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Nov 18, 2011 73 Dislike Share Save TheHalocodplayer 8 subscribers This montage was shown during a Boston Red Sox rain delay back in 1983. That was that.. This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. Sudakis was traded to the Angels after the season. The downside is that he set my expectations too high for what I should reasonably expect of a catcher. We ended up winning the World Series with what was the worst team, on paper, in history.. (Photo by Focus on Sport via Getty Images). That was so embarrassing to start one game all season long. The incident earned him a one-game suspension from the league. He remained the starting catcher through 1986 but hit just .208 at the age of 36. Dempsey was back in upstate New York in 1973, spending the majority of the season with Syracuse of the Triple-A International League, where he hit .248 with 47 RBIs. 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. Last night, our good. Dempsey does tell them stories. Dempsey was ejected from one game for bumping an umpire. He talked about players and the things theyd done.. He would even pantomime the pitching. It ran its course and that was it.. "Yeah, sure you did!". He told my mother dont change the furniture in my room because Id probably be back in six weeks. Odds & lines subject to change. 31 - RickDempsey, Friday Bird Droppings: Where Adley and Grayson put on a show. I got along with him really well.. I thought he was a great players manager. They knew that if anyone got in trouble, I was the one who was going to end up paying for the balls. Your email address will not be published. Think throwing a no-hitter got you a free pass in those days? He added that Ripken took a liking to him and polished him up behind the plate. Consider his "rain delay theater" a blend of both, and one of the more famous comedy bits in MLB history. [1] When Scioscia was injured during Game 4 of the World Series, Dempsey took over behind the plate for the remainder of the Series, collecting an RBI double in Game 5. Dupree crumpled to the dirt in a heap, several bones in his face fractured. 2023 Orioles vs. projections: Cionel Prez. His buddy Munson would die in a plane crash on Aug. 2, 1979. [1] Dempsey is one of only 29 players to play in four different calendar decades. 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 . Sep 26, 2022 #79 Almonte is entertainingly bad in the field. Then he started telling jokes, and then stories about the big leagues. So, to pigeon-hole Dempsey as simply the guy who ran around in the rain would not do justice to someone who was one of baseballs most durable and dependable players for 24 seasons. He had the most impact on me of any person or player. Whats interesting is that the idea to perform in the rain was actually Sparky Lyles and not Dempseys. Here he is, with the Bakersfield Dodgers, and in his very first season as manager, his is the worst team in the Class-A California League. 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 put a pillow in my shirt so I could look a little bit like Babe Ruth. I went to Albuquerque and won a title and had two good years there. He started the 1976 season as Munsons backup but was dealt to Baltimore in a blockbuster deal on June 15 that also saw Tippy Martinez, Rudy May, Scott McGregor and Dave Pagan headed to the Os in exchange for Doyle Alexander, Ken Holtzman, Grant Jackson, Jimmy Freeman and Elrod Hendricks. Were getting to that age where we have to keep an eye on each other. Gambling problem? The Yankees had already won the division because the Red Sox eliminated us on Friday, and we knocked them out of it with a win on Saturday. It started to rain and everyone left the field and when they covered it up, there was one baseball on the tarp. Dempsey grabs the mic1986Dempsey turned his act musical in 1986, when he serenaded a rain delay crowd to Chuck Berrys classic Johnny B. Goode. Soon, Dempsey & the Invisible Orioles Magic Band was born, complete with Eddie Murray and Floyd Rayford on the drums, Mike Boddicker on bass and John Habyan and others handling backup vocals. The Business of Baseball: In Praise of Peter Angelos? During his career, which spanned from 1969-1992, Dempsey was known as one of the best defensive catchers in the game. [6], For the next ten and a half seasons, Dempsey would remain as the Orioles' starting catcher. He told me he gave that ball to the Hall of Fame. Top 40 Orioles of All Time: #20, Rick Dempsey. He eventually came out and I said Im sorry Mr. Claire, I never give up on anything, dont make me do it now. Lets look at the 10 most comical moments in Orioles history: 1. After his tenure with the Orioles ended in 1986, Dempsey signed with Cleveland for the 1987 season, where he did little and was released in October. I did another version of it in Milwaukee one night. Max Power So, I said okay, Ill play for the worst team in baseball before I play for the Orioles., The Case of the Missing Folder: A Two-Part Hollywood Mystery. Weaver had history with Haller; years earlier, hed publicly said Haller shouldnt be allowed to call Tigers games because his brother, Tom, was their backup catcher. View contact information: phones, addresses, emails and networks. Same deal -- it was a rainy day, and Babe Ruth called his shot. (Photo by: Ron Kuntz Collection/Diamond Images/Getty Images). It was a lot of fun because I was flexible enough to get around the field without pulling a muscle or breaking anything. He was an interim manager while playing in Puerto Rico in the early 80s. The team was flying to Milwaukee from Cleveland and Munson and a few other players were chiding Sudakis on the flight about Dempsey being the true backup catcher. 