A Joe Torre memory that doesn't irritate me

Compared with Christmas when we do the Burlington-to-Camden-to-Bergen-and-back-to-Burlington-county tour in one frenzied day, Thanksgiving is a breeze. We split the families over two days. Today, we head to North Jersey where, depending on how crazy things are with the family, we might pull some more junk, err, treasures from my childhood out of the attic.

Last time we went up, we salvaged some newspapers - nothing much to speak of - and my old Baseball Talk Player.

For those who aren't familiar, Wikipedia's entry is pretty thorough. This Web site also has some good stuff, including a little audio.

Basically, Baseball Talk played large versions of 1989 Topps baseball cards. There were clear little discs on the back that contained audio of Don Drysdale, Joe Torre and Mel Allen, all who narrated little stories about current stars, all-time greats or historic games.

My machine doesn't work anymore - it's headed to the trash after I finish writing. I really wish I could listen to these one more time. They were cheesy, yet catchy.

The cards came in sets of four. I tried to collect all the Red Sox, which didn't leave me with too many Phillies - just a Steve Carlton from his Cardinal days. Among the Red Sox were the 1986 World Series Game 6, Jim Rice, Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens and Mike Greenwell.

For some reason I associate memories of this toy with my Dad's sister, who died when she was 30. I can't remember if she bought me the whole kit or just a pack of cards. Probably the whole kit.

I was only 13 when Aunt Ginny died of scleroderma, but I have two other baseball memories of her: She got us tickets to Yankee Stadium in 1989 - the first time I saw the Red Sox play there. We sat behind home plate, and someone fell on the backstop screen.

And, I remember everyone gathered at our house after her funeral. The 1990 World Series was on. Memories are weird sometimes.

Oh well, off to see the family. The long drive ahead would be much better if this machine worked so we could hear all about Willie McGee's exploits again.


Breaking news: There's a report that the Phillies have signed a free agent pitcher! Don't get too excited, it's just minor league journeyman Mike Koplove. David Murphy may have built expectations a little too high, sort of proclaiming him 2009's Chad Durbin, but I like the acquisition. I don't know why Koplove has fallen off the map in recent years because his major league numbers - while not dominant - are pretty good. Plus, he's a local guy who spent all of last year in the minors, so he won't complain about waiting his turn in AAA if there's a roster jam at the beginning of the season.