Some of the most outrageous characters come from baseball

The Toronto Blue Jays have been a major disappointment this year.

I stopped watching them the day they slid below .500.

I have a Jays golf bag I really like but I put it in the furnace room that same day.

My son is a die-hard Jays fan. He still watches every game. I’m a bandwagon guy and I’m off the Blue Jays bandwagon. Go Dodgers! Go Mariners!

I can still watch baseball, I just can’t watch the Blue Jays. They need a re-build and I, for one, would like to see general manager Ross Atkins and manager John Gibbons gone, replaced with two guys who believe in “small ball,” bunting, stealing, runners in motion, instead of always counting on the long-ball. When the Jays don’t hit homers, they don’t win ball games. What a whiner I am. When I think baseball, I think of the characters the game has attracted over the years: Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, a Tigers pitcher who used to talk to the baseball.

Remember Charlie O. Findley, who owned the Oakland A’s? He didn’t know much about baseball, but he was a great promoter.

He came up with the idea of the designated hitter (for which I will never forgive him) and was the first to suggest World Series games be played at night.

Findley also introduced the orange baseball, insisted his players wear bright green and gold uniforms and sport thick moustaches and heavy sideburns.

He once offered a cash bonus to Vida Blue if he would legally change his name to True Blue.

Blue responded that Charlie could change his name to True Findley and keep his money.

Casey Stengel was another character. He managed three New York teams; the Dodgers, the Yankees and the Mets. He was the “Early Yogi Berra.”

Berra was 40 when Stengal died in 1975. Casey had notable quotes too:

“Some you win, some you lose, some you get rained out

“The Mets have shown me more ways to lose than I ever knew existed.”

“They say some of my star players drink whiskey, but I’ve found that the ones who drink milkshakes don’t win ballgames.”

“Don’t cut my throat. I might want to do that myself later.”

Stengel used to tell reporters outlandish stories, all of which ended with, “You could look it up,” which you couldn’t.

And everybody’s favourite phrase-master, Yogi Berra who gave us, among others: “We were overwhelming underdogs.” “It never happened in World Series history and it hasn’t happened since.” “The future ain’t what it used to be.” “I double-checked it six times.” “Ninety per cent of this game is 50 per cent mental.” “You can observe a lot by watching.” “Pair up in threes.” “It’s deja vu all over again.” “Nobody goes there any more. It’s too crowded.” “It ain’t over till itís over.” And my personal favourite: “If they don’t wanna come to the ballpark, how ya gonna stop ’em.”

There will never be another Yogi Berra. He died Sept. 22, 2015, four months shy of his 90th birthday.

Fred Trainor is a retired broadcaster living in Okanagan Falls. Email: fredtrainor@shaw.ca.