The Gene Conley Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Tuesday, May 30th,
2006
Pressured by the Braves to give up on basketball, you spent the next five
seasons concentrating on baseball. During this time you were the winning
pitcher in the 1955 Major League All-Star Game. What did this achievement mean
to you then, and what does it mean to you now?
Well,
it meant a lot. In ’54 I made the All-Star Game. I’d left a couple of guys on
base, and Carl Erskin came in to relieve me. The runners scored, and they were
my runs, so I got the loss for that game. A year later the game was held at
Milwaukee County Stadium. I made the roster again, but I was in the bullpen and
I didn’t think that they’d use me. Well, the game went on-and-on, eventually
going into the twelfth inning. Both managers were using a lot of pitchers, and
at one point Leo Durocher called down to the bullpen and asked if they thought
Conley could pitch an inning or two. Of course I was ready to go – I’d been
sitting there the whole game – so I took to the mound, and up comes
Al Kaline. He was a rookie that
year with Detroit, and he was only about 20 years old. Behind him was Mickey
Vernon, who was a veteran from Washington. And after Vernon came Al Rosen, who
was the reigning American League Most Valuable Player. Somehow I was able to
strike out all three batters. I don’t think any of them got even a foul tip off
of me. The crowd gave me a standing ovation when I walked off the field after
our half of the twelfth inning. It was the funniest feeling to get that kind of
reception, but a standing O in an All-Star Game was a really nice feeling.
I remember sitting back down in the dugout, and Hank Aaron coming over and sitting next to me. The first batter on our side was Stan Musial. He walked by, looked at Hank and said, ‘Hey Hank, we don’t get paid extra for these All-Star Games, do we?’ Hank says, ‘No, we sure don’t.’ So Stan went out there and hit the first pitch over the fence for a home run, and the crowd went wild. Go figure: I was the winning pitcher, and yet he was the hero of the game! I remember it was like it was yesterday.
In 1957
the Braves, now in Milwaukee, defeated the New York Yankees to win the World
Series. Please take me back to that magical season – what was this
experience like for you?
Incredible.
I had arm trouble in ’56, and I’d been used as a starter and a reliever.
But I came back in ’57 and proved that I still had enough left in my arm to
pitch in the big leagues. Well, I didn’t start off bad during the ’57
season, but I just wasn’t winning games. All of a sudden, in about July or
August, I got hot. I starting winning. I must have won five or six big
games down the stretch in ’57. Up until that point I hadn’t won very many
games – I think I ended up with nine wins that season – and I felt like I
had really played a part in helping the Braves win the pennant. I thought
that I might have a chance to really shine in the World Series, but I should
have known better – that was also a big year for guys like Warren Spahn, Lew
Burdette, and Bob Buhl. Spahn won 21 games that season. Lew won 17. Bob
won 18.
To this day I tell people that I’ve never seen another pitcher accomplish what Burdette did during that week of the World Series, and not get the notoriety that he deserved. He pitched three complete games against the New York Yankees, two of them at Yankee Stadium, and he won all three games – including Game 7 to win the World Series. He was just phenomenal.
Anyway, with those guys pitching so well it was hard for anyone else to get onto the field. And when you did get to pitch, you stepped on that field and realized just how special it was to be a part of the World Series. The $8,300 winner’s share didn’t hurt, either [laughs]. Whenever I see Burdette I tell him that he helped make the down payment on my first house. I also tell him that it wasn’t enough to finish it off; just enough to get it started [laughs].
So that was
the first step to championships in two sports. I had my World Series ring,
and then I would win three NBA Championships with the Boston Celtics. That
made me the only athlete to win titles in two major sports – baseball and
basketball.
Young
people today see athletes making millions, and most think that this has
always been the case. In the 50s and 60s things were quite different.
Oh,
especially in the ‘50s. Cousy probably told you this, but he was pumping
gas during the offseason. Bob Brannum would run those summer camps to make
a buck. You had to really protect yourself. It was rough. I always tell
people that I was the luckiest athlete alive, because I had a job to go to –
baseball – and then I could follow that up by playing another sport that I
really loved. How can you beat that? I was very fortunate just to be able
to do that. Not that I made a lot of money, but it was a job. I played 13
seasons, and went six-and-a-half years without stopping. I’d go from one
sport to the next. And if you think about it, I didn’t have a college
education to fall back on – I’d left school after my sophomore season and
never went back – so I couldn’t turn to teaching. And I don’t think anyone
would want to take me on as a coach, so I had to keep playing until I ran
out of juice [laughs].
When you
rejoined the Celtics, the team had appeared in the previous two NBA Finals,
winning one. After seeing the great Bill Russell up close, in practice, did
you know that the Celtics were on the verge of something special?
Oh,
yes. There was no question that the Celtics were the class of the league
after Russell came aboard. He was a once-in-a-lifetime player, just
special. He revolutionized the center position. He wasn’t the best shooter
that you ever saw, but boy, could he play defense. And he knew how to win.
He made his teammates better, and he triggered that fast break with a clean
block or a big rebound. The Celtics became a different team with him in the
middle.
When people look back, they look at me as a backup center to Bill Russell. That was probably the case on paper, but there were a lot of times that we were on the court together. Sometimes I’d be out there in the middle, and that would free him up a little bit. I think I averaged something like 18 minutes per game, many of them playing beside Russell.
