This item is actually a few weeks old, but I didn't see it mentioned on the board. Other cat lovers will enjoy this story. I already liked the Atlanta Braves, but this gives me one more reason.

http://www.moggies.co.uk/wybi/2003/atw_2.html

(note: don't be put off by the photo of the python...scroll down further for the relevant story)

[ August 04, 2003, 04:02 PM: Message edited by: Marc ]

The story goes on that as he went to his hotel room he found that his wife had not gotten home from the theater and he did not have a key to get in his room. Bobby Cox saw him in the hallway and commented as he didn't reallize it was Fick at first, sitting on the floor playing with a Kitten, locked out of his room.

Why didn't Fick just go to the front desk to get a duplicate key?....but I do think the fact that he is an animal lover and immediately offered to take the cat and give it a home is very touching -- you wouldn't expect to see that from a millionaire, "macho" major leaguer.

OMG! This is the funny part of the story, lifted directly from the Bloated Python link you've included;

"On Sept. 9, 1969, the NL East-leading Chicago Cubs visited New York. As Don Kessinger stepped into the batter's box to lead off the game against Tom Seaver, a black cat came out from beneath the stands and stared at Kessinger.

The cat then headed toward the Cubs' dugout, where it raised its tail and hissed at manager Leo Durocher.

"I knew right away we were in trouble," Cubs star Ron Santo said later. "I wanted to run and hide."

Seaver and the Miracle Mets went on to a 7-1 victory, closing within a half-game of the Cubs, and later breezed past them on their way to winning the World Series."

Nothing against cats, but that's funny. The superstitions of humans always astounds me, but it seems especially humorous since the black cat scenario happened to the Cubs.

Janet Jackson has a song called "Black Cat."

Hey, if he wants cats all he needs to do is hang around the Vet...

Fick is not only one of the ugliest baseball players but also one of the biggest assh___s there is!

I will never forget watching that videotape from his testimony when the stewardess from the Tigers plane accused several of them of harrassing her, and, after admitting that they had, he said something like, "Yeah, she was a bitch, so it seemed o.k." What a schmuck! Nobody deserves treatment like that!

So what you're saying is, he gets more cats than pussy...

:-) Probably!:-)

Could it be that Fick is a Prick??

He is and "Fick" is the German word for "f**k" by the way!

Where was that segment on the Tigers harrassing their stewardess? Fox Sports? Wherever I saw it, the arrogance of the players was just unbelievable; a few really did. not. get. it. why treating that woman like a piece of meat was a problem and they all seemed to feel that they were exempt from such trivial things as laws, decency or human feelings. None of the players came out of that segement covering themselves in glory, that's for sure.

I agree-especially Brad Ausmus, whom I always loved! His image was tarnished for me after that!
I think it was on ESPN or one of those shows!

Fick was only one of them but is still a stupid prick in my book!

I've never lived in Detroit or Houston,so I don't have any first hand knowledge of Ficks alleged transgressions.I probably heard about the incident on the plane,but it wasn't anything that made much of an impression on me-so I don't share the same outrage as some of you guys.

I will have to respectfully disagree to Fick being characterized as "ugly"-he strikes me as extremely hot. In fact he reminds me of Scott Frost,and I really go for that crewcut all-American look.I've always viewed Fick as one of those throwback guys-like a Rose or Mantle who played because they loved the game.Kind of an Eckstein with a hot body. :cool:

But Eckstein does have a hot body! wink

And he's proportional, too, if you get my meaning, and I'm sure you do. Not firsthand knowledge, as it were, but bless DE for not wearing a cup.