John Madden hated Will Ferrell’s spring-training tour
Will Ferrell’s wacky spring-training tour was a grand success. He accomplished his goal of playing 10 positions in one day for 10 teams across five Cactus League games and raised an estimated $1 million for charity.
Still, there were a few people out there who voiced their displeasure that a 47-year-old man with a dodgy track record in professional baseball was taking part in a number of exhibition games.
You can count Hall of Fame football coach and longtime broadcaster John Madden among those that opposed Ferrell’s stunt.
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“I hate it,” Madden told KCBS 740 in San Francisco. “That’s a lack of respect, that’s a lack of respect for the game, I think, and a respect for what players have to do to get where they are.”
If Madden had his way, Ferrell would have been shown he didn’t belong on a big-league field. Madden went on to tell a story about the time NBA Hall of Famer and Golden State Warriors legend Rick Barry wanted to join one of his practices with the Raiders in the 1970s:
“I’m in training camp in Santa Rosa. Rick Barry comes walking by and he was playing for the Warriors at that time. He was a friend of Al Davis’ and he said he was going to go in and suit up and go out on the field and practice, to fool Al. I swear this is true,” Madden said. “Jack Tatum and George Atkinson walked by and I said, look, if this guy comes out on the field, he’s live bait and I want you to go after him the way you would go after any other player that plays on another team. I said, go ahead and dress, but we’re going to treat you like a football player and not like an NBA player.”
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Barry ultimately opted not to follow through with his idea.
Fortunately for Ferrell, the opinion of Cubs manager Joe Maddon carried much more weight than John Madden’s in this scenario. The Cubs were one of teams Ferrell suited up for on Thursday and his presence was a big hit with their players and coaches.
“It was a lot of fun, man,” Maddon told CSN Chicago. “Nice play in the outfield, he was a lot of fun on the bench. I think it’s good for baseball in general to have him do something like that with his popularity.”
We’ll happily side with Maddon over Madden on this one.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
