There was the time Joe Garagiola Sr. playfully approached the great Dizzy Dean with a question.
"Dizzy, how would you have pitched to me?" Garagiola asked.
Yes, this is a setup line.
Dean's eyes lit up.
Here we go.
"Pardner," Dean said. "I'll tell you something. The way I'd pitch to you is to make sure a cab got you to the ballpark."
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Garagiola laughs loudly in the retelling of the conversation. OK, maybe he wasn't the greatest player ever.
"I got traded three times when there were only eight teams in the league," he said. "I thought I was modeling uniforms."
Once before a game, Don Newcombe whispered to Garagiola that there had just been a fight in the Dodgers' clubhouse.
"What are you talking about?" Garagiola asked.
"It's just the pitchers," Newcombe said. "Whoever wins the fight gets to pitch against you guys."
At that point in Garagiola's career, he had been traded to the Pirates and was a member of the 1952 team that went 42-112.
"We had five or six guys who weren't even on bubblegum cards," he said. "That's how bad we were."
It was during parts of three seasons with the Pirates when Garagiola met the legendary baseball man Branch Rickey.
Cue the punchline.
"Mr. Rickey told me I really figured into the plans of the Pittsburgh Pirates," Garagiola said. "I did. He traded me two days later."
As the memories of 72 years in and around baseball roll through his mind, Garagiola pauses for just a moment.
In that instant, it's clear what he's thinking.
"There are no bad days at the ballpark," Garagiola said.
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