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Live Chat With Former MLB Outfielder Billy Sample
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Billy Sample
9:55
Billy Sample here, in the majors from 1978-86.  I have a short Wikipedia page for more information.  While I'm at it, I have a self published book updated from 2018 titled, A Year in Pinstripes ... a
9:57
... and then some.  And a indie movie released in 2013 that can still be downloaded from its IMDb. com titled Reunion 108.  Warning it is a strongly-R rated comedy with some satire
9:59
Let me guess a question or two from when I get autograph requests through the mail ... Hmm, I'm much of a loner and did not have close friends.  Plus I wouldn't want to incriminate any of my teammates by having it known that they hung out with rift-raft like me
Jeff
9:59
What was your experience with the strike in 1981?
Billy Sample
10:02
I was a too staunch for my own good union man and to this day Marvin Miller is my number one deity.  He was always the smartest person in the room and coming from the Steel Workers union in Pa., he had a strong believe in delayed gratification and union unity ... the owners had strike insurance that lasted fifty days and that's about as long as the impasse lasted ... I worked at a radio station during that time, a middle of the road station as a disc jockey.  I was only so-so
CJS
10:02
When did you know you had major league talent?
Billy Sample
10:05
Great question.  Playing in the collegiate summer league Shenandoah Valley gave me an opportunity to measure up against the better players along the eastern seaboard.  My first year I had three teammates who made it to the majors.  Centerfielder Gene Richards could low fly ... he had the NL record for rookie stolen bases until Tim Raines broke it.  And Gene is a big strong guy, who choked up a lot on the bat
I could hit a fastball and it helped that I grew up in the minor league town of Salem, Virginia
CJS
10:06
Favorite ballplayer growing up?
Billy Sample
10:09
I didn't have one, but I did admire the dignified way that Roy White carried himself especially during the Yankees lean years.  I chicken out telling him once when our paths crossed as the sides retired, but I did call him to my clubhouse stall when I was traded to the Yankees and he was working in the front office.  It went something like this, "Roy, I didn't believe in athletic role models or models I don't know, but I always admired the dignified way you carried yourself". He replied, "Right Bill, right". I had been harboring this thought for all of these years and he thought I was putting him on.  (LOL)
Nigel Tiufnel
10:09
Was Billy Martin the great strategist that some say?
Billy Sample
10:13
I thought he was a great tactician and he seemed to know a lot about the backstories, such as what the umpires liked and didn't like ... he was not particularly fond of me (get in line) and Goose Gossage called me under the bleachers at Jack Murphy stadium and asked me how I got along with Billy.  I told him I was alright with him, but I could tell he wasn't crazy about me.  He had told Goose to hit me in the head in spring training one year.  I wish I had known this when I played under him after Yogi's last sixteen games as a manager with the Yankees ... that anecdote is in at least four books, Roger Kahn's book was the first I believe
John
10:13
Who was the toughest catcher to run on?
Billy Sample
10:16
I thought Lance Parrish and Mike Heath could out throw good jumps ... Mike threw me by such a margin in Instructional Ball one year that I didn't even get to slide.  And every throw in the Big Leagues was bang-bang ... I actually didn't like the guys who had quick releases, like Jim Essian
Jacob
10:17
Hello Billy, i have written to you through the mail requesting an autograph and you were nice enough to sign one for me. I’d like to ask, how did you prepare yourself for playing and improving during that time when you didn’t have the technology like analytics and deep analysis?
Billy Sample
10:19
I used to get a kick out of a coach moving me into positions in the outfield.  I'd make a perfunctory move and then move back to where I knew I had a better chance of making a catch.  I'd combine the scouting report with my knowledge of the past and present of the batter and I never felt out of position.  Sometime a catcher would call something that left me scratching my head as I thought they had the hitter set up for a pitch and the next thing I knew I was chasing it in the gap
Mike Dragotta
10:19
What was your favorite moment while you were in baseball?
Billy Sample
10:23
Didn't have that ultimate moment, but I do relive my only walk-off homer (before they were labeled such) We were trailing with two outs and a 3-2 count vs. the Angels in 1982.  I should have taken a big bow to the Arlington faithful.  The game was on Angels T.V. as former player Fred Patek interviewed me after the game.  If anyone taped that game, send it to me (LOL) I don't remember many walk off hits.  I had one in Atlanta late in the season, my goodness I hope I snuck in a couple of more somewhere ... anywhere
Rangers fan
10:23
I never got to watch Jim Sundberg play, what was it like playing with him?
Billy Sample
10:25
I apologized to Jim one day after our careers were over because I was so busy gasping for my own breath in one of those 43 consecutive days over 100 degrees in Arlington that I didn't appreciate how he caught 130 games a year under those conditions ... Jim threw everybody but Rickey consistently
Guest
10:25
Was it tough being a black player in the 70's?
