So you want to buy a new house or a new car, what are you going to put up for collateral...a record for a high ball run:grin:
Comments on Willie Moscont
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So you want to buy a new house or a new car, what are you going to put up for collateral...a record for a high ball run:grin:
Well I guess it's that time of year when someone posts up about Mosconi's high run. Here is a retread post from the past, in case y'all have interest:
I came across a note my dad had written, and thought you history buffs
might enjoy it:
Part 1
I first met Willie Mosconi when I was a Vice President of a major
conglomerate in New York. This company owned radio and television stations
and had recording studios. I got the idea that we should put out a series
of audio tapes called "An Hour with the Master." I planned to set up
interviews with the leading person in a number of different sports, and
offer a 1 hour audio cassette (with appropriate packaging) to the public.
I have a fair amount of experience playing pool , and decided to attempt to approach Willie Mosconi as
my first "Master." (The second person I planned on talking to was Arnold
Palmer.) I located Willie the week before he was to give an exhibition at
Princeton University. We made arrangements for me to talk with him after
he completed the exhibition.
On the night in question, I traveled to Princeton from my home in
Northern New Jersey. The first part of his show was for him to play a game
of straight pool (150 points) with the Princeton university pocket
billiards champion. As you might imagine, this was not much of a
contest...and, at one point after running about 7 racks, Willie appeared to
me to deliberately miss so the challenger could play a little. After the
game was over, he put on a trick shot exhbition which ended in spectacular
fashion with Willie standing at the foot of the table and hitting the cue
ball down to the other end of the table with such force (and presumably
follow) that the ball bounced up in the air from the far end of the table
back toward Willie and into his jacket pocket without ever touching the
table again.
We went downstairs to the coffee shop and I explained what I wanted to
do. He was quite receptive to the idea. We discussed money, and he wanted
only a small advance against royalties to cooperate. Then came the good
part - I was able to ask him a few questions about the game and his general
approach. For example, he told me that at one point in his life, he
practiced 8 hours a day for 31 YEARS, continually. Another interesting
thing happened when we got on the subject of other players. At the time, a
guy named Wanderone (or "Fats," or, as he preferred to call himself,
"Double Smart Fats") was reported to have said that Willie was afraid to
play him. Willie told me that this was a lot of nonsense, and that he had
"wiped the floor" with Fats on several occatsions. (Fats then started
calling himself Minnnesota Fats, but in reality, he was from Washington
Heights in New York City.) The other thing that interested me was his
answer to my question, "Isn't it tough for you, traveling all around the
country, knowing that every place you go, the local champ is gunning to
beat you?" He laughed, hard, and said, "You don't understand. First off,
the guy can't beat me on his best day. Second, it's not his best day,
because he realizes he's playing Willie Mosconi, and all his friends and
girlfriend are watching, and he's been thinking about the match for weeks
and so he doesn't even play up to his capability when the time comes. So
he really has no chance."
Unfortunately, I never did get to do the series because of various
budgetary red tape...but the visit with Willie certainly was memorable.
Part 2
Two additional instances involving Willie Mosconi come to mind. One
evening, in Brooklyn, I observed him playing a top player from the Chicago
area named Cicero Murphy (recent hall of famer). Cicero was the first to
get started and after running just a few balls (less than 10), he missed.
Willie promptly ran out the whole game. The most significant observation
of that game was that Willie never had a single difficult shot during his
entire run. It all looked so simple... the cue ball moved just a few
inches at a time and I got the feeling while watching this that I, too,
could do the same - which of course is a lot of nonsense. The whole thing
was a display of absolute mastery of the game.
The other situation was when I was invited to be a guest at a place in NYC
called The Lamb's Club, an establishment something like the Friar's Club
where they do a "roasting." Only at the Lamb's Club, they called it a
Lambasting - and Willie was the Lambastee. It was a very nice evening,
good food and drinks followed by a marvelous Italian tenor who gave about a
20 minute recital of various operatic arias. Then it was announced that
Willie would give an exhibition, which consisted primarily of various trick
shots, mixed with a kind of running anectdotal commentary by Willie,
recalling a number of incidents from his years of varied experiences in
tournament play and exhibitions. About the only thing I can remember about
his performance that evening (after all, it was in the late '60s) was that,
in making trick shots, he missed only once. But the significant thing was
that the miss occurred exactly the same way and on the same shot that I had
seen several times before in other exhibitions of his. It was called "the
handkerchief shot" in which most of the balls are racked in the normal
manner; then the triangular rack was lifted by placing a ball under
it...and the whole thing was covered by a handkerchief. He then shot a
ball in a pocket and the cue ball went all around the table (4 or 5
cushions) and rolled up under the handkerchief to knock away the ball
holding up the rack. When done correctly, the cue ball winds up in the
rack after the ball is knocked away. As I said, he missed the first time,
but then made it on the second try. It was obvious to me that his level of
skill was such that it couldn't have been an accident, that the only time
he misses was on this one shot, and then he makes it on the second try. I
guess we can forgive a little showmanship!
J. White
-just thought I'd share that with the group.
