18 APRIL 1987

[BOSSHOG]

3-Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh. A nice Saturday afternoon, Pirates hosting the Phillies. Ninth inning. At bat, the greatest third basemean ever to play the game. Samuel on third, Hayes on first. Don Robinson on the mound. The pitch. Its a long fly ball. That ball's outta here. There it is, the 500th home run of Michael Jack Schmidt's career, as called by the late, great Harry Kalas.

A mere 22 years ago when 500 home run calls weren't accompanied by accusations of drug use and congressional hearings. One could call it the good ole days.

[MrPerson]

1. I was at that game. Field box. Behind the backstop

[Forkboy]

2. What's really changed isn't the games so much, as the coverage they get.

I'm willing to bet the "good ole days" would have had as much scandal and accusations of cheating had there been the 24/7 sports coverage that's come along since the advent of ESPN. It's not like sports teams were angels back then. Hell, the Raiders alone could have had their own channel. But like CNN and the news channels, they have to fill time, and that means covering anything and everything that comes along, and going out of their way to find stories, or even create them themselves (the media loves that).

Of course, none of that changes what Schmidt did. He was still a hell of a ballplayer, and a major step up from today's "heroes". I was a big Yastrzemski guy, myself.

[GOPisEvil]

4. Back then, it was amphetamines.

In fact, Mike Schmidt himself admitted to using them when he was a player.

I doubt baseball has ever been truly clean.

[BeachBaby]

3. Yo, BOSS.

I just got home from the funeral for Harry. I couldn't get in - so we watched it from Chickie's & Pete's.

I've never seen Philly so mobbed, yet sooooo quiet. We all kept it together until Mike did his eulogy. That's when we lost it.

I'm glad I went, but it was - by far - the most moving funeral I've ever attended.

[MrPerson]

5. Don't forget the Pittsburgh Drug Trials of the Mid-80's

[madinmaryland]

6. Brooks Robinson played for the phillies???

:wtf: