Detroit 1969. I was hanging around the lobby of the swanky Cadillac Hotel (I was a name-stickered dragged-about Army brat) where the Tigers' visiting teams players were staying.
I became friendly with the Angels' Jim Spencer and Rick Reichardt and they let me tag along (hi-fi shops ... yes they existed ... clothes stores, etc). During one of the night games catcher Tom Egan got beaned very badly, so the Angels summoned up Triple-A catcher Winston Llenas to take his roster spot.
The next day I ran into Spencer & Reichardt in the lobby and asked them what they were going to do during the day (the Tigers and Angels had another night game that evening) and they told me to go ask the rookie Llenas if he wanted to come along, knowing full well that Winston didn't speak a blessed word of English). So I walked over to Winston Llenas and told him that Spencer and Reichardt wanted him to hang with them. You see I grew up in a Spanish neighborhood and spoke it rather fluently.
The looks on Jim Spencer and Rick Reichardt's faces as they wandered out into the steamy Detroit stillness, saddled with the read by night smile of the rookie Llenas, was indeed priceless.
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Posted July 31, 2002.
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