Oh, The Days Of “That’s It, I’ve Seen Enough, You’re On Your Way To Columbus”
Jesse Spector catches up with Dennis Rasmussen and shares this great story –
Visiting the Chicago Cubs’ spring training camp, and seeing Lou Piniella, his old manager from his Yankees days, Dennis Rasmussen can’t help but think back to the 1986 season that put him on the map as a major leaguer. If George Steinbrenner had gotten his way, it never would have happened.
“It was spring training, and I was fighting for the fifth (starter’s) job with Tommy John,” Rasmussen says. “I was pitching in Pompano (Beach, Fla., against the Texas Rangers), and the wind was blowing out, short ballpark, and I gave up a wind-blown homer to Curtis Wilkerson, and I got taken out of the game shortly thereafter.
“Mr. Steinbrenner stood up in the stands, apparently, among many writers, and said, ‘That’s it, I’ve seen enough, you’re on your way to Columbus.’ But then Tommy John got hurt, pulled something in his back, so I got another chance. … I pitched seven innings, gave up one run, Lou named me the fifth starter and I went on, with the help of all my teammates, including Dave Righetti, who saved his (then-record) 46th save as my 18th win – I went 18-6. What almost wasn’t, and might not have happened, became a year that propelled me into being a legitimate major league starter.”
I’m hoping that Bill Madden’s coming book on Big Stein is full of these stories. He really was something back in the day…
He really was something back in the day…
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And not in a good way.
@ MJ Recanati:
Yeah, that’s right, the Yankees were a much better team when CBS was calling the shots.
Yep, he got in the way of a number of careers.
Still a bit surprised Knucksie was let go in 86. Not like the Yanks had pitching to spare.
He was something back in the day but he was our something and ,whether you liked him or not, you still couldn’t wait to hear what was next and I miss him. We have so many memories of him and it saddens me to see him the way he is. I guess he was his own “reality show” and I always tuned in!!
@ mondoas:
Not me. I don’t miss him one bit. He was a horrible human being, no matter how much money he gives out to charity. You can’t treat people the way he treated them.
@ Steve Lombardi:
I wasn’t alive for the CBS years. All I know is that, in my lifetime, Steinbrenner made the team a laughingstock and brought more shame to the team than all of the bogus “embarrassing the stripes” posts you’ve put on here about A-Rod and all the other guys you hate. Steinbrenner was a lout, a brute, a bully and a bastard. I feel sorrow for his loved ones as they have to see a man they love in his declining years. But strictly as a Yankee fan, I can’t forgive Steinrbrenner for doing all the terrible things he did while he was ruling the team like Josef Stalin.