Tuesday

I was able to capture another interview done by Bob Costas last weekend.  2 had gone to sleep and ESPN Classic was running "filler" material between movies.  The following is my transcript of an interview that was filmed at Superstation KMOX sports talk radio in St. Louis last Sunday night on the "LIVE! with Bob Costas Show".  Bob's guest was former major league baseball player Tommy Hardin.

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BC: Good evening, folks.  Welcome to the program.  In the studio tonight we have the good fortune to chat with a man who recently made headlines when a book recounting his life made it to #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List. Tommy Hardin, thanks for joining me.

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TH:  Thank you, Bob.  My pleasure.  I've always enjoyed your show.

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BC:  So tell me, how involved were you with putting the book together?  I know that John Finstein did the writing, but did he do it after a series of interviews, or was it an on-going process?  And how did it even get started?

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TH:  Well, it was definitely and on-going process.  And kind of your classic, "a guy who knew a guy", that got the ball rolling.

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BC:  Hmmm.  Interesting.  But maybe before going there we should first go back and do a short history lesson and make sure that all of our listeners are up to speed on the essence of your story.  You came up through the Blue Jays organization, right?

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TH: Yeah, that's right.  I went to Tyler Junior College out of high school, and then got drafted after my freshmen year when we won the National Junior College World Series.  I spent a year split between "A" ball in the Quad Cities and "AA" in Tidewater.  That following year, I was on the AAA club in Reno all season until they brought me up to the Big League team in September.

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BC:  Always at second base?

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TH: I actually played shortstop through college, but they moved me to second right away once I got to the Quad Cities.

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BC:  Okay.  So you were in Toronto for a few years, made a couple of All-Star teams, lead the league in fielding percentage, and then got traded to Chicago.  What was that all about?

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TH:  Well, there were a couple of contract issues for sure, but basically, the Cubs needed a replacement at second when Sandberg retired.  They gave the Jays a sweet deal and I became a Cub.  They thought I was going to be at second base in Wrigley for ten years.

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BC:  When did the wheels come off?

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TH:  April 2nd, 1998.  Opening Day at Wrigley Field.  37 degrees at game time.  A cool breeze coming in off  Lake Michigan.  In the fourth inning, I chased a pop fly down the right field line, tripped over the pitcher's mound in the visitor's bullpen, and fell kind of awkwardly against a bench along the wall.  I felt something "pop" in my right shoulder.  When I fielded a ground ball a couple of batters later, my throw to my first baseman went high over his head and into the stands.  It never got better.

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BC:  That bullpen has caught a lot of guys over the years.  Did they diagnose an injury?
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TH:  That's the funny thing.  There was that "pop" when I fell.  They sat me for a few days, had me do a lot of physical therapy, and I got a lot of deep muscle massage.  But none of the x-rays, MRI's or scopes, (then or later for that matter), came up with anything definitive.  And I had no pain.

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BC:  But you couldn't get the ball over to first base?

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TH:  Weirdest thing ever.  I had played ball for 20-odd years and all of a sudden, I couldn't even get it close to first base.

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BC:  What happened next?

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TH:  Well, they did all the things you might expect.  They sent me down to the Florida Instructional League for the rest of that year, trying various things to find my throw.  Obviously, nothing worked.  They had me meet with a sports psychologist of course, and even a hypnotist near the end.  When nothing worked, they told me to "go fishing" for the Winter and come back with a clear head next Spring.  So I spent the off-season on the beach in Key West and worked on my tan.  I gave it another shot that next Spring, but my first throw in the first inter squad game at camp in Arizona was caught by some kid in the third row of the stands.  I was done.

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BC: I remember that story on the wires, but there wasn't much follow-up.  It was kind of like you fell off the face of the earth for ten years.  What happened?

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TH: Well, my mental health wasn't at a high point, for sure.  I had spent more than twenty-five years working on my trade.  Depending on your math, that was maybe forty percent of my life expectancy, and I was all of a sudden back at the starting line.  I mean I was a non-functioning baseball player.  Even though the Cubs offered me some positions with their minor league organization, I had no interest in coaching or managing in the game.  (I still don't get it why those guys wear uniforms!) 

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BC:  Lots of former players get into the broadcast booth.

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TH:  True enough, Bob, but I had always had trouble speaking in front of people, and I just didn't want to do something for the paycheck.  I was depressed and really at a loss.

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BC:  Well, you're now #1 on The Times Best Seller list, so obviously something good happened.  What was it?

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TH:  The Wrigleyville area around the ball park had quickly become one of my favorite spots to eat out, meet people and entertain friends.  The owners of most of the places took real good care of all of the ball players; always great service and "below radar" treatment.  The Sport's Corner at Addison and Sheffield behind right field became a second home for me in the Summer of 1999.

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BC:  You wouldn't be the first ball player to hang out too much at the bars.

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TH:  I drank a lot of iced tea that year, Bob.  And ate a lot of Chicago-style hot dogs.  The owner, Myron Hampton, was a real hoot.  Still is.  He had lots of stories. 

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BC:  Wait a second, I spend quite a bit of time in Chicago, and I have certainly been at The Sports Corner a few times. As I recall now, that place that opened next door a few year's back is named "Wild Over First".  That's your book's title, right?

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TH:  There you go, Bob.  Myron owned the brownstone on Sheffield next to the bar and he kept telling me all that Summer how much he wanted to develop that property as an add-on to The Sports Corner.  I told him that a place with specialty hot dogs could make it in the Summer, for sure.  And with all the finer restaurants on Clark Street, a person could do a wine bar in the evenings.

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BC:  That's quite the combination, Tommy.

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TH:  That's what Myron said.  But we had become really good friends, and he thought we could just go 100% dogs if the wine idea didn't work out.  He was (and is) a hard-core baseball fan, and he wanted to help out another hard-core baseball guy who had literally lost his game.

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BC:  I hear those "Tommy Dogs" have won First Prize in the Chicago Dog competition each of the last several years at the Taste of Chicago in Grant Park.

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TH:  I'm pretty proud of that score, Bob.

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BC:  And what's the box score on the wine venture look like?

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TH:  We're making headway.  The customers always come back.  We could use a few more.  You should stop in the next time you're at Wrigley.

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BC:  You can count on that, buddy.  But getting back to the book, how did Feinstein get into the picture?

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TH:  Oh, he's a long time customer at The Sports Corner too.  He didn't know who I was for the longest time, and then when he found out, I couldn't get rid of him.  He thought people would want to hear my story.  Plus, I think that his rotation of sport's books had found it's way to baseball and he was desperate for a story.

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BC:  Interesting.  I'm sure that John appreciates your candor.  Or not.  OK folks, we have to wrap up this segment.  Tommy, I want you to come back again.  It's a great story.  Love the hot dogs.  And now a word from our sponsors.