Just imagine how much **** Ventura took the rest of his career for this.


As a lifetime Houston Astros fan, it was pure misery to watch Nolan leave after the 1988 season when the Astros let him walk, too cheap to give him 2 years at $1.2 m a year. . He only went 16-10 with 301 strikeouts the next year, while the Astros picked up Jim Clancy, who went 5-14.

Before the 1994 strike, my parents were huge baseball fans. We got fantastic seats - front row over the dugout - for a game in 1992 when yours truly won a high school sportswriting contest and got to throw out the first pitch at a game. When I got back to the seats and was showing my parents the ball (autographed by non-Hall of Famer Scott Servais), my dad said "Good thing you didn't get Clancy's signature, I would have thrown this ball in the trash."

5 seconds later someone moves to the top of the steps of the dugout (recall the Dome didnt have a bullpen) and Clancy himself is staring up into the front row trying to figure out who said it. My dad shrugs and says "Just being honest, buddy."