I came across a note my dad had written, and thought you history buffs
might enjoy it:
Part 1
I first met Willie Mosconi when I was a Vice President of a major
conglomerate in New York. This company owned radio and television stations
and had recording studios. I got the idea that we should put out a series
of audio tapes called "An Hour with the Master." I planned to set up
interviews with the leading person in a number of different sports, and
offer a 1 hour audio cassette (with appropriate packaging) to the public.
I have a fair amount of experience playing pool , and decided to attempt to approach Willie Mosconi as
my first "Master." (The second person I planned on talking to was Arnold
Palmer.) I located Willie the week before he was to give an exhibition at
Princeton University. We made arrangements for me to talk with him after
he completed the exhibition.
On the night in question, I traveled to Princeton from my home in
Northern New Jersey. The first part of his show was for him to play a game
of straight pool (150 points) with the Princeton university pocket
billiards champion. As you might imagine, this was not much of a
contest...and, at one point after running about 7 racks, Willie appeared to
me to deliberately miss so the challenger could play a little. After the
game was over, he put on a trick shot exhbition which ended in spectacular
fashion with Willie standing at the foot of the table and hitting the cue
ball down to the other end of the table with such force (and presumably
follow) that the ball bounced up in the air from the far end of the table
back toward Willie and into his jacket pocket without ever touching the
table again.
We went downstairs to the coffee shop and I explained what I wanted to
do. He was quite receptive to the idea. We discussed money, and he wanted
only a small advance against royalties to cooperate. Then came the good
part - I was able to ask him a few questions about the game and his general
approach. For example, he told me that at one point in his life, he
practiced 8 hours a day for 31 YEARS, continually. Another interesting
thing happened when we got on the subject of other players. At the time, a
guy named Wanderone (or "Fats," or, as he preferred to call himself,
"Double Smart Fats") was reported to have said that Willie was afraid to
play him. Willie told me that this was a lot of nonsense, and that he had
"wiped the floor" with Fats on several occatsions. (Fats then started
calling himself Minnnesota Fats, but in reality, he was from Washington
Heights in New York City.) The other thing that interested me was his
answer to my question, "Isn't it tough for you, traveling all around the
country, knowing that every place you go, the local champ is gunning to
beat you?" He laughed, hard, and said, "You don't understand. First off,
the guy can't beat me on his best day. Second, it's not his best day,
because he realizes he's playing Willie Mosconi, and all his friends and
girlfriend are watching, and he's been thinking about the match for weeks
and so he doesn't even play up to his capability when the time comes. So
he really has no chance."
Unfortunately, I never did get to do the series because of various
budgetary red tape...but the visit with Willie certainly was memorable.
Part 2
Two additional instances involving Willie Mosconi come to mind. One
evening, in Brooklyn, I observed him playing a top player from the Chicago
area named Cicero Murphy (recent hall of famer). Cicero was the first to
get started and after running just a few balls (less than 10), he missed.
Willie promptly ran out the whole game. The most significant observation
of that game was that Willie never had a single difficult shot during his
entire run. It all looked so simple... the cue ball moved just a few
inches at a time and I got the feeling while watching this that I, too,
could do the same - which of course is a lot of nonsense. The whole thing
was a display of absolute mastery of the game.
The other situation was when I was invited to be a guest at a place in NYC
called The Lamb's Club, an establishment something like the Friar's Club
where they do a "roasting." Only at the Lamb's Club, they called it a
Lambasting - and Willie was the Lambastee. It was a very nice evening,
good food and drinks followed by a marvelous Italian tenor who gave about a
20 minute recital of various operatic arias. Then it was announced that
Willie would give an exhibition, which consisted primarily of various trick
shots, mixed with a kind of running anectdotal commentary by Willie,
recalling a number of incidents from his years of varied experiences in
tournament play and exhibitions. About the only thing I can remember about
his performance that evening (after all, it was in the late '60s) was that,
in making trick shots, he missed only once. But the significant thing was
that the miss occurred exactly the same way and on the same shot that I had
seen several times before in other exhibitions of his. It was called "the
handkerchief shot" in which most of the balls are racked in the normal
manner; then the triangular rack was lifted by placing a ball under
it...and the whole thing was covered by a handkerchief. He then shot a
ball in a pocket and the cue ball went all around the table (4 or 5
cushions) and rolled up under the handkerchief to knock away the ball
holding up the rack. When done correctly, the cue ball winds up in the
rack after the ball is knocked away. As I said, he missed the first time,
but then made it on the second try. It was obvious to me that his level of
skill was such that it couldn't have been an accident, that the only time
he misses was on this one shot, and then he makes it on the second try. I
guess we can forgive a little showmanship!
J. White
-just thought I'd share that with the group.
My turn
Some other notes from my father, apologies for some of it repeated in the post above.
