Unbenched

While I was carrying out interviews for my book Pen Men “Baseball’s Greatest Bullpen Stories Told by the Men Who Brought the Game Relief,” I sat on the bench in Camden Yards with Monte Moore. Monte, at the time, was the play-by play announcer for the Okland A’s.

More importantly, to me, he was the grandson of Wilsy Moore, the pitcher known as Doc, who playing for the 1927 Yankees was arguably the first relief pitcher in baseball history.

As Monte and I settled in there on the bench, our conversation went in a surprising direction. He asked me where I was from. I told him Raleigh, NC and that I worked for NC State University.

Monte laughed and said, “Well, Son, I got your university in a heap of trouble, unintentionally, but I told a story on the air that caught the interest of the NCAA.”

He went on to say that when the team  was still in Kansas City, there was a young NC State catcher, Cat Fish Hunter’s best friend, who often pitched or caught batting practice. He not only flew with the team, but slept on the floor in Cat’s room.

It seems that some anti-NC State fan from Virginia heard the story Monte told on the radio and called the NCAA, which caused the young man and the NC State Athletic Department to be the subject of an investigation.

I can still remember the look on Monte Moore’s face when I said, “Well that young man would have been Francis Combs!”

“You know him?”

Laughing, I went on to tell Moore that Francis and I---this was in the late 1980s---coached our sons to a Little League Championship in Raleigh, and , we were great friends and had been for years. 

But this was one that I’d never heard.

When I got back to Raleigh, I went right to Francis and got the rest of the story. In the mid-sixties Francis had been the catcher for the NC State baseball team that went all the way to Omaha for the College World Series. He was also a bench warmer and a backup quarterback for the State football team.  

So how did this all end?

Well, Francis and the NCSU athletic department were given the third degree. Did he ever take any money for his activities with the KC team?

No, and in the end all he was doing was having a great time pitching BP, catching BP and sleeping on Cat’s floor.

This story has a happy ending. And Francis ties it up in a sentence or two. “I hated being a bench warmer for the football team, just a lot of work and sweat at practices, keeping the chart, and warming the bench during games.  

And when the NCAA finally made their decision, it was like I’d been handed a gift. I would be expelled from the football team for the season, no more bench warming and sweaty practices, and I was allowed to play baseball.

Francis said, “I did ask Monte Moore, the next time I saw him, if he decided to tell that story about me traveling with the team again to leave my name out of it.  Then I thanked him for releasing me from all those football practices and my game day seat on the bench. It was hot as heck on the sidelines and benches have terrible views.

* Francis’ twin brother Freddie was NOT a bench warmer. He was a first team LOOK All-America defensive back and played shortstop on the NC State baseball team.

* Francis, no slouch himself, would sign with the Yankees and go on to play minor league baseball.