“Danny Kaye can’t resist urge to play with his newest toy”
The Miami News – Mar. 30, 1977
By: Dave Nightingale (Chicago Daily News Service)
TEMPE, Ariz. – Every day, he is on the field to greet the first pitch of the batting
practice, this 64-
He wears velour shirts and vivid neck scarves and a broad-
And when the afternoon’s competition is about to begin, he retires to a little cubicle above the stands. And with his stopwatch, he times his players on their merry journey toward first base. And discourses, with considerable degree of expertise, on the action that is unfolding before him.
He is an open and friendly man, this David Daniel Kaminsky. And if the truth be known, he would rather sit in the sunshine like the retirees who fill the Arizona grandstands. But he must beat a hasty retreat for two reasons:
The sun plays hell with his pale skin. It enlarges his already prominent freckles.
And then there are the autograph seekers – the ever-
Autographs? But of course. For David Daniel Kaminsky is better known as Danny Kaye.
As the Mariners’ press guide notes, he is “an entertainer, symphony conductor, jet
pilot, businessman, public servant, world-
“Do you realize,” said one of the Seattle players, “that we never escape him? We see him all day at practice and at the exhibition games. And then we go home and turn on the TV set and watch ‘The Court Jester’ or ‘Hans Christian Andersen’ on the Late, Late Show.”
Kaye, of course, was a member of the Hollywood crowd that cut its baseball teeth on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the late 1950s. And now, he has his very own baseball toy to play with.
This is all good and fine, if he plays with it from the owner’s box, trusting the actual manipulations to those assembled diamond geniuses he has hired – general manager Lou Gorman and field manager Darrell Johnson.
But, sitting with him during a game, it is obvious he has to forcefully restrain himself from “helping” Gorman and Johnson.
“He has never stuck his nose (no pun intended) in the actual operation of the team,” insisted Gorman, who was telling only a little white lie.
In a recent exhibition game against Milwaukee, Mariner rookie center fielder Ruppert
Jones hit a two-
Kaye also admits that he told first baseman Joe Lis to use a light bat when he “felt strong” and a heavier bat when his timing was off. “I have this theory, you see,” said Danny, “that when you are in a slump, you should swing the heaviest bat you can handle and just try to meet the ball . . .”
Gorman’s goal for the Mariners this season is 71 victories, which would be a record for an expansion team.
Danny Kaye’s goal for the Mariners is “to avoid embarrassment.”
“At the first exhibition game this spring,” said Danny, “they had a ceremony on the field and I made a little speech and I told the people that we promised to be better than last year and that we had improved ourselves at a few key positions.
“And everybody laughed, like they were supposed to, and I told myself, ‘Gee, is this going to be fun.’
“But then, by the end of the third inning, we were behind Oakland, 12-
The Mariners will improve with time, of course. And they’ll be tempted to enter free agent bidding wars in the future. And, surely, they will pay exorbitant prices for players who can improve the club. Because the urge to “win quick” can be awfully strong.
When that happens, though, David Daniel Kaminsky’s new toy won’t be half as much fun.
“Baseball players are like restaurants,” said Danny Kaye. “I enjoy the expensive ones and resent the overpriced ones.”