Baseball Player of the Day

Jerry Coleman

• Baseball Player
  
  • NYY 2B from '49 - '57
  • Career .263/.340/.339 for an 87 OPS+
  • Placed 3rd for RoY in '49
  • All-Star and WS MVP in '50
  • 4× World Series champion (1949, 1950, 1951, 1956)
• United States Marine Corps/Marine Forces Reserve
  
  • Years of service: 1942-1964
  • Final Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
  • Battles/wars:
    
    • World War II:
      
      • Solomon Islands campaign
      • Philippines Campaign (1944–45)
    • Korean War
  • Flew a total of 120 combat missions
  • Was awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses, 13 Air Medals, and three Navy Citations
• Baseball Manager
  
  • SD Padres 1980 (73-89)
  
  
• Baseball Announcer
  
  • New York Yankees (1963 - 1969)
  • California Angels (1970 - 1971)
  • CBS Radio's Network Game of the Week (22 seasons)
  • Radio voice of the San Diego Padres (1972 - 1979, 1981 - present)
  • Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2005, Ford C. Frick Award

Some quotes by him:
"And Kansas is at Chicago tonight or is it Chicago at Kansas City? Well, no matter as Kansas leads in the eighth four-to-four."

"(Bruce) Benedict may not be hurt as much as he really is."

"Bob Davis is wearing his hair differently this year, short and with curls like Randy Jones wears, I think you call it a Frisbee."

"(Joe) DiMaggio seldom showed emotion. One day after striking out, he came into the dugout and kicked the ball bag. We all went 'ooooh'. It really hurt. He sat down and the sweat popped out on his forehead and he clenched his fists without ever saying a word. Everybody wanted to howl, but he was a god. You don't laugh at gods."

"Enos Cabell started out here with the Astros and before that he was with the Orioles."

"Eric Show will be oh-for-ten if that pop fly comes down."

"Gaylord Perry and Willie McCovey should know each other like a book. They've been ex-teammates for years now."

"George Hendrick simply lost that sun-blown popup."

"(Johnny) Grubb goes back, back. He's under the warning track."

"He (Graig Nettles) leaped up to make one of those diving stops only he can make."

"He slides into second with a stand up double."

"If (Pete) Rose's streak was still intact, with that single to left, the fans would be throwing babies out of the upper deck."

"Larry Lintz steals second standing up — he slid, but he didn't have to."

"(Willie) McCovey swings and misses, and it's fouled back."

"On the mound is Randy Jones, the left-hander with the Karl Marx hairdo."

"Pete Rose has three-thousand hits and three-thousand and fourteen overall."

"Rich Folkers is throwing up in the bullpen."

"There's a hard shot to (Johnnie) LeMaster and he throws (Bill) Madlock into the dugout."

"There's someone warming up in the bullpen, but he's obscured by his number."

"They throw (Dave) Winfield out at second — and he's safe."

"Those amateur umpires are certainly flexing their fangs tonight."

"Whenever you get an inflamed tendon, you've got a problem. OK, here's the next pitch to Gene (Tenace) Tendon."

"Willie Davis is not as young as he used to be."

"(Dave) Winfield goes back to the wall, he hits his head on the wall and it rolls off! It's rolling all the way back to second base. This is a terrible thing for the Padres."

"You never ask why you've been fired because if you do, they're liable to tell you."

"Young Frank Pastore may have just pitched the biggest victory of 1979, maybe the biggest victory of the year."