Call me naive or just properly brainwashed by Skip Humphrey and Mike Ciresi, but I still find it surprising to find out that some individuals engaged in professional athletics also smoke cigarettes. Reusse's column today recounts a story which includes a reference to former Twins' manager Gene Mauch's on-field smoking antics.
I remember years ago, Reusse mentioning that many members of the '87 Twins enjoyed a post-game heater, along with their cans of Old Style (Kent Hrbek specifically comes to mind). Despite this evidence to the contrary, there's a part of me that finds it impossible to believe that a smoker can make it up a flight of stairs at a good clip, let alone perform at the highest levels of sports. Drinking, smoking dope, shooting heroine, freebasing cocaine, all seems plausible to me, in fact I'm surprised to hear about an athlete who doesn't engage in these past times. But smoking cigarettes? I'm still reflexively aghast!
Less surprising, but funnier, are stories of the gargantuan food appetites some of these guys have and which don't really match up with the image of anyone professionally employed as an athlete. What follows is an excerpt from the current issue of GQ about world class eaters. (FYI--the current issue of GQ is known as "The Sports Issue," which is not to be confused with next month's Persnickety Fop Issue--which I wouldn't be caught dead reading).
"History is bursting at the seams with athletes who couldn't resist a good meal. In the 1950's Forrest Gregg of the Green Bay Packers routinely polished off six hot dogs in the locker room at halftime. John Kruk of the Philadelphia Phillies often ate four dogs before games during the team's 1993 run to the World Series (he batted .316). And Nate Newton of the Dallas Cowboys celebrated pregame in the '90s with a heaping plate of pasta, chicken, hash browns, a plate of eggs, bacon, and a half dozen slices of French toast. But Tony Mandarich must take the cake, the cookies and the ice cream too. He was inhaling up to 15,000 calories a day when he bottomed out in the NFL. That's twice what a sumo wrestler eats.
Babe Ruth has to be the big man in the eaters' Hall of Fame though: The Babe liked to see eighteen eggs in his omelets. He ordered his porterhouse with a side of lamb chops. Is it any wonder he had bicarbonate of soda delivered to the Yankee's dugout? "I've seen him at midnight, propped up in bed, order six club sandwiches, a platter of pigs' knuckles and a pitcher of beer," Ty Cobb said. "He'd down all that while smoking a big black cigar."
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