Best Seat on the Bench
In the writing of Pen Men: Baseball’s Greatest Bullpen Stories Told by the Men Who Brought the Game Relief, Bob Cairns had the pleasure of spending time with some of the game’s great pranksters.
Divide and Conquer
Fred Barakat, who headed the ACC referees shared this V berating the pinstripes bench story. NC State was playing Duke at State’s Reynolds’s Coliseum, and it came down to one call at the end of the game. And anyone who knew the ACC in those days knew that Lennie Wertz, a little blond ref was (or at least it seemed to us fans) going to be in the middle of a big call at the end of a nailbiter.
Bench Wrestling
It was little known during those days in the 80s but the fact was that V and Tommie Abatemarco, his head recruiter, had not only been together for years---Iona, etc. but they had this thing where they, at often the most surprising and inappropriate times, liked to wrestle. They moved furniture back and wrestled at lunch time in Sam Esposito’s baseball office.
Back-seat Bench
Former sports columnist at Greensboro News & Record and Winston-Salem Journal. Being an athlete in junior high school had its perks, not the least of which was being called out of seventh period to join the rest of your teammates in the locker room.
Fits Like A Glove
Sitting in the dugout with a left-handed pitcher and a Shortstop during a college baseball game, I watched the lefty pick up the shortstop’s glove, try it on and pound his fist into the pocket like we all have done a thousand times.