“It was 1973 and Montreal Expos manager Gene Mauch had dispatched distinguished MLB player, coach, manager and roving pitching coach Eddie Lopat to Newport News, Virginia to check up on a pitching prospect by the name of Craig Caskey.

It would turn out to be Caskey's third shutout in a row at triple-A, a game played against the Pittsburgh Pirates’ affiliate, the Charleston Charlies, led by Dave Parker.

"Before the game, Eddie tried to show me how to throw a screwball, without success,'' Caskey told me a few years ago for my book Never Forgotten. "We were about done when Dave Parker strolled up, wearing a huge beret and sporting a big-letter murse or man's purse slung over his shoulder, resting on his hip like a saddle bag. “