Dent mixes humor, nostalgia and tales at Hot Stove Banquet

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 7, 2017 11:01 AM

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Work ethic.

It requires daily commitment, enhances a person's character and helps develop a set of virtues that accompany an athlete throughout their life.

In Bucky Dent's case, his diligence on the baseball diamond defined a 12-year career that started as a dream in his backyard. He pretended to be Mickey Mantle - his childhood hero - who always swatted the game-winning home run out of Yankee Stadium.

The two-time World Series champion regaled an appreciative audience stacked with baseball afficianados who idolized Dent as youngsters - the Yankee faithful that is - and fans in general about his playing days and teammates during the 10th anniversary of the Wayne County Hot Stove League Banquet on Monday evening.

A 3-minute video of his game-changing home run against the Boston Red Sox during a one-game playoff in 1978 was played before Dent's introduction by ex-Yankee teammate Jerry Narron.

"That was one of the most greatest games, most intense games I've ever been involved in in my life," Dent said.

Dent played in an era when baseball was baseball.

If you were a rookie with two strikes on you in the batter's box, you could expect a little chin music from the pitcher.

Turning a double play could prove disastrous since runners liked to deliver a bone-jarring hit.

And God forbid if you played catcher. Blocking the plate provided an invitation for runners to bowl you over in an attempt to score. Tempers usually flared, masks flew in different directions and chewing tobacco juice rained freely.

"That's when baseball was baseball and I played with some great, great players," Dent said. "I played with some characters."

But Dent wasn't a high-profile guy with a big ego.

He grew up in Georgia and Florida, and learned his trade despite any adversity he faced. Dent became the glue, in Narron's opinion, that kept the 1978 club together.

"He was a guy that came out and played every day, played hurt a lot, never complained," Narron said. "I know he'd like to strangle Billy Martin a couple of times, everybody would. He never complained about it. He came out every night and did his job in a professional manner.

"He was a great role model for me being a young player about how you go about your business and putting the team first, doing what's best for the team and not complain about it."

Indeed.

Not only did Dent win two World Series rings, he was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1978 World Series. Dent played in three All-Star games and eventually retired in 1982 after he spent time in three organizations - the Chicago White Sox, who drafted him as a 21-year-old in 1970; the Yankees and Texas Rangers organizations.

"I got a chance to do a lot of things in baseball and the chance to meet a lot of wonderful people," Dent said.

And it began with a strong work ethic during a great era in the sport.