Dave and Fergie

My brother was here for a visit this weekend. We took him everywhere. A pair of Royals games, Culver's, Neighbor's Cafe, Sheridan's, the River Market, Liberty Jail, Big T's BAR-B-Q, and the Negro League Baseball Museum. It was my fourth visit to the Baseball Museum, but this visit was especially cool for me because of the scheduled discussion with Hall of Fame Pitcher Ferguson "Fergie" Jenkins, and World Series MVP and multiple 20-game winner Dave Stewart.

Growing up my team was the Oakland A's. Not sure why, it just was. It was the late 80s, and I was a huge Jose Canseco fan (no worries, I've repented of that), and my best friend had a man-crush on Mark McGwire. But truly, I loved the entire team. Ricky Henderson, Walt Weiss, Mike Gallego, Terry Steinbach, Carny Lansford, Dave Henderson, and Dave Parker. Yeah, I named them all from memory, so I might have mixed up a few seasons, but that was my team. Their pitching staff included Storm Davis, Dennis Eckersley, and Dave Stewart.

Dave Stewart was a stud. I knew that even at age 10. He had this nasty stare-down before every pitch. He looked like he was ready to fight the batter at any time. The term "head-hunter" came to mind. Saturday afternoon, he described himself as the "Assassin" during one story. So you have to believe that I had this image of the guy in my head when I was little. But that came crashing down one afternoon during a postseason interview.

It was back in the day when all postseason games were on network television, and some of them were day games. The A's were playing one afternoon, and I rushed home after school ended. Looking back, I seriously doubt any of my friends were running home to possibly catch the final innings of a baseball game on TV. I was too late that day because Dave Stewart and apparently made quick work of his opponent that day. And that's when it happened... I tuned into the radio for the postgame show, and they were interviewing him. But, instead of hearing the voice of the hero I had built up in my mind, instead of the deep, rough, manly voice of Dave Stewart, I heard what I can only now describe as Michael Jackson on helium. It was the squeak I always imagined would come out Jerry's mouth from Tom and Jerry, but never did.

I was devastated – more than when I discovered the truth about Jose Canseco. It was traumatic. What I was hearing did not match the bull-dog mentality he displayed on the mound. This guy was ferocious out there. It was like dipping your finger in the Cool-Whip for a nice, tasty treat, then discovering that you were sucking on expired sour cream.

So luckily, I was more than prepared for this discussion on Saturday. We arrived a little late, but we mostly just missed the introductions. The crowd of about 80 people were asking these two fine pitchers questions: Who was a tough out for you when you pitched? How did you go about preparing for games? What's your opinion on the way pitch-count has affected the game today? And then, "Do you think the strike zone has changed over the years? It seems to me that umpires never call a pitch above the belt a strike, and that's not the rule." Great question.

Both Dave and Fergie answered that they had seen a change in the strike zone. Then Dave Stewart launched into a little story that began, "I still don't like umpires."

Paraphrasing, the rest of the story was as follows: "I've been retired for 13 years now, and I still can't stand umpires. The other day I was watching the Dodgers game. Brad Penny was pitching and Russel Martin was catching. I don't know how it happened, or how he missed it, but Martin missed a straight fastball – just clean missed it. That poor umpire had no idea what hit him. That fastball hit him right in the head and knocked him out cold. I mean, he was just laying there on the ground, out cold, and I stood up and cheered... I was like, 'Yeah! Nice job Russ! Do it again!'"

I knew there was a reason I loved that guy.