cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) (10/12/90)
If you have watched major-league baseball on TV in the U.S., you have seen (from time to time) a manager or coach getting on the telephone to his team's bullpen (the place where substitute pitchers make their warmup pitches). Does anyone know what system is involved (i.e. number of digits dialed, etc.)? I take it that it also connects to the clubhouse area (locker rooms, etc.), given the second incident related below; or could that be a separate phone? In the 1960s, I recall reading about Moe Drabowsky, a relief pitcher (was with the Baltimore Orioles in 1966) playing a prank by calling the opponents' bullpen. This year(?), I HEARD about the late manager Billy Martin (I believe he died late in 1988) getting ejected from a game, and then staying in touch on the clubhouse phone. An umpire (who noticed someone frequently using the phone) eventually sneaked up on the dugout, then burst in shouting "WHO YA TALKIN' TO ON THAT PHONE?". (I used some slang; for non-English speakers, it's "Who[-m] are you talking to on that [tele-]phone?".) The telephone user said "Nobody, sir!" or similar, and the umpire went ahead and ripped the phone off the wall. (A player, coach, or manager who is ejected is, in effect, suspended for the rest of the game, and is thus not permitted to communicate with his team.) [Moderator's Note: In the case of our Chicago teams, all the administrative phones within the ball park run through the PBX in the offices. Both the White Sox (Comiskey Park, 312-WAGner 4-1000) and the Chicago Cubs (Wrigley Field, 312-BUckingham 1-5050) have PBX systems with three digit extensions which dial 9 for outside lines or 8 for WATS lines, including the dugout phones, locker rooms, etc. By the way, it is pronounced /wag/-ner, like a dog wags its tail, not /vawg/-ner, as in Tannhauser. Both parks have had those phone numbers or permutations of them for over seventy years, although the PBX equipment is newer. PAT]