I was just talking with a St. Louis Cardinal friend of mine on Thursday about the time I spent with Walt Jocketty, one of the better General Managers in club history. And then Saturday morning I wake up to the news that Walt had passed away on Friday at the age of 74. It was his birthday. A lung transplant finally did him in. To say I was shocked was an understatement. Let me tell you a little about the man that I sat across from in the late 70's into March of 1980 at Sec Taylor Stadium in Des Moines.
Walt was the Public Relations Director, and I was the Promotions dude. We spent a lot of time bantering back and forth about players in the White Sox farm system. The Iowa Oaks that we worked for was the Triple A affiliate for the Sox. Walt knew the club inside and out and the strengths and weaknesses of the players that made up their system. We were fortunate to see Harold Baines at an early age before he was called up to the big club. And we had the distinction of working with Tony La Russa, one of the better managers in baseball history. LaRussa was called up two thirds of the way through the 1979 season at the age of 34 and being the youngest manager in major league baseball history.
It was early in 1980, and spring training was in high gear. And so were comings and goings in the baseball world. Walt got wind of an opening in the Oakland A's farm system. He called a long time scout in the White Sox front office by the name of Paul Richards. Jocketty boldly asked Richards if he would recommend him for the job. Richards did without hesitation. One day after asking Richards, Walt received a phone call from A's owner Charlie Finley. "Walt, I've heard great things about you. We have an opening for the Director of Minor League Operations. Are you interested?", the cantankerous owner asked Walt. "I sure am", Walt replied. "Okay then, let me know by tomorrow if your wife is on board. There's only one thing. You need to be here in Arizona by the weekend, or the job is going to someone else", Finley stated. It was Tuesday. Not only did he have to give Finley his answer he had to be in Arizona by Saturday. He had little time to waste. And to think he got the job sight unseen!
Walt called me and asked me what he should do. "I said, dude, what an opportunity for you. Billy Martin is the manager. B I L L Y fricking M A R T I N. And they got some young rookie named Rickie Henderson. Do it", I yelled.
And of course, he did, and the rest is history as they say.
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A baseball man inside and out |