RIP Biff Pocoroba

[TheSportsPredictor]

Awesomely named Braves catcher from the 70s and 89s.

Former Braves catcher Biff Pocoroba has died at 66

 

[TigerVols]

My favorite Brave ever.

Man, this sucks.

 

[GilGarrido]

Skip Caray used to wish the Braves would trade for Mets pitcher Bob Apodaca to have him pitch to Pocoroba. Ted Turner had a different trade idea; he tried to trade Pocoroba to the Padres for the Chicken at one point.

I don't remember him playing 3B in 1981. Seems like an odd place to put someone whose shoulder injury basically ruined his career.

 

[Liut]

My favorite memory of Biff Pocoroba is a a base-stealing attempt. Not him running, mind you. He fired toward second base but the pitcher failed to get out of the way ... IIRC, the throw hit the pitcher in the back. Such were some of those late-1970s Braves teams.

RIP Biff.

Also ... had no idea Rick Camp was dead.

 

[GilGarrido]

My favorite memory of Biff Pocoroba is a a base-stealing attempt. Not him running, mind you. He fired toward second base but the pitcher failed to get out of the way ... IIRC, the throw hit the pitcher in the back. Such were some of those late-1970s Braves teams.

RIP Biff.

Also ... had no idea Rick Camp was dead.

Do you remember Murphy's trouble in the late-1970s throwing to second (or short, or center field...)?

 

[Liut]

Do you remember Murphy's trouble in the late-1970s throwing to second (or short, or center field...)?

Yes, sir. It was super in those days to have Ernie, Skip and Pete in the broadcast booth on the superstation.

 

[da man]

Do you remember Murphy's trouble in the late-1970s throwing to second (or short, or center field...)?

That's why they moved him from catcher to the outfield.

 

[Liut]

Also, Jeff Burroughs looking just a tad bit overweight and wearing big glasses.

 

[BTExpress]

Skip Caray used to wish the Braves would trade for Mets pitcher Bob Apodaca to have him pitch to Pocoroba.

They did have lefty Pablo Torrealba for a short time.

 

[Liut]

They did have lefty Pablo Torrealba for a short time.

Still have that dude's Topps card. I have no idea why.

 

[micropolitan guy]

The late 1970s-early 1980s Braves might have been the most popular ****ty teams in history, because of their nationwide exposure on WTBS. I still remember watching the Pasqual Perez brawl game against the Padres and the July 4 fireworks game that didn't end till past 11 p.m. or midnight on the West Coast. I loved Glen Hubbard and his tiny mitt.

 

[Liut]

Watched the brawl as it happened, as well. Crazy ... but very entertaining.

 

[HanSenSE]

The late 1970s-early 1980s Braves might have been the most popular ****ty teams in history, because of their nationwide exposure on WTBS. I still remember watching the Pasqual Perez brawl game against the Padres and the July 4 fireworks game that didn't end till past 11 p.m. or midnight on the West Coast. I loved Glen Hubbard and his tiny mitt.

When I first signed on for cable in the mid-80s, I mentioned I was looking forward to watching a lot more baseball now that I had WTBS. Was told, "yeah, but you have to watch them play the Braves."

 

[Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.]

Damn. That was a favorite in my card-collecting days as a kid in the 80s, just as I'm sure it was for many of us here. In addition to that, Tim Blackwell and Don Stanhouse (mostly because their mustaches rivaled my father's).

I had an Uncle Biff growing up, but his real name was Ralph Sabatino. Not sure where the Biff came from.

 

[da man]

The late 1970s-early 1980s Braves might have been the most popular ****ty teams in history, because of their nationwide exposure on WTBS. I still remember watching the Pasqual Perez brawl game against the Padres and the July 4 fireworks game that didn't end till past 11 p.m. or midnight on the West Coast. I loved Glen Hubbard and his tiny mitt.

The best part of the fights was Bob Horner coming out of the dugout with his broken wrist in a cast to take on Champ Summers.

And I was working the desk at a PM paper in the Atlanta area (OK, it was the infamous Marietta Daily Journal) the morning after the July 4 all-night game. I started watching the game but went to bed when the rain delay started. I got to the office at 5 a.m. and the writer we had covering the game was in there typing furiously.

I said, "I guess the game ran so late you got a little sleep before coming in to write, huh?"

He said, "Hell no, the game just ended at 4 and I came right over here."

I said, "You've got to be kidding." He said, "No, really. It went 19 innings and Rick Camp hit a homer to tie it in the 18th."

"Now I KNOW you're kidding," I said.

Then I got on the AP wire and I found out he wasn't kidding at all.

And, of course, they shot off the fireworks after the game, which led to startled area residents calling the police to report everything from a gun battle to an enemy invasion.

 

[Tarheel316]

The best part of the fights was Bob Horner coming out of the dugout with his broken wrist in a cast to take on Champ Summers.

And I was working the desk at a PM paper in the Atlanta area (OK, it was the infamous Marietta Daily Journal) the morning after the July 4 all-night game. I started watching the game but went to bed when the rain delay started. I got to the office at 5 a.m. and the writer we had covering the game was in there typing furiously.

I said, "I guess the game ran so late you got a little sleep before coming in to write, huh?"

He said, "Hell no, the game just ended at 4 and I came right over here."

I said, "You've got to be kidding." He said, "No, really. It went 19 innings and Rick Camp hit a homer to tie it in the 18th."

"Now I KNOW you're kidding," I said.

Then I got on the AP wire and I found out he wasn't kidding at all.

And, of course, they shot off the fireworks after the game, which led to startled area residents calling the police to report everything from a gun battle to an enemy invasion.

Rick Camp hitting a home run. That was crazy.

 

[playthrough]

The late 1970s-early 1980s Braves might have been the most popular ****ty teams in history, because of their nationwide exposure on WTBS. I still remember watching the Pasqual Perez brawl game against the Padres and the July 4 fireworks game that didn't end till past 11 p.m. or midnight on the West Coast. I loved Glen Hubbard and his tiny mitt.

Ah, the teams of my youth growing up in the ATL. When you're young and the home team draws 5,000 per game, you don't mind -- you feel like you've got the run of the place. It was then a blast when the Braves were good in '82-'83 and Tommy Lasorda was public enemy No. 1, then back to really bad in the mid-80s. When they started stacking up division titles when I was high school, I lost interest because I was so unimpressed at the bandwagon fans.

And yes, WTBS was so great. I can still hear Skip, Ernie, The Professor and even the pre-Yankees John Sterling.

 

[da man]

Ah, the teams of my youth growing up in the ATL. When you're young and the home team draws 5,000 per game, you don't mind -- you feel like you've got the run of the place. It was then a blast when the Braves were good in '82-'83 and Tommy Lasorda was public enemy No. 1, then back to really bad in the mid-80s. When they started stacking up division titles when I was high school, I lost interest because I was so unimpressed at the bandwagon fans.

And yes, WTBS was so great. I can still hear Skip, Ernie, The Professor and even the pre-Yankees John Sterling.

Sterling made me cringe even then.

 

[playthrough]

And when they played the Cubs, you could have the mindblowing exercise of switching between WGN and WTBS. Pick your Caray.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

And when they played the Cubs, you could have the mindblowing exercise of switching between WGN and WTBS. Pick your Caray.

I grew up in the St. Louis market and looked forward to when the Cardinals would play the Braves or Cubs so I could watch on TV. Very few games back then were on TV other than NBC’s Game of the Week, Monday Night Baseball on ABC or playoff games. (Too bad we didn’t get WWOR; otherwise I would have been treated to up to 48 games on cable.)