Sunday, March 14, 2010

"I drank all kinds of drinks!"

Sure, I remember when I became of drinking age! Granted, it was never hard to get liquor on the road--the boys always carried a sockful of snakebite on 'em, you know--but there was somethin' special about being old enough to finally get some drinkin' done.

We was in Sandusky, Ohio, and the boys decided to take me to this waterin' hole--Clem's or Ruby Grey's or something along those lines. Well, I'll be damned if they didn't shove a spout down my throat and just start pouring all kinds of fire down that chute.

I drank all kinds of drinks! Lou "Burns" McGinty was buying me shot after shot of some drink called "Devil's Spit," and ol' "Barnside" Raymond kept pourin' me somethin' called a "Tallahassee Water Spout," and Little Pete Windell had the barkeep make me a "Special Kentucky Kicker."

Lemme tell you somethin'--if a feller needed a light for his smoke, all I woulda had to do was blow on that smoke! I was breathin' fire! Oh, boy, was I ever!

Well, it was time to close up shop for that bar we was at--and on top of all that, we had ourselves a ball game against the Sandusky squad the next morning!

Well, sure enough, that next day, I was hungover like a skunk! I couldn't even walk straight! I looked like a real loony, I bet!

But sure enough--I hit two triples that day! Ran as hard as I ever did, too! There I was, drunk as all hell, and I was havin' one of the best games of my life!

That's why I tell the young players of today that a drink or three before a ball game--ain't always a bad thing!