Billy Sample
10:28
I wish I had time to go deeply into this ... well, I think that there was a prevalent feeling among players of color that you had to be a bit better than the white player to get the same advancement.  I can't say that the Rangers were like that, as our farm directors and minor league managers didn't see color, but I did happen to see a list of profiles of minor league players and 'race' was one of the categories listed and I found that to be a bit perplexing
MikeD
10:29
You’ve had a wonderfully varied and eclectic career from baseball to DJ, to author and filmmaker. Have you always been driven to try different things? Is that why you left baseball at only 31 and still productive? Wanting to try new endeavors?
Billy Sample
10:35
Well Mike, you may remember that the owners engaged in collusion in the mid-eighties.  Jack Morris had to pedal his wares, Tim Raines wasn't resigned by the Expos until May and Andre Dawson handed the Cubs a blank contract.  I was a margin player at best, though in most situations I think I would have gotten a contract.  I only got an invitation to spring training with the Twins.  I was coming off knee surgery, but all the publications had me making the team, probably platooning with Randy Bush.  What sealed my fate is when the head of the Licensing Dept of the Players Association sent me a letter to the clubhouse in Orlando.  It was handed down to me by the higher ups.  I gasped when I saw it as I knew it was over.  I never understood why it was sent to me there as if we are going to conduct business as usual during an obvious collusion?  All we did was rubber stamp what the dept head decided.  Ugh, anyway, the Twins made a great trade for Dan Gladdin and won the World Series that year ... buzzard's luck ...
10:36
Oh, and thanks for the compliments ... I was Most Versatile in my high school graduation class.  I was in two plays my junior year, a JV debater my freshman year and played three sports
Rick
10:36
Got any good Rickey Henderson stories you can share?
Billy Sample
10:41
Ha, not really, but I didn't realize how 'cut' he was until we were teammates.  In 1982 he did with two outs in the ninth trailing by seven runs in Oakland, take off to steal third.  What the **** ... Rickey's leg strength was incredible.  He was slated to play football at Arizona or Arizona State until his mother and the baseball scout that drafted him 'coerced' him to sign a baseball contract ... he said he used to run a lot of stadiums to enhance his leg strength
Guest
10:41
What was your favorite ballpark to play in and why?
Billy Sample
10:41
f
Fenway ... I like the atmosphere ... and I played well against the Sox
Hubs
10:42
Thanks for doing chat. Do you feel new rules favor pitchers or hitters?
Billy Sample
10:46
All rule changes in every sport favors the offense, the powers that be concluded that there is a great correlation between offense and revenue.  Johnny and Joanie from Covington, Kentucky will see the Reds play and it may be an otherwise lackluster game but five homers were hit and they go home and tell their parents about the exploding scoreboard.  That's the discretionary income they are after.  Those of us who like the game hinges on each pitch in a 2-1 contest at Dodger Stadium, they've already got
Guest
10:46
What was your favorite place to play on the road?
Billy Sample
10:50
Anaheim, I loved Southern California ... I once asked a teammate who grew up in Brea how did he grow up out here and concentrate on baseball, there was so much to do ... now that I think about it, I loved Northern California too ... and similar to the Red Sox I had good games against both teams ... don't ask me about Toronto though ... I once got out of the cab to pay for the fare from the hotel to ugh, Exhibition Stadium and the cabby said, "That's okay Mr. Sample, your fare has been taken care of" ... I hated when the Blue Jays staff would do that .....
MLB Pension
10:50
Hi Billy, I remember you from
Billy Sample
10:51
MLB Pension, I could use more money ... could this be a former player?  The players on the pension committee were so intelligent ... I stopped in a meeting once and it was as if they were speaking a different language
Tristan
10:52
How fast did Nolan’s Fastball look in the box? Did you have success vs him?
Billy Sample
10:55
Only had two starts against Nolan both in 1979, home and home series.  I got the second hit of a two-hitter he threw in Anaheim, but hadn't Oscar Gamble gotten the first hit in the seventh, I may not have gotten my hit in the ninth and Nolan was blowing the wind that night.  I don't recall anyone else in the majors throwing harder.  I was 1 for 6 with two walks and no strikeouts, though I got on everyone else's strikeout list it seems ... Fergie pitched against Nolan in a 2-0 loss and obviously we gave Fergie no run support as no one got past first base
CJS
10:57
What were the emotions around being traded? How did you find out during that time period?
Billy Sample
11:01
Well, I kinda gently forced the trade from Texas, it was time.  I had worn out my welcome and the Rangers drafted Oddibe McDowell ... I think it was an amicable parting.  I was at the union winter meetings in Maui when I got word of my trade from Yankees to the Braves, Clyde King called and told me in a very professional if not classy way ... I was the alternate player rep, Winfield was the rep, Baylor was the AL union president, alternates have a short shelf life in  contentious bargaining periods
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