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. You might get hurt." Dempsey made his Major League debut on Sept. 23 against the Royals at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City. He also appeared in six games for the Yankees before embarking on a journey that would last another 18 years in the Major Leagues. Dempsey didnt want to start anything on the plane but when the team arrived at the hotel in Milwaukee, Sudakis started in again and a fight ensued. 2. This time they won, topping the Phillies in five games with Dempsey earning the Series MVP after hitting .385 with four doubles and a homer. Thanks for sharing your memories, Enchanting Sunshine. Autograph - Q&A Segment . (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images), A PITSTOP ON THE WAY TO ANOTHER WORLD SERIES. 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. Football Memorabilia. Thats where I made my mark. The hard way. The people were screaming as if I had just hit a home run to win the seventh game of the World Series. I told him I can go home and start my managing career and that Id be okay, Dempsey said. But at least he is gathering good material and having a few good laughs, right? All rights reserved. 8. Verified account Protected Tweets @; Suggested users When the music was over I threw the ball to the fans in left field. We had a day off in Minnesota and the Yankees were in the same hotel. Good thing the man has such a great sense of humor. I used to listen to him and Jim Palmer battling. He was mentioned again as a possible candidate for the Baltimore manager's job in 2010, after the firing of Dave Trembley. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Well, for that I think of him pronouncing Melky Cabrera's first name as "Milky." Dempsey became the Orioles starting catcher in 1978 and held that position for a decade, helping the Orioles to the World Series in 1979 [they lost in seven games to Pittsburgh] and then again in 1983. Thanks for sharing your memories, Enchanting Sunshine. I loved everything about him, especially the way he would pick off every would be base-stealer. Now, its too late for me to take a managing job. But I learned how to handle a good staff with Baltimore and ended up being the everyday catcher for 10 years. Baseball Players. Then he grabbed a bat and beckoned for a pitcher. He went to Spring Training with Baltimore in 1992 and didnt make the club, getting cut the last week of camp. He told me I did a great job. It was pretty neat because my teammates kept throwing me balls so I could keep tossing them into the grandstand. [2] In 1979, the Orioles defeated the California Angels in the 1979 American League Championship Series to reach the World Series. When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. I went into the dugout, and everyone was laughing about it. For example - "C'era una volta" means "Once upon a time" in Italian and "I yli dago i . Palmer had been doing commercials for Jockey underwear, so Sammy wore briefs outside of his uniform pants. True story. Shed been hopping over railings to peck MLB stars for years, and had already planted lips on the likes of Fred Lynn, Steve Garvey, Nolan Ryan, George Brett, Don Mattingly and others. Knowledgeable. Thoughts from Brewers Nation or Is It "The Bre Flashback Friday: One of the "Forgotten Birds", Comeback Win No. It has to be tough on him. Former Orioles catcher and 1983 World Series MVP Rick Dempsey is a member of the Orioles broadcast team after five years on the club's coaching staff. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. 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?" Still, it took time for Dempsey to get any consistent playing time. He ended up hitting .304 in 19 playoff and World Series games for Baltimore. Next on her target list: Cal Ripken Jr., who would later homer in the Orioles 9-4 win over Texas. "Everyone tells me that," he replied . So Rich Dauer came running in as I was drying off and said, "Demps, they want you to come back out there! And you'll have a blast at the Rick Dempsey Rain-Delay Sliding Puddle. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. He then did an exaggerated Ruth home-run trot around the bases, sliding into each base and falling when rounding third. The idea for a line of neckties, many characterized by vibrant colors and sheens, came directly from his work with MASN, where the on-air talent is expected to dress up and look sharp. Rick Dempsey was a catcher for 24 MLB seasons and MVP of the 1983 World Series in which the Orioles beat the Phillies. The Van Nuys Valley News said he was considered a definite Major League catching prospect and the Twins agreed, drafting him in the 15th round of the First-Year Player Draft. He did this a few more times in his career, once in '82 at Milwaukee with a Robin Yount jersey on, pretending to be Yount hitting a homer. Whether Murcers presence in the lineup would have made a difference is up for debate since the Orioles won out to claim the title. They said come in Friday, well have a meeting and put you someplace but I showed up for the meeting and they didnt