{"id":396,"date":"2018-09-28T17:52:59","date_gmt":"2018-09-28T22:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/?page_id=396"},"modified":"2023-06-01T12:11:53","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T17:11:53","slug":"greg-pryor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/?p=396","title":{"rendered":"Greg Pryor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greg Pryor<\/span> was only with the Texas Rangers for a short time in 1976, but I remember him from the days of watching games from the bleachers at Arlington Stadium ($2 a seat and a buck to park!). Greg went on to bigger things with the White Sox and Royals, and he was part of the Royals\u2019 first World Series-winning team in 1985.<\/em><\/p>\n

These days, Greg and his wife Michelle operate Life Priority Health and Nutrition, Inc., a \"PryWife\"nutritional-supplement firm (lifepriority.com<\/a>) and his first book, <\/em>The Day The Yankees Made Me Shave, will be published in October 2018 (preorder at thedaytheyankeesmademeshave.com<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019re from Marietta, Ohio, and your father encouraged you and your brother to play all sports. When you were in Little League, he even built mounds for the two of you, so you could learn how to pitch?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mom and Dad grew up in West Virginia. He moved us to Akron, Ohio in 1956 or 1957, teaching school and coaching. He built mounds and plates for us. He would get home from school and have us start pitching on our personal mounds. I pitched in Little League and high school, until I gave up pitching for hitting.<\/p>\n

And you were a second-baseman in high school?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, I was small: 5\u20197\u201d and maybe 140 pounds. Too small to play football, and too short to play basketball. But I was good enough to play second base on my high-school team, and in college.<\/p>\n

Second base wasn\u2019t your first choice, though.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I always wanted to play shortstop. Then when I signed professionally, I got the chance to play short, and I played there some in the big leagues. Short was always my love; I enjoyed the other infield positions, but I always loved playing big-league baseball at shortstop.<\/p>\n

Having started as a pitcher, you probably had a good-enough arm to play short, didn\u2019t you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know. The high-school coach told me, \u2018I can\u2019t have you pitching and playing second base; you\u2019re going to have to choose one of them.\u2019 He made me into a second-baseman my junior year, because I could hit a little bit. I really don\u2019t know how I would have done as a pitcher, but I\u2019m so glad that he forced me to choose, because I wanted to play baseball every day.<\/p>\n

I would have made a huge mistake if I had tried to be a pitcher.<\/p>\n

I really didn\u2019t get a good arm for professional baseball until [Rangers manager] Billy Martin came to Instructional League in 1973. He was telling me how to turn double plays at second base. He says, \u2018Pryor, you gotta get a stronger arm.\u2019 So if Billy Martin was telling me that, I went out and got a stronger arm, because to play shortstop in the big leagues you have to have that. And eventually I did have a real good arm.<\/p>\n

The stereotype of a second-baseman in those days was a shortstop who didn\u2019t have a strong arm.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s more even than that; I was really a below-average infielder most of my life. I think the college coach didn\u2019t want me to play short because I wasn\u2019t that good defensively. My second full season in the minors, I made about 50 errors in A ball, so obviously I wasn\u2019t that good of a fielder. I don\u2019t remember how many of those errors were fielding and how many were on throws, but an error is an error.<\/p>\n

In college, I think they were trying to hide me over there.<\/p>\n

You suffered a serious shoulder injury in summer ball.\u00a0 What happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was playing second base in summer baseball for Harrisonburg, Virginia. My brother was a pitcher on the team. He got the general manager to let me play on that team after my freshman year of college at Florida Southern.<\/p>\n

I was playing second base and my brother was pitching, and there was a ground ball to my left. I dove for it, and my left shoulder dislocated. The large bone that goes into your shoulder came completely out. I went to the hospital, and the doctor popped it back into place.<\/p>\n

Three weeks after it happened, I went back for a checkup, and my shoulder was numb. And the doctor looked at me and shook his head. I asked what was wrong, and he said, \u2018son, you tore all the nerves in your shoulder, and you have a dead shoulder. There\u2019s no muscle contraction, because the nerves control the muscles, and you\u2019re going to have to put your arm in a sling or tuck it into your pants for the rest of your life. It\u2019s just a dead shoulder right now.\u2019<\/p>\n

It shook me to my core; one of the worst bits of news I had ever had. I wondered how I was going to play golf. Golf was my love; baseball was something to get by.<\/p>\n

But your shoulder did<\/em> recover \u2013 at least, to a point.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I went back to Orlando and started doing what I could to help my left shoulder. I brushed my teeth left-handed; I started eating left-handed. It wasn\u2019t easy, but luckily for me, some of the nerves started to heal. I lost a couple muscles in my shoulder because they died, but in the big picture, it was a small problem for me.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t really heal 100 percent; it\u2019s never been a great shoulder, and that\u2019s one of the reasons I made so many errors in 1973, because I just didn\u2019t have the coordination with it. I worked and worked and worked and caught thousands of ground balls, and eventually I got the knack for catching ground balls, to the point that my fielding became my strongest point, even though I wasn\u2019t an easy out.<\/p>\n

So in rehabbing, you also developed your ability to field.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes. It was probably the toughest thing I have ever done. When you make 50 errors in 140 games as an infielder, you\u2019re really suspect.<\/p>\n

Hal Keller, the Rangers\u2019 farm director, told me over the winter after I hit .293 in 1973, \u2018Pryor, we really don\u2019t know what we\u2019re going to do with you. Number one, you can\u2019t field; you can\u2019t run \u2013 you have no speed; and you have no power. But you can hit a little bit, so we don\u2019t know what we are going to do.\u2019<\/p>\n

So I thought to myself, \u2018I\u2019m not fast enough to play the outfield, so where\u2019s my future gonna be?\u2019 Well, my future was going to be as far as my fielding took me. So I just went out and mastered the art of fielding. I worked at it.<\/p>\n

I never dove for balls much in the big leagues, because I had visions of dislocating that shoulder again, but I improved my feet quickness; I became an extremely quick-footed fielder. I could get jumps on the ball as well as anybody, and I had good range.<\/p>\n

A number of infield instructors have told me that good hands begin with good feet.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once you catch enough ground balls, and you miss enough of them, the game will dictate whether or not you\u2019re good enough.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Once you catch enough ground balls, and you miss enough of them, the game will dictate whether or not you\u2019re good enough. I got to where I wasn\u2019t intimidated by any infield where I played; I caught 96 percent of everything hit to me, and that\u2019s enough to keep you in the big leagues.<\/p>\n

When you have size-13 feet, and your feet are too big and too clumsy, you really need to work on your feet. I used to open up wounds on my ankles; when I crossed over to catch a ground ball, I would catch the insides of my ankles and split the skin open.<\/p>\n

So It was a combination of improving my feet, getting the coordination with my left arm, and improving the transfer of the ball from the glove to the hand.<\/p>\n

The big leagues<\/p>\n

You were called up to the Rangers in June 1976 \u2013 the last position player drafted by the Senators to make the big leagues. And you went 3-for-8. What do you remember about your debut?\"Pryor<\/strong><\/p>\n

I went to spring training before the 1974 and 1975 seasons, so I was kind of like a veteran of major-league spring training. I went down there and I saw these great big-league infielders close up. But in the 1975 season, I got hurt the last game of the minor-league season in Spokane.<\/p>\n

Then I wasn\u2019t invited to spring training in 1976, and when I asked about it, the farm director sent me all of the scouting reports on me from 1975, and they all said my tools were short and I was a AAA player at best. I was about 26 at the time, and headed back to AAA in Sacramento as the shortstop. I got kind of scared, so I got busy \u2013 really active — for about 90 days.<\/p>\n

Bump Wills was the second baseman; Brian Doyle was the third baseman. I played short there for Rich Donnelly, and we were in Tucson in early June, and Rich called me into his office and said, \u2018Pryor, I got good news and bad news. The good news is, you got called up to the big club, and suit up tomorrow night for the game. The bad news is, you are coming back here after two weeks because someone is on the DL, and when they come off, you\u2019re coming back.\u2019<\/p>\n

When he told me that, it was like, \u2018no big deal. I\u2019m going to the big leagues! I\u2019m finally going to the big leagues!\u2019 Mind you, in February of 1976 I got all those bad scouting reports, telling me I wasn\u2019t good enough. Four months later, I get called up.<\/p>\n

It was such a thrill to prove them wrong, because when I got called up to Texas, I played with Jeff Burroughs and Tom Grieve, Gaylord Perry, Jim Sundberg, Mike Hargrove.<\/p>\n

My first start was against Mark Fidrych in front of 40,000 people. Bert Blyleven had just gotten traded from the Rangers to the Twins, and I started at second base, and I was 0-4 against Fidrych. But It was a big thrill to have my first start in front of that many people.<\/p>\n

It was the first time I had played second base in two years. [Manager] Frank Lucchesi came up to me before the game and said, \u2018Pryor, when\u2019s the last time you played second?\u2019\u00a0 And I said, \u2018a couple years ago.\u2019 And he said, \u2018you can handle it, can\u2019t you?\u2019 And I said, \u2018yes sir.\u2019 I had no choice [laughs].<\/p>\n

I stayed up for 19 days, and they came to me and said they were sending me back. It wasn\u2019t upsetting to me, because they had told me I was going to get returned. But what really hurt me was that they didn\u2019t call me up at the end of the season. That really got under my skin: \u2018wait a minute. How am I not good enough to get a callup, so I can go up there and show them I can play shortstop?\u2019<\/p>\n

I could have been the Rangers\u2019 shortstop, had they kept me. But no, they traded me to the Yankees.<\/p>\n

You hit .275 at AAA in 1976, but you didn\u2019t get called up in September. That\u2019s not a good sign.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wish we could go back to the Rangers and ask them why they didn\u2019t call me up. Obviously I was good enough to play in the big leagues; look at my baseball card. Someone else saw my value.<\/p>\n

I played four years for the White Sox, and five years for Kansas City. I was good enough to play for the Rangers. I was hurt when they didn\u2019t call me up, and I was very hurt when they traded me to the Yankees in the spring of 1977, because I really wanted to be a major-league Texas Ranger. I wanted to show them that I could play. But that\u2019s not the way my career went.<\/p>\n

I just wanted a chance, and I worked so hard.<\/p>\n

But going to the Yankees wasn\u2019t the break you wanted and needed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I got traded to the Yankees and Billy Martin in February of 1977, and here I am in Ft. Lauderdale with Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter and Thurman Munson. I\u2019m right there, ready to make that 1977 Yankees team, and Billy Martin didn\u2019t even act like I was alive. He gave me seven at-bats, and I went back for my third year in AAA.<\/p>\n

I was 28, and I was desperate to get away from there, because I knew I wasn\u2019t going to replace Graig Nettles or Willie Randolph, but at least I was a better player than Fred Stanley; I was a better player than George Zeber, who was on the 1977 team as a backup infielder; I was a better player than Brian Doyle, who played on the 1978 world-championship team. But look at the stats: I survived all of them. I played nine years.<\/p>\n

In AAA in 1977, you hit .271 and stole 10 bases; that should have been a good barometer of whether or not you could play, given your previous years in AAA.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m proud to say that I was consistent, even though my fielding needed to improve along the way.<\/p>\n

The time I spent in AAA was a damn good apprenticeship. As I look back, I\u2019m kind of glad it happened the way it did, because I see young guys [today] who are called up, and they don\u2019t really know how to play the position.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t really call yourself a major-league infielder until you play enough games and have enough chances to show the world that you are good enough to play.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I was the kind of player that I guess you had to see me play every day to appreciate the small things of the game. I was a good baserunner; I knew where to throw the ball and when to hold the ball. That\u2019s part of the game that I think is being lost.<\/p>\n

When I got called up in 1976, my first road trip was to Baltimore. I was able to see an Earl-Weaver-managed team. And I was able to see Mark Belanger and Brooks Robinson.<\/p>\n

When I saw those guys and that team \u2013 the Orioles had some great teams \u2013 people said it was because of their pitching. No, it wasn\u2019t; It was because of their defense<\/em>. They didn\u2019t give a team an extra out. The great teams take advantage of teams that give the extra outs. When I saw those Weaver teams, I saw the reality of the big leagues: don\u2019t give them an extra out<\/em>. And that\u2019s how I approached my job.<\/p>\n

When the ball was hit, I wanted the damned thing. I went after it with reckless abandon.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What I did to play as long as I did, I treated every play like I was going to get my team off the field, get the pitcher off the mound, because he only has so many pitches in his arm. When the ball was hit, I wanted the damned thing. I went after it with reckless abandon. I wanted to get the guy out as soon as I could.<\/p>\n

With that aggressive and positive approach, and the sheer volume of work you put in to improve your fielding, you can see how it could pay off.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Defense and pitching is what every major-league team wants. If you have offense, that\u2019s great; but give me a team that catches and pitches, and I\u2019ll show you a potential winner.<\/p>\n

Each infield position has a different mindset to pay defense. At third base, you don\u2019t charge as many balls as you do at short. At short, you really have to be aggressive and charge balls. At third base, the ball comes down there at 120 MPH sometimes; you can\u2019t charge it, so you really have to change your mindset when you play all four of them. At third base, I learned how to back up on balls as well as I did charging them; you can make some plays easier by knowing when to back up real quick and get the good hop. At short, you can\u2019t back up much.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m so happy that I got a chance to play all four positions.<\/p>\n

Was learning the positioning and different angles a difficult adjustment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I played second base in college, and that\u2019s probably the easiest position in the infield; it\u2019s even easier than first base. When I got into pro ball, the Rangers wanted to find out if I could play short, so they put me at short in 1973, when I made the 50 errors. Still, I found out that I could play short.<\/p>\n

When I got to the big leagues, I hadn\u2019t played much third base, but Tony La Russa wanted me to play third, so I played it more in the big leagues. I learned how to play third when I was with the White Sox. And I learned more about playing short and second. So again, it was kind of like an apprenticeship \u2013 the art of how to play each one of them.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t hide; the bench knows if you should make the play.<\/p>\n

Did you always have soft hands, or did that develop as you took all those extra reps?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I guess they probably came hand-in-hand. When you position your feet correctly \u2013 when you don\u2019t have to dive for balls \u2013 when I quickened my feet, it softened my hands.<\/p>\n

You also learned about the importance of a good glove.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was in spring training in 1973, we played the Orioles. Brooks Robinson used to throw his glove behind his position \u2013 leave the glove on the field. One game, I was standing on the sidelines near his glove. \u2018Oh, my gosh! There\u2019s Brooks Robinson\u2019s glove.<\/em> This might be the only chance I have to put it on.\u201d So between innings, I walked over and stuck Brooks Robinson\u2019s glove on my hand \u2013 just to see what it was like to have a big-leaguer\u2019s glove on my hand.<\/p>\n

When I put that glove on \u2013 which was really, really<\/em> a bad thing to do \u2013 I was getting ready for someone to yell at me. But I said \u2018screw it. I\u2019m just gonna go do it.\u2019 So I put it on, and I never wanted to take that glove off. His glove was so beautiful! The pocket was so beautiful<\/em>!<\/p>\n

He spit-shined the outside of it black \u2013 the inside was brown — and he polished it. And he cut the laces off, right down to the nub. There was no excess leather on Brooks Robinson\u2019s glove. When I saw that glove, I said, \u2018If only I had this<\/em> glove, I could be a great fielder.\u2019<\/p>\n

I learned that to be a great fielder, you have to find a way to keep the ball in your glove, to begin with, and you have to break in your own glove \u2013 no one else should do it.<\/p>\n

When I got to the Yankees in 1977, I learned about gloves from Graig Nettles, because I looked at his glove when I was there, and I also looked at Fred Stanley\u2019s glove. They had wonderful gloves, and they gave me tips on how to make my glove better, along with Don Kessinger. He was player-manager with the White Sox when I was there.<\/p>\n

I was blessed with good hands to begin with, and that really helped my fielding.<\/p>\n

So you had soft hands all the way through, then?
\n<\/strong>
\nI guess you could say that I had soft hands and hard feet, at least in the minor leagues. It all developed over time and repetitions.<\/p>\n

Did your hands relax?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You get more confident when you know you can move quick enough.<\/p>\n

You had a defining moment early in your time with the White Sox.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1978, I made two errors against Baltimore in Comiskey Park, and Bob Lemon was my manager. They were easy plays, and I cost us five unearned runs. I was nervous.<\/p>\n

After the game, he took me in and put his hand on my shoulder and said, \u2018look, you\u2019re back out at shortstop tomorrow night.\u2019 It was like, \u2018OK, Pryor, you got a chance; you got a reprieve.\u2019<\/p>\n

So I went out there the next night, and I started telling myself mentally, \u2018Greg, you proved you\u2019re good enough. Just do what you did at AAA.\u2019 I kind of forgot the pain of making the errors and remembered the joy of fielding a ground ball.<\/p>\n

