One of my favorite things was one time I met Oates at one of those Q&A's at the old Winter Carnivals.
I thought for a long time about a question I wanted to ask that I thought he'd never been asked before. So it was my turn, and I said "I wanted to think of a question you hadn't been asked before, Johnny. Here it is. Your first job with the Rangers was managing the replacement players. Are any of those guys still in baseball now?" (this was 99 I believe).
He thought for a second, and said "You're right - nobody's ever asked me that before". Then ratted off about 2-3 players he thought were still active somewhere. :)
One of my favorite things was one time I met Oates at one of those Q&A's at the old Winter Carnivals.
I thought for a long time about a question I wanted to ask that I thought he'd never been asked before. So it was my turn, and I said "I wanted to think of a question you hadn't been asked before, Johnny. Here it is. Your first job with the Rangers was managing the replacement players. Are any of those guys still in baseball now?" (this was 99 I believe).
He thought for a second, and said "You're right - nobody's ever asked me that before". Then ratted off about 2-3 players he thought were still active somewhere. :)
More great stuff. Thanks Jeff and TR. I love the memories.
I had a chance to meet Johnny Oates at spring training once and a more genuine man would be hard to find. Thanks for TR’s reminiscences.