'one of these days,...pow! -- to the moon!'

i'm listening to my favorite broadcast team -- bob brenly and steve berthiaume, of the arizona diamondbacks

brenly does this thing, each game -- 'on this date'

today, he had a little...connect-the-dots

on this day, in 1969, neil armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon -- 'one small step for man,' chimed in berthiaume

five years before, continued brenly, alvin dark was the manager of the san francisco giants

dark said they'll put a man on the moon before gaylord perry will hit a home run

guess what happened, moments after armstrong stepped on the moon

can't go without noting the cleveland...and...ohio...connection -- the three principals -- and the storyteller

addendums: from marc: the story is called 'dark side of the moon'; from nancy: the mets won the world series in '69

indeed, a year of miracles

windups, vinnie, gibbie & gaylord

on today's broadcast, vin scully was talking about pitchers' windups -- how, when you compare the pitchers today, with pitchers from, say, the 1950s, you see how the windup...has almost disappeared -- you look at the way greinke pitches, the way joe kelly pitches -- almost no windup -- while...in the days of...i think he said...don drysdale, don newcombe, they almost looked like they were gonna fly away, they wound up so much

then he talked about bob gibson's numbers...in that amazing 1968 season, when the mound was...almost pointed -- 1.12 e.r.a., 13 shutouts, 304 innings, 28 complete games

well, you might say, that was when the mound was higher two years later, though -- even after the mound was lowered again, and his team finished under .500,...he finished that year, 23 and 7

well, vinnie was broadcasting a game, and gibson was in the booth with him -- it was a league-championship game -- gaylord perry was pitching, and chris speier came to the mound -- scully asked gibson, what would a rookie shortstop have to say to a veteran like gaylord perry -- gibson answered, absolutely nothing

then vinnie asked gibson,...and what if, when you were pitching, a rookie shortstop came to you -- what would you say to him

gibson: i wouldn't allow it

here's the story i always remember...about bob gibson -- gibson said, i own the outside part of the plate -- that's mine -- i'd knock down my own grandmother,...if she's leaning over the plate too much