November 17, 2014

Famous Hatchbacks

Former pitcher Dave Frost turns 62 today. Frost was involved in one of the great Strat-o-Matic moments of my life, playing for the 1979 Pinto Hatchbacks. I was the visiting team in an extra-inning game. We did not use the designated hitter. I had used all my position players, and Frost was in to pitch, as he was a starter who could relieve, and could go awhile without tiring. With two outs in the inning, my #6 hitter, Bill Madlock doubled. The opposing manager then walked the seven and eight hitters to pitch to Dave Frost with Joaquin Andujar on the mound. As an American League pitcher at the time (we were playing with the 1979 season cards), Frost had almost no chance of reaching base. He was a terrible hitter and Andujar was good against right-handed batters. I rolled a 4-9, which was a walk on Andjuar’s card. I jumped out of my chair, yelling, “He walked! He walked!” The card table came flying across the room, my opponent saying those immortal words, “I hate happy people!”

From that moment, Andujar was known as “I Joaquin Runs.”

3 thoughts on “Famous Hatchbacks

  1. Scooter

    Excellent story. One of the great things about all these simulation games is that these minor players get so many more chances to be the unlikely hero in someone’s game.

    Kiko Garcia used to clobber my friend Dave’s ’27 Yankees, leading me to many victories. Neither of us will ever forget ol’ Kiko.

    ReplyReply
  2. David Pinto Post author

    Scooter » Actually, minor players get lots of chances in real baseball, which is a reason I like the game. Michael Jordan doesn’t get the choice of taking the last shot.

    ReplyReply

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