Ward and June are going to visit the Graysons, and Wally is going out. The perfect setup for trouble, for Beaver, Gilbert, and Alan--and trouble is always at the Cleaver house, no other. After a few gag calls, they decide to call Los Angeles and talk to Don Drysdale. They actually accomplish it, after a delay while he's in the shower.

They decide to check with the operator to find out the cost, which turns out to be $9.35. In a panic, they decide to keep the call under wraps until they can come up with the money.

At school, Kenny (the Kenny who was a kleptomaniac in season 4?) is bragging about a racer autograph, and Gilbert can't keep his mouth shut about the Drysdale call. Later, Kenny's father, who is a newspaper reporter, decides it'd be an interesting local news story.

June reads about the call as Ward is coming in--he eventually lectures the boys, and enlists them to work off the bill doing yard work.

It was incredibly very good luck (or very bad luck, financially-speaking) that Beaver and his friends were able to call Dodger Stadium and get to talk to the late, great Hall of Fame pitcher, Don Drysdale (or “Twin-D” as the late, great and unfailingly humble Howard Cosell once nicknamed him).

I was also surprised that Don Drysdale spoke to the boys so cordially for so long during that long-distance call. On the pitcher’s mound, Don Drysdale had a reputation for being an especially nasty “head-hunter,” throwing the pitch “high-and-in”
at the opposing team’s hitters.

I believe that Don Drysdale had once been an announcer for the expansion Montreal Expos. And, Don Drysdale would urge the young Expo pitchers to “pitch ‘em inside,” when they were on the mound. However, the Montreal hitters, like Rusty Staub, Bob Bailey and Mack Jones, were not very happy with Don Drysdale’s advice to their team’s pitchers because the other National League teams would retaliate and have their pitchers aim for their heads while they were in the batter’s box!

You know, if Beaver and his friends tried to call another major league stadium a couple of years later to
speak with such mlb “nice guys” as Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, “Affable” Albert Belle or George “The Sphinx” Hendrick, I don’t think the Beav and his buddies would have had such a pleasant and enjoyable conversation as they had with the late Don Drysdale.

It was incredibly very good luck (or very bad luck, financially-speaking) that Beaver and his friends were able to call Dodger Stadium and get to talk to the late, great Hall of Fame pitcher, Don Drysdale (or “Twin-D” as the late, great and unfailingly humble Howard Cosell once nicknamed him).

I was also surprised that Don Drysdale spoke to the boys so cordially for so long during that long-distance call. On the pitcher’s mound, Don Drysdale had a reputation for being an especially nasty “head-hunter,” throwing the pitch “high-and-in”
at the opposing team’s hitters.

I believe that Don Drysdale had once been an announcer for the expansion Montreal Expos. And, Don Drysdale would urge the young Expo pitchers to “pitch ‘em inside,” when they were on the mound. However, the Montreal hitters, like Rusty Staub, Bob Bailey and Mack Jones, were not very happy with Don Drysdale’s advice to their team’s pitchers because the other National League teams would retaliate and have their pitchers aim for their heads while they were in the batter’s box!

You know, if Beaver and his friends tried to call another major league stadium a couple of years later to
speak with such mlb “nice guys” as Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, “Affable” Albert Belle or George “The Sphinx” Hendrick, I don’t think the Beav and his buddies would have had such a pleasant and enjoyable conversation as they had with the late Don Drysdale.

Yeah I realize these are only sitcoms….but the bit about meeting or calling a famous actor or athlete (wasn’t Drysdale on the Brady Bunch too?) and they are all friendly, is just not real life.

In the case of Beaver, one just doesn’t easily get through to the locker room like that. Again, just driving the plot along.

I know that there was a “Family Matters” ep in the 90s with star singer (at the time) Tracie Spencer portrayed as herself. Didn’t she agree to a date with lowly Eddie? If not, forgive me.

Then you have Lena Horne meeting Fred Sanford—at least she came across angry for her time away at first. Then she planted a big kiss on Fred, although it cost him dearly in the pocketbook!

But bottom line—those things just don’t happen.

cd