I don’t know where I got it in my head that a baseball scout drives around the country in a beat up Fleetwood Cadillac convertible. It might be from watching the Bad News Bears several dozen times, not that Mr. Morris Buttermaker was a scout; he was the manager, but he had a similar car and he drank beer and whisky and taught me about boilermakers and come to think of it, he did recognize star potential in Kelly Leak and he knew about Amanda Wurlitzer’s pitching prowess.
Anyway, nowadays with launch angle, exit velocity and endless metrics that make little sense to my math and physics challenged mind, I’d have no chance to be a scout. But wait a second, I doubt Bill Veeck had any metrics at his disposal when he discovered Harold Baines as a 12-year old and then drafted him in the first round, first overall pick of the 1977 draft. I wonder how many first round, first overall picks went on to be elected to the hall of fame?
I love believing in a young player’s potential and then watching them become consistent players at the MLB level. Unfortunately, I haven’t had too much success. I messed up in thinking Zach Davies had a little Greg Maddux in him and I screwed up with Cavan Biggio (took me months to spell his first name too) seduced by his ability to take a pitch, work a count and what not. Davies is a free agent and Biggio recently got traded from the Blue Jays to the Dodgers.
Still, I wouldn’t mind cruising around the country in a Fleetwood Cadillac watching high school and college baseball games, staying at dinky motels and sitting out front sipping boilermakers and talking with the other people staying at the motel and then wandering over to the local bar and talking some more.
brewers baseball and things 
June 15, 2024 at 11:44 am
Cruising around the country in a Fleetwood Cadillac convertible would be terrific fun. I would welcome the chance to hitch a ride for part of the journey.
Reminds me of Neil Young, who in his younger days would cruise around Canada in a 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse he dubbed “Mort.” Neil drove the vehicle from Toronto to Los Angeles and folks in the music scene there began to recognize him because of the hearse. That’s how Stephen Stills met him and they formed the band “Buffalo Springfield.”
Bill Lancaster, son of actor Burt Lancaster, wrote the screenplay for “Bad News Bears.” According to International Movie Data Base, Bill Lancaster based the character of Coach Buttermaker, played by Walter Matthau, on his father Burt, who was known for his grumpiness when coaching Bill and his friends in youth baseball.
June 15, 2024 at 12:41 pm
I’m shocked that Neil Young drove around in a hearse! Seems like something Ozzy Osbourne would be more likely to do, but I’m glad he did because it resulted in Buffalo Sprinfield. I didn’t know that. That hearse has me thinking of the way relievers adopt an outlandish delivery to catch a scout’s attention.
Thanks for the tidbit on the Buttermaker’s character. I’m always reminded (when I go on a drinking binge) of his switching from booze to coffee in mid season, determined to beat those Yankees.
June 15, 2024 at 8:40 pm
There’s a Clint Eastwood movie called “Trouble with the Curve” that you should check out. He’s sort of the last of the dinosaurs–an old school scout who drives around checking out high school players.I’ll be damned of he doesn’t drive a Cadillac in that movie as well….or was that Pink Cadillac?
June 16, 2024 at 12:48 am
That’s right…..”Trouble with the Curve.” I saw that. Maybe that’s where the Cadillac got stuck in my mind. I like that movie except the Amy Adams hooking up with Justin Timberlake scenes. I guess they throw that in there to help ticket sales. But anyway, the Eastwood devotion to the old school scouting tactics, “the eye test” is very refreshing. He’s great as always.
June 17, 2024 at 8:08 am
Bad New Bears is a classic. And driving around in a Fleetwood Cadillac with the top down in a perpetual California summer being a baseball scout, has to be the dream job.
June 17, 2024 at 8:20 am
If one of us ever finds a case of money from a botched drug deal, that dream might come true. When I’m walking around, I try to look all around, including down, just in case.
I agree. Bad News Bears is truly a classic and I never understand why the two other Bears movie that followed – “In Breaking Training” and the one in Japan get such bad ratings. It’s interesting to see the changes Kelly Leak goes through in the trilogy, but I’ll say no more in case you haven’t seen the other two.
June 17, 2024 at 8:25 am
I look for money too. I figure how I walk through fields and along tracks there’s got to be a chance of, as you said, a botched drug deal. But (or should I say when) I find that money I’ll drive up to Montreal and pick you up in the convertible. I saw both of the Bad News Bear movies when I was a kid. Haven’t seen them recently. Will have to see if they hold up.
June 17, 2024 at 10:15 am
YES! Across North America we go – the ghost of Dean Moriarty at the wheel. Apparently, Cassady drove the Merry Pranksters bus and he would never sleep and never stop talking either. Such a legend.
June 17, 2024 at 11:57 am
If I heard Cassady right in the video, “we are fourth dimensional beings, in third dimensional bodies, in a two dimensional world.” That’s brilliant!! Man, he was a treasure. We definitely need to track down the ghost of Dean Moriarty.
June 17, 2024 at 1:15 pm
And like a bullfighter getting gored to death by a bull, doing what he loved…. Cassady apparently conked out on some railroad tracks in Mexico, slipped into a coma and later died, doing what he loved – wandering. That spirit of his will hopefully never stop being contagious.
June 18, 2024 at 12:51 am
I listened to Cassady again and thank you Bob for saying that because that’s exactly what he said, about the dimensions. You got a great ear. He’s the definition of freedom.
June 18, 2024 at 10:15 am
Awesome. I really have to read some Kerouac this summer.
June 18, 2024 at 10:33 am
I was just thinking after you saying you have to read some Kerouac this summer how much his books seem so appropriate for all the seasons with On The Road being the perfect spring and summer read, Dharma Bums too where Visions of Gerard and Doctor Sax (hard to follow) and some others are meant more for fall and winter. I’d like to find Tristessa and Satori in Paris.
June 18, 2024 at 11:26 am
Don’t forget to take your radar gun with you. I always thought that was really cool before pitch speed just became a normal part of every electronic scoreboard now… seeing that old scout sitting behind home plate measuring the velocity of some 20 year old pitcher in Cape Cod, having that little secret and knowing more than us poor, average baseball joes sitting in the stands without radar guns.
June 18, 2024 at 12:31 pm
That’s exactly how I remember the old scout too….with the radar gun and a pad to jot down notes. I guess we’re heading towards full-on AI taking over everything.