The Actual McCoy

By Vivian Blevins

Contributing columnist

Juneteenth 2023, and I’m interviewing Hal McCoy, Baseball Corridor of Fame Class of 2003.

To make a reference to McCoy, I informed him that again in 1969, I used to be a younger professor at Urbana School, the yearbook advisor, and a member of the Convocations Committee. That was the yr I met Jackie Robinson and was his campus escort. I knew nothing about baseball, however I knew Robinson was necessary, so I made sure he obtained a full web page within the faculty yearbook.

I informed McCoy that I used to be conscious that Robinson reintegrated American baseball after a 60-year lapse. His response was “African Individuals have improved the sport immensely, and it’s past my comprehension that they had been saved out so lengthy.”

A number of foci for the interview had been of curiosity to me, however I made a decision I’d ask him to share with my readers and me an important African Individuals who had performed for the Cincinnati Reds.

I knew McCoy had spent 61 years as a journalist, had attended Kent State College on a baseball scholarship, and had graduated with a level in journalism, however I needed to know extra. The place, for instance, did he get his pleasant humorousness, uncommon in sports activities journalism? His response, “I wish to entertain. It helps individuals take pleasure in what I write, and it simply comes pure for me.”

Inside minutes, he was telling me how he selected journalism as a serious. He was a senior at Akron East Excessive College when Rose Picciotti, the advisor for the varsity newspaper, approached him, “Hal, you’re on the basketball workforce, proper? We want a narrative on the workforce. If you happen to write it, we’ll repair it up.”

McCoy agreed and the next day, Picciotti approached him with the information that there was no have to “repair up” his story. She adopted this critique with a query, “Have you ever ever thought-about journalism?” When he gained a baseball scholarship to Kent State College and was required to declare a serious, he remembered her phrases and indicated “Journalism” on the shape and commenced writing for the coed newspaper, “The Each day Kent Stater.” Earlier than Kent State, he had assumed he would observe in his father’s footsteps and spend his work years on the Goodrich Tire and Rubber Firm in Akron.

Now 25,000 baseball tales later, McCoy begins to narrate the tales of his favourite African American baseball gamers.

He appreciated Joe Leonard Morgan (1943-2020), second baseman and Corridor of Famer. At 5’7”, Morgan was referred to as “Little Joe.” In 1978, rumors had been afloat that he was going to be depart the Reds and turn into a free agent, so McCoy wrote a column with this data. Morgan’s response to McCoy was “Don’t ever attempt to speak to me once more.” They didn’t communicate for 35 years. They performed doubles in tennis greater than as soon as and by no means spoke to one another. When McCoy was inducted into the Baseball Corridor of Fame and his relations and mates had been in attendance, Morgan greeted every of them however not McCoy- simply brushed by him and by no means mentioned a phrase.

In 2010, Morgan was serving as an advisor with the Reds and on a Sunday, each Morgan and McCoy had been within the clubhouse when Morgan known as out to McCoy, “Hey, Hal, I need to apologize. I used to be very infantile.”

McCoy’s response was, “I’ve been very infantile, too. I’ve all the time revered you as a participant and a person.”

One other African American participant for the Reds that McCoy admires was middle fielder Eric Keith Davis (born 1962). Davis was 21 years previous when he made his debut with the Reds, and McCoy calls Davis “an ideal pal to at the present time.” McCoy signifies, “His accidents saved him from being inducted into the Corridor of Fame.” As soon as McCoy took his son Brian to spring coaching, and Davis not solely performed with Brian however gave him a bat.

There was a rumor that Davis was going to be traded with the Phillies and that he was utilizing medication. McCoy wrote about each. Later, Davis wrote his autobiography, “Born to Play: the Eric Davis Story,” and he by no means talked about the McCoy incident. McCoy talks to Davis usually and says, “He is a good baseball participant and a greater particular person.”

Subsequent on the listing is correct fielder David Gene Parker (born 1951), and McCoy studies. “Parker has the very best humorousness of any participant I’ve ever lined, the membership home blue humor, one-line quips. He ought to be within the Corridor of Fame, however when he performed for the Pittsburg Pirates, there was a drug scandal. He’s a category act and an excellent participant. His teammates liked him, and at Cincinnati, he was undoubtedly a frontrunner.”

And there’s George Arthur Foster (born 1948), left fielder on McCoy’s listing. McCoy says, “When he got here to the Reds, he was shy, introverted, a troublesome interview. I used to be persistent, tried each day, and he got here round, gave me good quotes. I feel I introduced him out of his shell. We grew to become good mates and stay mates to at the present time.”

McCoy signifies, “There are 25 males on a workforce, and each has a distinct character. As a journalist, I’ve to study what they like to speak about and the right way to strategy them. As soon as at spring coaching, I used to be sitting within the left subject bleachers, entrance row, and Foster was in left subject. A participant threw me a ball, and I autographed it and threw it to George. He regarded on the autographed ball and threw it over the left subject wall.”

At all times, there’s Kenneth Griffey, Jr. (born 1969), middle fielder, and in line with McCoy, “the all-time finest baseball participant ever. His father performed earlier than him, and Griffey Junior got here from Moeller Excessive College, a well-known baseball faculty that has produced six Baseball Corridor of Famers. His dad performed earlier than him, and the Seattle Mariners traded him to the Cincinnati Reds.

“When he first got here to the Reds, we had been at a giant press convention, and Griffey mentioned to me, ‘I do know who you’re. I requested my dad and he mentioned you’re okay, so that you’re okay with me.’”

McCoy talks about being legally blind and attending spring coaching. His spouse known as each day at midday to see if he was all proper. Sooner or later Griffey grabbed the cellphone and mentioned, “You may stop calling. He’s advantageous, and I’m caring for him.”

Griffey and McCoy stay mates, and Griffey calls each Christmas with vacation greetings.

In conclusion, there’s Jose Antonio Rijo Abreu, one among McCoy’s all-time favorites who visited him carrying shirts and hats when McCoy broke his hip in 2022 and left fielder Reginald Laverne Sanders (born 1967) “one of many nicest individuals I’ve ever identified, all the time optimistic, non secular” and middle fielder Deion Luwynn Sanders (born 1967), “a flashy one that was all shtick and actually a delicate, down-to earth man.”

McCoy sums up his profession, “I’ll quickly be 83 and have finished it for 61 years. I really like baseball; I really like writing; I really like touring. And I receives a commission to do all of it.”