RIP, Mr. Lavagetto

I suppose I didn't grow up as a complete baseball nerd the way some people do today (in those pre-personal-computer days it wasn't so easy). I didn't obsess over statistics, or know instinctively whether Jimmy Foxx hit left-handed or right. But I certainly loved the game, and in particular its legends — its almost mythological stories. Cool Papa Bell flipping the switch and getting under the covers before the room got dark. Johnny Bench, exasperated, catching a fastball barehanded. Josh Gibson hitting a ball that was still rising as it cleared the fence. Ty Cobb sharpening his spikes on the dugout steps.

And, of course, the moments. Mazeroski's homer. The Shot Heard 'Round the World. The Homer in the Gloamin.' Merkle's Boner. Babe Ruth calling his shot. 

I read the books, relished the stories and the personalities.

Ironically, though, when I worked for the Oakland A's in the summer of 1990, I didn't think about meeting any of these former players. It never even occurred to me. 

One day at the Oakland Coliseum, though, a colleague walked up to me and said there was a former player in the office named "Cookie," and did I want to meet him. I said "Cookie? The only Cookie I know is Cookie Lavagetto, who broke up a potential no-hitter by Floyd Bevins with two outs in the ninth in the World Series a couple years before the Don Larson perfect game." He smiled. "Yes, that's his name — Cookie Lavagetto. Do you want to meet him?"

I said absolutely, and we hustled over. Lavagetto was indeed there, an old man, having (as I remember it) come off the golf course. He was super friendly and kind, and when I told him how honored I was to meet him he was quite pleased. I really wanted his autograph, I said, but I didn't have anything appropriate to put it on, and putting it on a blank piece of paper didn't seem right. So we agreed he'd let me know next time he planned on coming in and I'd bring in my Baseball Encyclopedia so he could autograph his page.

He died in his sleep less than a week later, before I ever got the chance.

I suppose, thinking about it now, there's no real point in me regretting my failure to get an autograph from him. What would that have changed? But I do sort of wish I could have ... I don't know. Asked if I could buy him a coffee to hear his stories? Become his best friend? 😀

Still. Opportunities missed. RIP, Mr. Lavagetto. Say hi to Mr. Bevins for me, if he's talking to you yet.

David's Dream: So last night I had one of my "action movie" dreams. Two men of Middle Eastern descent, looking extremely similar, live together in a major city (Paris? Frankfurt?) as best friends, with one of them slightly slower-of-mind, and other making some extra cash delivering food for the Middle Eastern restaurant next door. At some point they discover an illicit opportunity to turn, like, $20,000 into $100,000, and they head to the designated meeting place. On the way they run into other people carrying their own cash to the meeting for the same purpose, and rob the first, then rob the second, a white couple. While running away, the smarter one (we'll call him "Don," though in the dream no names were given) takes the money and splits off, telling the slower one (we'll call him "Dave," since it was his journey my dream more or less followed) to meet him at the apartment. The dream involved an extended chase scene (on foot), until finally Dave is cornered in a public market area by the white man ("Frank"). Frank yells to the police to grab Dave, and they do, but when they search Dave, they find no money (of course) and that his identification has a different name than the one Frank claimed it would. (Dave and Don being look-alikes, remember). The police let Dave go, to Frank's (and his spouse/partner's ("Barbara")) frustration.

Dave goes back to their apartment, where the two (Don now is played by Kal Penn, for some reason) celebrate their good fortune. The Middle Eastern restaurant calls Don to tell him they have an order for delivery, and he agrees to make it. Dave is surprised — they have $40,000 and are being sought by Frank and Barbara, after all —don't go out! Don waves off Dave's concerns, reminding him that they don't want to raise suspicions by acting strangely.

Don makes the delivery, but when the door opens it is Barbara, smiling, a la the ending of The Taking of Pelham 123 (except slightly reversed). She had remembered making a similar order a week or two before, and that the driver was the look-alike of the guy who stole their money. (Once I woke up I thought of like 20 problems with this resolution, but at the time it seemed brilliant). 

Essentially The End, though even in the dream I considered the producers of the movie wondering if they should add one final twist. When Don/Kal Penn takes the police back to the apartment he shares with Dave, they discover the apartment empty and Dave and the money gone, with only a note: "Sorry ...". Yes, a little like the ending of Trainspotting, but also "Matchstick Man" (and undoubtedly others). The idea being that, whether or not Dave was actually smarter than he let on (I didn't address that in the dream), he had taken his and Don's money and run. A smile crosses Don's face as the credits run.

The End.