and that was the end of it with me and Baltimore.. [16] After only one season with the Indians, he became a free agent once again and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he would be a member of another World Series-winning team in 1988, this time as a backup catcher to Mike Scioscia. [1] Dempsey led American League catchers twice in fielding percentage, twice in baserunners caught stealing and once in assists. Later in 2006, he became the first base coach again when the team reassigned Dave Cash. Dempsey is quick to admit that bettering himself in sports, not academics, was his main focus while attending Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino. I held him to less yards that [Brian] Bosworth did. Dempsey was a darn good catcher too, mostly with the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles. I saw Thurman a couple of days before he crashed the plane, Dempsey said. I sat there crying asking myself is this what its come to? Category: Sports. , Next If the Dodgers are anything, it is young. Cionel Prez contributed beyond our expectations in 2022. He is 43 now, and trying to remain patient. Hiserman has been Sports editor of The Times San Fernando Valley and Orange County editions. 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. Tonight's rain delay in the World Series brings one name to the mind of most baseball fans: Rick Dempsey. The worst thing was, being manager, I had to call his wife and tell her what happened, Dempsey says. The Dodgers longest winning streak of the season is three. [2] After three and a half seasons with the Yankees, he was acquired along with Scott McGregor, Tippy Martinez, Rudy May and Dave Pagan by the Orioles for Ken Holtzman, Doyle Alexander, Elrod Hendricks, Grant Jackson and Jimmy Freeman at the trade deadline on June 15, 1976. Rick Dempsey Rain Delay Theater, Part I Sept. 30, 1977 A singular figure in Orioles lore, Dempsey remains beloved to this day as much for his personality as for his on-field accomplishments. Yes, that's where it all began. They'll love that!". Follow Dave Ginsburg on Twitter@Ginzy3. - 'Private cocktailParties - Pvt. I was one of those kinds of players that just pulled for all of the guys.. Rick Dempsey could be generously described as a bad hitter and probably an overrated defensive catcher. Fox ought to track down footage of it and show it during Game 5 on Tuesday, which is also expected to be rained out. Your email address will not be published. With his players, and himself. Debbie Ray. Otherwise, he said, he would have to use his gun. There is another side. Dempsey, a catcher . 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. But Sparky never did it. I took two mighty swings, twisting my body as far as it would go. 16 from Two Runs or More, The Start of Rookie League Ball in Bluefield. He came to my mothers house in 1967 in Simi Valley and I signed a contract. Football League. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. Handled pitchers well, loved to slide on wet tarps during rain delays. Nobody in the Orioles dugout was laughing when it happened, but 16 years of hindsight have lightened the mood a bit. He didn't have a good season, hitting .231/.311/.323 with four homers in 128 games. Mike Scioscia and I got a lot of accolades for turning the staff around. Mike Bordick, Rick Dempsey On What 2020 Season Will Offer For Orioles PressBox. Manager Earl Weaver #4 and catcher Rick Dempsey #24 of the Baltimore Orioles stands on the mound to make a pitching change during an Major League Baseball game circa 1982 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland. We want Dempsey!" Nfl Teams. Rick Dempsey and Dave Ginsburg co-authored a book called If These Walls Could Talk: Baltimore Orioles. But Dempsey is also remembered as the man who turned rain delays. A story Dempsey might want to tell his Bakersfield team. We were childhood friends, and I made him give it to me. Watch. Then, in the late 1980s, he moved over to play near his familys home in Agoura Hills, becoming a lovable and laughable Dodger Stuntman. He helped the young pitchers, kept the clubhouse loose and won games by driving in a run once in a while. A steady rain postponed the Milwaukee Brewers-Baltimore Orioles game at County Stadium, but it didn't stop Rick Dempsey and Sammy Stewart from reenacting the final game of the Orioles' 1982. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? Dempsey was one of the best defensive catchers in the latter half of the 20th century. I said, "I don't think it's going to work this time.". They say, "That's the guy who ran around on the tarp." He quickly tossed Weaver, and Weaver responded by spewing an animated, profanity-laced tirade. List of Major League Baseball players who played in four decades, 100 Best Percentage of Baserunners caught stealing 1956-2007, Catcher Encyclopedia, "For Catchers, The Name of the Game is Defense", "Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame at MLB.com", Orfalea, Gregory. Whenever I think of Dempsey as a player, two memories come to mind: his rain delay routine and his 1983 World Series MVP. He was hooked on baseball and had been so since an early when he began listening to Vin Scully on Dodger broadcasts as an 8-year-old. It's a danceoff! Im going to hit a homer every 24 at-bats, drive in a run every five at-bats, turn your staff around, win the division, win the playoffs and then win the World Series.