Moe Drabowsky: 1935-2006

by SC on Jun 12, 2006 11:29 AM EDT in News Comment 7 comments

Moe Drabowsky died Saturday at age 70 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Drabowsky pitched for the Orioles from 1966-1968 and in 1970. He was a legendary prankster and also had been working for the O's the last 13 seasons as an instructor in Florida.

Drabowsky's greatest accomplishment came in game one of the 1966 World Series, when he struck out 11 batters in 6 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. He was also the first Royals pitcher to ever win a game, gave up Stan Musial's 3000th hit, and was the loser in Early Wynn's 300th win. From the AP article:

Slipping sneezing powder into the air conditioning system of the opponent's locker room was a pet trick. So was putting goldfish in the other team's water cooler. He was a master at hotfoots and claimed [Bowie] Kuhn as one of his victims, lighting the commissioner's shoe on fire during the Orioles' 1970 Series win over Cincinnati.

Oh, and the snakes: Because of Drabowsky, they'd show up in shaving kits, lockers and many other places. During a reunion dinner in Baltimore, in fact, one of them slithered out of Brooks Robinson's bread basket and frightened him.

Drabowsky made his share of crank calls from bullpen phones, too. He used the one at Anaheim Stadium to order takeout food from a Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong. His favorite gag ever, he said, came at old Municipal Stadium in Kansas City.

"I had pitched there for a few years so I was familiar with the phone system. I knew the extension of the Kansas City bullpen and you could dial it direct from the visitor's bullpen," Drabowsky once recalled.

"One game, Jim Nash of the Athletics is cruising against us in about the fifth inning. So I call their bullpen and shout 'Get Krausse up' and hang up.

"You should've seen them scramble, trying to get Lew Krausse warmed up in a hurry," Drabowsky said. "It really was funny."

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Why

aren't there more like this. I love me a good prank. And why on earth are people fined for tarp sliding? That's a great staple of the old american game.

P.A., P.A., Go Away, come back NO OTHER DAY!!!

by dayzd toe on Jun 12, 2006 12:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Because this is a

pussyier game name, all of the things steroids, HGH etc. the lack of players with personality pisses me off the most, you look back and see all the players throughout history and the great pranksters and personalitys there were now its just gotta be politicaly correct and not say anything or do anything (dont wanna lose your job or get fined!!) I mean just last year Jake Peavy was fined for betting a bat boy if he could drink a gallon of milk, and the bat boy lost his job too!! AHHH!! Where have all the Rabbit Maranville's, Mark Fidrych's, and Moe Drabowsky's gone. But whatever.

"We're so bad right now that for us back-to-back home runs means one today and another one tomorrow" Earl Weaver

by Larry Bigbie3 on Jun 12, 2006 12:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

now and then

"And why on earth are people fined for tarp sliding?"

"I mean just last year Jake Peavy was fined for betting a bat boy if he could drink a gallon of milk, and the bat boy lost his job too!!"

Mark Buerhle 2006 Salary: $7,750,000.00 Brad Penny 2006 Salary: $5,500,000.00

There's too much money at stake now days. Guys get injured in regular ways all of the time. If you were a GM and allowed your $7.75M pitcher blow out his knee screwing around during a rain delay or your $5.5M pitcher to rupture something because of a ball boy milk challenge, you would be a laughingstock and run out of town. Not only would the team be on the hook for the salary of the injured player, they would also have to pay someone to replace him. Now, imagine if an injury like that altered a pennant race or playoff series. I do agree that firing the ball boy was a little harsh, though.

Sorry to be a stick in the mud.

"Hi, I'm Earl Weaver"- Earl Weaver

by erudite on Jun 12, 2006 3:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

True but in all likely hood

your going to hurt yourself anyway if you rupture something watching a bat boy drink milk. And thats not even it what about harmless pranks like putting fish in the water cooler. Its bull shit at its finest.

"We're so bad right now that for us back-to-back home runs means one today and another one tomorrow" Earl Weaver

by Larry Bigbie3 on Jun 12, 2006 4:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

1966

That 1966 Game One is one of those moments one remembers. I was a theatere student at Towson State and we set up a tv set in the shop. Moe was great, of course. The whole country was expecting the Orioles to be outclassed.

Have just started reading BLACK AND BLUE, a book about the series, a birthday gift from my Balt. friend here in LA. Did not know that Charlie Lau suggested that the Orioles get Moe.

Man, those were fun days to be an Oriole fan.

Now, not so much....

"Killing a Yankee fan -- is that illegal in this state?" -- Homicide Life on the Street

by BirdFanLA on Jun 12, 2006 5:53 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs