Hardricourt Humor

Tom Hardricourt loves to chatter away in the pressbox.

One writer dubbed him the "arch enemy of silence."

He has come up with some of the best pressbox lines over the years.

On Sunday we were informed that the Reds and Brewers were rained out but scheduled a "B" game for Monday at Goodyear. The Reds originally scheduled Aroldis Chapman, who defected from the Cuban team last August, to pitch in that game.

One Milwaukee writer wondered aloud, why it was going to be in Goodyear.

Hardricourt had the answer. "I guess Chapman couldn't make the trip. He can take a raft from Cuba but can't take a bus down I-10."

It was one of several lines that he's come up with over the years.

One night a Brewers runner was just rounding third as a Reds outfielder was getting to a ground ball base hit. Knowing third base coach, Joel Youngblood's history, Hardricourt exclaimed, "Oh for God's sake," He predicted the easy out at home.

Rickie Weeks, the Brewers secondbaseman, botched a ground ball one day. "He's a catch 22. If you hit him 30 ground balls, he'll catch 22," Hardricourt said.

One day the Brewers PR man, Jon Greenburg, was cutting up with his assistant, when Bud Selig walked by in a bad mood.

"If you guys want to have fun, go someplace else," Selig said.

"Bud, that should be your marketing slogan," Hardricourt said.