The Golf Match

This famous person I met on a warm summer day on the Willow Creek Golf Course in Des Moines, Iowa, back in the early ’80s.  I was a single-player, and the starter paired me with a couple of guys.  We introduced ourselves, and naturally, I didn’t know them.  One was tall, blond, and appeared athletic; the other was short, stocky, and didn’t appear to be athletic.

We played a couple of holes and were having a pretty good time.  They both were joking and carrying on; the golf was not very serious.

I noticed that they both had baseball bats in their golf bag, and before long, they took the bats out and started throwing the golf ball in the air and hitting them with the baseball bat.  I remember thinking at the time; they were better with the bats than they were with the golf clubs.  It was entertaining to watch them.  They mentioned to me they played for the Iowa Cubs AAA Baseball Team.

I only played nine holes with them.  I followed their careers, and they both played several years in the major leagues.  The tall blond player was a pitcher and pitched in three all-star games and won a world series ring with the Los Angeles Dodgers.  He was ejected in one of the world series games for having pine tar on his glove.  His explanation to the umpire that it gave him a better grip wasn’t accepted.  The short guy played infield for the Chicago Cubs for several years.