Who is the man: Jack DiLauro appeared in 42 games during his first year with Astros in 1970. Houston picked him up from the Mets in the Rule 5 draft during the offseason.
Can ya dig it: Kind of cool that DiLauro is shown at Shea Stadium, the pitcher's former home.
Right on: This is DiLauro's final Topps card. He has just two.
You see that cat DiLauro is a bad mother: DiLauro played on the 1969 Miracle Mets team, appearing in 23 games with a 2.40 ERA. He wasn't used during the postseason, however.
Shut your mouth: DiLauro was a veteran of six minor league seasons in the Tigers organization when he arrived with the Mets, but said he didn't get much of a chance with the team despite his status. He said he didn't feel comfortable around Mets manager Gil Hodges, mostly because Hodges never talked to any of the players.
No one understands him but his woman: When the Mets appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show after they upset the Orioles to win the '69 World Series, DiLauro did an impersonation of Sullivan. He is not identified in this video of the Mets collectively singing "You Gotta Have Heart," but as the camera pans out at the end, he appears to be the player on the bottom row dressed in a red shirt (the video is a hoot, by the way).
(A word about the back): The last line in the bio is a gut-punch. DiLauro wouldn't appear in the majors again after being sold to Hawaii.
Enough time has passed so that I can laugh at that amazin' (pun intended) video. I remember friends ragging on me about whether or not I watched the show when it was aired (I didn't). I like how they used full first names...'Edwin Charles'. LOL And wasn't Nolan Ryan enthused?!?!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I’ve seen the Ed Sullivan clip 1000 times I’ve never seen the post song dialogue, which includes dilauro’s impression, but it was in the YouTube queue after the video in the link above:
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/T_Zyh4atvQw