I'm Gene Conley.' He said, 'I know who you are, for crying out loud, Conley. And I also remember that dinky curveball you threw to strike me out with.' I said, 'Dinky curveball?' You missed it by that far."
Joe Blow? I think he's a little confused. You can stick "Julio Lugo" out there and still win.