Checking out all those remarks by people about Mosconi made me think that I should chime in because I had much more of an opportunity to learn something about him because I was his guest during a series of exhibitions he made. There are just a few quotes I can recall from talking with him privately during that time. They are as follows:
1. I once practiced at least 8 hours a day for 31 years consecutively.
2. My high run wasn't 526. It was 604.
3. In response to a question as to the most important thing in learning to play pool, he said - Don't miss.
4. I am very annoyed that Minnesota Fats keeps claiming he can beat me. I have played him and he knows better.
5. Erwin Rudolph was a great player.
6. Brunswick pays me $50,000 a year just to wear this jacket.
7. Winning exhibitions is easy because the opponent knows he will be playing me quite some time in advance. He gets to thinking about it and tells his whole family, his girlfriend, etc. Then comes the match and, in the first place, he really can't beat me. But because of the wait before the match, he's so nervous he can't even play his best game. So he has no chance.
Oh, and one more anecdote (from John White):
Cisero Murphy was a really top notch player, having won the World Championship on his first try, after being the first African-American permitted to compete. During my time as a guest of Mosconi, watching some of his exhibitions in the late 1960s, he played a match with Cisero at a pool hall in Brooklyn. But it was really no contest. I'll never forget watching Cisero (from a distance of only about 10 feet away) as Mosconi proceeded to do his thing. He just kept slowly shaking his head from side to side, seemingly as if he realized that he was in way over his head.
Most of the people making posts and offering opinions about Mosconi never saw him play in person. I tell you that there is no player today that even approaches his skill. None. The speed, rhythm and fluidity of his game was unmatched. It's one thing to learn of the statistics (526 - 604, etc.), defeating Greenleaf, etc. It's another to actually see him play, as I did, from right next to the table in the first row. Every break shot took place with the cue ball and break ball in the exact same spots. Identical. And then the cue ball would burrow into the pack and there would be a nice spread of the balls. I've told this many times, but it bears repeating - - when I first saw it, I was disappointed, thinking "What's so great about this guy? He never has a hard shot?" The only break in the action would come if some accidental kiss or carom occurred and then he would walk round and round the table, looking annoyed as if the balls didn't have the right to be misbehaving. But then he would solve the problem and continue to demolish the opponent.
The bottom line here is simple - -you really had to see it to fully appreciate how great Mosconi was.
Some other notes from my father, apologies for some of it repeated in the post above.
Checking out all those remarks by people about Mosconi made me think that I should chime in because I had much more of an opportunity to learn something about him because I was his guest during a series of exhibitions he made. There are just a few quotes I can recall from talking with him privately during that time. They are as follows:
1. I once practiced at least 8 hours a day for 31 years consecutively.
2. My high run wasn't 526. It was 604.
3. In response to a question as to the most important thing in learning to play pool, he said - Don't miss.
4. I am very annoyed that Minnesota Fats keeps claiming he can beat me. I have played him and he knows better.
5. Erwin Rudolph was a great player.
6. Brunswick pays me $50,000 a year just to wear this jacket.
7. Winning exhibitions is easy because the opponent knows he will be playing me quite some time in advance. He gets to thinking about it and tells his whole family, his girlfriend, etc. Then comes the match and, in the first place, he really can't beat me. But because of the wait before the match, he's so nervous he can't even play his best game. So he has no chance.
Oh, and one more anecdote (from John White):
Cisero Murphy was a really top notch player, having won the World Championship on his first try, after being the first African-American permitted to compete. During my time as a guest of Mosconi, watching some of his exhibitions in the late 1960s, he played a match with Cisero at a pool hall in Brooklyn. But it was really no contest. I'll never forget watching Cisero (from a distance of only about 10 feet away) as Mosconi proceeded to do his thing. He just kept slowly shaking his head from side to side, seemingly as if he realized that he was in way over his head.
Most of the people making posts and offering opinions about Mosconi never saw him play in person. I tell you that there is no player today that even approaches his skill. None. The speed, rhythm and fluidity of his game was unmatched. It's one thing to learn of the statistics (526 - 604, etc.), defeating Greenleaf, etc. It's another to actually see him play, as I did, from right next to the table in the first row. Every break shot took place with the cue ball and break ball in the exact same spots. Identical. And then the cue ball would burrow into the pack and there would be a nice spread of the balls. I've told this many times, but it bears repeating - - when I first saw it, I was disappointed, thinking "What's so great about this guy? He never has a hard shot?" The only break in the action would come if some accidental kiss or carom occurred and then he would walk round and round the table, looking annoyed as if the balls didn't have the right to be misbehaving. But then he would solve the problem and continue to demolish the opponent.
The bottom line here is simple - -you really had to see it to fully appreciate how great Mosconi was.
This question was to Lou regarding who, today, compares to Mosconi. The question reminded me of a conversation with, again, my father. Of course he saw Mosconi play, and he has also seen many of today's players at the world tournament and also on the internet.
He was there on the occasion when Appleton ran the 200 balls. He told me that run was the closest thing he has seen to how Mosconi played. Nothing else was even close.
Good stuff.
One minor footnote to the shot where the CB jumped into the air: what he did was call, "CB right side pocket." Then he'd jack up a bit, have the CB bounce off the end rail, catch it mid-air, and gently put it in his right coat pocket.
Lou Figueroa
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Yes, that sounds more plausible and is the kind of detail that might fade after 50 years!
I seem to remember a video of Mosconi truly in his prime doing a couple of trick shots. I think they show that jacket one, as well as one where he jumps lengthwise from one table to the next one and pockets a spot shot.