From that moment on \u2013 when Bob Lemon forgave me for costing us that game — had he not<\/em> forgiven me, we wouldn\u2019t be talking right now.<\/p>\n

That was a potential career-changer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, it was! It was!<\/p>\n

Along the way, if I didn\u2019t have those mature, confident, trusting hands on my shoulder from a number of baseball men who could lift me up when I was in the gutter, I wouldn\u2019t have played in the big leagues.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

You were pretty successful with the White Sox, but then were you disappointed with your role, after they had wanted you to be their supersub sort of player?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The only way to get people to respect you is to be on the field \u2013 do it on the field. You \"Greg_Pryorcan\u2019t do that on the bench. So in 1979, when I played more than 140 games, up toward 500 at-bats, and I was 30 years old, I was thinking that in 1980 I would be an everyday player too. The White Sox had put me in as a possible All-Star Game candidate in 1979; I was hitting more than .300 for the first three months.<\/p>\n

In 1980, the White Sox weren\u2019t winning, and teams look at what they can and can\u2019t change. One position they decided to change was to get Todd Cruz to play shortstop, and they wanted me to play third or be a backup infielder. I kind of got disappointed, because Tony La Russa had told me before the season that I was his shortstop. When he changed his mind, you get hurt because like I said, when you\u2019re not on the field you can\u2019t create more value in your game.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t take it the best way. I was a team player, but in that case I wasn\u2019t, because I was more of a Greg Pryor player at that time.<\/p>\n

Then I think the strike of 1981 kind of hurt everybody. I didn\u2019t play that much, and I didn\u2019t have a very good season. Over the winter, the White Sox decided they were going to find someone else to take my job. They traded me to Kansas City, and they got Aurelio Rodriguez from the Tigers to fill my job. And in 1983 they won the division.<\/p>\n

So it hurt being traded, in a way, but it was a blessing in disguise, because I got to be around some wonderful All-Stars in Kansas City for five seasons.<\/p>\n

In Kansas City, you had Frank White and George Brett in the infield. Was it easier to accept being a backup there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was with the White Sox, I didn\u2019t like the Royals; I didn\u2019t talk to them if they got on third base. I wanted to beat them.<\/p>\n

So when I got traded to them during the last part of spring training, I was shocked initially. Tony La Russa told me I had been traded, and [Royals GM] John Schuerholz is in the next room, and he wants to meet you. I walked in and shook hands with my new boss, and said goodbye to my old boss.<\/p>\n

The next day, I had to walk into the Royals\u2019 clubhouse with my White Sox travel bag. I\"240px-Greg_Royals_1985\" walked into this strange clubhouse, and it was the strangest feeling, being around these guys who I didn\u2019t like. I did learn to like them eventually [laughs]<\/em>.<\/p>\n

George Brett came up to me and said, \u2018Greg Pryor! Did we trade for you?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Yeah, last night.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Oh, great! Let me ask you a question: how come you never talked to me when I was on base when you were with Chicago?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018George, I didn\u2019t like you one bit.\u2019 He started laughing.<\/p>\n

\u2018Do you like me now?\u2019<\/p>\n

I said, \u2018I\u2019m gonna try!\u2019<\/p>\n

It was wonderful! I learned to love those guys.<\/p>\n

You were on Royals teams that won divisions; you were on the 1985 team that won the whole thing. Even though you were a part-time player most of your time there, was the World Series the cherry on top of the sundae for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The World Series was my biggest thrill in the game, for a lot of reasons.<\/p>\n

But in 1984, we won the division and I played in about 120 games, so my best personal<\/em> feeling I had in the game was being able to play in place of George Brett and Frank White and we still won our division. I did my job, and I was an important part of all that, along with a bunch of other guys.<\/p>\n

You get accepted by your teammates; I became one of the guys. Dan Quisenberry nicknamed me La Machine. He said, \u2018you play the game like you\u2019re a machine.\u2019<\/p>\n

In 1985 I didn\u2019t play as much, but my greatest feeling as a team player was when our team beat the Cardinals. I wear my World Series ring as much as possible.<\/p>\n

