An excerpt from the soon-to-be-published "Reading Rifle" (The Carl Furillo Story)
Buzzie Bavasi, former general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, related the following story to me during an interview I did with him. The interview was for my upcoming biography of Carl Furillo, former star outfielder for the Dodgers.
Buzzie began, "Sal Maglie, the great pitcher, had hit Furillo and knocked him down so many times, when he (Maglie) pitched for the Giants.
When he [Maglie] went to the Dodgers [from Cleveland, in 1956] Furillo came into my office in an uproar about us taking Maglie.
I asked him why. He (Furillo) said, 'The guy knocked me down so many times.'
So I called Toots Shor's (the famous NY restaurant), gave Carl $150 and told him to take Sal to dinner and become friends. Well, they went, and Toots Shor picked up the tab. Consequently, Carl kept my $150 and thought he had put one over on me. Now, that was a lot of money in those days; but it was worth it to see them become friends.
They wound up becoming great friends!"
» Bill Ninfo is a former newspaper reporter. He has written for Iron Man magazine and various others.
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Copyright © 2001 by Bill Ninfo. Posted May 29, 2001.
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