Chatting With Colbert

Nate Colbert was not a Hall of Fame player, but he did have a Hall of Fame season in 1972, when he drove in an amazing 23 per cent of the runs scored by the San Diego Padres. For the year, he clubbed 38 home runs and drove in 111 runs, a highly impressive total considering that he spent most of the season batting behind people like Enzo Hernandez, Derrel Thomas, and Dave Roberts.

Colbert was never better than he was on August 1 that summer. Playing in a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves, Colbert set a record by collecting 13 RBIs in the two games. He also tied Stan Musial's record with five home runs in a twinbill, as the Padres swept a pair from Hank Aaron's Braves.

Last Friday, Colbert visited Cooperstown, giving me an opportunity to interview him one-on-one. Still the Padres' all-time leader in home runs, Colbert talked about several highlights from his ten-year career in the major leagues, including his other-worldly doubleheader, his most colorful teammate, and the two controversial owners that he came to know in San Diego and Oakland. Here is a complete transcript of our discussion.

Markusen: Nate, if you could tell me about your favorite manager during your major league days. You had quite a few managers with the Astros, Padres, Tigers, Expos and A's. Was there one guy in particular that really left an impression with you?

Colbert: Well, all of them had different things going for them. Preston Gomez was very sharp; he understood the game, how to prepare for the game in the later innings. But probably the most fun of all the managers I played for was Don Zimmer. Don had a direct approach to managing the game and he made it fun for the players.

Markusen: Speaking of Zimmer, one of the images that we have from baseball in the early 1970s is a guy like Don Zimmer wearing those Padres uniforms--the brown and yellow--which you, of course, had to wear as well. As you look back on that, what did guys think about wearing those uniforms? Did you feel a little bit odd, because they were so gaudy, so colorful, so different from what other teams were wearing. What did you feel like having to wear those brown-and-yellows?

Colbert: Well, the brown didn't bother me. The yellow ones, which were called "Mission Gold"--I don't know where they got that name from--and when I first put them on, I felt really embarrassed. You know, the Pirates later came up with a rendition of it. But I looked at it like this is the major leagues; this is the uniform I was required to wear. I took a lot of ribbing, especially from the Reds and Pirates players. Even my mother used to tease me. She said I looked like a caution light that was stuck. You know, it was a big league uniform. I'd rather have that than one with the Hawaii Rainbows on it, that being the Triple-A team for the Padres [at the time].

Markusen: Let me ask you about some of the colorful owners that you played for. Really you played for two. Briefly, for Charlie Finley, and for a longer period of time, Ray Kroc. Talk a little bit about those two men, because in many ways they had larger-than-life personalities.

Colbert: Well, Ray Kroc when he bought the club, he came in and wanted to do change. He asked us what bats we liked; he ordered every model we liked. He took us off the [commercial] plane we had been one, and bought us our own plane, a new plane. On one trip, he bought every one a place setting of real sterling silver, and crystal glasses, and real china. He wanted us to learn about class, and thought it would make a difference.

He had the incident on the microphone, when the streaker ran across the field. People got all upset about it. And my answer was, he bought the team [with] cash; he could say whatever he wants. I said that I wished he'd do it again tomorrow, because when he said that, he sparked us. We scored five runs. I liked that, that little inspiration.

As far as Charlie Finley, I loved Charlie Finley. I thought he was awesome. When he traded for me, he told me that he always wanted me to play for him. He told me couldn't afford me the next year [1977], but he wanted me to have a good time that year [1976]. He told me if I needed anything, just call him and ask. He treated me--my wife and I--very well.

Markusen: He did like to put nicknames on players' uniforms. Dick Allen, he had "WAMPUM," which was his hometown in Pennsylvania, and Mudcat Grant wore "MUDCAT" on his jersey, so I could see that happening with Finley.

Do you have a favorite Finley story? 

Colbert: Yeah, but I can't share it. [laughs] It's X-rated... One time I was at a "Slugger of the Year" banquet. And Finley walked up behind me and said, 'Gosh, your back is so big, I could advertise on you?' So when I got to Oakland, he asked me, 'Could I put a sign on the back of your uniform?' I said, 'No, I can't.' The rest of the story is X-rated, so I really can't go into it.

Markusen: Going back to the Kroc incident for a moment. You talked about him getting on the microphone. Was that when he apologized to the fans?

Colbert: Well, we had just gotten thumped in LA. And we came home and got thumped the first night. And we were getting thumped again. So I was the hitter, and somebody comes on the mike and says, 'People of San Diego...' It scared me, I thought it was God. You know, I thought, oh gosh, the rapture was coming, and I'm not ready. And he said, 'I want to apologize for such stupid baseball playing. And about that time, a streaker ran onto the field, a guy with nothing on but a Viking helmet. And he did a little dance at second. Ray lost it and said, 'Get him out of here! Get him out of here. People like that should be arrested and the key thrown away.' Then he got composed again and said, 'I just want you to know that we had more fans than LA and San Francisco tonight...but I never saw such stupid ballplaying in all my life.' And then he got off the mike. So in protest, I said to myself, 'I'm not swinging.' I just stood there and I walked. The next guy did the same thing and he walked. And the next guy walked. So I yelled to the next guy, 'We got a rally going.' We scored five runs.

He apologized to us later. And I told him, 'You own us. You can say what you want.'

Markusen: I know that Doug Rader was particularly upset and came out with some pretty harsh comments. Rader was known as a unique personality, a colorful character. Who was the most colorful player you played with? Was it Rader, or was it someone else?

Colbert: Probably Rader. Doug Rader. When we were with the Astros, he and one of the guys, another player on the team, went down to the pet store. That's when it was legal to own alligators. And they bought three alligators, baby alligators. They waited until we were all in the shower, and they let them loose in the shower, down in Cocoa, Florida. We were trying to climb the walls, these little baby alligators all around us. But Doug, that night in San Diego, said that [Ray] was treating all of his players like short-order cooks. So they came up with "Short Order Cook Night." So Rader came out the next night, to bring the lineup card with hi. With his uniform, he had an apron and a short order cook's hat. [laughs] So he was... Doug was funny.

Markusen: Sounds like you guys had a good time. A final question, Nate. Obviously, August 1, 1972 is a date for the ages, one of the most memorable one-day performances for any hitter. When you think about it, you essentially tied a record originally set by "Stan the Man." And then he happens to be your idol, and you happen to have been in the ballpark--Sportsman's Park--years ago when he set the record, to me it's amazing that all of those things can come together in that one moment. Do you think back about that and look at it in amazement, and say how could all of that come together the way it did? Only in baseball.

Colbert: Baseball is like that. Sports is like that. You see something and you say that you'll never see it again, and then it's accomplished again in your lifetime. I was just blessed to be able to accomplish this, you know. The whole time when I hit the fifth home run, when I was rounding third and coming to home plate, the whole team was standing there bouncing. I was in amazement. What are they so excited about? We're 35 games out of first place. But they were bouncing because they knew that I had tied the record. I wasn't thinking about that. What I was thinking about was that we had a chance to win the doubleheader.

So know when I get a chance to think about it, I think back on it and it's really amazing because I know how long you can go without hitting a home run. Or even getting a hit. I once went 5-for-44 one year. And another time, I hit eight home runs in four games. It's just unbelievable.