I was just lucky that a guy who had to walk on to play college ball ended up on a World Series winner. It\u2019s a thrill that I never stop talking about.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Players can have an effect on a team, even if they\u2019re not playing. When George Brett won his first Gold Glove, he said at the winter baseball banquet that when he was hurt in 1984, he learned more about how to play third base from me, and without that, he would not have won a Gold Glove. That meant a lot to me.<\/p>\n

Your teammates gain confidence in you, knowing you can do the job.\"pryor-grounder\"<\/p>\n

My biggest test as a player was in 1984, because I was replacing George, and it was my free-agent year. I was 33 years old. Either you do it, or they will find someone else. It was a big challenge, and when you do it, and you prove you can help the team, guys like Amos Otis, Willie Wilson, Hal McRae — when they accept you, you can feel it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not always a friendship club \u2013 it\u2019s a business \u2013 but when you do your job, the other players will accept you because you are good enough to help them win. You get into the fold by doing the job, and not by being a nice guy, let me tell you.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of guys who are not nice guys, but who are great ballplayers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes! Talk about Reggie Jackson. He didn\u2019t care whether the players liked him or not. He didn\u2019t care. And that\u2019s okay. There were guys on my team \u2013 I won\u2019t name them \u2013 but they couldn\u2019t care less if anybody liked them or not. As long as they did the job, that\u2019s what they wanted to do.<\/p>\n

A general manger always wants to put the good apples with the good apples. He doesn\u2019t want bad apples on a team, because if you get too many bad apples, it becomes like cancer, and it\u2019s hard to have a winning team.<\/p>\n

You played about the same number of games in 1986 as 1985, but the offense wasn\u2019t there, and you got released at the end of spring in 1987.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They kind of told me at the end of 1986 that I wasn\u2019t coming back. After I got released in 1987, I got a call from Tony La Russa. He was with Oakland then, and he wanted me to go to AAA Tacoma; he wanted me back. It made me feel good, because he was the only one who called me.<\/p>\n

I was thinking about Tacoma in April. If you haven\u2019t been to Tacoma in April, you\u2019re lucky, because it\u2019s freaking cold there. I was looking at going back and playing in AAA after playing in the big leagues for nine seasons.<\/p>\n

I had just had my third daughter, and I was still under contract to the Royals, so I was going to get paid. Tony said, \u2018I\u2019ll try to call you up as soon as I can, but I need you to go to Tacoma.\u2019\u00a0 I talked to my wife about it, and I can’t imagine going back to face AAA pitching at 35 years of age. I just can\u2019t imagine myself doing that.<\/p>\n

So I ended up telling Tony that I didn\u2019t have it [in my heart] to go to Tacoma, and I ended up retiring after they released me.<\/p>\n

When you review your career and the journey you\u2019ve had, are you okay with it, now that you\u2019ve had some time to reflect?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t look back on it too much, but I do wonder what would have happened if I had gone [to Tacoma] and gotten called up. But I didn\u2019t, and I\u2019m pleased with what happened in my career.<\/p>\n

Mother Nature never stops. You\u2019re not getting younger when you play ball. And the only way you can become a good ballplayer is to learn how to play the game inside the lines. And I really didn\u2019t learn how to play until I was somewhat past my prime. The game is so great that it will teach you everything you want to know, if you just let it, you know?<\/p>\n

I wish I had learned it sooner, so I could have a better baseball card, but when I do look at my card, I don\u2019t see any embarrassments. I wish I had a higher career batting average, but I can\u2019t complain.<\/p>\n

And now you are an author, with your first book coming out soon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Its 27 stories about my career \u2013 unique things that I did. Playing in The Pine Tar Game. \"PryorPlaying with Bo Jackson. Disco Demolition Night. And more. Tony La Russa wrote the foreword, which is exciting for me.<\/p>\n

The title is based on your decision to grow a mustache, despite the Yankees\u2019 ban on facial hair.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The mustache story is kind of like a springboard for what happened to me \u2013 when you get stuck in The System. I got fed up with it. And when you tell George Steinbrenner you\u2019re going to grow a mustache, against the rules, you better have your stuff in order, you know?<\/p>\n

For more details and to preorder Greg\u2019s book, check out thedaytheyankeesmademeshave.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greg Pryor was only with the Texas Rangers for a short time in 1976, but I remember him from the days of watching games from the bleachers at Arlington Stadium ($2 a seat and a […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-interviews"},"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4220,"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396\/revisions\/4220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haughtcorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}