November 6, 200322 yr I've heard that story from Jack 3 times already. 1) Marlins on Deck. 2) Play-offs. 3) Tonight. It's still hilarious though.
November 6, 200322 yr i actually have never heard that story before and i almost died laughing. I won't ruin it for those of you in later time zones but he got more laughs than will ferrel. that's our jack. :lol
November 6, 200322 yr Author I'll have to watch it again when I get home from work. I recorded it last night.
November 6, 200322 yr What did Jack say ? I'll fill you in... he walked out w/ a cigar and gave one to dave later on he talked about how he was a 3rd base coach in wilson, nc and he had this player who would always run thru the stop sign he gave @ 3rd. he told the player next time he did that jack would shoot him. the next day jack was in elon, nc and he bought a blank gun. he knew the guy would run thru the sign again and the next time he did, jack shot his gun like 5 times. the kid was so scared he ran so fast he actually beat the throw. jack said they never had that problem again. later on jack coached 3rd base for omaha, i think. they were playing in denver, and the stadium had an exploding scoreboard. the first game they played there the scoreboard would explode for denver but when omaha hit a hr, nothing happened. jack said he wouldnt let that happen again. the next night, when omaha hit a hr, there was jack @ 3rd, shooting off the blank gun. dave went on to say he was happy for jack and the fish, even though hes a yanks fan. i knew jack would be hilarious, and that blank gun story did not dissapoint. i was on the floor. a gr8 night of comedy. first will ferrell, then jack. wow
November 6, 200322 yr MLB.com Posted and article about Jack's appearance. If you missed here is the recap... McKeon drops in on "Late Show" One night after introducing Harry Joseph Letterman to his viewers, the host of CBS' Late Show with David Letterman looked into the camera Wednesday night and said, "At the age of 72, our next guest became the oldest manager in history to lead his team to a world championship. Please welcome Jack McKeon!" Those were words that even McKeon could not have imagined hearing a year ago at this time, and for the second time in two weeks he did things his way when he got to New York. McKeon walked onto the stage with a big victory cigar in his mouth and reached out to give another one to TV's newest dad. McKeon: "Congratulations!" Letterman, laughing: "And congratulations to you!" McKeon: "I know what you're going through. I had the same problem." Letterman, still laughing: "Thank you" McKeon's appearance was delayed a night because of rescheduling caused by the delivery Monday night of Letterman's first child. Not surprisingly, McKeon was well worth the wait. Bearing an amazing resemblance to George Burns, he explained the pronunciation of his last name, regaled Dave with stories about gun-toting days as a younger manager, gushed over the Josh Beckett phenomenon, and even showed sympathy for the infamous Cubs fan who tried to catch a foul ball. "If our Yankees couldn't win, it was nice to see you have this victory," Letterman told McKeon. Referring to the Marlins' World Series Game 6 clincher nearby in the Bronx, he then asked him what that was like because "it was you and a bunch of kids, essentially." "For our team, it was a great experience," McKeon replied, "A bunch of youngsters who had the best record in baseball since May 23. I managed all those years and never had a group of kids like this. We were very dedicated, very determined to win. When you think about it, they weren't awed by the playoffs or Yankee Stadium. Our philosophy of one game at a time carried over, and they didn't care if they were playing in Yankee Stadium or Woodbridge, New Jersey." McKeon grew up in that area of Jersey, and he referred to his upbringing when Letterman asked him whether he pronounced his name "Mc-KEE-on" (as people pronounce it now) or "Mc-KYOON" (as they pronounced it in his youth). "I'm from the east, up here in New Jersey," McKeon said. "Growing up, it was Mc-KYOON". People wanted to change it. I said, they can call me McKeon as long as they don't call me late for dinner." "I told Paul (Shaffer) you would say that," Letterman said. Letterman asked McKeon how he is able to overcome the age factor as a manager. Many eyebrows were raised in early summer when the Marlins named the ultimate managerial "veteran" to turn around a struggling club of mostly youngsters. "I