Dave Ross, of Sidney, spoke recently at a joint meeting of the Sidney Rotary Sidney Kiwanis clubs.
Ross travels to the Cincinnati Reds training camp every year, then provides an update of how he believes the Reds will do during the year and recaps all of the spring training events.
Ross reminded club members that it is not all about the home runs and the strike outs. It is about a game that has given many memories over the years, and it is about the people who manage the team and play the game and relationships that have been built.
Ross talked about a meeting that he had one morning while going to the spring training ball game. He saw a man walking in front of him and caught up with him just to talk about the Reds and how this individual thought that they were going to do. The man walking in front of him turned out to be Lou Piniella, who is back with the Reds as a special assistant. Piniella has been involved in baseball all of his life and was the coach of the Reds when they last won the World Series in 1990. They did not talk about the superstars in today’s game. There was no mention of Bryce Harper or Clayton Kershaw or even Alex Rodriguez. Ross said. They spoke about the past. They talked about a restaurant that they both used to visit when the Reds camp was in Florida. They talked about the time that Piniella was in the restaurant when robbers came in and demanded everyone’s money. Piniella talked about their pitching coach, Stan Williams, and how he was more worried about the money that he won at the track then the robbers hurting him. Williams put the money in his sock because he was scared that the robbers would find it. Piniella also talked about what a character Williams was when he pitched. Piniella said that Williams was a very good pitcher on a staff of excellent pitchers. Back when Williams pitched, Piniella told Ross, contracts were not large and players had to argue for every penny. During negotiations, Williams asked what he could do better and the owner advised him to cut back on his walks. Williams negotiated that into his contract, and the next year, he reduced the number of walks that he gave up. Ross recounted that whenever Williams was close to walking someone towards the end of the year, he just hit the batter instead of walking him. That way, he ensured himself of a bonus.
Ross talked about the neighboring town of Buckeye, Arizona, that has ties to Sidney and possible changes in the designated hitter rule. He talked about the great start that the Reds are off to and how local ball players are doing.
