the nutz: Celebrity Sighting

Today I will begin another new edition to The Nutz. It is called "Celebrity Sighting". A celebrity sighting is when at any point I see a celebrity up close. It could be just in passing, at the bar, during a sporting event...whatever. Whenever I come across a celebrity, I will write about him or her. Let's get to the recent celeb I came across.

Last week I was asked by the head baseball coach of the local high school in my hometown to come to his baseball field and take a look at what could be done to fix up the dead sod and it's misshaping. Well, the coach, Jeremy Kitson, was telling me stories the last couple of weeks before about a man that had moved to Palm Coast that has been helping him out. The man he speaks of has tons of experience and I was even able to catch a couple of stories of his playing days with stars like Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente, for example. His name is Woody Woodward. Woodward was a Major League player for 8 years with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and more noticeably being the shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds in the early 70s before Dave Concepcoin. In 1965 he led NL second basemen in fielding average. Later he was the general manager for the New York Yankees (1985-1988), the Seattle Mariners (1989-1999). In Florida he is more famous for playing and coaching at Florida State. Kitson introduced him to me, which I immediately thought should have been the other way around. The man is very knowledgeable of the game and the way he was explaining situations to the kids was like nothing I have ever seen. Not once did he get in the way or try to change Coach Kitson's mind during practice, it was pretty cool to watch. I asked him if he was the one that drafted Ken Griffey Jr. when he was the GM not knowing at the time that it was two years before his stint there. He said, "No, I wasn't there then but he was at the top of my list when I was with New York, but we already knew he wasn't going to fall past #1." He was really great to talk to very...personable. Like he was just a regular person, until he had to excuse himself for the conversation to take a private phone call from Johnny Bench. Kitson told me some stories that he told him about how much Joe Morgan was an ass to play with, worst than what the media tells, when he was with the Reds. Also, how when he was a shortstop, if Willie Mays hit a grounder to him, he knew that he had time to throw him out because Mays never ran anything out if it was hit right at someone. Suppose to be going out with Kitson and Woodward this week or next to a new sports bar that opened up in my town, hopefully I will hear more stories.

Some of his career accomplishments:

-was a career .236 hitter with only one homer

-played in four games of the 1970 World Series against the Baltimore Orioles

-notable draft picks

---Brad Ausmus 48th round (New York)

---Alex Rodriguez 1st overall (Seattle)

---Gil Meche 22nd overall (Seattle)

---Bret Boone 6th round (Seattle)

---Derek Lowe 8th round (Seattle)

---Barry Zito 59th round (Seattle)

-notable trades

---Mark Langston to Montreal for Randy Johnson (1989)