FanHouse

Rick Sutcliffe Steals Second Base, Wins Bill Murray a Case of Beer

When it was announced that Rick Sutcliffe, fighting cancer, was well enough to resume his broadcasting career, we cheered a bit. He's always entertaining in the booth, drunk or sober, and anytime someone can win a fight with the disease it's reason to smile.

Making it all the better is the chance to hear more stories like the one he told to Bill Reiter of the Kansas City Star over the weekend. Bill Murray joined Steve Stone in the Cubs booth during a 1987 game and bet Stone a case of beer that Sutcliffe, on first, would steal second base. Stone agreed to the wager and away we go:

The pitcher was still warming up when word spreads and a fan yelled, "Hey Sut, Murray just bet Steve Stone a case of beer you'll steal second!"

Standing on first base, Sutcliffe decided: Screw it. I'm going.

Sutcliffe took off running. All 6-7 of the Red Baron hauling ass for second base just to mess with Cubs announcer Steve Stone.

"I am gone," Sutcliffe said. "He comes down and looks over. Well I'm halfway to second. I'm going, 'Ah, he got me.' Well the dummy goes to home so now I've got to get going again. But there's still a play. That's how slow I am."

The throw. The slide. He's safe.
Great story. Anyone else think Murray would be a massive improvement on Joe Morgan in the Sunday Night Baseball booth?

(H/T SportsbyBrooks)

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

ADVERTISEMENT
Play Fantasy Football
ADVERTISEMENT