John B Wockenfuss

I finally decided to pick up John Wockenfuss as a platoon catcher and it reminded me of something from my childhood.

In the late '70's, my uncle took me to a Tigers game and we went early to get autographs. This was the dialog:

Me: Who is that guy?
Uncle: John Wockenfuss.
Me: I don't want his autograph. He stinks.
Uncle: He's a major league baseball player. Give him your scorecard. (gentle shove)
Me: Why?
Uncle: Maybe years from now, you will appreciate his ability to hit home runs against left hand pitching.

So he signed my scorecard even after I said he stinks. It seemed like it took 20 seconds to spell out John B Wockenfuss.
And now I'm appreciating Johnny B's power against lefties. He has 4 home runs in his first 24 at bats.

I finally decided to pick up John Wockenfuss as a platoon catcher and it reminded me of something from my childhood.

In the late '70's, my uncle took me to a Tigers game and we went early to get autographs. This was the dialog:

Me: Who is that guy?
Uncle: John Wockenfuss.
Me: I don't want his autograph. He stinks.
Uncle: He's a major league baseball player. Give him your scorecard. (gentle shove)
Me: Why?
Uncle: Maybe years from now, you will appreciate his ability to hit home runs against left hand pitching.

So he signed my scorecard even after I said he stinks. It seemed like it took 20 seconds to spell out John B Wockenfuss.
And now I'm appreciating Johnny B's power against lefties. He has 4 home runs in his first 24 at bats.

I gotta ask, did your uncle really say that? Because if so, that is amazing.

Johnny B was one of my favorites growing up. Sparky Anderson said he was one of the best hit and run men he'd ever managed. Of course this doesn't translate to SOM since the H&R rating is based solely on BB/K ratio. Johnny was part of the Willie Hernandez deal with the Phillies that likely won the Tigers the Championship in '84.

Philly got Wocky and Glenn Wilson. In March right before the season started.. Hernandez was awesome. he only had one more decent season. he appeared in 80 games in 84, so he mighta hurt his arm. Both Wilson and he were All Stars. Wilson in 85, but both flamed out rather quickly. thats the year the Tigers had the pennant won after the first month!

I gotta ask, did your uncle really say that? Because if so, that is amazing.

My uncle loved the Tigers but went to games as an excuse to drink beer and smoke cigars without his wife around. He took me to the autograph area thinking it would be memorable for me to see a major league ballplayer up close. (yes, I still remember it!)
But I was expecting Fidrych only to get Wockenfuss.

When I acted up, he probably said something like: "The Tigers can't send Mark Fidrych out here to sign autographs before he pitches. If he cramps up his fingers and we lose to the Orioles then it would be your fault. Wockenfuss isn't going to play anyway so he can sign autographs all day. Give him your scorecard. Maybe someday it will be worth something."

I left out the expletives, otherwise his response would be much longer. His language was very colorful when his wife wasn't around- even before he started drinking the beer.

Now thats an uncle. Sometimes stories like that break us through the current culture and remind us what an amazing period of time we lived through, with such colorful people!

I had the great pleasure of having Wock as a manager and I can't even begin to tell you what an fantastic guy he was to have as a manager. Obviously knew the game and how to treat guys. Very positive guy and easygoing but if you stepped out of line he would make sure it wouldn't happen again!
Just heard recently that he is suffering from dementia.
A real good human being!