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Live Chat With Former MLB Outfielder Billy Sample
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Almonds joys are horrible
2:02
when Jim bouton wrote his book in the sixties, it was the first glimpse of what baseball was really like.   Since then, nobody has written anything that explains the stress, the workload, and the real stories that go on everyday in a billion dollar industry.  Even movies (money ball) over Hollywood truths (trades don’t happen like that). Will there ever be another book or movie that accurately displays everyday life in mlb?
Billy Sample
2:03
Well, trying downloading Reunion 108 from IMDb.com or read A Year in Pinstripes and Then s
Some from Amazon or kindle
Maekenfan
2:04
How did you feel when you realized Billy Martin wanted Goose Gossage to intentionally hit you in Spring Training?
Billy Sample
2:05
I thanked Goose for not doing it.  I didn't know about it when I played under Martin in 1985
Michael
2:05
Billy, I have the baseball card! Coming out of High School, was baseball your first choice?  How did you decide on Madison?  When did it get serious for you?
Billy Sample
2:06
Even though I claim to have been a better football player, I thought around age 15 that if I was going to go pro in something it would be baseball
John Lennon
2:06
The pitcher you had the most success against?
Billy Sample
2:08
They kept releasing those guys ... I did well or poorly against teams ... Brewers, Angels Red Sox good ... Blue Jays, Cleveland and Baltimore not so good.  I didn't get off the Interstate against Cleveland and I had no idea that I hit so poorly against them ... and by the way I was the one who brought the term "Interstate" from the baseball field to the broadcast booth
jay
2:09
What was Dave Stewert like when you were both teamates...he seemed a slow developer?
Billy Sample
2:10
He hadn't quite mastered or wasn't allowed to throw the split finger when he was in Texas.  He had great stuff but would get hit hard, harder than one would think for the stuff he had.  The splitter gave him a natural change up and he went on to dominate from there
CardRed
2:11
What were the pre/post-game meals like when you played?
Billy Sample
2:11
Not nearly as good as it is today and the quality changed from town to town.  Nowadays players can eat all of their meals in the clubhouse
Nick
2:12
Do you feel that without the strike and split season in 1981, the Rangers would have had a chance at the division?
Billy Sample
2:15
Ugh, if we had won our last game before the strike we would have had a better winning percentage than Oakland even though they would have had a better record, one of those odd anomalies ... and we had a lead too and I had the go ahead run at third late in the game and tried to guess which ball in the 3-1 count Vukovich would throw the pitch with the strange gravitational pull and guessed wrong hitting it right at Yount instead of pulling it in the hole ... I'm going to need to see a shrink
2:17
Thanks everyone maybe I can do this again sometime ... pardon to those I didn't get to, some very good questions
Go Rangers!
2:17
During the 1981 strike year I remember Gerry Oher turning you into the greatest baseball player ever breaking Dimaggio's hitting streak when he would make up baseball stories on Channel 8 sportscasts. Did you have any interactions with him? Also do you play the computer version of APBA?
Billy Sample
2:17
I remember g
Gerry, have not played the computer version and I don't think the grandkids play it
Barry
2:17
Who were some of the funniest guys you played with?
Billy Sample
2:18
Bobby Jones, Ken Griffey Sr. Sparky Lyle, Mickey
Rivers, Oscar Gamble
2:19
A couple who weren't teammates, Shawon Dunston, Ken Griffey Jr.
Pedro4eva
2:19
How do you feel about the kids getting these hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed money nowadays?
Billy Sample
2:20
I feel like a parent, I wanted for them to have it better than when I was growing up ... and they hit the motherload :-)
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