This spud’s for you
Williamsport Bills catcher and career 210 hitter Dave Bresnahan turns his spuddering – er, sputtering – minor league career into folklore 36 years ago today as he picks off Reading Phillies baserunner Rick Lundblade at third base with a potato during a Class AA Eastern League doubleheader at Bowman Field.
Playing in the first game of the doubleheader in Williamsport, Bresnahan conceals a well-crafted, shaved potato in his backup catcher’s mitt and waits for just the right moment for his prank – in this case, a two-out, fifth-inning pickoff attempt of Lundblade at third base.
Prior to the pickoff, Bresnahan asks plate umpire Scott Potter for time to replace what he claims is faulty webbing in his mitt and then replaces it with the backup one that is concealing the potato.
Now, as he eyes Lundblade drifting off third base, Bresnahan purposely calls for a low-and-away slider, knowing the batter would not swing.
Before the pitch arrives, Bresnahan moves the potato from his new mitt to his right hand and waits to catch the ball.
He then deliberately fires the spud over the head of third baseman Rob Swain – Bresnahan’s roommate who also is in on the gag – and into left field, and waits for a fooled Lundblade to race home to an awaiting tag with the real ball.
Bresnahan believes Potter simply would send Lundblade back to third base – “I thought it would be a do-over,” Bresnahan later says – and play would continue.
Instead, an unamused Potter calls Lundblade safe and Williamsport manager Orlando Gomez, equally unamused, promptly removes Bresnahan from the game and fines him $50.
Lundblade’s run gives Reading a 2-0 lead in a game Williamsport eventually rallies to win 4-3.
No matter.
After the game, Bresnahan – the grand-nephew of Hall of Fame catcher Roger Bresnahan – is released by the Cleveland Indians from their last-place Class AA affiliate and never again plays pro ball.
That, however, does not deter the Chicago Tribune from naming the 25-year-old Bresnahan as its 1987 Person of the Year.
Nor does it keep the Williamsport Bills from retiring Bresnahan's jersey No. 59 less than a year later.
As for the iconoclastic Bresnahan, he moves to suburban Phoenix and becomes a successful stockbroker.