SWC75
Bored Historian
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Before the game Matt Park interviewed Dick Groat, who has been the color man for Pittsburgh basketball since the Big East was formed in 1979. He's 83 years young and still going strong. He's kind of that city's version of Coach Mac, the guy who's been there forever, (a longer forever than Mac's) and who ties current fans to the past because he's seen it all.
Yes, his broadcasting career is amazing but that 's not why I'm making this post. Dick Groat is a native of the Pittsburgh area but went to Duke where he was their first great basketball star, setting a then national record in 1952 with 839 points, (a 26.0 average). He scored 48 points on North Carolina, still the most ever scored vs. the Tar Heels. He was national player of the year as a senior.
But even that's not what he's most famous for. He went into baseball, not basketball and became a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bill Mazeroski's keystone partner. In 1960 he led the National League with a a .325 average and was named MVP over such contemporaries as Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Ernie Banks, Frank Robinson and his own teammate, Roberto Clemente, all in their primes. His Pirates beat the Yankees in the World Series on Maz's home run. Four years later Groat was playing shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals and hit .319 to help them to the pennant and another World Series victory over the Yankees.
"Happiness is the Exercise of Vital Powers, Along Lines of Excellence, in a Life Affording Them Scope" - John . Kennedy, (quoting "The Greeks")
There were a lot of basketball-baseball players in those years because the seasons "fit" together, one beginning as the other was ending:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/baseball_and_basketball_players.shtml
Gene Conley just missed simultaneously being of championship teams in two different sports. He was on the 1957 baseball champion Milwaukee Braves and joined the Boston Celtics in 1958, just as they began a streak of 8 straight titles. Not on that list were Johnny and Eddie O'Brien, twin brothers where were basketball All-Americans at Seattle in the early 50's and played major league baseball but not in the NBA and Joe Gibbon, who had the same status at the University of Mississippi. All three of them were Groat's teammates on the Pirates at one time or another. The Pirates of the 50's were probably a better basketball team than they were a baseball team until that 1960 championship.
I've thought for a long time that in pursuit of money and glory, we extend college sports seasons too far, causing them to overlap and denying the possibility of today's athletes excelling in more than one sport so they might have alternatives for their professional careers. I think not only should seasons be shorter but they should divided fully into spring and fall sports so that a player might be able to be a serious member of teams in more than one sport.
Yes, his broadcasting career is amazing but that 's not why I'm making this post. Dick Groat is a native of the Pittsburgh area but went to Duke where he was their first great basketball star, setting a then national record in 1952 with 839 points, (a 26.0 average). He scored 48 points on North Carolina, still the most ever scored vs. the Tar Heels. He was national player of the year as a senior.
But even that's not what he's most famous for. He went into baseball, not basketball and became a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bill Mazeroski's keystone partner. In 1960 he led the National League with a a .325 average and was named MVP over such contemporaries as Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Ernie Banks, Frank Robinson and his own teammate, Roberto Clemente, all in their primes. His Pirates beat the Yankees in the World Series on Maz's home run. Four years later Groat was playing shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals and hit .319 to help them to the pennant and another World Series victory over the Yankees.
"Happiness is the Exercise of Vital Powers, Along Lines of Excellence, in a Life Affording Them Scope" - John . Kennedy, (quoting "The Greeks")
There were a lot of basketball-baseball players in those years because the seasons "fit" together, one beginning as the other was ending:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/baseball_and_basketball_players.shtml
Gene Conley just missed simultaneously being of championship teams in two different sports. He was on the 1957 baseball champion Milwaukee Braves and joined the Boston Celtics in 1958, just as they began a streak of 8 straight titles. Not on that list were Johnny and Eddie O'Brien, twin brothers where were basketball All-Americans at Seattle in the early 50's and played major league baseball but not in the NBA and Joe Gibbon, who had the same status at the University of Mississippi. All three of them were Groat's teammates on the Pirates at one time or another. The Pirates of the 50's were probably a better basketball team than they were a baseball team until that 1960 championship.
I've thought for a long time that in pursuit of money and glory, we extend college sports seasons too far, causing them to overlap and denying the possibility of today's athletes excelling in more than one sport so they might have alternatives for their professional careers. I think not only should seasons be shorter but they should divided fully into spring and fall sports so that a player might be able to be a serious member of teams in more than one sport.
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