DiPietro doing his part to get Windsor to the final
BEN WALKER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Steve Sax won two World Series rings, was a five-time All- Star and got nearly 2,000 hits in the big leagues.
Yet to many fans, it’s those halfdozen lines he uttered to a bunch of yellow cartoon characters a long time ago that really made him famous.
“I get asked as much about being on as I do about baseball,” Sax said this week. “They don’t want to know how it was to hit against Nolan Ryan. They want to know about being on that show.” All thanks to Still hugely popular 25 years after it first aired, that episode featuring the voices of Ken Griffey Jr., Darryl Strawberry, Jose Canseco and a lineup full of luminaries gets a fitting tribute Saturday from the national pastime.
That’s when the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., will present a plaque to Homer — well, really a piece of paper. Plus, a
exhibit will open inside the shrine.
Actual Hall members Ozzie Smith and Wade Boggs will be in town to talk about taping their roles as Homer’s teammates on the ringered-up Springfield Nuclear Plant softball squad, as will Sax.
Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly was playing for the New York Yankees when he lent his voice to the animated show that was sweeping the nation.
“I didn’t know a whole lot about it, honestly. I knew it was hot and my kids watched it, but I didn’t really know that much,” he said.
Doesn’t to this day, either. He’s never seen the half-hour episode from start to finish.
“No, not the whole Mattingly said.
But plenty of people saw
KYLE CICERELLA
THE CANADIAN PRESS
WINDSOR, Ont. — Windsor Spitfires coach Rocky Thompson isn’t asking his team to play a perfect game at the Memorial Cup.
It hasn’t been needed with Michael DiPietro in net.
“When we make mistakes we have a great goaltender who can make a save for us,” said Thompson.
“In a tight game, playoffs, whatever, you’re gonna need your goalie to make a big save and ( he’s) made more than one.”
DiPietro is outplaying his competition at the Memorial Cup, and is a big reason why the Spitfires won three straight games to reach the four-team tournament final.
The 17- year- old goaltender leads the high- scoring competition with a 1.67 goals- against average and .939 save percentage. In comparison, Saint John Sea Dogs netminder Callum Booth is second with a 3.57 GAA and .882 save percentage.
In each of Windsor’s victories, DiPietro was called upon at a certain point to bail his team out. Every time he came through.
“I like that I can be a game changer, a factor, I love the pressure,” said DiPietro, who is eligible for this summer’s NHL Draft.
DiPietro, six-foot 193 pounds, decided at nine years old he wanted to become a goaltender after watching his stepbrother Mark play the position. Through major novice he was a defenceman, but was inspired by the reaction Mark got from a crowd when making a save even in youth house league.
The Amherstburg, Ont., native said from that point forward goaltending was what he wanted to do and he grew up idolizing L.A. Kings netminder Jonathan Quick.
“The way he battles, competes, I like to model my game after him,” said DiPietro.
In Windsor’s Simpsons the night it aired on Feb. 20, 1992. In their third season, Bart & Co. outdrew for the first time in a head-to-head matchup, and also topped the telecast of the Winter Olympics.
The show took months to assemble, with players taping when their teams played at Dodger Stadium or the Angels in Anaheim during the 1991 season. Members of
staff divvied up which guys they would direct.
Executive story editor Jeff Martin, a Red Sox fan from his days of rooting for Carl Yastrzemski, drew Boston pitcher Roger Clemens. opener, DiPietro helped to stave off a late barrage by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Saint John Sea Dogs to hold on for a 3-2 win — the only one-goal game at the tournament.
He wasn’t needed often in the Spitfires’ second game against the Western Hockey League champion Seattle Thunderbirds, but a desperation save on the first shift of the game while tied at zeros set the tone.
Windsor responded with three goals in 38 seconds, tying the Memorial Cup record for the three fastest goals set back in 1978, en route to a 7-1 victory.
“I saw it and was like ‘ oh god,’ and I got my stick on it, got me in the game,” he said about the puck he pulled off the goal-line.
DiPietro then stopped 33- of35 shots — including 28 in the final two periods — for a 4- 2 win against the explosive Erie Otters, Ontario Hockey League champions.
“Mikey DiPietro was the reason once again we could hold onto that lead and give us a chance to play for something as prestigious as the Memorial Cup,” said Thompson.
With his hometown
Great, only one hitch: Martin had to inform the imposing Clemens the script called for him to cluck like a chicken. Over and over. D’oh! “I had visions of telling him and having him stomp out,” Martin recalled this week from Fenway Park. “But without missing a beat, he started clucking away.”
Clemens was fine with his character being put under a spell by a hypnotist. In the cartoon, Sax was arrested for hundreds of unsolved murders in New York.
“I liked mine in the show. Got to show off my rough side,” Sax joked. 35- minute drive south from Windsor, he had more than 20 friends and family in attendance to watch the game against Erie, including Mark and his parents. Seeing them in the crowd is a common occurrence through his first two seasons with the Spitfires.
“I’m very thankful for them,” said DiPietro.
The Memorial Cup is a great time for a goalie to get hot and put together a streak, but DiPietro’s play has been consistent all season.
He tied the Spitfires franchise record for goals- against average this season with a 2.35 while setting the new shutout standard with six. Three of them were in a row as he went 209 minutes 23 seconds without allowing a goal — another team record.
He’s currently ranked No. 4 on the central scouting list for North American goalies, but isn’t thinking much about June’s draft with Sunday’s championship game awaiting.
“I think this tournament gives me another way to showcase my ability, it’s a big stage,” said DiPietro. “But I’m not focused on the draft right now, our goal is to win the Memorial Cup.”
The only player who wasn’t happy with his part was Canseco — rather than a scandalous plot, he wanted to be more gallant. And the crew got every star it wanted except one, with Ryne Sandberg passing and Sax taking his place at second base.
In the episode, most major leaguers hired by the evil Mr. Burns to play for Springfield in the championship game vs. the Shelbyville Nuclear Plant are befallen by some odd fate. Strawberry is the lone starter, and Homer pinch hits for him in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs and the bases loaded.