don't think that was ever a problem, Dave," he said. "I've had my greatest successes dealing with young players. Young players today are very receptive to picking up as much knowledge as they can. After four or five years in the league, they might be a little different." Then McKeon, still mindful of Baby Week on the Late Show set, said, "I had nine grandkids. You only got one -- one child." Letterman asked him, "Did you ever do anything drastic to get anyone's attention, someone who might have been a head case?" Maybe you've heard this one before. Do a Google search and you can find it told five years ago, and probably elsewhere. "There was one situation back in 1960," he said. "I was managing in the Carolina League, in Wilson, North Carolina. I had this Cuban boy, Juan Vistuer. I'd be coaching third, and he'd be running the bases and come around third, I'd try to hold him up . . . bing . . . out at the plate. Next week, bing. I said, 'Look, next time you do that I'm gonna shoot you.' We went to Elon, N.C., the next day, and in the window of a pawn shop I saw blank guns for sale, $3.95. I got blank cartridges. I waited, knew it was gonna happen again. He's on second, ball hit up middle, second baseman knocks it down, I try to flag him down, he zings by me, I go pow-pow, six shots, he thought he was hit in the back. The next time, he scored, we never had any more problems." Then McKeon added: "I did that again in Denver." Letterman busted out laughing. "Dave, it works!" McKeon said. Then he explained, "I was managing Omaha, and we were playing in Denver. They had an exploding scoreboard, (Jeff) Burroughs and all those guys. My guys come up, Tony Oliva comes up, hits a home run, and nothing happens. I said, 'I'll fix that tomorrow night.' He hits a home run again, I get the gun out, pow-pow-pow! "You couldn't get away with it today, though." McKeon did not need to resort to such motivational ploys with the 2003 Marlins. He had Beckett's gun of a right arm, firing one shutout to turn around the National League Championship Series against the Cubs after a 3-1 series deficit, and then throwing a five-hit shutout in the World Series clincher. "Beckett -- what a cool customer," Letterman said. "He's a special kid," McKeon replied. "He's a youngster who has an extreme upside, he was an All-Star, and what a job he did for us stopping the Cubs. Great stuff. He really matured in that playoff series." It is tradition for the World Series manager to appear on Letterman. Last year it was Anaheim's Mike Scioscia. In 2000, it was Joe Torre, who had some of his players spray champagne on Letterman. Wednesday night, the show's host asked South Florida's newest celebrity what it meant to go up against Torre -- just a couple of guys from the New York area who went all the way in the Majors. "Joe and I are friends, he's done a great job for the Yankees for years," McKeon said. "The whole Yankee organization is good. Joe was happy this was first time I had a chance to get to the big dance and finally win it. He said he was happy for me." Every Cub fan in Chicago and around the country probably had to wince when Letterman brought up Game 6 of the NLCS. The Cubs were five outs away from their first World Series appearance since 1945, but the Marlins scored eight runs in an unforgettable eighth inning, and it all went bad for Chicago after Luis Castillo hit a pop fly toward the left-field wall and a fan reached to catch it in foul territory just as Moises Alou was about to make the important catch. "How about that foul ball in Chicago?" Letterman asked. "I felt sorry for the kid over there," McKeon said. "After all, old saying, If a ball's in the stands -- and the umpire signaled it was in the stands -- we should let the fans have a chance to retrieve it. It's like you or I being up there. Only now that you got that new youngster, Harry, you're gonna have to work with those hands so you can grab it."
November 10, 200322 yr Link to Video of Jack on Letterman http://play.rbn.com/?url=mlb/open/2003/tea...letterman_56.rm
November 11, 200322 yr I taped that episode with Jack and when he was talking about Mile High Stadium in Denver, it brought back memories of my dad taking my brother and I to see the Denver Bears Mile High was also the place I saw my first-ever Colorado Rockies baseball game. Needless to say, Jack was very funny and entertaining and I would sure like to meet him some time.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.