Milt Bolling oral history interview
Date1993 February 18
DescriptionAn interview of Milt Bolling that was conducted by Larry Moffi on February 18, 1993 in Mobile, Alabama. Content of the interview includes: Side One -- Track 1 - (Joking around) Not a guy who lives in the past, lives in the present and future; scouting for the Red Sox, working for 40 years, been scouting since '67, will be 63 this year; looking at a some good junior college baseball players, drafted a kid last June that he needs to check out and see how he's improved; signed Bobby Sprowl, another friend there (Tugs Jones or Jones Tugs); on Sprowl being with the Red Sox, brought him up too quick in the middle of a pennant race with the Yankees, (Don) Zimmer was the manager; blew his confidence, Sprowl now an assistant pitching coach for Alabama (00:00:00 to 00:04:37) Track 2 - On his brother, Frank Bolling, living in Mobile, working for United Way/United Funds, and they've been putting a lot of pressure on him; went to the archbishop to talk to his boss; Frank does a lot of civic things around town (interviewer talks about other interviews) on going to high school at the McGill Institute, an all-boys school; both he and Frank going to Springhill College, a local Jesuit school; he signed professional right after high school and went to school afterwards; played other sports in high school, played football his first two years but his dad made him quit football, so he was allowed to play basketball and baseball; in his sophomore year, they had a new coach and they worked with him every morning; they played American Legion ball in the afternoons, stayed out until 10 at night throwing a ball around or watching games; he and Frank played on the same teams, they are 15 months apart; Frank was shorter than he was until his senior year (00:04:37 to 00:08:58.5) Track 3 - On signing right out of high school, being a good student, had a lot of scholarships for basketball and baseball, a lot of scouts came and looked at him his senior year, his uncle, Jack Bolling, played in the big leagues, his dad knew a lot of baseball people, Carl Richardson and other players; and they would meet at his office; he thought he was going to college, had an academic scholarship to Yale; only one school told him he had to play one sport, Notre Dame, had to pick baseball or basketball; went to Springhill College because it was the oldest Catholic college in the South; one day Red Sox scout George Digby came by the house, he was friends with the high school coach, and they made him an offer, and his dad really wanted him to play baseball; his dad loved baseball, played semi-pro and really wanted him to sign; his mother made him promise he would go to college in the off season, got a bonus of $6000 for signing, and they gave him another $5,000 when he made the big leagues; he was 17 and they sent him to Class B and he was overmatched, he was the youngest guy in the Piedmont league for two years, played in Roanoke, VA; Mike Higgins was his first manager; most of the guys at been playing in the Minors for 3-4 years, he only hit .180-something and he cried every night (interviewer talks about other Brooks Robinson) Robinson signing right out of high school; Bolling probably should have started in Class D, he was overmastered at bat; Higgins changed him right away, never had problems hitting, used to play with the men on the local semi-pro teams, but when he got to Roanoke and got up to bat, Higgins immediately told him he couldn't hit like that, moved him close to the plate; after that, every manager he ever played for changed his batting stance to be like his; when he first got to the big leagues under (Lou) Boudreau, he hit like he hit; only one guy let him alone, Jack Burns in Scranton, PA, and he hit .290, which was tough in the Eastern League; he respected authority, so when Higgins told him to change, he did, he was brought up to say yes sir, no sir; on Higgins also being manager in Boston, getting along good with him (00:08:58.5 to 00:18:40) Track 4 - On Johnny Pesky at shortstop before him, and Vern Stephens playing third and then getting traded to the Browns; all those guys, he probably would have had a shot in '52, but had to stay in school because of the Korean War, he would have gotten drafted; they started a youth movement back then, he might have made the club in '52, but he wasn't eligible until after spring training, so they sent him to Birmingham, he reported for spring training in '53, went 4-5 in Philadelphia on opening day, the Boston sportswriters used to travel with the club, a whole train car of radio and TV reporters; one writer asked if he could keep the 4-5 up all year, but they had a job to do, overall the writers were pretty fair; the people are good fans in Boston, they boo you sometimes, but they like it when you hustle; in '52, Johnny Lipon was shortstop because they had made a big trade with Detroit; he had never seen a big league game before he played in one; when they called him up in '52, the club was in Detroit, he went out to the ballpark, but he wasn't scheduled to start; and about the 6th inning, Boudreau got mad at the guys on the field, Virgil Trucks was pitching, and Bolling was on the bench, never saw a big league stadium, and Boudreau told him to get in there, he finally found his glove and hat; and Lipon saw him coming out and started cursing, he wasn't mad at Bolling, but he was embarrassed that Boudreau took him out; Lipon was a good guy; Bollling faced Trucks, and walked the first time, then got a broken bat single over the shortstop's head in the 9th inning; lucky to get a hit off Trucks (00:18:40 to 00:24:31) Track 5 - On barnstorming after the season to make a little extra money; they were up in Virginia playing in a Class D town, bad lights, Trucks went over to them and said he would let the opposing hitters hit, so that they could get and the 3rd hitter hit a line drive and hit Trucks right on the butt; and the next 17 hitters didn't even get a foul ball, they didn't even see that ball; on a guy, Joe (Tubiola?) out of Washington DC booking them in Texas towns 600 miles between games, so they had to travel all night by car; played one or two games a town, always hoped it didn't rain, they were down in a town by the border, possibly Brownsville, and he, his brother, Tubiola, Jim Bunning all went to church and they were praying for rain; it was fun, even though the travel was tough; minimum salary was $5,000 so you could barnstorm and make an extra $2-3,000; went down to Mexico and got paid in pesos, it was more relaxed (00:24:31 to 00:27:56.5) Track 6 - Not being relaxed in the big leagues, now more relaxed because of long-term contracts, back then, you only got one-year contracts and there were a lot of guys playing baseball, all the good athletes played baseball, because professional football and basketball hadn't become popular; back then there were a lot of Minor League clubs, guys like George Shuba, Cal Abrams were hitting .330/.340 couldn't even make Triple AAA back then, so you had a lot of competition; most Major Leaguers weren't really any better than the Triple AAA players; there was no pressure in the Minor Leagues, but when you got to the big leagues, you had to produce, once you got a taste of the big leagues, you didn't want to go back, a difference in baseball today, there was more competition, blacks and Latin players stated coming into the game, so it was tough (tape runs out) (00:27:56.5 to 00:31:05)
Object numberBL-2000-02292-012
Artist, Creator, or Manufacturer
Moffi, Larry
Classificationsaudio/visual materials
Collection NumberBA RMA 002 Larry Moffi oral history collection
Dimensions00:31:05|1 of 2
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RestrictionsDue to copyright restrictions, this interview can only be listened to at the Giamatti Research Center at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.